Still Here

I know, I've been slacking on the savory/sweet goodies posts lately... SORRY! However, I have a GOOD reason - I got a JOB.

I was REALLY hoping to get my foot in the door of a cafe, bakery, the bakery/prepared foods counter @ Whole Foods (really, I love Whole Foods) but umm sheesh none of the places would take my word for it that I am an awesome cook/baker... (I should include links to my FB food albums & this blog on my resume.) So what did I do? I turned back to what else I know best - automotive. Made a couple phonecalls, did some furious applying on Monster, put some feelers out w/ connections. Had a couple prospects and one seemingly long-shot... What do you know, the long shot in the end worked out the best.

So my time is currently dedicated elsewhere but don't worry! I'm still here!

I leave you with this tidbit: for my friends in the LA area - if you haven't already tried Pizzeria Mozza - it's a MUST.

p.p.s. - I got a pound of Dunkin Donuts coffee today from a friend... I♥ DD coffee. Said friend will be in town again next month, he already knows he must bring me another bag of DD coffee at that time too. Another friend is in the process of moving to So Cal = another bag of DD coffee para mi!

Brownies on the Brain

The past couple of years I've taken up the habit of making treats for my friends as gifts (birthdays, Christmas, etc). So I usually tailor the gift to the recipient's taste or the theme of the occasion. One of my friend's LOVES green tea & crunchy cookies so I made him a batch of green tea butter cookies. One Christmas I made peppermint bark & cookies for all of my friends. Anyhow, you get the idea...

A really good friend of mine had her birthday earlier this month but I literally already planned what to make for her birthday THIS year when her birthday rolled around LAST year. My friend, let's call her Miss Mouse, L-O-V-E-S brownies. She also really likes mint chocolate. She loves dark chocolate. Naturally, I decided to make mint dark chocolate brownies. I've been experimenting with different brownie recipes for years and I finally found one last year that I really liked - the right balance of cake/fudge brownies... Although, you know that crackly "crust" you get from brownies from the box? Yeah, still experimenting to replicate that (and I think I have it figured out).

Brownies - I like substantial ones. Meaning, I like F-A-T brownies. I mean, if you're gonna indulge, you might as well go all the way. So I baked them in my favorite all edges brownie pan (my favorite piece is the corner) and cut them - the brownies looked like chocolatey cubes of yum. I picked up a small bottle of peppermint oil from a local cake supply shop with the sole purpose to make mint chocolate brownies - seriously. I wanted oil because it's more potent than extract. I also have a seemingly never ending supply of ghiradelli dark chocolate chips (my favorite chips for cookies) so I decided to mix those into the batter.

I packed the chocolate treasure into the box - it was HEAVY. And I can happily say that Miss Mouse thoroughly enjoyed her birthday present this year =)

the brownies almost overflow...

the fat brownie - I like to feed my friends.

Hodduk 호떡

Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside w. a sweet filling - best eaten warm but not right off the frying pan unless you like 3rd degree burns on the inside your mouth & tongue. This my friends is hodduk. The batter differs from either just straight sweet rice flour, water, sugar & salt or a sweet bread dough or a mix of rice & wheat flours... Many a late night cravings have been satiated in LA by a quick run to a cart outside of a Korean market peddling this hot discs of sweet crack.

My mom used to make this snack all the time when i was growing up - I loved the combo of ttuk & sweet red bean paste. (Red bean b/c that's healthier than just brown sugar/peanuts). But after a while, the novelty wore off and we haven't really made it in quite some time... until this past weekend. My mom likes to make snacks for the choir group at church (of which she's a member, bless her little stage fright heart) for the mornings... Each member takes turns in providing the "breakfast". So she's been meaning to make the ttuk for a few months and I kept discouraging her (b/c I already knew how much work it would entail). Anyhow, what she thought was going to be a 2 hr project turned into an all afternoon thing... My mom tends to make them HUGE, like a rice cake burrito which I think is too much of a good thing. I did sneak in and experiment & make my own version...

 I like to let the ttuk get crispy so I fry it for a bit longer than I should on each side...

Just the right amount of sweet red bean paste

It's a Small World After All

*phew* It was a busy weekend for me but a fun one... Hope everyone enjoyed their weekends~ I had a plan of attack but a couple surprises came up along the way by the way of an unexpected houseguest and an invitation to a housewarming dinner... Sunday was D-day; little princess's birthday party~ I had all my ingredients ready & I was trying to figure out the most time-efficient way to bake everything up so I wasn't a slave to the kitchen for the day.

In the midst of baking the mini treats for little princess I managed to also bake an Apple Butter Cake for an unexpected housewarming party invitation as well. (I know, I'm crazy...) I wasn't really paying attention the recipe so it didn't really phase me that the recipe called for a whole pound of butter (hello Paula Deen!) and eight eggs. It worked out well b/c I ended up splitting the batter between a bundt pan & a loaf pan. Sorry, no picture of the cake but I can tell you that it was rich, buttery, dense but delicate crumb, and not overly sweet - it was a big hit!

Now back to little princess's party... I managed to finish everything DOWN TO THE WIRE. See, I have this thing about punctuality. I am never late. I don't like to be late. I don't believe in being late. (My sister is ALWAYS LATE and I could kill her for it...) On the rare occasions that I am late it's either due to circumstances beyond my control or at least in one instance SHEER FORGETFULNESS. But I digress, I packed up the goodies & prayed that I didn't have a bumpy drive so the desserts could get to the party in one piece...

Let me tell you, mama put on quite the party... The decorations were so cute without the venue being overloaded with decorations... The food was quite yummy as well. Little princess and her friends had a grand old time... The It's a Small World theme was carried seamlessly throughout all the details: the goodie bag treats (candy/snacks from all over the world), the decorations, the invitations, the signage, mama even made picture "postcards" of little princess throughout her life (like the postcards you see at the beginning and end of the ride)... I was nervous about the desserts - one batch of the cheesecake custard wasn't cooperating, a few of the raspberries decided to roll off despite the white chocolate glue, I kept bumping the frosting on the mini cupcakes, the cookies turned out softer than what I wanted... And then I stepped back - I was being too critical of myself (which I always tend to do when I need to bake something to present to other people)... The desserts were getting rave reviews... *big sigh of relief*

I enjoyed meeting everyone in mama's family~ It was good to meet some people in person that I felt like I had already met through the wonders of Facebook. It was even my first time meeting little princess & I was super nervous that she wouldn't be too receptive towards me but I did manage to spend some quality time with her. I colored with her, I played ball with her, I shielded her from a bee (she was curious, I was paranoid she'd get stung, or that I'd get stung - NOT good considering my allergy), & I walked with her holding her little hand so I could grab a tissue to wipe her runny nose.

