Author: Paige Coleman

Categories
Cuisine and Recipes

Spicy Korean Cucumbers (오이무침)

This spicy cucumber salad is a super popular Korean banchan, or side dish, that is perfect for any Korean meal. It’s also extremely simple to make. All of the ingredients can be adjusted to fit your taste, so feel free to add more or less of any ingredient. 

This dish is one of the first side dishes I was taught to make by my mother. It may seem like a small thing, but preparing Korean food is something that brings me closer to my Korean heritage. Growing up in a Korean-American household as a half-white, half-Korean girl, I had never really felt accepted by either side of the family. I didn’t look like the white side of my family, making me the odd one out. On the other hand, it felt like my fully Korean relatives were looking down on me for not knowing how to speak Korean, and for my brown hair which was easily noticed in the sea of my black-haired relatives.

Even today, not being “Asian enough” has been a struggle.  However I am still trying to connect with my culture through Korean food and learning the language. Hopefully this recipe will connect with people who want to learn about Korean culture. 

Ingredients

  • 2 Persian or English cucumbers
  • 1 green onion
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • ½ tablespoons gochugaru (Korean chili flakes)
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
  • ½ teaspoon sesame oil

Steps

Cut cucumbers into thin slices.

Add salt and massage it into the cucumbers. Set aside for around 30 minutes.

In the meantime, cut your green onion. (I recommend using kitchen scissors.)

After the 30 minutes have passed, squeeze the water out of the cucumbers into a separate bowl and discard.

Add the sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, green onion, and gochugaru together. Mix well.

(Optional) Wait for around 15 minutes for the cucumbers to absorb more flavor.

Enjoy!

Categories
News

2023 Homecoming Parade Overview

As C.K. McClatchy’s Homecoming Week comes to a close, the Homecoming Parade begins! This yearly parade is the perfect way to precede our Homecoming Game, and of course, our Homecoming dance. 

The yearly Homecoming Parade is a can’t-miss event for any McClatchy student. Floats for different sports teams, clubs, and even specialty programs were beautifully decorated with our school colors; red and white. Plus, it was a great opportunity to score some free candy from parade participants throwing it out to viewers.

This year’s parade opened up with our AFJROTC students in uniform, leading the way, marching through the streets while showing their school spirit. They were followed by CKM’s very own band. Members played beautiful live music on a variety of instruments.

And arguably the most important part of McClatchy, the teachers, were of course represented as well. Many teachers were on bikes, riding as a part of the parade. Plus, the HISP float had giant paper cutouts of HISP teachers’ heads.

Clubs weren’t left out either. Hispamix marched through the streets holding a variety of flags from all different Hispanic countries. Their float was also beautifully decorated to represent el Día de los Muertos. Many members were dressed up in traditional outfits and had their faces painted in calavera face paint and were followed by friends and family in a line of lowriders.  

Each grade also had its own float. The senior’s float was football-themed, with a whole mini football field. It also had a football flying through the goalpost. The sophomore’s float was covered in the sophomore’s signature green and palm trees to go along with it.

Many of CKM’s sports teams were also part of the parade. From women’s volleyball to our football teams. The women’s tennis float was embellished with little tennis balls. CKM’s own football team, ready for the homecoming game against Burbank, came to bring the ruckus as well. Following them were the cheerleaders. Dressed in their own uniforms, they were there to hype our Lions up.

This year’s Homecoming Parade was one to remember. With so many more students here at McClatchy this year, every homecoming activity is sure to be a blast. We hope that you all attended the CKM vs. Burbank football game as well as the Barbie Homecoming dance!

Categories
Features News

Club Rush 2023 Highlights

With a new year at McClatchy, comes another club rush. Plus, it seemed as busy as ever! 

McClatchy’s student population has grown significantly. Hundreds of students rushed into the lunch quad wanting to get a look at every booth. There was absolutely no shortage of clubs with over forty available to join.

