Pam Pho's Blog

As a goodbye gift to fans as members of BIGBANG enlist for the mandatory two years they dropped a new single, Flower Road, today.

Flower Road with English Subs

Thanks to K-Music on Youtube you can read the English subs along with the new track.

According to Soompi the track is already demolishing real time charts.

Fan reactions have been excited. After all, Flower Road is probably the last music they’ll get from their favorite idols during the 2 year enlistment.

flower road – a song achieving all time kills everywhere within 6 hours, with 4/5 members in the army, w no mv and promotions????

must be great being legends

Berry season in California is my absolute favorite time. There are folks setting up shop on street corners selling the best fruit you can find all over the country. Last Friday I stopped and bought some strawberries and mangoes below my house. As soon as I saw the pallet of berries I knew I had to make a strawberry shortcake. I wanted to mix it up a bit so I made strawberry cupcakes instead.

Using vanilla I bought in Mexico earlier in the month for the whipped cream was a divine experience. I’ve never tasted vanilla flavors so prominent in home baking. I’m not sure I can go back to store bought vanilla. I was able to find the exact vanilla I used on Amazon.

I doubled this batter and made 12 cupcakes and one small bread pan cake for a friend.

Strawberry Cupcakes Process

Cutting strawberries is no joke. For some reason I keep forgetting I bought a food processor because I hate cutting things. So, I ended up cutting 2 cups of strawberries by hand.

I made the batter while the oven preheated and greased my pan and put cupcake liners in the cupcake tin.

The cook time for the cake was about 10 minutes longer than the cupcakes.

I made the whipped cream while the cupcakes were cooling.

They tasted like angels made them.

A reenactment was filmed of me eating the cakes.

You may also like our lemon cupcakes with blackberry icing or our earl grey teacakes with almond buttercream.

Print
Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes

Prep 30 mins

Cook 15 mins

Total 45 mins

Author Pam Victorio

Yield 12 Cupcakes

Cupcake Batter Ingredients

2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 cup of melted unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
1 cup of diced fresh strawberries

Frosting Ingredients

2 cups of heavy cream
4 tbsp of powdered sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract
12 strawberries cleaned 

Cupcake Instructions

Preheat Oven to 350
Add liners to cupcake pan
Cream butter and sugar together in stand mixer
Add dry ingredients one at a time
Add the eggs
Add the cup of diced strawberries
Beat until smooth
Add to cupcake liners and bake for 15 minutes 
Cool cupcakes and add frosting and strawberry on top

Frosting directions

Add all ingredients to stand mixer and beat until peaks form

Courses Dessert

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Hwayugi just finished airing on TVN and is the anticipated new show from the famed Hong Sisters.

c/o Viki

Year: 2017-2018

Synopsis of Hwayugi from Viki:

When a human woman can give great powers to any demon who devours her, how can she stay safe?

Jin Sun Mi (Oh Yeon Seo) is a successful real estate CEO who has the ability to exorcise demons from bad-luck properties. But to the demons living on Earth, she is known as Sam Jang, who carries the irresistible scent of a lotus flower and can give great powers to anyone who eats her.

When Sun Mi was a young girl, Son Oh Gong (Lee Seung Gi), a trouble-making deity, tricked her into releasing him from a castle where he was imprisoned and made a contract with her to always appear and protect her whenever she called out his name. But he tricked her again by removing her memory of his name. In modern times, Son Oh Gong freeloads off of Woo Hwi (Cha Seung Won), another deity known as Woo Ma Wang who works as the CEO of an entertainment company and enjoys more fame and adoration than some of the celebrities in his company.

Son Oh Gong is intent on finding Sam Jang so that he can eat her and become the most powerful god. His friend, top idol star P.K (Lee Hong Ki), wants just a nibble for himself. When Song Oh Gong realizes that Sam Jang is Sun Mi, he at first protects her from attacks from other demons to save her for himself. But with the help of Woo Ma Wang, will Sun Mi find a way to force Son Oh Gong to serve as her protector?