Thanks again mama for the opportunity to make the yummies to celebrate little princess!

the little princess (her giggle is TOO CUTE)

mama sent me a couple shots of the dessert table - those are my cookies, my raspberry-topped cheesecakes, and in the bottom corner my vanilla cupcakes

the complete table... I actually whipped out my piping bag to frost the cupcakes, the party venue has a rose garden so I tried to kinda mimic that in the frosting for the cupcakes. Details, it's all about the details...

(borrowed this from mama's blog) That's me setting up the desserts while the proud papa looks on, eyeing the cookies & mama's friend snaps a couple photos (there were cameras galore during the party!)

So I used to be afraid of catering desserts for events but now I know I can do it... Maybe not a multi-tier wedding cake but other stuff is doable. *flexing pastry-making muscles* Let's do it! =)

Birthday!!

ok so no it's not MY birthday nor is it my blog's birthday - but it's a very special little girl's birthday celebration tomorrow! Her mama, papa & I all used to work together once upon a time... Mama was a co-worker but papa was a boss *dun dun dun*... Even though we no longer work together through the magic of Facebook we manage to keep in touch. =) So a little background as to how I am involved in this little girl's birthday celebration:

I have this thing about sharing design & theme links for anyone who's planning events i.e. birthdays, weddings, bridal showers, baby 1st birthday etc etc etc... It came time for mama to plan the little princess's 1st birthday (mama is Korean, and baby's 1st birthday is traditionally a big celebration in Korea) so she was looking for ideas. Me? I don't have a child, I am not getting married & the extent of my craftiness is cooking & maybe doing some frosting piping work on a cupcake if you're lucky. But I peruse all sorts of blogs for inspiration & stare in awe at other people's "ambition"... So I did what I do best - I shared blog links and mama took the ideas and ran with it. She made her own dohl towers (dohl = 1st birthday in Korean, and the dohl towers are a traditional decoration for the table) and such for little princess's 1st birthday - it was a sight to see. Job well done mama!

Fast forward to present day - birthday party planning time rolled around & I once again shared cute links with mama. Well, acutally it started with sharing a cute craft idea to make Easter theme treat eggs and it all snowballed from there I think? I forget how she determined the theme of this year's party but I remembered I saw an "It's a Small World" (you know, the Disney ride?) themed birthday party and I HAD to share the idea with mama... I have a photographic memory so I can always recall SEEING something but I usually forget when I saw it. I remember seeing that Small World party on a forum but I could NOT find the archived post about it but I knew it was there... I found it in a couple hours but I couldn't rest until I found it. I also googled & came across another party that interpreted Small World differently. It was equally cute but I was looking for something specific in the original party - the invitation. This invitation was all Small World & it was wonderfully designed to fit around an invitation... (you had to be there... all right?!) Anyhow, I found it. I shared. I went crazy with ideas on how to carry out the Small World theme throughout the rest of the party (I probably scared mama a little with my ideas).

Ok so we both calmed down with our grand ideas. And then do you know what mama did?? She asked me to make some mini desserts for the celebration... =) She had such blind faith in me (she's never had the chance to partake in any of my creations). The days were flying by & mama shared her pics of the birthday party preparations - little princess is gonna LOVE her party. Mama made all sorts of banners, bunting, signage, treat bags, etc etc etc... Her craftiness amazes me.

I think we've made a birthday tradition - we've already got a theme idea for a birthday in the future! We're on top of planning miss princess's birthdays for the next 5 years! (kidding, really.)

I didn't want you all (all 4 of you who read this blog... and I know who you are! j/k) to think I was forgetting about my blog. My mind has been mired in cookie dough, cake batter & cheesecake custard... I hope to share some pics of said treats soon!

Sneak peek at one dessert for little princess

In My Mother's Kitchen

It being Mother's Day weekend I thought this subject would be appropriate - forgive me ahead of time because I might ramble...

I learned how to cook in my mother's kitchen - the "wild" you might say. There's no such thing as health codes, dishwashers, mise en place, line chefs, sous chefs or anything in my mother's kitchen. I am all of that in my mother's kitchen. It started when I was really little, one of my first memories is making mandoo (dumplings) with my mom & my older sister. We would sit around the table with this HUGE SATELLITE DISH of a stainless steel bowl filled to the brim with the filling, and dozens of packs of dumpling skins in a pile... Every family has their own recipe & method to put together dumplings & my mom never measures anything so I can't really share the family recipe. We would take a Saturday afternoon or something & form seemingly thousands of dumplings (hey from my short vantage point, it was like a mountain of mandoo). My mother directing us to not be so greedy with the filling, seal the seams shut w. a little water, make sure not to leave air in the pocket, try to fold it pretty b/c who wants to eat ugly food. She would say something to the effect of - if you eat pretty food then you will grow up to be pretty. (I was thinking, who wants to be pretty? I want to be SMART - even as a little kid I was a bit "rebellious").

Anyone who knows me or my sister, knows that our mother loves to feed people. I tell people that once you cross the threshold - it's game over. She likes to think that everyone is a starving street urchin & will do everything in her power to feed you to your breaking point. When my sister was in HS her friends would make a point to come to our house... Why? Because they knew we always had food. I remember a couple times we would have a brand new box of instant noodles one day but then half of it would be gone the next day. I think that were times when my mom would go food shopping specifically with thinking about after school snacks in mind. I had a few friends over for dinner once in HS & it was a production. All of a sudden we were making things that my mom hadn't made in YEARS and I would demand to know why she hadn't made it in so long... My friends benefitted that day for sure.

