Free Book

Suze Orman is giving away her book Women and Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny. You can download a free copy here:

Link

If you don't know, Suze Orman is a financial expert and hosts a financial planning show.

Why I love my protein...

If you've seen my previous post about my fridge, you know I like protein (meat, fish, etc.). Usually, I'll drink a protein shake after exercising. =)

Here's an interesting article today about protein from Reuters:

Study explains how protein keeps hunger at bay

By Julie Steenhuysen Thu Jan 17, 7:20 PM ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Diets high in protein may be the best way to keep hunger in check, U.S. researchers said on Thursday in a study that offers insight into how diets work.

They found that protein does the best job at keeping a hunger hormone in check, while carbohydrates and fats may well deserve their current nasty reputation.

The study, which will appear in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, looked at the effectiveness of different nutrients at suppressing ghrelin, a hormone secreted by the stomach that stimulates appetite.

"Suppression of ghrelin is one of the ways that you lose your appetite as you begin to eat and become sated," said Dr. David Cummings of the University of Washington in Seattle, who worked on the study.

The researchers gave 16 people three different beverages, each with varying levels of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. They took blood samples before the first beverage, then every 20 minutes for six hours afterward, measuring ghrelin levels in each sample.

"The interesting findings were that fats suppress ghrelin quite poorly," Cummings said in a telephone interview. They fared the poorest overall.

"Proteins were the best suppressor of ghrelin in terms of the combination of the depth and duration of suppression," he said. "That is truly satisfying because high proteins are essentially common to almost all of the popular diets."

They also found that eating carbohydrates resulted in a strong ghrelin suppression at first, but ghrelin levels rebounded with a vengeance, rising to an even higher level.

Basically, the carbohydrates eventually made people even hungrier than before they had eaten.

Cummings said the findings may aid in future research on the effectiveness of different diets.

And the study likely means that nightly bowl of ice cream is out. "That is a bad idea no matter what," he said.

In a nutshell, protein suppresses hunger, which means you'll eat less.

My Favorite Breakfast

Although I'm a big fan of the typical American breakfast, this is my personal favorite. Cantonese style Dim Sum. Going clockwise from the bottom left we have shrimp dumplings with glass noodle wraps (really hard to make), chicken feet (braised in black bean/curry sauce), beef tripe (don't knock it until you try it), pan-fried turnip cakes, and porridge (with pork and thousand-year-old eggs.) What could be better? =)

L.A. weather

Of all the places I've visited, nothing beats L.A. weather. First of all, it hardly ever rains. There's so little rain that two songs have been written about it. Here are a few lyrics from one of them.

I haven't seen your face in a year
I can't wait till I get there
Just to kiss and squeeze and hug
Girl you know the rest 'cause they tell me

It never rains in southern California
It never rains in southern California

Maybe I'll take the flight out tonight and you can pick me up about 8
I don't know what airline girl but I know it won't be late 'cause they tell me

It never rains in southern California
It never rains in southern California

Also, it's a very mild winter. I was wearing short sleeves and almost turned on my car's a/c. The temperatures averaged about 70F (23C) during the day in January.

My Flight Home....

I had a very pleasant flight home. Incheon is one of the nicest airports. On the right is a picture of my plane. It's a Boeing 777. I really like the personal video monitors and the design of the interior, much better than the old 747. =)

My Cravings

Some people ask me: "What will you do when you go home?"

Let's see...

Look at that melted cheese... It's an In-N-Out burger. If you are ever in L.A. or Las Vegas, ask for a "Double-Double with everything." It'll be the best $2.50 you ever spent. You can find a location here.

Need some fries with that?

Chili-Cheese Fries from The Hat.

Okay. That was breakfast. For lunch, I love eating Cantonese style Dim-Sum. There's a great restaurant near my parent's house. There are five dishes I really like. Beef rolls are one of them.
How do we get there?

I'm driving. My car is a Mazda Miata convertible and I miss driving.



















I'll also shop at my favorite department store:


Usually, when I get home I have jet lag. So, I wake up pretty early. For the first few days, I'll watch the sunrise.

When I'm home, everyone else is working. So, I'll make dinner a few times in my mom's kitchen.












Here are a few dishes I've made for dinner. :)

Viewer Mail

Here are a few e-mails I've received recently:

I am taking an ESL course here (in Canada) at a private school.

the funny thing is, there are lots of Koreans in my school.

in my class, for instance, there are 5 more Koreans!!!!

they always talk to each other in Korean when the teachers are not with them.

also, they don't show up when the presentation days come.

isn't it ridiculous? why are they here?

Studying English abroad is not a magic pill. In my opinion, if you can't learn the language in your home country, going abroad will not help. Most students that do well abroad are diligent students at home. The problem is not your geographical location, it depends on the individual. Honestly, some of my best students have never been abroad and some of the worst have studied abroad.

I feel English is harder and harder because I know the meaning of a word I use but I don't know the connotation of it so I worry that I may have made a mistake or upset someone when saying something. Learning English is not only about the language but also about the culture. I think.

Right. If you really want to jump start your language acquisition, then learn some culture as well. How can you learn any language quickly if you dislike and do not want to learn about the culture?

Thank you very much for your passionate and kind teaching and what you have done for me...

Sometimes I receive "thank you" e-mails. It's nice. However, the best way to thank me is by improving and learning. =)

Hello Andy,

Today I was selected as an Interpol officer by the Korean National Police Agency. Thank you very much for you remarks and kind advice. It was really helpful for me.

No need for thanks. =) This particular student did extra practice and studying outside of class. One of his hobbies is reading English versions of Time and Newsweek magazine.