Ever since I started learning Chinese, I've been scared that I would accidentally say something super rude without knowing it to a person at the market, on the street, or even one of my Chinese friends. I knew it would happen eventually, but I wondered if I would be aware of what I said or just be rude without ever knowing it.
Well the other day it happened. It was as if I saw the unintentionally rude words flying out of my mouth and couldn't stop them in time. Thankfully it was just with my language teacher and we had a good laugh about it.
Basically what happened is that my teacher randomly noticed a scar on her wrist that she had never noticed before. She was so shocked and curious as to where it had come from and couldn't stop saying, "Wow, I can't remember this scar! Where did it come from? Wow!" In my opinion it was such a tiny, unnoticeable scar, so I tried to make her feel better by saying, "It's hard to see," as in, "People won't even notice it!" Instead, what came out were the words, "Ta hen nan kan!" which means, "It's so ugly!"
The word for ugly (nan kan) in Chinese literally translates as "hard + see", or it's hard on the eyes to look at. So when I tried to say "It's hard to see," I accidentally said her scar was ugly. Whoops! Thank goodness I knew right away what I had said and was able to correct my sentence and tell her what I had originally meant to say!
Now the question is, how many times have I said something rude without knowing?!
Who even knows.
Speaking of Chinese language class, these Vegan Pumpkin Nectarine Oatmeal Muffins are Brett and my current go-to study snack. They're made fully from oats and whole wheat flour and are sweetened naturally. Then with creamy Homemade Pumpkin Puree and specks of juicy nectarine, these Vegan Pumpkin Nectarine Oatmeal Muffins can also serve as the perfect sweet and healthy breakfast on the go. I know pumpkin is often seen as a fall flavor, but I love it anytime of year, and I hope you guys do too! If you don't care for pumpkin for some reason, any other squash puree would work perfectly as well.
If you make these Vegan Pumpkin Nectarine Oatmeal Muffins, I'd love to know! Leave a comment below letting me know your thoughts or take a picture and tag #theconscientiouseater on Instagram.
📖 Recipe
Vegan Pumpkin Nectarine Oatmeal Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 flax egg 3 tablespoons water + 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- 1 ½ cups oat flour*
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup non-dairy milk
- ½ cup liquid sweetener such as maple syrup, agave nectar, or honey if not vegan
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil
- 1 cup pumpkin puree**
- ½ cup finely chopped nectarine
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 °F and line 12 muffin cups with silicone muffin liners or paper liners.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the ground flaxseed and the water and then set aside to gel.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the oat flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
- Add in the wet ingredients from the non-dairy milk to the pumpkin puree, including the flax egg, and mix until just combine.
- Fold in the chopped up nectarine.
- Divide the batter among the muffins cups and bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow the muffins to cool before removing from the liners and serving.
Notes
**You can sub the pumpkin puree with another squash puree.
Jen says
Hi! I'm looking forward to trying this recipe! I'm in the middle of making it right now but the ingredients list calls for baking poweder but in the instructions it says baking soda, so I'm unsure of which one to use.
Thanks!
Jen
Jen says
*powder
Faith says
Hey Jen! Thanks for letting me know of my mess up. Use baking powder!
Laura @ Sprint 2 the Table says
I am so impressed that you're learning Chinese. Any Asian language is SO hard to learn! I have a friend that moved to South Korea to teach English and it took her years to even get to a middle school level. So yeah... mistakes and unintentional rudeness is totally acceptable. 😉
Love these muffins too!!
Faith says
It's hard and frustrating, but I'm loving it! I'm so curious if I'll ever feel fluent or just end up plateauing at some point. And I bet Korean is rough too! Props to your friend!
Natalie | Feasting on Fruit says
I'm not even studying anything, but I want in on this study snack! Heck I'd start studying something just for an excuse to eat a muffin...okay let's be real muffinS 😀 Pumpkin muffins are one of my faves, and extra fruitiness mixed in sounds delicious!
Faith says
Haha you can study my Chinese for me!!
Alyssa @ renaissancerunnergirl says
I'm sure your teacher understood! Honestly even in English, if we write things in a text or email and can't hear the person's tone, things can come off the WRONG way too.
Faith says
I know! I'm always worried my texts will come across meanly if there isn't a smily face or exclamation point haha!