Dinner parties at our house were like my mom's Olympics. There would be a flurry of dusting, vacuuming, washing every piece of china we had, washing all the silverware, multiple trips to the Korean market. Wash this, chop that, slice this, season that, fry this, roast that, boil this, steam that... Menu planning always made my head spin. It would take her DAYS to prepare dinner but it would only take about an hour for it to be consumed. As I grew older, I "graduated" in the kitchen - my mom laid more of the cooking tasks to me along with the usual prep work she made me do. Before there was Kyochon or Bon Chon chicken there was my mom's black chicken. We called it black chicken b/c the soy sauce would make the wings super dark. There are certain dishes my mom is known for - seafood japchae (pan fried cellophane noodles), flank steak in a kalbi marinade, green salad w. secret ingredient dressing, seafood pancakes, Korean-style fried calamari, the sandwiches she used to pack me for lunch in jr. high & high school. (I'm not kidding, my school friends used to tell me my sandwiches were like works of art. I could never finish my lunch during school so I tended to save it for afterschool. I literally fed a school friend throughout HS w/ my leftovers.)

Usually Thanksgiving & Christmas dinners were just any normal Korean dinners... Like in elementary school when they would make you write an essay about your holiday dinner, I would not only have to write what we ate but explain what it was (For Thanksgiving, we had steamed white rice, seasoned dried anchovies, seasoned dried seaweed sheets, spicy fermented pickled cabbage, and fermented soybean soup with tofu - YUM)... At first my mom scoffed at the idea of making a special dinner for those days - what was wrong with the usual? And who in their right mind would pass on Korean food to have some Western food? Somehow my mother changed her tune when I was in jr. high - she was in cahoots with her best friend. They formed a plan that every year they would each host one of the holiday dinners i.e. if we did Thanksgiving they would do Christmas and vice versa. We started out alternating who would "open" with Thanksgiving but after a few years of trying to remember who started the previous year it was decided that the Kim's would host Thanksgiving dinner and the Jo's would host Christmas dinner. My mother was an expert in Korean cooking, American cooking not so much. Mashed potatoes were always from scratch (yay!), but the gravy was always from packets of weird brown powder (boo!). At first cranberry sauce came from a jar (boo! but strangely, I still loved it) until I learned how to make it from scratch (yay!). Stuffing was always Stove Top (boo!) but we always overloaded it with extra veggies (yay!). Now the turkey... the turkey is my mother's nemesis (like the cartoons that would show the roasted bird sparring with Bugs Bunny or whoever). Try as she might the turkey always came out overcooked. We would brine it, wrap it in bacon, wrap it in an oven safe bag, whatever my mom tried the turkey ALWAYS came out dry. (I think that's why I don't really like turkey.) That little plastic pop-up nipple thing? USELESS. The Butterball emergency hotline? I could never stay on the phone long enough b/c my mom would be telling me to do 5 different things RIGHT NOW. simultaneously. One year my sister tried to convince my mom that we should try deep frying a turkey. My mom was all for a new way to make turkey until she heard the words "deep fry" (she's a crazy health nut nowadays). I watched a few youtube clips of deep fry turkey failures & I told my sister over my dead body were we gonna deep fry one. (Although secretly I want to try it just for the sake of trying it.) Someday Mr. Tom Turkey, your time will come...

My best friend & I have known each other for 20 years. We've always been friends but we didn't become very close until after college - cooking made us closer. I'm not kidding. Her mom makes phenomenal Korean food. Our moms would always get together & share seafood pancakes, homemade ttuk, homemade fermented soybean paste... In fact, the last visit back to NJ/NY I had a chance to go to her parents' house for dinner & I came back to CA with some goodies from best friend's mom.

Cooking in the kitchen has brought us closer together as mother & daughter. We talk about everything while we cook - it's OUR time. We spend so much time together in the kitchen that there are times that I can anticipate what she wants done next or which platter she needs for a certain food. The moms who come over for dinner parties at our house watch our little ballet. She says "Umi-yah..." and I hand her a platter. Then she says "Will you..." and I stir whatever's boiling away on the stove. She says "Go get the..." and I make sure the plates & eating utensils are where they need to be. The ladies ask how can I tell what my mom's asking for when my mom doesn't even complete the sentence or describes something in a really obscure way. I just shrug & say "years of practice" - literally.

Anyhow, nowadays my mom gives me more & more slack in terms of cooking at home. She still hovers though, clicks her tongue if I'm not doing something her way... Holiday dinners are mainly my responsibility especially now that we are here in CA. I tell her to just sit back & relax. I tell my dad that he has to do the dishes.

When I cook, I search foodblogs & find recipes I like but I never follow them. Life is too short to stress over whether you did step 5 correctly or not. I don't measure anything - I eyeball. My mom doesn't really know how to tell me measurements of something... She tells me 1/2 a handful of this, make sure the water is up to there, taste it & then add more of this if you need it. Once I called her while I was away at college asking her how to make jangjorim (braised beef) and I had to laugh when she was telling me the proportion of soy sauce:water... So I googled - it didn't turn out as good as my mom's.

So to my mother, thank you for the lessons of domestication that will hopefully make my future mother-in-law happy that you didn't raise a slacker (a running joke with my mom). I'm not Julia Child but I can manage - thanks to you & your hovering *cough* I mean guidance. Thank you for putting up with my lazy shortcuts & still eating my food even if it was a FAIL. Thank you for teaching me to wash lettuce 20 times but if it's all the same I'll just rinse it a couple times & save myself on the water bills. Thanks mommy for teaching me the love of cooking.

Cheesecake On the Brain

This weekend is fast approaching. I'm not eagerly watching the calendar/the clock b/c it's Easter (which also means the conclusion of Lent which means I can go back to chugging brewed coffee) but rather I'm a bit nervous. Why nervous? It also happens to be my pastor's birthday weekend. Who gets to make his birthday cake? Yep. How/Why you ask? I somehow volunteered; or it has just become some unspoken tradition... I shouldn't BE nervous. You'd think after all the years of cooking with my mom, baking for fun, "catering" for a crowd I'd quash all the nerves - but no such luck. I get nervous about the "what-if's" - hopefully one of these days I can sweep the "what-if's" out the door.

