Chinese Beef Noodle Soup Recipe.

Chinese Beef Noodle Soup Recipe.

(Recipe courtesy by Rachel, written by Betsy)

Ingredients:

2 lbs banana beef shank

1~1.5 tomato, blanched and chopped

0.5~1 yellow onion, finely chopped

14~16 cloves of garlic

2~4 dried red chili peppers (optional)

1 Tablespoon of brown sugar or rock sugar

1~2 cups of soy sauce, adjust as needed

2 cans of chicken broth (optional), you may choose to add this instead of water

½ cup of shao shin wine (or rice wine)

1 pinch of salt

4~6 quarts of water, adjust w/soy sauce and chicken broth as needed

2 Tablespoon of red chili sauce 蒜蓉辣椒醬

2 Tablespoons of (spicy) been paste (辣)豆瓣醬　

Dried herbs include (adjust according to size of the herb pieces):

1 桂皮 (cinnamon stick)
4 橘皮（陳皮）(dried orange peel)
2 甘草 (licorice)

Preparation:

Blanch tomato and peel off the skin.   You may also blanch the banana beef shank (as a whole) into the same pot of boiling water after you have used it for the tomato.  This will help clean off the beef and rid of impurities for cooking later.
Once beef shank is blanched, rinse with cold water and cut into pieces.

Cooking Directions:

Heat oil in large pot and once oil is ready, toss in the minced garlic.   Once garlic is fragrant, saute all the dried herbs until fragrant.
Carefully put all slices of beef shank into the pot, making sure each is distributed onto the pot.  Lightly cook the beef on both sides until brown to lock in the moisture on both sides.
After beef shank is browned, put the chopped onions and tomato into the pot.   Mix well for another minute or so.
Pour in the wine, soy sauce, 2 cups of water, the optional chili sauce, and the bean paste (豆瓣醬 ) into the pot and mix well.  The key is to have everything covered in the liquid.   Adjust the soy sauce to how salty you like the broth to be.
Bring to boil and then pick out the herbs and place them into a herb/tea pouch to separate them from the rest of the stew.   You may also add the rock sugar at this point.
Turn down to low ~ medium heat depending on your type of stove.  Key is to have the stew in small, bubbling state but not boiling.  The herb pouch may simmer with the rest of the stew for another hour or so.
After about an hour of simmering, adjust the taste of the liquid by adding soy sauce, rock sugar, salt, pepper, or water (chicken broth) to your liking.
Again, liquid has to cover all ingredients.
Simmer for another 1~2 hours and you may adjust taste throughout.
Eating instructions:

Assembly:

Prepare a large bowl with little bit of vinegar (optional) and dash of pepper.
Boil one serving of store-bought fresh noodles (follow package instructions).  Remove cooked noodles from the pot, rinse with cold water, and toss with some sesame oil to prevent noodles from sticking together.
Add some beef broth into the bowl (about 1/3 of the bowl), and then add the cooked noodle into the bowl.
You may boil your vegetable in the same liquid used for boiling noodles and then add vegetable into your bowl.
Add some of the noodle water into the bowl to dilute the salty beef broth.
Add some pieces of beef onto the top of the bowl.  You may garnish the bowl with some scallions, pickled vegetables and red chili.

Bon appétit!!

Fringe Benefits

These days we have so much choice when it comes to hair (and other things) that it's often very difficult to commit to one style. I will confess that I have always been quite conservative with both my cut and my colour, apart from a brief summer stint as a blonde ;). However, I have flirted with a fringe more times than I can recall. It seems that half my life has been spent awkwardly sweeping annoying strands from my forehead as I try to grow one out, and then finally getting bored and going for the chop once again. Wouldn't it be nice to have the option to radically change your style without expensive trips to the hairdressers and anguish over whether or not it will suit you? Well, now you can, with a clip-in fringe!

As you can see my hair is long and layered, with the front sections just below the cheek bone. To attach the fringe I took hair from the centre of my crown to my temples in a triangle shape, then twisted and secured it to the side using a bobby pin. I then clipped in the fringe and blended the sides with a comb.

