Chicken or Egg?

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Aunty

Here’s a thought for you that can hopefully change your mindset about financial well being and action:

Imagine your savings, home equity, retirement funds as being eggs. If you have your funds in stocks or mutual funds sitting in accounts, they are also eggs. As a matter of fact, people actually call these their nest egg! When you need to draw out from these eggs, you will have to crack them or take a bite (if they are hard boiled.) You then end up with less egg in your nest of financial options. This goes on until your nest egg is gone.

In money terms, you will be using up your funds each time you make a withdrawal unless your earnings or value increases by more than the amount withdrawn. You might be able to survive if you have a huge amount of funds to last a good many years, or the amount you withdraw is piddly enough to never diminish the principal.

We have taken our egg (specifically our home equity) and bought a live chicken that lays eggs. The eggs in our nest accumulate because the chicken keeps laying them eggs. Now, when we need to draw out funds, we take it from the pile of eggs and leave the chicken alone. We can even buy more chickens with our ever growing pile of eggs!

In money terms, we used our funds to buy an asset (investment property) that pays out cash flowing rents (eggs). That cash flow pays our bills and will fund our retirement. The asset (chicken) remains intact.

That is sweet chicken!

On Commitment

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Aunty

This was passed out to all in attendance at the first Rich Woman seminar held here in Hawaii by Kim Kiyosaki. Kim is a wonderful inspiration – she has built up her own real estate empire, is the beloved wife of Robert, and is really really nice, and rich!

Here it is:

On Commitment

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Always ineffectiveness.

Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans; that the moment one defiantly commits oneself, then providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur that would never otherwise have occurred.

A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamt would come his way.

I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets – “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”

– W.H. Murray, “The Story of Everest”

Do I hear an Amen to that?! Amen!

So what if you could….

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Aunty

I just listened to a CD on “Your Personal Profile for Wealth – Revealed,” a Raymond Aaron interview with Roger Hamilton. It was about learning what you do best – here’s a link to his test. It will cost you $100, so check out his videos and site before you decide.

The interview was also about making money in order to give. Wonderful concept. This isn’t about giving all your personal belongings away and entering the welfare system or scraping along with the bare minimum. It is about acquiring wealth not for the sake of acquiring wealth, but for the sake of being able to give (as well as live comfortably).

I believe that most people are generous at heart, but feel unable to share or give because they don’t have enough for themselves or are struggling to make ends meet.

But what if you could? What if you could have enough, what if you could do what you want, what if you could make your goals become reality?

Actually, you can. They key is to figure out what you need to do in order to get to that point, and then do it.

Although most of the Wealth Builder CD was about making business decisions based on giving (which is in itself a great way of thinking), those 5 little words – But what if you could – resonated with me. It brings to mind the wonderful song “I Believe I Can Fly”. I believe I can touch the sky….

What if you could? It is up to you no matter what your circumstances. The smallness of your life is puny compared to the vastness of the universe. Tap into the universe, believe in yourself, commit to your goals, and you will be like The Little Engine That Could.

Namaste, Praise the Lord, Shalom, and all other good stuff. Go out there and fly!

Tips

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Aunty

Tried and true, best of the best. And easy. I don’t like to cook, so if I do have to cook, it has to be simple and delicious, or else we go out and eat at Zippy’s.

I bought a few musubis from Mana Bu’s and shared some with good friend Lin. As we were happily munching on it, I commented on how perfect it was. The rice was cooked perfectly, the salt taste just enough, the nori really good, and the filling (tuna mayonnnaise at the time) tasty and spread just right. Little bites, chew, savor, yum. I know Mana Bu’s uses really good rice – short grain Tamanishiki rice and even though I sometimes use that rice, somehow it was better in Mana Bu’s musubi. Lin is a very wise cook, and she said she thinks they use less water than normal to cook the rice because it wasn’t mooshy at all. Each rice grain held it’s own and could be separated.

