baking banana bread (muffins) + Q&A & life advice with neen! 🍌
Hello
hello my friends its Nina welcome
today we are baking
today I was in a baking mood
and I decided I'm going to make banana bread
I have a bunch of bananas. They are about to go
recently I went grocery shopping, safely
and while I was grocery shopping
I figured I should actually get baking ingredients
So I could bake instead of wishing that I could bake and seeing everyone else bake
So although I'm picking banana bread and although I have all the ingredients
The only problem to this entire situation is that I don't have a loaf pan
instead of a loaf pan
i'm bringing this bad boy out
it's actually not clean
I'm going to quickly wash this
it's all clean now, but this is what I'm going to be baking with
We're basically going to make mini banana muffins
are banana muffins and banana bread the same recipe?
they should be
while I bake I also decided I'm going to do a Q&A
I haven't done a Q&A in a very long time
I asked you guys for your questions on Instagram
a couple weeks back
and then I forgot about it
But then ya'll reminded me about it
so that's why we're doing that today
Am I good at multitasking?
Not really
but we're going to make this happen
without further delay
Let's make some banana bread
So first off I'm going to read out the ingredients for the recipe
this recipe calls for 2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt 2 eggs 1 cup of sugar 4 ripe bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 a cup of vegetable oil and one teaspoon cinnamon.
I realized I don't have tablespoons or teaspoons
I'm going to make do with two sizes of spoons.
Also, another thing. I don't have vegetable oil
I have olive oil but this is very extra light.
This is ideal for frying cooking and baking
I also read online that some people use olive oil
in their recipes for baking. they say gives a nice flavor
This is extra light. I don't think there should be a problem
but I'm going to get started now
I'm going to wash my hands
i believe in myself
I think this will work out
another thing about using a miniature muffin pan
is that it will actually bake faster
the actual recipe says to bake for an hour
which I don't have the time for
but with that we only have to bake for 10 to 15 minutes
so I think I'm doing something here
Let's do this
I technically should tie my hair, but I don't have a scrunchie
So we're going to preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
not Celsius, that'd be extremely hot
This is the first time I'm using this oven
not the stove
I use the stove every day
but the oven I actually haven't used it yet
hopefully nothing goes wrong.
i don't know how to use this
bake
start. i think I did it.
So in a medium bowl combine the flour baking soda baking powder and salt
pls
this won't open
Once I get you to oPeN UP-
my dog is up and about
she took a nap
I'm going to get two cups of flour
The oven's done preheating
There's flour all over the air
I actually used to like baking. It's just lately
I haven't had the time to do it
when I was younger when I was like 17 18
I really loved baking
I would make macarons. I would make cookies
and now I'm back to being a beginner
I think that's a good cup.
You can't even see what I'm doing
one more cup of flour
two cups
I can actually-
I can put the flour away
one teaspoon of baking soda baking powder.
This is not technically a teaspoon
But if I can remember what a teaspoon looks like, I can wing this
That's, this isn't working.
Is this a teaspoon? I'll say that it is
there's no going back now
and we've got a teaspoon of baking powder
More. there we go
one teaspoon salt
I have this salt. I'm just gonna go for it as well
Well, this is the bad idea. I'm put in here
That should be good
I'm actually kind of nervous
I didn't really measure out the teaspoons
and baking soda and baking powder is kind of the chemistry part of baking
the thing that makes everything work and react
i really hope this works
and then once this is together
I can get into the wet ingredients.
So how are you guys doing this fine afternoon?
ah i see
I'm just realizing this might make a lot of banana bread actually
actually I'm going to be having a lot of mini muffins
I think a good thing about this is that you can pop them in the freezer
and they can last for a good while and
You can just reheat them again.
My mind is just so big.
i'm kind of nervous
I want to know how big a teaspoon is.
I used this
This is really flat
i don't know bro
I don't think you can go wrong putting too much right?
I feel like it'll go wrong if it's not enough
if it's too much, it tastes bitter
really?
yea
I'm so nervous.