Review:

Hwayugi couldn’t decide what it really wanted to be. I’ve come to expect some disconnect from the Hong Sisters, don’t get me started on Big, but Hwayugi could have benefited greatly from cementing itself in one camp.  Was it an epic romance? A monster-a-week romp? A look into Korean folktales? Who knows!

Despite the discombobulation, the actors really knocked this out of the park. Oh Yeon Seo portrayed a woman that takes the punches thrown at her perfectly. Between her and Cha Seung Won the drama was saved for me. I didn’t really care for Lee Seung Gi’s acting in this one. I didn’t feel the advancement of his feelings toward Sam Jang.

As always Lee Hong Ki delights and was the only character to make me ugly cry.

All in all a strong 2018 drama that will keep you interested. I do feel it’s better for a binge watch, rather than weekly viewing so you’re all set.

You may enjoy my reviews of Legend of the Blue Sea and Revolutionary Love.

New to K-Drama, here’s ten awesome dramas to get you started.

 

The post K-Drama Review: Hwayugi appeared first on Nerdy Lifestyle.

Black Panther has always been a favorite superhero for me. He has the kind of backstory that you don’t normally get in comics, it’s lush and filled out. He also has extra responsibilities that most heroes and mutants don’t have to worry about. Plus, he married Storm and made her a queen. 10 million bonus points.

Here are the reasons Black Panther is the coolest Marvel character.

Wakanda

T’Challa’s powers derive from Bast’s blessing. The leader of Wakanda isn’t given the title and the abilities simply for being king. T’Challa had to pass tests in order to claim his right to the powers that help protect his people. While he has aligned with both The Avengers and the X-Men, Wakanda will always come first for him. He is a true leader that cares about his people. I cannot wait to see this translate into the film. Chadwick Boseman plays a fantastic Black Panther, giving this character a feature film series is just a great idea.

While in the comics T’Challa loses his father at 8 having the character lose him in Civil War brings all of that pain to the forefront. In the movie, we will see a man that is struggling to learn how to manage grief and new responsibilities.

Comics

We still have time to catch up on the most important parts of his journey thus far to get the facts before the movie. According to the Marvel Encyclopedia Updated and Expanded Edition, the essential storylines for Black Panther are:

Jungle Action #6-18
Black Panther Vol. 4 #14-18
Black Panther Vol. 5 #1-6

In these volumes we see T’Challa return from the US to fight off Erik Kilmonger’s plan to steal the throne, marry Storm, and a broken Black Panther who sees his sister Shuri take up his mantle.

Dora Milaje

I am SO EXCITED to see these women get their Marvel lore expanded in the movie. Not much is known about them outside of they are taken from every Wakandan tribe, royal guards to the king, possible marriage fodder as they are the elite Wakandan women. On the screen, we can see the warriors they truly are.

Representation

Representation matters in every form of media. Luke Cage killed it on the small screen and Black Panther will mean so much to so many people. The movie sold more advance tickets than any Marvel movie to date. The title was previously held by Captain America: Civil War, the movie that introduced T’Challa and his abilities.

 

The action in this film is going to prove to be the best yet for Marvel. Get thyself to Fandango and buy yourself a ticket. It’ll be more than worth it. I stake my nerd card on it.

The post Why Black Panther Will Be the Best Marvel Franchise appeared first on Nerdy Lifestyle.

Title: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Director: Jake Kasden

Company: Sony ENT

Theater Release Date: December 20

Our Rating:

Review Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

 

This new take on Jumanji isn’t the movie from our childhood. The pocket world realized that no one plays board games anymore and changes itself into an NES type console and rockets one kid into to play the game. Twenty years later four kids get detention and end up playing their way into this new Jumanji. I went in expecting to hate it. I really didn’t think there was anything the cast or writers could do to make me care about this movie, and in the end, I ended up laughing and having a great time and giving it five stars.

Jack Black and Dwayne Johnson carry the film on their shoulders. Karen Gillan and Kevin Hart do well and give great performances but nothing can compare to Jack Black being a selfie-obsessed white girl with a new found male appendage and Dwayne turning from super nerd into a superhero.

The plot moved along super fast and the conclusion raced across the screen. We went for a birthday celebration and had kids aged 6-15 with us as well as four adults and every single person walked out of the theatre smiling.

