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...