[Sweet] Yakkwa : Korean honey cookies

This Saturday is Lunar new year.

This is one of most biggist holiday in Korea.

We have a rite to remember ancestors.

One of food used for the ritual is Yakkwa.
After finish the ritual, we eat food together.
Cookies and other sweets are for children.
We used to compete to get Yakkwa since it is rare to have except when we have the ritual.
It is so sweet!!

[Sweet] Turron de alicante : Spanish nougat

My sister in law brought this for me from her trip to Spein.
This and other sweets from Spein changed my prejudice against chocolate.
I thought chocolates from Swiss or Belgium are the best but I am thinking of Spanish as the best now.

The first sweet from Spein is Turron de alicante.

 

This looks like a nougat but harder that nougat I ever had. Taste is fully nutty.

 

 

[Recipe] Dalgona : Korean sugar candy

I shared Dalgona - Korean sugar candy - is really delicious and easy to make.

 (http://fransisnanthony.blogspot.jp/2017/01/sweet-dalgona-korean-sugar-candy.html)

 

Let me share my recipe of Dalgona.

It is very simple if you have sugar and baking soda.

(Caution : It is better to use a cheaper ladle to avoid your expensive ladle browned.)

 

 

 

 

Ingridients : Sugar 2 table spoon, Baking soda 1/20 tea spoon

 

Caution : Too much baking soda makes Dalgona too risen. Just put a little bit.

 



 

 

Directions

1. Place 2 table spoons of Sugar in ladle and heat it over dedium heat until it turns to a complete solution. Stir it with a stick so that it deosn`t burn.
 

 
2. Put 1/10 tea spoon of baking soda and stir with a stick until it is evenly changed to creamy brown color.

3. Pour the solution into a flat plate.

 

4. Take off before it become completely hard. Otherwise it will be hard to take it off.

[Baby Care] What can we do with baby acne?

My second baby is now 56 days old.

He has acne on his face.

I was very worried about this since my first baby did not have acne but let this be.

I am told all problems on his face wil be gone afetr 6 months.

However, some people like my sister in law kept asking me to do something for his face.

She said this is going to become atopic skin if I let it be.

Therefore I had to do something to be looked as a good mother.

1. Room temperature? 22 degree celsius

His doctor told us that this is because of room temperature.

- Too high temperature is the reason for Baby acne, Baby heat rash according to him.

He recommended ua to maintain room temperater to about 22 degree celsius.

This worked for some but not for all.

2. Ointment?

Some people said ointment worked.

So I applied ointment on his face.

This was not not helpful to get rid of acne and I was nervous about the danger of ointment applied to very new baby.

I quited to do this after applied for two days.

3. Green tea? Green tea!

My sister in law taught me this.
I did not believe this would work because I could not find any one saying green tea is goid to get rid of baby acne.
But... it did work!
The thing is it depends on brands of green tea.
I tried 3 brands and just one was effective.

[Book] Work Smarter, Live Better by Cyril Peupion

I like to use examples from books when I conduct classes or coach people.

I use 2 examples from this book in 6S lecture.

(I will let you know what is 6S later.)

One is about personal performance at work.

Cyril sorts tasks by how long they take to be completed and how important they are.

Then he sweeps tasks which are not important to become the best performer.

The other example is about managing E-mail.

He sorts E-mails by how long it will take to be handled.

Then he handle tasks which will take within 5mins right away and book his time for tasks which will take longer. - Straighten

Finally, he can manage to sweep E-mails given to him.

Besides examples I mentioned, he shows many ways to work smarter by tidying things up.

The concepts are easy to understand and reasonable.

Having this book would be a good choice to start the year of 2017.

[Lean] The impressive oriental medical center in my hometown

I would like to introduce what the doctor does in one of oriental medical centers in my hometown.
I said about his solution to relieve my backache before.
(http://fransisnanthony.blogspot.jp/2017/01/health-quick-way-to-relieve-your.html)
 
As a lean six sigma expert, I coach projects and facilitate "Lean classes" of my company.
To help my colleagues really understand and use Lean not only in their work but also in their whole life, I try to give easy-to-understand examples from everywhere.
This oriental medical center example is the one of my favorite which apply lean practically.