Let us not forget that the only relevant Jonas brother is also in this film and he does a great job. He’s definitely flat compared to Black and Johnson but who wouldn’t be? His portrayal of a scared guy trying to make it out of Jumanji alive was wonderful.

This is a seriously laugh out loud comedy from the second the movie starts. I highly recommend seeing it at some point, if not in the theater grab the DVD!

 

You may also like the review of Legend of the Blue Sea.

 

The post Movie Review: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle appeared first on Nerdy Lifestyle.

There were a lot of cool things that happened in 2017. Here are our Top 10 2017 picks for things we absolutely loved.

 

Media

 

Strong Woman Do Bong Soon

Strong Woman Do Bong Soon is the best Korean Drama of 2017. It takes conventional gender roles and turns them on their head in 5 million different ways. It also allows the female lead to be the superhero and save the day on multiple occasions. The character development is stellar and there’s a huge mystery with a climatic build up. The drama is on Netflix and DramaFever.

Bonus Drama: Fight My Way

2. Coco

Coco was tearful and hopeful and said a lot about family. I loved every moment and cried a ton.  The animation was great and the characters so lovable. Plus the movie had a plot twist that even I didn’t see until five minutes before it happened. That’s very rare. Coco is still in theaters and should be seen in all its big screen glory.

Bonus movie: Thor: Ragnarok 

3. Dream Daddy

Dream Daddy is not a game I thought I would play or enjoy but I did truly love building my dad and dating the dads in my neighborhood as well as parenting my teen daughter. This game was a break-out hit and great for when you just want to spend a few minutes playing a game that doesn’t involve a ton of thought or button mashing.

Bonus game: Assassin’s Creed Origins

4. Puzzle Fighter 

Puzzle Fighter being brought to the app store is amazing. It brings the best things about Street Fighter and Tetris together for one enjoyable mobile gaming session.

Bonus app: Animal Crossing Pocket Camp

5.  BTS, Love Yourself: Her

BTS invaded the US with their new album and it was the best yet. I particularly enjoyed the remix of Mic Drop with Steve Aoki.

Bonus album: Sia, Everyday is Christmas

Literature

The Bear and the Nightingale  

 

 

The Bear and the Nightingale is a beautiful fantasy full of Russian Folklore. I loved it incredibly much. The sequel is out as well.

 

 

 

 

2. Pachinko

 Pachinko follows a multi-generational storyline during the time that Japan occupied Korea. It’s beautiful fiction.

 

 

 

 

3. The Hate You Give (THUG)

The Hate You Give has spent most of 2017 on the bestseller lists for good reason. Born from the Black Lives Matter protest, THUG brings a much-needed voice to contemporary literature.

 

 

 

4. Flame in the Mist

Flame in the Mist is a better Mulan. Full of action and deep plot I enjoyed reading this fantasy immensely.

 

 

 

 

5.  One Dark Throne

I generally don’t put sequels on my lists but this series is just so outstanding. Seriously. Go read them now.

 

 

 

 

Book I’m most looking forward to in 2018: The Belles

 

What were the things you loved in 2017? What are you looking forward to in 2018?

 

The post Top 10 Things We Loved Most in 2017 appeared first on Nerdy Lifestyle.

The Legend of the Blue Sea is the last drama starring Lee Min Ho before his mandatory 2-year military service. It’s the first appearance for Jun Ji Hyun after having her first child.

image c/o Viki

Year 2016-2017

Synopsis for Legend of the Blue Sea from Viki:

Shim Cheong (Jun Ji Hyun) is a mermaid who follows her one true love, a nobleman’s son named Kim Moon from the Joseon Dynasty to modern-day Seoul. Moon’s modern doppelgänger is Heo Joon Jae (Lee Min Ho), a highly skilled scam artist who first becomes interested in Shim Cheong because of a jade bracelet worth $6 million that Shim Cheong wears.

With nowhere to go, Shim Cheong is taken in by Joon Jae, who also finds his con partners, Jo Nam Doo (Lee Hee Joon) and Tae Oh (Shin Won Ho), hiding out in his home from a vengeful past victim of their scams. Shim Cheong discovers a rival for Joon Jae’s heart in Cha Shi Ah (Shin Hye Sun), a researcher at KAIST who deals with ancient artifacts.

