What is your name and where are you currently?
My name is Stephanie and I’m in Hong Kong, China!
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Are you where you normally live?
I actually moved here last year, right before the protests started breaking out in June. So yes I am, but with all the protests which were really intense and then this outbreak I feel like I’m still waiting for life to feel normal here!
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What are you currently reading?
I’m in the middle of a few books right now! They’re pretty hefty so I have to cycle through them and absorb bits at a time. Right now it’s:
Dolores Cannon’s The Convoluted Universe
The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon of Medicine (translated)
and I’m reading Peter Deadman’s “Live Well, Live Long” next.
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What are you currently watching?
I just finished a k-drama about an acupuncturist from the Joseon dynasty who time travels to the modern era and meets a surgeon! Iol I loved it.
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What are you currently listening to?
Right now, my friend Neal’s mix that he just made. It’s really nice quarantine music and fits the weather we’re having in Hong Kong right now too. We’ve had endless days of mist and haze here. It’s a nice soundtrack for watching the ships go by!
https://soundcloud.com/cminuss/phork-shelter-mind
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What have you been eating the most? Do you have a recipe to share?
I started making millet porridge a lot the past 2 months. It’s really nourishing and gives me really smooth and steady energy throughout the day. You can basically throw whatever you want in it so it’s really versatile too! I eat it once every 3 days or so and writing about it now makes me crave it again. People don’t really know about it in the West and it’s overlooked even in Asia, but I’m discovering that it’s actually more nourishing than the crops that we’ve been over-producing in our food chain.
Millet porridge for 1
1/4 cup yellow millet (also called foxtail millet)
1 cup water
2 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
any vegetable, diced (I usually use potato and carrot + whatever’s in the fridge)
Any minced or diced meat, optional
Salt to taste
- Add water, broth, and millet to a small pot and bring to boil. Skim the foam off the top to keep the water from boiling over. Reduce heat to medium or medium-high.
- Add vegetables according to how long they will cook:
If root vegetables, add after reducing the heat.
If leafy greens, add near the end before turning off the heat. - Optional: If I need protein or iron, I usually marinate minced beef with a dash of salt and pepper, wait 10 minutes, and then add another dash of rice cooking wine and soy sauce (or just soy sauce), mixed with minced garlic and green onions. Marinate another 10 minutes, sautée quickly, and add to the porridge at the end. You can also add it directly into the porridge to cook as well if you want to deal with fewer cookware, but I prefer to seal the flavor in beforehand.
- The porridge is done when the millet absorbs the broth and the texture is creamy. About 20-30 minutes! Taste-test and add salt as desired!
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How are you moving your body/exercising?
I practice breathwork and qi gong every morning. It’s a really nice way to start the day and I always feel lighter after.
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