Look at the table below which compares practice between the doctor in my town and others.

Patients` experience with…
Others` practice			His practice
Action	NVA	VA	Action	NVA	VA
Wait for his/her turn to see a doctor.	20mins		Wait for his/her turn to see a doctor.	15mins
Move to doctor`s room	1min		Move to the treatment room	1min
See a doctor to diagnosis his/her symptom.		5mins	Diagnosis his/her symptom and get a massage.		20mins
Move to waiting room.			Get acupuncture.		2mins
Wait for his/her turn to get acupuncture.	20mins		Get Infrared lamp therapy.		20mins
Move to the treatment room.	1min
Get acupuncture.		2mins
Get Infrared lamp therapy.		20mins
Time consumed	42mins	27mins		16mins	42mins
	69mins			58mins

 

 "Diagnosis-Treatment(Acupuncture-Infrared Lamp Care)" is the normal process in a oriental medical clinic.
Patients experience Non-Value-Added time less and Value-Added time more in his clinic.
Even they get a massage which they never get any other clinics.
Total time they spend in the clinic is less than the time in others.

The basic principle of Lean is to meet customers` needs with tranferring time from Non-Value-Added to Value-Added.

He is one of the best Lean doer.

[Health] The quick way to relieve your backache

I have a 53-day-old boy.
Even though he is kind of good and quiet baby, he is a baby. HaHa.....
As he is getting old, he is more demanding.
I spend more time to hold him in my arms than the day before. 
My back and shoulder is too painful to do other things that I have to do and I want to do.
This symptom is like when you have a herniated disk.
Being a mother is not that easy. It is even tiring.
However, thinking of my first son, I completely forget the tough days with him when I see him.
So I am looking forward when the second baby is at the age of my first baby - about 36 months.
Only what I can do until then is being patient.

 

I am going to share how I immediately relieve the backache .

Massage my feet!

I learned this from the oriental medical doctor in my hometown.
He is really amazing. - I will tell you why in the other post.
Anyway, he massaged my legs and feet when I reported my back pain.
He specially focused on the area where I groan with pain.
I marked that area in the picture of my feet below for your reference.

Later, I found massaging my feet by myself is very helpful to relieve the pain.

Have you ever heard about "Reflexology"?
I guess reflexology is the basis of his theory.

Warming my feet also helps to relieve the pain.

To apply my two solutions together,
I put my feet in warm water and massage.

[Korea] Things you must buy in Jeju Island

My friend returned from Jeju Island yesterday and gave my babies a box of dried mandrin.
My first baby and my nephew enjoyed having that finally kept asking for.
I promised them to give them today and have completely forgotten.
I did not unserstand why my son was looking for mandarin fruit this morning.
I explained we ate all few days ago but he did not give up.
Finannaly, what he seeking for if the pack og dried mandarin.
This little boy went to bed for dried mandarin yesterday. ^^
 

 
I am going to introduce things you must buy for your friends when you travel Jeju Island.
There are many besides what I am going to introduce but following are things I usually bring for my friends and family.

※ The wisest way to buy present for your friends is getting from "Dongmun Marketplace" from my experience.
 
1. Products made of mandarine
 
The weather of Jeju Island is suitable for raising Mandarine.
We were used to buy boxs of mandarine fruit when returning from Jeju Island.
The thing is mandarine goes bad easily so you have to have as soon as possible once you receive this as presents. 
You can not take this overseas.
To overcome this, people in Jeju Island are developing products made of Mandarine.
Now you can select from a variety of products made of mandarine for your friends - Dried Mandarine, Mandarine Chocolate, Vitamine C, Tarts etc.
 

 
2. Jeju pork jelly
 
Jeju pork is vary famous for it`s quality.
You must have this when you visit Jeju Island - We call this "HeukDoegy OGyeopSal".
I always put the schedule to have this when I go to Jeju Island.
(I will let you know my favorite restaurant for Jeju pork later.)
You can take this as jelly to your friends.
 