I should clarify, I am not making ALL of his birthday cakes for Sunday... His wife is ordering 2 other cakes from bakeries for the lunch celebration for the bulk of the church members (translation: the Korean speaking adults & the kids). She asked my advice on bakeries in the area for birthday cake - tastes good for a relatively good price. She asked me what kind of snacks the young adults & college students might prefer (chips, soda, pretzel etc etc etc). To simplify things (I knew she already had so much to juggle that day anyhow) I recommended simple chips & salsa & some other chips & dip along with soda/iced tea. In terms of the cake, our beloved pastor is a cheesecake killer. Typically he doesn't like sweets but he loves a healthy slice of cheesecake.

In my opinion, if you're going to take the time to make something you should make it from scratch. None of this semi-homemade Sandra Lee slop. I really can not stand all of the pre-packaged, overly processed, more chemicals/artificial fillers & stabilizers than nutrients crap that floats around out there passing itself off as food.

I went through a cheesecake phase a couple years back; I experimented with every possible variable to achieve a crisp crust, smooth filling & absence of cracks. So this weekend I thought I'd try yet another flavoring variation BUT my pastor, being the simple taste kind of man, requested just straight NY style cheesecake. *sigh*

So to reminisce here's a look back at a couple cheesecakes from the past:

Triple chocolate cheesecake made for a belated housewarming party. Oreo cookie crust, white chocolate (which really isn't chocolate), milk chocolate, dark chocolate cheesecake layers

 I think I should have put the white chocolate in the middle to get more definition between the layers

 Vanilla Bean cheesecake made for pastor's birthday last year served during DT Bible study.

I think I made some sort of cheesecake at least 6 times... but a few of them I forgot to take a picture - OOPS my bad.

So this weekend, in order to be able to serve everyone some cheesecake I'm doing mini cheesecakes and then one regular cheesecake for pastor blow out candles & cut etc etc etc (or at least that's the plan).

비빔 메밀국수 - "mixed" buckwheat noodles

^I know, at first glance that it doesn't seem appealing but it's actually pretty good. Living in So Cal, I'm fortunate enough to have an avocado tree in the front yard. Did you know that it takes pretty much a year to mature from flower to avocado? <-- main reason why avocados are so $$. Our family likes to eat buckwheat noodles when we can to avoid the over-processed nutrient-deficient white noodles... (We still have those noodles in the cupboard though) In the summer we usually make a quick noodle salad with greens & other veggies plus the noodles tossed in a homemade soy vinaigrette but a friend of my mom's turned her on to a new way of preparing a buckwheat noodle dish a few years ago and we haven't looked back since. My mom was looking for more ways to incorporate avocado into our meals since it's a shame to put the fruits of the tree to waste - I tried to convince her that chips & guacamole was a suitable lunch but she shook her head furiously in protest.

Recipe? People ask me for recipes all the time but I really don't use them. I search for recipes to get ideas but I don't follow them at all; it's more for reference or inspiration than anything. My mom sticks to the 1:1 ratio - 1 avocado per person. In a large bowl, scoop out the avocado flesh, a few healthy dollops of gochujang (Korean red pepper paste) & a drizzle of sesame oil & then mix to combine w/ a fork (mash the avocado). You pretty much mix it until it looks like something unappetizing (but looks are deceiving! Trust me, it really IS good.) Serve it up & use your chopsticks to mix up your noodles & avocado paste into something relatively "homogenous". It's pretty good if you shred some dried seasoned seaweed over it too.

hey, don't judge a book by it's cover... it's pretty good!

Veggie Spaghetti

On the weekends when my parents and I are all home together I usually make lunch. My dad CAN cook he just chooses not to. My mom is usually occupied with stretching her green thumb in our garden so making lunch usually falls to me. I was craving pasta so I set about the plan of attack. One thing we ALWAYS have in the cupboard is pasta - conventional Italian or Asian ( somen, soba, ramen). I decided on angel hair because that was the only pasta that I could find we had enough for all 3 of us that I knew was going to cook relatively fast. 

If I had the time/energy I would really make my own tomato sauce completely from scratch (that's actually on my cooking bucket list) but seeing as how I'm just a trespasser in my mother's kitchen (her words, not mine) I don't think I'll be accomplishing that task any time soon. I settled on using a simple tomato basil jarred sauce I picked up from Whole Foods on a whim (I went there looking for stewed tomatoes contained in tetra packs, not glass or plastic-lined cans - my reasons for that I'll mention in another post down the road sometime). Next in the fridge I grabbed some red bell peppers & some bok choy that was already rinsed and trimmed. I grabbed an onion out of the freezer. (A tip: stick an onion in the fridge for an hour or more or if short on time then in the freezer for 15 min or so & you WILL NOT cry when cutting/slicing/dicing. Trust me.) Broke down all the produce & some cloves of garlic & sautéed them in a heavy stock pot. When the vegetables were about 1/2-way done I poured in the sauce to finish cooking. I also added a couple tablespoonfuls (yes i said TABLEspoon) of crushed red pepper. I'm Korean, I need a little heat in my food. I prepared 1/2 the package of angel hair - I wanted the least amount of pasta, my mom wanted more & I knew my dad wanted the most (it really was like the three bears from Goldilocks). Lunch was served - there was a comical moment when my mom was sprinkling the grated parmesan cheese onto her bowl - half the cheese poured out into her bowl! So she was furiously scooping the excess cheese into the other bowls... After we finished eating I noticed my dad still looked hungry - he wanted even MORE pasta. Thankfully, the extra pasta was ready quickly. My father LOVES noodles.

비빔밥 and 비빔 Oatmeal...

A couple nights ago my mom invited a friend over for dinner & the menu was 비빔밥 (bibim bap, literal translation: mixed meal). It's basically some rice with sautéed mixed veggies, some seasoned ground beef & an egg (raw if you're adventurous but pretty much however you like it) topped with some dark sesame seed oil & 초고추장 (cho gochu jang, spicy red pepper paste sauce) & you mix it all up right before chowing. It sounds complicated but it's really not; especially if you have a lot of banchan (korean side dishes eaten with rice) in your fridge. It's like the Korean quiche (meaning it's a use up your leftovers in the fridge meal). Traditionally it's served either in a large stainless steel bowl or a SCREAMING HOT stone pot (it's so hot that you can hear the rice sizzling). I like the crispy bits of rice so I tend to let a layer of rice get nice & crispy as I mix everything together...