Now. I'm moving on to the wet ingredients
Maybe I should have tied my hair
in a large bowl cream together the eggs and sugar
on a flat surface
people like to do it on the edge of the bowl
and that's not really safe to do
eggshells can get inside the egg
then one more egg
a whole cup of sugar, oh my gosh
it's so much sugar
but this is also a sweet recipe
I should have known
we're going to put in 1 cup sugar
oh no (nina)
is that even safe to consume
in goes the sugar
I'm now going to cream this
Never mind
now that that's done
I should have mashed my bananas first.
I don't have another bowl
It's okay
This just means I have to do dishes which is fine.
I have a bowl here
I'm going to mash up some bananas
once you open it
That smell is very strong
in goes one banana
three more to go.
We have our bananas. We're going to mash them
actually before I get into that I'm just going to put in the rest of the wet ingredients before I forget
so a teaspoon of vanilla
this is brand new vanilla
I'm gonna put in a good amount.
that should be good
the cinnamon also calls for a teaspoon
I like how everything is actually easy to remember
Everything's a teaspoon 1/2 a cup 1 cup or two cups.
I also can't really measure this
So I'm just going to eyeball it
in Asian cooking, we don't use measurements.
we use our intuition
That should be good
here's the mixture
and then finally 1/2 a cup of oil
there is a half cup going in
I'm going to get started on the Q&A.
The first question is any languages you want to learn apart from Korean
and any sites you recommend for using Korean?
So as you guys know I am korean-american
but I don't speak Korean that well
now I'm kind of almost intermediate
I would think
I can kind of speak in conversations now
But there's a whole lot of vocabulary that I still need to learn
so that I just sound more proficient
the things that I can say in Korean are very simple
but apart from learning Korean
I also do want to learn Japanese
I tried studying the Japanese characters, but it's a little bit difficult
But I would like to get back into that when I can
other languages I want to learn
I want to get back into Spanish
I took Spanish classes for 3 years in high school, and then I took a course in college
I feel like I'm better at Korean than I am with Spanish now
which is saying something
maybe eventually even French
you guys as my viewers are very international
and so I just want to learn a lot of languages
Hopefully I get better at Korean so I can move on
and any sites that I recommend for korean
I've mentioned it a lot in these videos in the past
but I use howtostudykorean.com
I used to use talk to me in Korean
Those are the top two that I use
next question is how do you overcome social anxiety while in college?
senior in high school going next year
So college was very fast-paced
you're kind of just like expected to catch up and keep up
sometimes I felt
overwhelmed especially because a lot of times
you would have to work with people that you literally have never met
so you kind of were expected to be strong
and be able to be in these situations
They want people that are able to adapt to whatever place
whatever situation
people who can take on a leadership role
or people who can take part in group things big things
so the setting of college is already just overwhelming
i personally went through a lot of growth
and so by the time that I was able to apply for college after
community college and transfer
I was much more sure of myself
But there were a lot of times where we had to
participate in discussions with new people
and actually looking group projects with people you never met
the way that I dealt with it is
I really just had to be the one to tell myself that I'm going to be okay
and remind myself that everyone is kind of just there to get through it
no one's really judging me or trying to be mean
or anything like that
oops
battery's about to die
my social anxiety stems from
feeling like people are going to judge what I'm saying
or that I'm going to say the wrong thing
so I had to kind of
learn to tell myself that people are not judging you
which is kind of true, especially in big lecture settings
You see pretty much new people every single day
and in a college setting
everyone's really busy
that they don't really have time to kind of think about you
but someone has to be there to tell yourself that you're going to be okay
and that person has to be you
I have to remember to breathe in breathe out
I remember to keep an approachable face
Which basically just means a smile
you don't have to go through great lengths to change yourself or anything
But I realized that a little smile just makes the other person feel comfortable.
That's what I learned
I have a video on how I dealt with social anxiety and all that
but it really is about
being a friend to yourself and telling yourself that things will pass
people are temporary
everyone kind of comes and goes.