Finding a club that interests you is a great way to become a part of a community of like-minded people. Clubs are places to make friends and pursue your interests outside of school. With so many clubs, finding a club that’ll suit you is almost guaranteed.

The number of clubs to choose from was vast, so how did club organizers influence people to join their clubs? Well, many decided to draw people in with music, and beautiful decorations, while others gave out snacks and candy to people who stopped by.

With forty-five great clubs to go over, here are some highlights from some of them.

The New Romantics Club, a new book club this year focusing exclusively on romance novels, held a book raffle for those who signed up. They also gave out homemade heart-shaped sugar cookies. And by the look of it, people were lining up to sign up.

A new club, Asian Plus Club, is all about sharing various Asian cultures with everyone. To draw people to their table, they gave out various Asian candies and drew intricate pictures of anime characters and other mascots.  

Life Skills Club is focused on teaching its members basic, necessary skills.  They plan on going over many things, like allocating funds, to help their members achieve financial success and stability. So, if you want to be even more prepared for your life after high school, Life Skills is the club for you.  

Another club, The Freedom Club, is focused on raising awareness of the growing problem of human trafficking. They plan on holding fundraisers to support their cause, possibly donating what they make to charity.

The Satirical Conspiracy Theory Club is about wearing your tinfoil hat and sharing your lighthearted (not offensive) conspiracy theories with others.  

Overall, this club rush was very successful, drawing in hundreds of students eager to join clubs.  If you missed it, you can always join a club at a later time by attending a club meeting.

Categories
Columns Cuisine and Recipes

Amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Chocolate chip cookies are one of the most classic treats around. Ever since I was a kid, my grandma and I would make them all of the time. But with this recipe, we no longer have to make boring chocolate chip cookies. The brown butter takes the cookie to a whole new level, adding a caramel-like taste and a chewy texture. You will not be able to have just one of these cookies.  They’re suitable for just about any event or occasion, and I’ve heard nothing but good things from friends and family about them. This recipe is originally from tasty.co, but I’ve made my own little changes to it.

Tips

Browning butter may seem daunting, but it’s not as difficult as it seems. Here are my tips on browning your butter.

  • The bigger the pan you use, the faster the butter will brown.  
  • Be sure to leave out a bowl before beginning to brown the butter, so you can quickly pour the butter out of the pan to stop it from cooking.
  • Once the butter begins to brown, it will foam up, making it hard to see how brown the butter is. Move the foam aside to see how brown it is.

It is imperative to not over mix your dough. Over mixing results in a hard, tough cookie. Here are some tips I follow to avoid overmixing.

  • Add ⅓ of dry mixture at a time.
  • Only mix until just combined. It is alright to leave some unmixed flower in your dough, as it will be mixed in when you add the chocolate chips.

Ingredients

  • 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon instant espresso (or coffee powder)
  • ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • ½ cup walnuts (optional)
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt (plus more for sprinkling)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Now, we’ll brown the butter. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.  

3. Stir constantly, making sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the pan.  As the butter begins to boil, keep a close eye on it.

4. Once the butter takes on a golden-brown color, and has a nutty, caramel scent, take it off of the heat immediately. Quickly pour into a bowl, and put it into the fridge to cool. We want the butter to still be liquid and around room temperature (this will take around 15 minutes). 

5. In a separate, medium sized bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

6. After butter is sufficiently cooled, put the butter, sugars, espresso powder, and vanilla extract into a large bowl. 

7. Add egg and egg yolk, and mix until incorporated. 

8. Slowly add ⅓ of the flour mixture at a time, mixing until just incorporated. Repeat until all of the flour mixture is incorporated.

9. Fold in your chocolate. 

10. Make the dough into about ⅓ of a cup balls, put on a baking sheet and bake for 12-14 minutes.  

11. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool for at least 15 minutes.

12. Enjoy!

Categories
Cartoons

Lunch Line