 

This American Dream Vanessa fringe was sent to me for review in the colour - 33 rich copper. On the website it is described as a full, thick fringe with longer sides. At first I tried to create a more natural side fringe by clipping the it a little lower, closer to my hairline. I then secured it nearer to the crown to create a longer length, classic choppy fringe.

I was surprised by how good the colour match was, as I always find it difficult to chose the right shade on a website. The longer pieces on the side create instant layers that frame your face, help to blend the fringe in and look more natural. The Vanessa fringe is made of human hair, however I would say it doesn't blend in perfectly due to the hair being very smooth and shiny against my natural hair, which is more textured and a little thicker. This was particularly noticeable in bright light as the fringe looked much more glossy than the rest of my hair. However, this could easily be fixed by straightening the hair to make it look smoother and more shiny, or adding a little serum.

For more information you can visit the American Dream Extensions website here. Prices range from £7.26 to £20.37 for 100% human hair fringes in six styles.

Have you ever tried a clip-in fringe? Let me know what you think!

Confidence

I have had a couple of emails recently about confidence, more specifically, how to become more confident. I thought I would do a post on it and open it up to all of you guys since insecurity or being unsure of yourself is something that we all experience at some point. Some people are born confident, it’s just a facet of their personality but I don’t believe that anyone is 100% confident, 100% of the time. It’s something we all have to work on throughout our lives and it’s integral to our happiness. Feeling bad about yourself or the way you look can really hold you back in life and it can prevent you from achieving your goals and experiencing some pretty wonderful things. You could be missing out on a great guy, the perfect job, wearing the clothes you want to wear or being the person you always wanted to be. So why not make today the day you start to give yourself a break, start believing in who you are and start enjoying your life to the max!

Confidence is all about completely accepting who you are, what you've done, and loving yourself for all your mistakes, successes and bad hair days. It doesn’t matter what others think of you, belief in yourself is strongest and most powerful weapon you can have in life. With that, you can achieve anything! Remember when you were a kid and had big ideas about what you wanted to be? Why give up that enthusiasm for life just because you are older?

I would say I'm a confident woman now but I was never that way when I was a teenager. I was never in the popular group and I didn’t really have the right clothes or feel like I fitted in (except for within my small group of friends). I got bullied a bit and was called names, never anything physical but the psychological damage can stay with you for a long time and you’ll often find that your insecurities stem from things like that. Why is it we brush off all the compliments we get but remember criticism or put-downs for years to come??? I also went through a very bad, scary and destructive relationship when I was 17 and it affected my belief in myself in a massive way. It took a long time to repair myself after that but it made me a stronger person. I built on the experience and if it never happened then I never would have had the wonderful life I have now. I have no regrets because it made me who I am today.

So here’s some tiperoos on how I stay confident…

1) I think the first step to becoming a more confident person is to look at the people around you and decipher whether they have a positive or negative effect on you and your life. Negative people are like black holes and they can totally drain your energy and just suck the life out of you...they're energy vampires! You will probably feel exhausted after being around them because they drag you down and make you feel negative and depressed. Whether they are work colleagues, frenemies or even a member of your family, you have to take positive steps to block their negativity towards you. I often use one of two techniques…either you go on a charm offensive and be so sweet and nice that they don’t know what to say i.e.

Negative person: “You look really fat today”

You: *Smile* “Why thank you, I hear fat is the new thin! I’m SO on trend!”

Or I practice something that my mum taught me through her study of Reiki. You basically imagine that you are in a bubble and when they direct their negative energy towards you, just imagine it bouncing back to them whilst you stay completely safe in your bubble. This may sound stupid and I initially laughed when my mum advised me to do it but I tried it when I was having real problems at work with a couple of people and it worked for me. It makes you feel enpowered and strong because you make yourself untouchable to their nasty words or bad attitudes. Always remember that their negative behaviour is a reflection of them. It gives you an insight into you what kind of person they are and what issues they may be dealing with in their life. It's not a reflection of who you are so don’t let their issues drag you down and don’t give them the reaction they are looking for.