Here’s how (using those automatic rice cookers): After rinsing the rice, put just a bit less water than the norm. Example – if you are cooking 2 cups of rice, put 2 dry rice cups (comes with the cooker) in the pot and rinse well. Add water, but not all the way up to the 2 cup line. Rice is better that way – not too mushy, more like the stuff they serve in good Japanese restaurants that make you comment, “This is really good rice!”

Here’s a video on peeling potatoes the easy way:

Preparing and cooking with your cast iron pan

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Aunty

Cooking with a cast iron pan is the best way to cook – you get a bit of iron in your food, and the heat can be really really high if you need it to be.

When you shop for a new pan you will find raw cast iron (looks like aluminum in color and have spots of rust) or preseasoned ones. Cast iron is naturally stick free if it has been prepared right and since the preparation process can be quite time and labor intensive, you can purchase preseasoned pans for quite a hefty price. The advantage is that you can start cooking with these heavy duty pans right away.

To prepare your “raw” cast iron pan, coat it with oil or fat. You can use vegetable shortening (i.e. Crisco) or the old folks like lard or bacon fat. Bake the skillet upside down, with a sheet of foil below to catch the drips, in 400º oven for an hour. Make sure your kitchen is well ventilated with the vents going and your windows open. It will be smokey. Remove the pan after it is cool.

Cooking with cast iron is wonderful. For even heating, start with low heat and then increase the temperature slowly. Preheating the pan in the oven is great too, but be careful when you remove the hot pan from the oven – make sure you have insulation on your hands before touching, and do not set the hot pan down on your countertop or table – put it on your stove’s burner right away. Cast iron does not heat fast, but once it is hot, it is piping hot all the way through the handle – so protect yourself and your surfaces.

After the pan is nice and hot, add your cooking oil and throw the ingredients to cook with sizzle and oomph! Cast iron pans can go directly from the stovetop to the oven, since they are practically indestructible and 100% plastic free.

Cleaning the pan is much harder than the lightweight non-stick pans, and much heavier to handle. The trick to cleaning them is to remove food residue without damaging the seasoned surface or encouraging rust. The old way is to scrub with hot water and a brush or coarse salt, but no soap. If this makes you uncomfortable, then using a mild detergent after most of the residue is gone is fine. Never put the pan in the dishwasher. Scrub with steel wool only to remove rust. Uncle likes to fry steaks over high heat with the pan – so ono with Hawaiian sea salt and Canadian steak seasoning – yum!!!

Aunty has to “remind” him to put a cup of water in the pan after he is finished so the gunk gets softened and makes it much easier to clean after we have finished eating.

After washing, towel dry or set it on a low burner to remove all moisture. Drying well and quickly will prevent rust. Oil the pan lightly before putting away.

Best Oriental Salad Dressing

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Aunty

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup Japanese rice vinegar

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Put all ingredients into a salad bottle container. I use the Tupperware salad mixer bottle and shake like crazy, then put in a spare salad dressing bottle. Refrigerate.

Toss in a bowl with cut or shredded lettuce, cooked chicken bits like shredded Costco roast chicken, and wun ton strips. Yum!

Optional: add Chinese parsley, walnuts, char siu to salad.

This is a really great light dressing that makes THE best oriental chicken salad. Somehow it tastes healthy too!

Aunty also uses it on the uber easy super ono watercress tofu salad. Cut small (about 1/2 – 3/4″) cubes from a drained block of firm tofu. Lay on the bottom of a salad bowl. Make sure that most of the water is drained or absorbed from it unless you like it watery. Open and drain a can of tuna and spread over the tofu layer. Over this, lay on 1″ or longer fresh cut watercress, including the stalks if desired. When ready to serve, pour the salad dressing over without mixing. Serve with tongs.

Kudos for the recipe to one of the baseball moms we knew – very sorry, but Aunty has misplaced her name. She is tall, thin, had short hair, was super nice.