My mom delegated more labor-intensive work to me. Since a guest was coming over for dinner I couldn't just pull our banchan from the fridge... I washed, peeled & julienned carrots; thinly sliced an onion; washed, soaked & then cooked the white rice; pan-fried the seasoned beef & finally fried each egg to order right before serving. My mom steamed the bean sprouts & blanched the spinach the night prior (translation: she didn't trust me to wash those things properly but my mom's OCD tendancies in the kitchen need to be another post for another day). When my mom came home all she had to do was season the sprouts & spinach. My mom & I love the veggies so we tend to reduce the amount of rice in our bowls but my dad has a seemingly bottomless pit of stomach so he usually makes a motion as if to say "bring it on" when I portion out the rice.


We also had a side of miso soup to go with the 비빔밥 - I like to put a couple spoonfuls of the soup into the rice because I think the soup helps to mix well. Needless to say, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the meal. =)


Halfway through the meal, I realized I forgot to take a picture of my bowl (see I had every intention of blogging the meal) - D'OH! Luckily, there was leftover fixin's so for lunch the next day I warmed everything up & set it over some oatmeal. (I've been in the pattern to have oatmeal for lunch lately & I try new things to add to it so it won't be so plain & ordinary). My lunch bowl was significantly smaller than the bowls we used for last night's dinner - I wanted to feel satisfied not to hate my life due to gluttony. However, I substituted Sriracha sauce instead of 초고추장 & added in some furikake (Japanese crushed seaweed seasoned with sesame seeds & other stuff).

bibim oatmeal 

The Help & Thank You

A few people were integral when it came to meal preparations at our recent church retreat... Some females stepped up to the plate; such brave souls to always come knocking to see if I need help preparing the meals (not just for the retreat but every time we have big event meals there's a core group of the ladies who always come ready to help)... This time around, I surprisingly had some help from the other gender and not just in the usual "take out the trash" kind of way either. One little brother, let's call him "One Man Band", was for whatever reason eager to help me cook... (He's been itching to learn how to cook it seems) So in the weeks prior, I let him know he'd be helping me cook a couple meals - he was genuinely excited. (*shaking head* he doesn't know what he's in for) One Man Band also had to prepare the sound/music equipment & prepare to lead praise during a couple of the worship times as well so we had to coordinate our "schedules" to make sure neither conflicted.

Friday evening when we arrived to the retreat center, I stood in the kitchen for a good 1/2 hour & stared to try to figure out how to unpack & organize all of the food, snacks, drinks, kitchen equipment in an orderly fashion. People were asking left and right how to help but in order for me not to lose my mind I asked them to give me time to try to figure out how to organize everything first and then we could all unpack (because the last thing i wanted was to find like a spatula in the pile of onions or something to that effect). So we all arranged everything in its place... There were a couple times when I would go back and ask "um, why is this here?" and then people would stare back at me... (It's because I asked them to put it there...) And then it would click that I asked that it be put there for the time being. *shaking head*

During one of my first meal preps another little brother, let's call him "Bear", popped his head into the kitchen asking if I needed any assistance. At first I was kinda skeptical of his kitchen skills so I accepted his help on a trial basis... Surprisingly, he's pretty handy in the kitchen! I did have to adjust a couple things (washing vegetables w/ hot water for example) but otherwise - Bear was my go to kitchen person. There were a few times that I was so tired that I wouldn't even have the energy to form words but I just made motions but somehow the message came through. There were times that I would make things a little bit more difficult or complicated for him without even thinking. (I chalk it up to lack of sleep not bad intentions) It's too bad I didn't pack more than one apron otherwise I would have forced them to wear one (not a frilly pink one, just a basic apron). One Man Band & Bear kept me from drowning in the mounds of food prep by telling random funny stories...

I felt like I put them through like a kitchen boot camp of sorts so as a thank you gift I made each of them a box of cookies... Which I think they happily scarfed down the afternoon they received them. They must have had fun helping b/c they offered to help me next year too! (*evil laugh* Do they know what they got themselves into??!)

My testosterone-filled kitchen help

Some toffee almond chocolate chip cookies (I also made peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies) as a thank you gift

Some Sun, Some Kebabs & Some Boba

We made a plan - eat lunch & then hunt down the Boba Truck. I met up with my friend (let's call her Ms. Bacon) and her co-worker and another girlfriend (let's call her Ms. Funsize) for lunch this past Wednesday in Pasadena. Lucky for us the weather was BEAUTIFUL - sunny and a warm 80°F. We ate lunch at a small meditteranean lunch spot http://www.kokosmediterraneancafe.com/. As soon as you order your food is ready, they must have their foodprep down to a science for their turnaround to be so high. I had a lamb kebab plate (2 skewers of meat over rice pilaf, with sides of greek salad & hummus w/ one pita), Ms. Bacon had a kefta (meatball) kebab wrap and co-worker & Ms. Funsize had beef kebab plates. Everything was YUM~

lunch

Dessert was the Boba Truck. (So Cal started the gourmet food truck revolution and there's pretty much a food truck for almost any food...) Ms. Bacon knows the boss man of the Boba Truck so we decided to go check it out. Each drink is handcrafted to order so the strength of the tea and the overall sweetness of the drink is entirely customizable. I indulged in a Lychee Green Tea with mini boba. Ice cold tea drinks were the perfect accompaniment to the gorgeous albeit a bit warm weather... The truck was parked adjacent to Pasadena City Hall in front of a park whose focal point was this HUGE "talking" heads sculpture installation.

the talking heads, some people were uncomfortable with staring at them while eating so they turned their backs

My lunch buddies for the day

Just the girls~

EM Spring 2011 Retreat

What: CHC English Ministry 2011 Retreat
Where: some Korean-owned/operated retreat center/cabin site in Running Springs, CA (between Lake Arrowhead & Big Bear)
When: March 4-6, 2011
Why: to meet God, to invite the Holy Spirit, to draw closer as a group
People in Attendance: fluctuated between about 35-40 people

I made my shopping/supplies lists, checked it twice, checked it again, wrote out my menu plan, wrote out my recipes & checked my shopping/supplies lists one more time to edit. Made five trips to Costco (Commerce business center, Fullerton, La Habra), three trips to Smart & Final, two trips to Fresh & Easy, two trips to Hannam Chain, one trip to HMart, one trip to church (for storage purposes) one trip to Albertsons all within the span of 3 days. Why not just delegate some of the shopping responsibilities? I did (for things I didn't really need to keep count, i.e. bottled water & snacks). However, in order to keep track of the budget & quantity needed of ingredients I needed to do the bulk of the shopping myself. Each time I went shopping I had a calculator in hand to make sure I was going to be within the alloted budget. I was watching every penny b/c in times past I've been a few dollars over budget so I REALLY made an effort to stay in the black as opposed to the red. After the essential shopping was done I realized I was WAY UNDER budget so I had a little fun picking up some extra snacks & drinks

The hard part wasn't trying to find the space to store everything but rather packing everything in the van; it was like those logic puzzles we had to do in grade school for those multiple choice "intelligence" tests & Tetris (the background music was playing in my head). We finally loaded all the cargo & luggage into the van & cars then did a headcount... I would need to drive our pastor's sedan to the retreat site.