When a dangerous killer named Ma Dae Young (Sung Dong Il) sent by Joon Jae’s stepmother who wants to make her own son the heir to Joon Jae’s fortunes, can Shim Cheong survive her strange new environment while also helping Joon Jae avoid the dangers that await him?

 

Review:

Initially, I had a hard time beginning the Drama. I didn’t care for the first episode and I didn’t see any character progression for the first two. K-Drama episodes are generally over an hour long and progress very quickly. Because I find that Lee Min Ho is an astonishing actor I continued with the show. By episode four I had forgotten my nascent dislike of the drama. The reincarnation theme of everything is happening in 2016 as it happened before in the Joseon Era is fascinating. A past life with a tragic ending and a plan set in motion to help love last in the next life is fresh. Adding mermaid legend to the mix really improved the story.

The charisma between the leads and the characters all playing their parts in this predestined fate was phenomenal. The Legend of the Blue Sea will be going down in history as one of my favorite dramas.

I don’t think this is a starter drama. There are too many unanswered questions until the end and some confusing dialogue if you haven’t watched a ton of drama from Korea.

If you’re interested in K-Drama here’s a great starter drama list, and also a review of Revolutionary Love.

The post K-Drama Review: The Legend of the Blue Sea appeared first on Nerdy Lifestyle.

Shyla and her husband David put together the best nursery in the galaxy waiting for their daughter Hazel Rey to be born. This Star Wars Nursery will ensure the force is strong with this one.

Check out the images below to see the rest of the Star Wars nursery and meet Hazel Rey!

Shyla had this to say about creating the nursery:

“My husband, David, and I started the adoption process a little over a year ago. We were completely open to adopting any child that matched with us, so that meant we had no idea what the age, gender, or ethnicity of our baby would be.

With that in mind, we wanted to make sure that our nursery (which had to be ready in case we matched quickly) would be appropriate for whatever baby we came home with.

We are both huge fans of Star Wars and, especially because of the diversity in the most recent movies, we knew it would be the perfect theme for our Padawan. It also seemed perfect that our child’s first room would be based on a world where the three main heroes from the original trilogy were adopted.

All of our furniture was second hand and painted to look like a matched set. We purchased some prints of Rey, Finn, and BB-8 from an Etsy shop and a Wampa rug (which scared the heck out if our dog for a month) from ThinkGeek.

My favorite part of the nursery, though, is the hand-painted mural that David did on the wall over the crib. It’s a desert planet under a starry sky with a quote from Maz Kanata. Each of the stars represents someone who helped us along our journey to adopt- the lights that will continue to help guide our child.

We waited to add in the silhouetted figure until we knew the gender of our baby which happened on August 18th of this year when we matched with our birth family.

A week later, our Jedi, Hazel Rey was born.”

















Do you have a nerdy nursery? Email us nerdylifestyleblog@gmail.com.
You may also like this Star Wars Wedding.

The post Star Wars Nursery appeared first on Nerdy Lifestyle.

Revolutionary Love is a 2017 K-Drama that aired in Korea October 13th – December 3rd. All episodes are available on DramaFever.

credit: DramaFever

 

The story has all of my favorite K-Drama bits. A love triangle that’s easy to figure out. A rich boy learning how the 99% live. A regular guy with a chip on his shoulder navigating his way through a huge company. These parts of the drama I really enjoyed. The characterizations were written well and the actors really brought the dynamics to life.

However, Revolutionary Love failed in some of the most basic ways. I never felt a connection between any of the characters. Hyuk (Choi Shi Won) was adamant about loving Joon (Kang So Ra) but I didn’t feel the chemistry. Maybe it’s because he never did the ‘confession’ that you find in many dramas, or maybe it’s because she never really accepted his love. The love connection wasn’t there for me.

The romance between Joon and Jae Hoon (Gong Myung) didn’t fare any better. Joon confessed to him in college and he acted like a bit of a prat and that was that. Years later, after he began working for Gangsu he rented the apartment below her to be near her. In the time Jae Hoon had Joon to himself he never advanced the romance. He only chided her for being a part-time worker.