Chinese style Steamed Fish

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Aunty

My favorite way to eat fish. Just make sure there are no scales left on the skin if you are steaming whole fish. I once bought fish fillets from Whole Foods – Chilean Sea Bass. Unreal good stuff. Costed a lot though. Sometimes you have to spoil yourself and get the best.

STEAMED FISH

Sprinkle salt on cleaned fish (or fillet), lay stalks of green onion over. Place in steamer or wrap with foil, and put in pan of water. Boil water until fish is done. To check, poke a chopstick or toothpick in center. If it comes out “clean”, fish is done.

Put fish on a bed of chopped Chinese parsley or pak choi if desired. Put lots of Chinese parsley over the fish too.

: throw in chopped ginger, garlic, onions, soy sauce in hot oil, add a little water, heat until slightly smoking

Sauce:

In a small fry pan, heat up about 1/4- 1/2 cup of peanut oil, add in lots of chopped garlic, ginger, green onion. Stir on medium high heat until garlic & onion are cooked. Add about 1/4 – 1/2 cup of shoyu (optional: add a little water), stir, bring heat up high so this mixture starts smoking a little. Pour over fish.

: heat small amount of peanut oil in dry pan until smoking

Oil:

Most important part – rinse out and dry completely the small fry pan. Heat up pan to make sure there is no moisture in remaining. Put about 1/4 cup or less of peanut oil in hot pan, turn up heat to high until the oil is smoking a lot. Pour hot oil over the prepared fish.

This part is messy because the oil will sizzle upon contact with fish, so put newspapers or something around the plate for easier cleanup.

Eat hot. Yum!

Fishcake with Oio or Awa

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Aunty

Uncle says this recipe is the best one. I got this from the Hilo Women’s Country cookbook. They must have good cooks over in Hilo. When Uncle catches oio, I make fishcake, but first he has the harder job of skinning, then spooning the meat off the fish. I then go in with my hands and fingers and pick out any bones he may have missed. Uncle says he doesn’t mind the bits of bones. How can that be? I think it must be true that men are from Mars. Us Venusians want bone-less fishcake.

Fishcake

3 cups fish meat scraped or ground (awa or oio)
1 cup cornstarch
6 tsp salt
6 Tblsp sugar
1/2 tsp ajinomoto
3 eggs
3 1/2 cup fish stock or chicken broth or water
1/3 – 1/2 cup chopped ham, carrots, and green onion

Beat eggs. Add salt, sugar, ajinomoto and cornstarch. Add to fish meat gradually with fish stock. When all liquid is used and the mixture is smooth, add the chopped ham, carrots, green onions and mix well with a spoon. Fry in deep oil until lightly brown.

Option – can use peas, spam, lup cheong, etc.

I like to use my Fry Daddy to deep fry. Easy, fast.

Garlic Mayo Shrimp

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Aunty

10 lbs raw shelled, cleaned jumbo shrimp, pat dry

1 bottle mayonnaise

1 bottle oyster sauce

LOTS of chopped garlic 5-8 heads of garlic

1/4 cup whiskey

1/4 cup vodka

dash of cayenne powder to taste

Put chopped garlic in mixing bowl. Add mayonnaise, oyster sauce, whiskey, vodka, and cayenne and mix with a spoon or spatula. Add shrimp. Marinate for at least 2 hours, and up to 48 hours in refrigerator. Grill over outside hibachi until golden brown. Enjoy!

Kudos for the recipe to Ken and Rene Nakamura, from baseball potluck days. We always looked forward to their fantastic shrimp hot off the grill!

Goodie Goodie Ice Cream

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Aunty

Almost like Maui’s Guri Guri ice cream, just more accessible and rather economical.

1 can condensed cream

1 can 7 up

1 can strawberry soda (or whatever flavor you like best)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl that can freeze. Put in the freezer. Stir every half hour until frozen – takes about 6 hours. Scoop into smaller cups, enjoy.

Mahalo Barry and Cynthia!