Friday late-night snack: Korean instant noodle bowls, chips, homemade cookies, Honest Kids lemonade & tropical punch drink pouches

Saturday breakfast: milk & cereal, whole wheat toast w/ PB&J (and I even brought out my personal Nutella stash) coffee/tea/orange juice (a few of us had oatmeal as well) and bananas

Saturday lunch: tonkatsu (pan-fried breaded pork cutlet) & korroke (potato croquettes) w. homemade tonkatsu sauce (for the amount I needed I realized it was easier, cost-efficient and healthier to just make my own) w. cabbage salad. A few people couldn't eat pork so I also prepared chicken katsu as well.

(sorry but this is one of the few pics some people took of the food)

korroke, katsu, homemade katsu sauce, cabbage salad & quick dressing

Saturday dinner: Guinness beef stew (but it actually turned out like soup, but I already know why it didn't thicken to stew, so i'll adjust for that the next time I make it)

Saturday late-night snack: true to the last night of retreat tradition all the snacks were laid out on a table so everyone could go in for the kill; a snack buffet if you will.

Sunday breakfast: same as Saturday, a few people had some leftover beef stew for breakfast so I added in some oatmeal while reheating to make it more substantial, brought out more bananas & some oranges too.

Sunday lunch: Italian sausage & peppers on a hotdog bun w. french fries and Gala apples.

My menu plan was to make each meal simple, economical, hearty but mostly nutritious. I made sure that the dinner & lunches had some beef/pork/chicken (more to my pastor's taste than mine...) In the past I made a full hot breakfast only to have half of it go to waste b/c people were just too groggy to eat that heavy first thing in the morning (or some people just slept through breakfast time)

In order to cook the food on time for the meals I unfortunately had to skip one or two of the worship services. I was able to hear the Saturday evening service in its entirety and I listened to the Sunday service from the kitchen. My pastor reminded me not to be like Martha - not Stewart but the original... There is a story in the Bible of two sisters, Mary & Martha. Jesus went to their house to teach, fellowship with people & eat a meal. Martha was busily preparing the meal in the kitchen by herself while her sister Mary sat at Jesus's feet attentively listened to what He had to say. Martha complained that she was alone in preparing and that her sister should get up and help her but Jesus reminded her that while serving is important the lessons from God take precedence over everything.

All in all, the retreat was a very blessing experience. I think everyone enjoyed the food too. *Yawn* Please don't wake me until the next family meal for the EM... **recovery mode**

Anticipation

(drafted this on this past thursday, didn't get a chance to post until now)

I've been slacking on the posts the past couple of weeks but not without a good reason. This weekend is my church's retreat for the English Ministry (college/post-college) peeps. I've been attending this church since moving to CA & over time the meal/snack/catering planning fell on my shoulders. For a while, it's been pretty manageable because the most people I've had to prepare for are 30 but over the past couple of years our numbers have swelled to 45-50. (help me)

I learned how to cook while growing up at my mother's side in the kitchen helping her prepare for dinner gatherings at our house. Due to that experience, I am very comfortable making a full meal for 8-10 people but I tend to hesitate when it's only 1-2 people. Since baking/cooking is my hobby & stress reducer I actually relish in the opportunities to prepare a meal for a group. I brainstorm for ideas by combing through endless foodblogs & I have endless bookmarks of whatever food catches my eye. I like to experiment and try to make new things all the time. I have a regular bucket list (things to experience before I die) but I will admit I have a culinary bucket list too (food I want to make at least once in my life).

Anyhow, I've been menu-planning & preparing supplies for this weekend - trying not to stress out about the details. Not very successfully on that front I'm afraid b/c I broke out in stress-induced hives on my neck & palms/wrists. Quite ironic that my stress-reliever is also my stress-inducer; it's a vicious cycle. Tried to make sure I had everything I would need for food prep & for everyone to eat/drink/snack. I hope this weekend is a success not just on the food front but for the main purpose why we're there...

Savory Experimentation

I have ideas swimming in my head; all food-related all the time. I spend countless hours browsing food blogs, food blog aggregate sites, kitchenware sites, chef blogs etc etc etc. (Chefs are my rockstars, I would be speechless to meet someone like Joël Robuchon but that's another story for another time.) I don't recommend browsing food sites on an empty stomach though - crazy cravings are due to set.


One of the things I really miss from back home is good pizza. Don't get me wrong, California-style pizza is good in its own right but there are days when I just want a slice of crispy thin crust, oozing w. bubbling mozzarella w. just the right amount of red sauce. "NY-style" pizza here is just not the same. So my pattern for food that remind me of home is to just make it at home because I know I will never be satisfied with what is served to me at a restaurant.


The craving of the moment was calzones. Calzones are like pizza pockets/turnovers. Think of it as an Italian dumpling... The size can range from palmful to faceful & the stuffing combinations are endless, sauce inside or sauce on the side. I personally prefer sauce on the side. With the idea of calzones planted I set out for the grocery store to buy supplies when another craving set - sausage & peppers. Supplies in tow, I went home to prep. 


In order to lighten it up a bit I chose to make a whole wheat pizza dough recipe. I sliced some onions & bell pepers, chopped some garlic, threw it all in a pan w. some oil & left it alone until the onions carmelized a bit. Sliced up some smoked spicy sausage & warmed it up in a pan. I portioned out the dough into 4 & rolled out the dough & assembled my lunch in the not too distant future... took a small baking pan & lined it w. some foil, sprinkled some cornmeal & placed the pocket of goodness on top. I cut a couple air vents in the top (otherwise the crust would balloon from steam while baking) & brushed the top w. a little bit of oil.

calzone with a side of roasted garlic tomato sauce

mangia!