Each of the characters has the tragic backstory that we’ve come to expect from contemporary dramas. These were not presented in a way that made me feel more sympathetic toward the character. I felt the emotional development was rushed and therefore you couldn’t build the connections needed with the main characters.

There are funny moments. They’re over the top and a bit cringeworthy.

Most of the story is set on the main characters trying to bring down Hyuk’s corrupt father’s business. Hyuk has lived as a third generation rich boy all of his life, now in his 30s he’s realizing other people maybe have it not so great. His father directly ruined Joon’s father’s life. He also employs and explots Jae Hoon’s father. Hyuk wants to revolutionalize Gangsu and make it a better place. The writing here was shoddy. You see Hyuk changing but not in a powerful way.

Overall Revolutionary Love was cute at times, funny at times, and sad at times but it never reached its full potential.

You might enjoy this 10 K-Dramas to Watch First list.

The post K-Drama Review: Revolutionary Love appeared first on Nerdy Lifestyle.

It’s a fact that watching anime makes you hungry. The way the food is drawn and the character’s enjoyment of the dishes is something that can’t be replicated. I’ve long wanted to try preparing the food. This blog series was born of that wish. The first recipe in this series is Gotcha Pork Roast from Food Wars.

The scene that made me want to recreate can be found on Youtube.  It’s one of my favorite scenes from the entire series. I’ve always wanted to eat Soma’s food.

The roast itself isn’t that hard to make. It does require a bit of patience. I’ve made the ingredients a bit more Americanized to make sourcing easier for those who don’t live in food diverse areas.

Making the Gotcha Pork Roast

After steaming potatoes and adding some ingredients you create the look of the roast. The potatoes soak up the bacon juices and become softer and filled with delicious meat flavor.

When the roll is formed you start wrapping the roast in bacon. This seems ridiculously simple but when trying to not squish potatoes while applying the bacon I may have said some things my mother wouldn’t have enjoyed hearing.

When Soma is met with a challenge in his kitchen he kicks butt. I decided to continue rolling my potatoes in bacon like a boss.

 

When the roast is all wrapped up in bacon you will secure it with twine. Add rosemary under the twine to give the flavor a kick. While it’s baking in the oven make the red wine sauce.

The three of us ate the entire roast. We didn’t even remember to take a photo when it was plated. We just went for it. If you have more than four people to feed you can double this recipe easily.

We used Pinot Noir from Guglielmo Winery to make the pour over sauce. I’ve long been a fan of their wines. I love when a recipe calls for red wine. I get to open a bottle and splurge on drinking while I cook. It’s best to use a dry red wine like Pinot Noir to make the sauce. Alternatively, you can pick up red cooking wine. It may make the sauce a bit more tart.

 

Finished Gotcha Pork Roast

Isn’t she beautiful? Here’s a photo of the anime version for comparison.

Interested in anime? Watch Welcome to the Ballroom.

Print
Anime Food: Gotcha Pork Roast from Food Wars

Prep 60 mins

Cook 30 mins

Total 1 hour, 30 mins

Author Pam Victorio

Yield 6 slices

Ingredients

3 large potatoes.

1 large white onion

1 cup of brown mushrooms

1 sprig of rosemary

3 TBSP of butter

1 pack of thick bacon

1/2 cup of Pinot Noir or red cooking wine

2 TBSP of Moscato

1 TBSP of soy sauce

Instructions

Peel and slice the potatoes
Chop mushrooms and onions
Steam potatoes for 20 minutes
 Heat 1 TBSP of butter in pan and fry onions and mushrooms until onions brown
Mash the potatoes but keep them lumpy
Add the onion and mushrooms to the potatoes with salt to taste
Let the ingredients cool, then form the roast
Wrap in thick cut bacon
Tie with baking twine
Stuff rosemary under the string
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes
Remove string and pour sauce over roast

For the Sauce

Boil the Pinot Noir in a skillet
Add 2 TBSP of butter
Add Moscato
Add Soy Sauce
Heat on medium low for five minutes

Courses Dinner

 

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