We're all just busy.
Don't sweat it too much.
College was a very fast-paced kind of overwhelming setting
but that's kind of what I signed up for
which is kind of sad because it's like
anyone who can't really deal with that
kind of gets left out, which sucks
So basically I had to fake it till I made it.
I had to pretend that, oh, I'm good at working in groups
I'm good at meeting people for the first time
I'm good at holding conversations
I kind of had to lie to myself
and eventually it kind of became a truth
I eventually did become better at having a leadership role
especially when I worked in groups
I would kind of take the initiative sometimes
so my best advice is just faking it til you make it
You'd be surprised but a lot of people are feeling the same way that you do
going through the same things as you
Feeling the same ways
but we just pretend that we're okay
and that we're doing well.
There's something kind of comforting in that
but yea be a friend to yourself
All these negative thoughts can pile on top of each other and then
you lose yourself and then you really panic and feel anxious
Remember to go on to yourself and just make sure that you're good
Don't forget to breathe
It's a whole topic, but I explained it in another video
I'm going to put in the banana. Did you see that?
This looks promising.
Next question is what do you do when you feel unmotivated?
When I feel unmotivated
I try to take things slow and do one thing at a time.
I will start out with my morning routine
Sometimes I don't feel like putting on makeup
But that doesn't mean I can't do my skincare and wash up and
take care of myself that way
after I do my skincare
I will try to do something else.
Maybe I'll tidy up my room
or start my laundry
Just one simple small little task will kind of lead to another
I also remember to relax
because you don't have to be doing something all the time
You don't have to be productive all the time
You don't have to be doing something at all times
Sometimes you just need a break
Sometimes you just need to rest
and that can be very healing
do something that you love
whether that's playing a video game
watching a movie
listening to some songs
do something that makes you happy
I think the most important thing is
making sure that you're taking care of your health
whether that's physical or mental
It's hard to kind of do anything when you're not feeling good
That's why I personally like to tidy up my environment because that makes me feel better
Even if it's hard to do
personally for me I just know that's going to make me feel better
if my space is less cluttered
that can be as simple as throwing away trash
or making your bed
and then don't forget to do hobbies
Don't forget to do things you like
that can be very productive because
you're taking care of yourself by making yourself happier
Remember to eat remember to drink water
stay hydrated.
That's kind of what I do when I'm not feeling motivated
I just realized sometimes I need a break
sometimes I need to rest
Sometimes I need to actually feel better before I do something else
by the way I'm just slowly adding in the dry mixture
just slowly because you don't want to overwhelm the mixture
I'm putting in the rest of the flour, we're almost there.
We've got a nice cohesive mixture
I'm now going to spoon this mixture in
I am first going to wash my hands.
going to spray it six inches
that was too much.
This is actually nonstick so I don't know why I'm doing this but
precaution
I'm going to just take a paper towel and kind of mix it all in there
if you can see it I am spooning the mixture into this pan.
How are you named Nina?
Great question.
So my dad was actually a bit of a gamer back in the day
He loved the game tekken
He used to participate in Tekken tournaments and all that
So I am actually named after a character in the video game
There is a character named Nina, Nina Williams
And that's where my name came from
And a fun fact is that my little brother who is a year younger than me
His name is Jin
not Jin from BTS.
But his name comes from Jin Kazama
Who is also a Tekken character
You can kind of see the pattern here
and then I have a baby brother who is 13.5 years younger than me
and his first name's actually not from a game character
But his Korean name Hwoarang
is based on a tekken character
so that is the origin of me
I also just think my parents thought the name is cute.
I think so too
They did well
if it's not too invasive have you ever been in our relationship
I have not
I have never had a partner
and that's okay.
It's not something I ever really sought out
And so that's why I'm like this
it also requires socializing and getting yourself out there
which I don't really have the biggest interest in
would I be open to a relationship though?