Baby Shower

I remember at another baby shower in the past, my friend (who was born & raised in Taiwan but moved to the States for college) asked me why it was called a "baby shower" - I had to think about it for a minute since I really didn't know the answer either. I blurted out the first thing that came to mind: you get together with your friends & loved ones to shower the mama to-be & baby w/ love, affection & presents! =P I heard that in some areas of the country they do a sip 'n see: sip on tea or some more adult libations & see the baby (after it's born). *shrug* either way it's an excuse to have a party & have some bonding time w/ friends.

I decided for this latest baby shower I would make cupcakes. I made the buttercream frosting the night prior so I could concentrate on putting together the cupcakes on Saturday morning. I decided to use buttermilk in the cake recipes to give them a little something extra. I was going at a leisurely pace until I looked up at the clock - cutting it close!

The party was so much fun! Girlfriend who hosted did such a great job decorating & putting together games... She made pozole (spicy Mexican soup w. hominy & chicken) from scratch - so good. My other friend made hot dog buns (like the ones you find at the Asian bakeries). We made a point to skip lunch - hahaha. Hostess even provided sangria - the best I've ever had.

As one of the games we each wore a plastic diaper clothes pin on a ribbon around our necks & the point was not to say "baby" otherwise we forfeit our charm. Somehow, baby daddy to-be ended up with the most pins towards the end of the party (and he wasn't even really trying). We were all taking a shot trying to get him to say the b-word but to no avail. Baby mama to-be even stood over him, grabbed his collar & demanded that he say it! He gladly relinquished the charms. It was such a fun afternoon hanging with the girlfriends & the baby daddy to-be (it wasn't too painful for him to be surrounded by so much estrogen I think).

giftbox of cupcakes for the parents to-be to enjoy at home

chocolate cupcakes topped with vanilla buttercream, vanilla cupcakes topped with chocolate buttercream

Treats for a Prego Friend

As of late, I find myself volunteering to make something for a friend's baby shower when that time comes... I don't know why - I think it has to to with my innate need to feed people. And who else would appreciate food more than a pregnant woman?? Seriously, I can imagine how hectic it will be trying to put together a decent home-cooked meal after the baby is born so I guess I just feel the need to help in the food department? Anyhow, this weekend is my college girlfriend's baby shower & I'm making vanilla & chocolate cupcakes - from scratch. ( I just refuse to make anything that came out of a box but that story is for another day) Today's food story is actually from food I made for another friend's baby shower about a year and 1/2 ago - let's call her Mrs. P.

A little background on Mrs. P: I'm friends with her through her hubby. Her other 1/2 and I attended the same church until they got married... Went to the wedding: it was a weather questionable day but all in all it was a lovely ceremony & fun reception albeit a bit EARLY (it was a late morning ceremony w/ a lunch reception)... Ok before I go off on too much of a tangent, fast forward to the weeks leading up to baby shower. Her sister graciously put together her cute shower - such attention to detail. Anyhow, I decided I wanted to make something that both Mrs. P & Dr. P (but only if he deserved it - j/k) could enjoy with little effort on their part. I decided on lasagne - could easily be frozen but then reheated & maintain taste. I was on a cinnamon roll making binge so I made a batch of those as well.  

I made turkey & spinach lasagne to lighten it a bit... I do tend to cut down on the salt in the recipe though - you want the flavor of the food to come through but you don't want to feel like you're licking a salt brick... Some lasagne recipes call for a mornay sauce layer (scalded milk w. butter & flour whisked in and some cheese) but I find that sauce to be unnecessary - it tends to make an already substantial pasta dish too heavy in my opinion.

On to dessert - cinnamon rolls... My favorite part of cinnamon rolls is definitely the middle coil. Whenever my sister & I made the Pillsbury cinnamon rolls in can we would always fight over the center roll in the pan. Anyhow, I wanted to make the rolls for Mrs P airy with the right amount of chewy factor not a hockey puck. I let the dough rise once before rolling it out and then I let it rise again in the pan before popping them in the oven... Whenever I see a recipe I like I inevitably change it a little bit to give the end product a little something something. This time around when the recipe called for granulated sugar I swapped it with turbinado sugar (aka Sugar in the Raw) & I used good quality organic unsalted butter. For the frosting I added some ground cinnamon into the whipped cream cheese frosting - I did make a bit extra just in case Mrs P wanted to dip the  rolls into extra frosting.

I arrived to the shower with gift & food in hand... Mrs P asked me if it was ok if she shared the goods with the guests which of course I agreed to - both were a hit. =) I did make 2 square pans of each so Mrs P shared the rest w/ Dr P.

 cinnamon rolls ready to go in the oven

close up

it's like a bucket of frosting

 turkey spinach lasagne

closeup (I think the edges were a bit overdone but nonetheless it was enjoyed)

This weekend I hope girlfriend enjoys the cupcakes~ (I will share the story & pics soon)

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! My favorite memories of this day are back in elementary school times when I would drag my mom to the local pharmacy so I could pick the BEST tear-off Valentine's Day cards. I wanted Transformers but my mom thought Strawberry Shortcake would be better. Valentine's Day was so simple back then...

Anyhow, to celebrate the day i decided to make sugar cookies w/ royal icing. Now I'm still a newbie when it comes to decorating cookies with royal icing so it's all still a bit of a trial/error period for me... I don't really like the flavor of sugar cookies (for their name they tend to taste either like cardboard or salt) so I opted for a shortbread recipe. I found heart-shaped sprinkles on sale so I shrugged & said "why not?"

shortbread cookies waiting to cool down

all dressed & sprinkled

my royal icing flooding needs some work...

Jjajang Myun (짜장면) - Noodles in Black Bean Sauce

Jjajang myun consists of a thick black bean sauce served over chewy noodles; usually served with pickled radish , raw onions dressed with vinegar with a side of black bean paste. Black bean paste, chopped veggies (usually just as simple as onions & green squash) & ground meat (traditionally either beef or pork) are sauteed together then some stock is added to cut down the saltiness and some starch is added to thicken the sauce. The dish is finished with some julienned cucumbers. There are some variations on the sauce: omit the starch, instead of ground meat then chopped seafood. Basically it's a bowl of YUM.