2) I know this is a boring one but it really is an important part of feeling good about yourself and life in general. Regular exercise improves your energy levels and releases endorphins into your body which make you feel on top of the world! You instantly feel more positive, you feel physically fitter and healthier and in turn you start to feel good about your body. You begin to have bags more energy and it doesn’t have to be about losing weight, it can just be about getting fit and being healthy. I NEVER regret going to the gym when I’ve finished a workout but I always regret it when I sit at home watching TV instead.

3) I always find that music has a massive effect on my mood. When I listen to uplifting music, I feel happy and energised and more confident. A great positive song is Katy Perry’s ‘Firework’ because the song itself is about being proud of who you are and achieving everything you’re capable of. It’s a temporary boost to your confidence but the more time you spend feeling happy, the more likely you are to feel more confident in general. I love blasting happy tunes before I go on a night out…I even have ‘getting ready’ playlists I put on whilst I put on my makeup. Yes I’m a big geek, thank you very much!

4) One of the most important things to remember…don’t try to be someone you’re not. Whenever you think of a confident person you know in your life, they seldom copy other people, they stand out because they are proud to be different. Compare yourself to yourself, not to others or you will always feel disappointed. There will always be someone more attractive, more successful, more talented. You have one face and one body you were born with and we all have individual talents. Be the best YOU can be. If you concentrate more on yourself and how you have grown as a person, then you can start to feel good about it rather than focusing on other people and what you don’t have. Don’t envy anybody. Every person has something unique. Develop that one thing in yourself and make it outstanding.

5) Accept compliments gracefully. Too often, when someone pays you a compliment, it becomes too easy to just shrug it off or tell yourself they were just being nice. Accept the compliment, take it in and believe it (unless it’s from some drunk guy in a bar at 3am. He just wants a little sumn sumn.ha ha). You have to start believing in yourself so next time someone says your hair looks nice, just say “thank you”. Don’t confuse confidence with arrogance though – it’s not about thinking you’re BETTER than other people, it’s about being happy with who you are and comfortable in your own skin.

6) Celebrate your individuality. Whether you write songs/poetry, you are the only one in your group of friends who likes country music, you have loads of piercing and tattoos, you want to be the next Susan Boyle…be proud to be different. Take control of your life and own it, own whatever you choose to do. Taking control of your life can give you confidence, whether it’s getting out of a bad job, getting rid of a toxic boyfriend or losing weight. Surround yourself with positive, genuine, good-hearted friends who make you laugh and believe in you and appreciate you for who you are as a person.

7) Kill negative thoughts. I used to always scrutinize my nose when I was a teenager. I hated the way it looked and I always wanted to get a nose job to shave down the slight bump in it. No one else seemed to notice it but me. But as I got older, I started to realize that my nose was what connected me to my family, where I came from. So why would I want to erase that? It tells a story about who I am and chances are, if I got a nose job then my face would look very different. I realized that it’s our imperfections that make us beautiful. For example, I always thought that Joaquin Phoenix’s cleft palette scar always made him more attractive. These little things tell a story about us all and you should wear them with pride. You have to learn to cut off that voice in your head that spews out negative thoughts and replace it with something positive. Mine used to be “urgh I hate my nose” and now it’s “my nose suits my face and every time I look at it, I’m reminded of where I came from”.

8) Grooming. Ok I don’t need to tell you guys about this because you’re already reading/subscribed to beauty blogs so you know the score! We all know how spending a bit of extra time styling your hair, finding the perfect foundation or finding that super flattering lipstick can give you bags of confidence. That’s why we’re all here obsessing over products day after day. We are all looking out for that product that will make just that extra bit of difference and make us feel good. That’s what I love about cosmetics, they can give people the confidence to feel good about the way they look and that’s truly priceless.

So that’s my take on the whole confidence issue and how I deal with it. Everyone has good days and bad days but it’s important to make sure the good outweigh the bad. Because life is too short to spend it putting yourself down, right? Only you can control how you see yourself so it's up to you to make the positive changes in your thought processes.  So hold your head up, smile and go about your day knowing that you are special.

What gives you confidence?