Maybe
but I like being on my own schedule
and also social distancing
the batter is actually all gone guys
Here is the batter up close
I didn't fill out a row because I ran out of batter
I have my mitts on we're going to do this
i'm going to just slide it in
there we go
Bake my friends
the banana bread is in
polo come to me
Hello
You smell the banana
Hi
marco also wanted to say hi. Hello
After about a minute, I remembered to set up the timer.
I set it for 12 minutes
So in total should be about 13 mnutes when it's done
uh oh they're rising a lot
I'm nervous
I should have maybe filled them less.
They're going to be like boooop
so getting back to the Q&A
How did I get my start on YouTube
And what's your favorite thing about being on the platform?
I just liked YouTube.
I would watch it all the time
ever since i got social media, which was 2013
I got my first smartphone in around 2013
So I wasn't always on the internet
and then I found YouTube and
I found all these vloggers and youtubers
And was interested in the content, I felt less lonely
It was kind of fun to watch
and eventually I was just like I kind of want to do it as well
I really didn't think of it as anything serious
at the time I didn't even know about monetization
or anything like that
I didn't really have a dream to be a youtuber
I just wanted to do it for fun.
I was, I don't even know how old I was. I was sixteen seventeen
And so I just put up videos for fun.
They were literally for fun
I would just do tags and challenges with my friends
and then eventually around 2016 or 2017
it's started to pick up a little bit for some reason
people were more interested and invested in the videos that I made
a lot of them really just didn't make sense either
They would just be like little clips or film, short film projects
then I started thinking about making more serious content
and it just went from there
I am incredibly thankful
that anything ever really happened with my channel
and the fact that I have an audience
and I think that is what I love the most about
having a YouTube channel
and my favorite thing about being on the platform is that I have you guys that I have friends
but when I started I really didn't think of it as anything
I didn't even think that I would do YouTube for so long
when I was in community college
I actually started to think about maybe not continuing it
not something like dramatic
but I was very inactive and I didn't really-
it just wasn't a consistent thing
so I thought I would just like kind of disappear
this was back when I had maybe 20,000 subscribers or so
But then some of my videos would take off and I just kept going with that
So it really is kind of like strange to think that I almost didn't keep going with this.
It wasn't anything dramatic
It was just like oh, I don't really, you know, I'm going to college.
I'm about to transfer to UC Berkeley
I'm going to be busy things like that
But I just vlogged my life at UC Berkeley and other things
I got into fashion videos and other things
and took it more seriously
and it just went from there
I think the most important thing about it
is just having interest in it
and knowing what kind of content you want to put up
and just being your genuine self
because if you're being your real self
and if you're making and that you actually care about
then it's all it's kind of natural
So that's just kind of how it all happened.
Timer is up.
I am going to check on the muffins
They rose
I think I did okay
They look good.
Also another thing I want to mention
if you want to add nuts or chocolate chips or
any kind of filling
topping, other ingredients
go right ahead
but I just made my plain because I wanted to see how it actually turned out
omg they're so cute
I'm going to take a toothpick
and I'm going to stab one of these
if it comes out clean that means it's done
I can't tell if that's clean.
I mean it doesn't feel, it feels dry inside.
I took one out
it's hot it's hot it's hot
I took one out oh my god it's hot
I took one out. Look how cute it is
it's a little baby
I have a little plate
here is the banana muffin.
It's so small and cute
I'm going to open it
That'll be a better test of whether it's done or not
Gonna be really hot
Oh, wow
That is beautiful
I'm going to give you a close-up
here is the inside it is steaming
I'm kind of nervous because I had to wing a lot of the measurements
Oh my god
I really popped off actually
that is so good
Okay, but I can't really go wrong if I follow the recipe
But I'm surprised for myself because
I had to wing a lot of the measurements.
I also love the size
It's just so cute and convenient.
I am so proud of myself
mwah chef's kiss
I am going to take the rest out
i don't have a cooling rack
because I don't bake
I have this little contraption
this is actually used for grilling fish.
