Fund Raiser #2

During this second fund raiser, we've attempted some crazy stuff. We made turnip cakes during the week and also sold green bean slush on Sunday.

God is so gracious to us because turnips were 4 pounds for $1 at 99 Ranch Market. At the same time, green beans were $0.50 each!! So the overall cost was fairly low compared to cookies or brownies. Dairy items are just too costly.

We've raised a good $400 that weekend. Of course, it's not from sales but from the generous contributions of brothers and sisters.

So here are the details of our venture:

Turnip Cake (or Radish Cake)
Turnip cake is a traditional Chinese snack which can be enjoyed either steamed or pan fried. You can often find this food at your local dim sum restaurant.

ingredients:

• radish (shredded)
  
• processed rice flour (usually sold in 1pound clear bags with red writing) ~$0.69 per pack
• 1/2 cup dried fried onion flakes
  
• 1 cup ground pork (or Chinese sausages)
• 1 TB spoon dried shrimp (chopped)
• 5 dried mushroom (soaked and chopped)

steps:

1. shred radish using cheese grater and set aside
   
2. mix rice flour with 3-4 cups of water (depending on if you like it firmer or softer) and set aside
   
3. heat up pan and throw in dried shrimp, mushroom and onion flakes. Cook until flavor is mixed, throw in the pork (add soy sauce, sugar, and wine) and cook until meat is extremely well done. Remove and set aside.
4. heat up clean pan and add radish, mix with 2-3 cups of water and simmer for about 5 minutes, add some salt to taste
5. set stove to low heat, pour in rice flour mixture into the radish soup and stir until it begins to harden
6. turn off flames and add meat mixture into pan and mix well
7. pour into pyrex casserole dish lined with wax paper
8. steam for about 45 minutes

Let it cool and can be refrigerated for up to a week. To serve, cut into 1/2" thick blocks and pan fry on both sides until soften.

Dip with soy sauce paste and minced garlic for a perfect aroma.

Green Bean Slush
Green bean and red beans are the two favorite beans for dessert in Chinese cooking. They can be cooked into a soup, used as filling for many type of dumplings and cakes, and they can also be served as a drink or even frozen popsicles.

ingredients:

• green bean
• rock sugar
• milk
• sugar syrup

steps:

1. Wash and soak beans overnight in water
2. Boil beans in pot with water just covering the beans
3. Add rock sugar to sweeten and simmer until beans are soft (about 1-2 hours) and set aside to cool
4. make sugar syrup by boiling water and sugar
5. use a nice blender (Vita-Mix kicks major butt) and put some beans, ice, milk, and sugar syrup - blend until slushy and serve

Even though Vita-Mix is about $350-400 at Costco, I believe it's worth every penny. We were fortunate to borrow two machines to make the slushy. I'm saving money to buy my own blender eventually.

Fund Raiser #1

So we have a cell member, Andrea, who will be going to Indonesia for a missions trip. Originally slated for 1 whole year, it has now been revised to 6 months. In any case, it still requires a substantial amount of financial support in order to survive in a foreign country for 6 months doing ministry.

Being poor college students, we devised a way to fund-raise for Andrea. Every Sunday, we will sell home-made goods to our church members.

So for our first attempt - we made Cheesecake marbled brownies and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. We even spent a lot of effort in decoration. I think the total expenditure was about $30. If we sold these baked goods at reasonable prices ($0.75), we would take in about $80-$100. However, since this is a fund-raiser, we upped the prices to $1 for brownies and $2 for 2 cookies. In the end, due to the generosity of many members, we ended up with $290.

For those who can't go on missions, we do all we can to support those who go. We offer time, money, and most importantly, our prayers. Andrea will be leaving at the end of July. We hope she will have time to update her blog so we can know what's going on in Indonesia.

I'll try to post some pictures later.

Evening Picnic

We were supposed to have a picnic but due to the inconvenience of eating Korean BBQ and 東坡肉 with rice, we decided to eat at church instead.

Attendance = 5

Since it's summer break, some people left SoCal to be with their family, others are in the midst of finals. For those that came, we had a wonderful dinner (with lots of leftover) and took a walk around a man-made lake in Irvine. I am not sure what the park is called, but it's by the Woodbridge $1 theater and Ruby's.

After our little so-called 'exercise', everyone came over to our home to hang out. I went over to Stater Bros to get some groceries. BTW, Coke branded 2-liters are $0.69, limited 8. Of course, I grabbed 8 bottles - stock up for cell group.

So we came back and I began making some spinach dip. After doing some research online, I found out that there are two types of dip - cold and hot. Since we had a block of frozen spinach, we ended up making both kinds. here is the quick and easy recipe:

COLD SPINACH DIP

• frozen spinach (squeezed dry)
• leek soup mix
• onion powder
• sour cream
• mayonnaise
• salt & pepper to taste

Mix everything together and chill for 2 hours before serving.

HOT SPINACH DIP

• frozen spinach (squeezed dry)
• leek soup mix
• onion powder
• sour cream
• cream cheese
• pepper jack cheese
• cheddar cheese
  
• milk
  
• salt & pepper to taste

Mix everything together based on your preference of sour cream vs cheese. The milk is to help the consistency of the dip. Lastly, cover the mixture with jack and cheddar cheese. Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes until cheese is bubbly and begin to brown. Serve with crackers.

Yummy.