3. Jeju Honey bread

This is the one I most like in Jeju Island.
The bread is covered with honey and has adzuki bean paste in it.
There are many manufacturers who make Jeju Honey Bread and the taste varies.
Therefore you have to taste this and decide which you like the most.
I don`t remember my favorite manufacturer for this.
I will let you know once I get this.

[Recipe] Konjac Fruit Jelly

I shared Konnakubatake - Japanase Konjac Fruit Jelly - is really good before.

(http://fransisnanthony.blogspot.jp/2017/01/sweet-konnakubatake-konnaku-fruit-jelly.html)

 

Let me share my recipe of Konjac Fruit Jelly.

It is very easy to make.

You don`t need spend much time for this

and your kids will love this!

 

 

Ingridients : Konjac power 10g, Grape juice 600ml

 



Directions

1. Place 10g of Konjac powder and 600ml of Grape juice in a pot and mix them.
     (Add sugar or oligosaccharide if you want to)
2. Heat it over medium heat until it begins to boil.
    Stir the juice so that it does not burn.
3. Turn heat to light and boil for 1~2 minutes.
4. Pour the solution into a glass.
5. Wait until the solution becomes hard.
    (It normally takes an hour.)

Reference

I followed the instruction of the konjac jelly powder.
The amount of ingredients would depend on which brand you buy.

 

[Sweet] Sees candies from USA

I found this few year ago when my colleague returned from the business trip to USA.

It was the unforgettable moment that I tried chocolate flavor lollipop first.

It is hard to find where Sees candies is in sale.

Even in USA, You can find this in the limited places.

Fortunately, two sees candies store was opened about a year ago and I no longer have to look for the store.

Sees candies lollipop has 4 flavors and my most favorite is chocolate one.

I thought all people would like chocolate most so I tried to have chocolate as many as I can when I share candies with my friends.

However, I learned everyone has their favorite flavor.

[Sweet] Konnakubatake : Konjac Fruit Jelly in Japan

I like texture as well as flavor of Konnakubatake.

Only 25kcal per one pack of jelly will help your diet.

Konjac is good for your health. - lose Weight, relieve constipation, antioxidation etc
Caution : You have to make jelly very small pieces to serve your children. Otherwise, they can chock to death.

We bought more than 50 packages of Konnakubatake for ourselves and friends when we were returning from Japan.

I decided to make Konjac fruit jelly by mysrlf since it is hard to get this in Korea.

My family like my Konjac fruit jelly.

Especially with Korean grape juice, you could not stop to eat this!!!

I will share my recipe later.

[Sweet] Dalgona : Korean sugar candy

You can find Dalgona seller in some places of Korean traditional tourist site.

The sellers make Dalgona on the street - like street food.

Dalgona is sometimes sold in supermarkets but those are not as delicious as the one from the street.

You can easily make Dalgona if you have sugar and baking soda.(Tools : a ladle and a stick)

The only thing you have to be aware of is your ladle would be browned after making Dalgona.

Therefore it is better to get a cheap ladle when you try to make Dagona by yourself.

I will share the recipe of Dalgona later.

[Sweet] Yeot : Korean hard taffy

Yeot(Koran hard taffy) is my most favorite sweet in Korea.

I was used to get this from a stationary store nearby my school when I was a elementary school student.

However, It is hard to find in supermarkets nowadays.

You have to go to Korean traditional maketplace to buy this.

Therefore, I always stock Yeot in my refrigerator.

Yeot is made of malted barley and grain.

There are many kinds of Yeot - peanut yeot, pumpkin yeot and so on.
Some areas have special local yeot.

Koreans present Yeot to somebody who is going to take a exam soon.
This means 'I hope you pass the exam.'.
- Yeot is very sticky. Korean words for "pass the exam" and "stick to somewhere" are homonyms.

Introduction

Hi!

I would like to start this blog with introducing myself.

1. I like reading books.

2. I like sweets - chocolates etc.
3. I am studying Counseling Psychology at a graduate school.

4. I am working as a training manager.

5. I am a lean six sigma expert.

6. I am a mother of two sons.

7. I am living in Korea.

8. I am a chatholic.

I opened this blog to share my experience and knowledge related to those subjects.