These muffins taste delightful
I'm going to kind of take them out
they nicely rose. Here's one right here
Nice golden-brown
nice and round on the top.
There it goes with its friends.
I'll show you right now
Here are the completed muffins
I'm so happy with how they turned out
look at how beautiful she is
Just gonna wash the grease off my hands
I think I will just answer a few more questions
maybe nibble on these
pineapple on pizza. Yes or no
i personally don't mind pineapple on pizza
i was about to speak korean for a second
so I don't eat pizza a lot, but I used to
but pizza can be greasy. It can be salty
So to kind of cut out the greasiness and the saltiness
I just think that
Pineapple on pizza makes sense
why's my battery always dying
to cut out the saltiness and the greasiness of pizza
I think adding pineapple is a nice touch
It's tart it's sweet its acidic
so I don't think it's just naturally a nice combination with cheese
But also I haven't had pineapple on pizza for a really long time
but back when I ate it
I actually did enjoy it because I love the mix of the flavors
But some people are against it and that's okay
people have different tastes
Do you play any instruments
is mayonnaise an instrument?
i actually don't really like mayonnaise
so I used to actually study piano
I studied piano for a good amount of years I think was like maybe four or three
Four?
it was a good amount of my adolescence actually
but I never really was good at it
because I didn't have hand-eye coordination
I also forgot I actually used to study violin as well
That only happened for a year or two
I never picked up on that either
I wish I did but I quit
and then I have a ukulele right now
but I don't really play it a lot
I do know some chords so I can play songs occasionally
My ukuleles name is Agnes
But do I play any instruments
currently not really
I'm not a musical person
i guess I just play ukulele casually.
Ukulele?
How did you bring yourself to do something as meaningful and big as YouTube
and sharing actual content?
I did not ever think that was going to be
big or at least bigger
I'm not the biggest person on the internet
But I certainly did not expect to get to where I am now
as I mentioned before I literally almost stopped
because I didn't think I was going to continue on
but I just always knew I liked storytelling
or I liked creating something. I was always an artistic person
I liked drawing. I liked writing stories.
I liked making up scenarios and things like that
I liked making skits
and just entertaining people in those kinds of ways
even if I was very timid and reserved
I liked creating something and YouTube was just that platform
and even what I studied in college
Media Studies
and almost film studies
I still always was interested in that creative process and
creating things for people to watch
because I love media I consume it
I learn from it I engage with it
we all engage with it
media is the way it is now
and it's meaningful and it's big because of people's participation
because people care about these videos
people share these videos
not just videos but music movies TV shows
anything we share it and we engage with it
and that's why it's so big and meaningful
because we make meaning out of it
and that's always been something interesting to me.
So that's why I think naturally with YouTube
I just kept going with it because it was naturally something that I loved
I think naturally everything just fell into place
but I did not expect the audience that I have now
and it's just really cool
I'm very thankful.
Do I dislike my past self? Why?
I don't
I don't dislike my past self
because that past self led me to
where I am today
if I wasn't my past self
I could have been very different from Who I am today
I don't really like to think backwards
because everything just kind of fell into place
and happened and kept going
so I don't want to kind of replace my past with something else.
I mean obviously do I wish I was less insecure about things
Do I wish I was more secure about myself
happier, things like that, of course
But I don't
dislike who I was
I had good times in the past and I had fun and stuff like that
my past self was me and
I'm me right now
And this version of me is going to be a past version of myself in the future
years from now
kind of wild
But you're constantly changing
so, it's kind of weird to think about it
but yeah, that was just a stage of my life
And that was a part of my life
and I don't want to neglect that or throw that away.
That was yesterday's me
This is today's me.
There's going to be a tomorrow's me.