In Korea it's a simple street food. You can have it delivered to your door like we in America have pizza delivery... It's not delivered in ugly styrofoam containers either - restaurants take the time to portion out each serving into the bowls they use at the tables & pack it into insulated stainless steel vertical hotboxes. The delivery person then secures the hotbox onto the back of a moped and in minutes you have jjajang myun at your door. What do you do with the dishes after you're done your meal? Well, you leave them outside by your door & the delivery person comes by to collect them.

As a child jjajang myun was one of my favorite foods - fun to eat, not unrecognizable nor complicated looking, not bland but not spicy... Much like getting a milk mustache, a badge of honor was getting a jjajang myun mustache & beard. One of the few times my mom would let us be messy with our food - one MUST slurp the noodles when eating jjajang myun or the experience is not complete. In Asian cultures you show your appreciation of the food/cook/host by eating noisily.

Anyhow, I used to get together with a couple girlfriends every couple of months for a cooking club of sorts... We would literally spend days bouncing emails back and forth brainstorming on food ideas. We take a traditional dish & try to lighten it. One day we settled on Jjajang myun. So I call this our modern Jjajang myun. We used a mixed of frozen chopped veggies & instead of ground beef/pork we used ground turkey. You can find the jjajang base at any Korean market.

So I came home from cooking club and I mentioned that we made jjajang myun so the craving set in my mom's mind... A few weeks later on a lazy Saturday I decided to make jjajang myun for dinner.

The food prep - diced onions & potatoes, dried noodles, mixed veggies, sliced steak (I used what we had at home) and the jjajang paste.

Ready for the sauce to get happy.

Bowl of jjajang myun piping hot ready to be eaten!

My dad

My mom

Mind you, it was a lazy Saturday at home so we were dressed in casual louge clothes - my mother would probably be mortified that I posted this picture... So shhh!

약밥 (Yahk Bap)

약밥 is a sweet rice "cake" with some sweetener, spice, dried fruit (usually jujube), chestnuts & pine nuts. It's one of my favorite snacks & it's usually saved for special occasions which makes it an even better treat. Some kids lived for ice cream, I would do anything for good 약밥. I used to bug my mom all the time to show me how to make it when I was growing up but she never did get around to it... Why? It's labor intensive... Fast forward some years to present day & I noticed a friend posted on facebook a picture of his mom's HOMEMADE 약밥 from the New Year's festivities. The craving sunk in & had to be quenched.


 Off to the Korean market to get the few ingredients I didn't have - mainly chestnuts. I was hoping to find the already roasted & peeled packaged chestnuts b/c I was really not in the mood to sit there in the kitchen to steam & peel them myself... I rinsed the sweet rice, put together the "sauce" & portioned out the raisins. I thought we had pine nuts so I didn't bother to buy them but when I looked for them they were nowhere to be found (then I found out my mom gave them to a friend so they could make porridge - but that's another story for another time). I mixed everything together & popped it into the rice cooker. So convenient - you set it & forget it!


While it was cooking, i prepped a baking dish w. some oil to give the 약밥 a home while it cooled...

So of course as it's cooling my dad walked into the kitchen. The man is on a see food diet - he sees food, he eats it. He attacked a corner & gave me a thumbs up. As my new food experiment was cooling, I quickly cleaned all evidence... (I wasn't too sure how my mom would react to my use of her precious rice cooker) She sampled some & then asked me how I made it. I went over the ingredients & steps then finally confessed that I used the rice cooker. I braced for a second but my mom didn't even bat an eye... (Either what I said didn't sink in or she was too distracted with thinking about the 약밥)

Overall, it was a success but it did come out a tad sweet. With the next batch, I'd definitely cut back on the sweetener. My friend suggested that I cook the rice first and then mix everything together & put it into the oven. (There was more liquid in the final product than I liked) So with those notes made, I wait for another day that the craving hits...

Waffles

Who doesn't love waffles? Growing up my mom bought the Eggo variety - plain, blueberry, multi-grain & every once in a while chocolate chip. Little did I know that there was more than Eggo's out there but with age came the discovery of the Belgian waffle. Getting maple syrup into every nook was a must!

Anyhow, I discovered this little coffee & waffle bar in LA by way of the many food blogs I peruse throughout the day... It's called Shaky Alibi (located 7401 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036). They specialize in the Belgian street waffle - the Liege waffle. It's a yeast-based dough so the finished waffle is crisper & a bit more dense than the plate size waffle we Americans are used to... The bonus? Pearl sugar integrated into the dough itself...They make the waffles to order with a sprinkling of powdered sugar but you can add one of their spreads or fruit if you'd like... I always get the waffle with crunchy speculoos spread. Speculoos spread is like a spiced cookie in a peanut butter form... I stop by Shaky Alibi with friends in tow & usually at night so I shy away from their coffee offerings (but according to my mocha fiend friend it's spot on) but I do enjoy their tea... 

So if you ever find yourself in the West Hollywood area - please check it out! 

Cookie Monster

I've started an Etsy shop: www.kaajacookies.etsy.com. Pray that I sell lots & lots of yummy cookies to people around the continental US! ( I don't think the cookies would survive international shipping nor the slow boat to AK or HI). I can not take credit for the beautiful pictures of my goods though... A dear friend of mine graciously offered to photograph them (his payment was LOTS of cookies). Please check out his blog: keithkimphoto.tumblr.com - he does event photography as well.

The cookies pictured are my peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I started with wanting to do more than just a basic chocolate chip cookie so I mixed in some good all natural peanut butter (peanut butter and chocolate are bosom buddies). Then I wanted the cookies to have a little more substance so I sprinkled in some oatmeal (to make you feel a little less guilty about eating a cookie or three). Lastly, I folded in quality chocolate chips. Why do all that work only to ruin it with subpar chocolate?

I got rave reviews from all my guinea pigs (my close friends) - the best cookie variety yet...

I know most people have made resolutions to eat better or work out etc etc etc but you know, you deserve a treat after doing all that hard work. Plus, depriving yourself is never a good way to eat better.