It's all of me and I can't really hate that
what is life
That is a good question
that only you know the answer to
It sounded deeper in my head
first kiss
Next
do you put milk before or after cereal
now there's actually a logical theory behind this
this all depends on what you want more
Do you want cereal or do you want milk
personally I like cereal
so I put cereal first because I can put a lot of cereal
and then I put milk in after so I can splash the cereal with milk
That's my own personal taste
If you put milk in first
You have a lot of milk
and then when you put the cereal on top
due to the natural laws of physics
the cereal is going to float on top of the milk
It's not going to go in
unless you really like pound it down there
But naturally it's going to float
and there's not going to be enough room for cereal
So you have more milk than cereal
But maybe it's because you want more milk than cereal
and I guess I respect that everyone makes different choices
But personally I put cereal in before milk.
That was a really long explanation
also if you do put in a little bit of milk and then put cereal on top
all that milk's on the bottom
and the cereal on top is still dry
so you kind of have to like dig through it
so that's why I like splashing in the milk after the cereal
so the top's kind of moist and wet
so then I could just eat from the top to the bottom.
i should be in a debate club
actually no, I'm done with my education
That would not make sense
And then I think this will be the final question
because I've answered a lot of questions
I will definitely do more in the future.
But the last question is can you touch your nose with your tongue?
I am so glad you asked
let me just drink some water first
I have actually shown this in an Q&A before
but I'll do it again.
So here we go
Did you see that
I can do other things with my tongue
but my tongue is actually kind of cramping
so maybe next time
I also did do it in a past video so you can watch it there
there
I can lick my elbow and then I can do that clover cluster tongue
But that is it for this baking video and Q&A
I am so happy with how this turned out
I'm actually going to finish the rest of this muffin
that is going to be it for this video
I hope you enjoyed this time to catch up.
I hope maybe you learn something from this video
or just enjoyed me baking
Thank you for watching and for being here
and really just for being part of my life
and I will see you in my next video
We're going to conclude it with a virtual hug!
I will see you in my next video! Goodbye my friends :)
let's bake banana bread (ok banana muffins bc i didn't have a loaf pan) and get personal with the long-awaited q&a! :') hello my friends it's nina and i'm back in the kitchen to BAKE banana muffins with y'all and FINALLY get to that q&a that i promised y'all a few weeks back,,, eheheheh,,, i hope you enjoy this video!! i love talking with y'all and giving advice and answering your questions :) i actually haven't filmed a q&a in so long so this was fun to film! ALSO THANK YOU FOR 700K FRIENDS :'''') THIS WASN'T PLANNED BUT i guess we got a cooking (baking) video for another milestone :') i love y'all very much and i happened to talk a lot about youtube and my youtube journey in this video, so i hope this was a good wholesome way to celebrate our family reaching 700k friends. thanks for watching and for being here and for being part of my life and i will see you soon :) love, neen. ---------------------------------------- the banana bread recipe: https://bit.ly/3fzDY3c question/topic time stamps: 6:52 - languages i want to learn besides korean, websites i use to study korean 7:58 - dealing with and overcoming social anxiety while in college 11:12 - what i do when i feel unmotivated 13:17 - why i'm named "nina" 14:08 - have i been in a relationship? 15:10 - how i started youtube, my favorite thing about the platform 19:52 - pineapple on pizza? 20:31 - instruments i play 21:21 - why i make content on youtube/social media, why it is meaningful 22:53 - do i dislike my past self? 24:07 - milk before or after cereal? 25:18 - can i touch my nose with my tongue? :p OUTFIT DETAILS: cropped cardigan: https://bit.ly/2UgUm0c wide leg jeans: https://bit.ly/2lPE3bG ---------------------------------------- i have merch! no end date currently: https://teespring.com/stores/oh-no-nina-collections ---------------------------------------- DISCOUNT CODES: YesStyle: https://bit.ly/2YGwpyj use ‘OHNONINA’ for 10% off your purchase above $49 :) ---------------------------------------- twitter: ninaeyu instagram: ninaeyu tiktok: ninaeyu tumblr: neenzus spotify: neenzus ---------------------------------------- this video is not sponsored, but some links are affiliate links! all products shown however were purchased by me :)