tina & carol

Now, to get a little more personal…  The following is my dad’s story that I wrote down 2 1/2 years ago, and to this day, it challenges me to live radically…

* * *

Forgiveness…  This one word (and action) has been an underlying current in the tides of our family’s life.  It’s also my Dad’s platform, his message as a pastor and missionary…  So, when he shared yet another story of forgiveness, I was amazed AGAIN by his attitude of obedience before the Lord…

I don’t know if many people know this or not, but my Dad can’t hear out of one of his ears.  All our lives he mentioned that his ear drum had burst and to speak more clearly…   Somehow Carol and I had both concluded that it had something to do with the war when he was a child.  But we were wrong…  A few days ago, while sitting around the dinner table, as he was sharing about how ear surgeries are done, he remembered this story that he had forgotten…

When my Dad was in his early to mid 20’s, he joined the U.S. army and somehow got assigned back to Korea.  While there, he said people were really confused by him.  He was a Korean, but part of the U.S. army.  So both sets would be confused and do a double-take.  Well, one day, while my Dad was waiting in line for food in the cafeteria, he urged an African-American man and his friend to move forward.  Thinking that my Dad was telling him what to do as a Korean from the Korean military (a few worked on the same base), he struck my Dad so hard on one side of his head that my Dad had to be helicoptered to a hospital.  (Quick note:  my Dad said that the other guy who was with the African-American man realized that my Dad was part of the U.S. army and was quick to yell it out as soon as his friend had struck him.  So, it reminded me of what happened to Paul as a Roman citizen in Acts 22.)   The African-American had ruptured my Dad’s ear drum and he had to have surgery.  Afterwards, my Dad’s commanding officer asked if he wanted to file a complaint, but my Dad refused.  He told his commanding officer that he was a Christian and would not file the complaint…  Well, my Dad happened to work in the main office as the first point of contact - the office that every military man has to go through.  And one day, the African-American showed up.  While there, he recognized my Dad.  They talked and my Dad told him not to treat Koreans that way again and shared the Gospel with him.  He lead that man to the Lord…

My Dad has other stories from the Army, but this particular story challenged me again about forgiveness…  To this day, my Dad can barely hear out of that one ear and even has to read lips to compensate, but he sacrificed his hearing, so that that man could have life.   Life eternal, that is…  And who knows, maybe others heard that story, too, and turned to the Lord…   This is just a small story compared to all the others before and after…  Slowly, but surely…

Hello everyone, sorry I’ve been MIA lately… with the holidays and work being so busy and getting sick, I didn’t have much energy to put into blogging lately…  so today, I thought I would post my boo dae jigae recipe.  Since it seems like the most popular recipe I posted on my old blog.  I figured I should post for the rest of the world who don’t have Xanga ^__^

Below is a picture of what it looks like after assembly and before cooking.  Mark bought me a electric hot pot kind of thing at Hmart while we were dating, so he could request it at any time.

Here’s my version of boo dae jigae, remember this is just stuff I like putting in, you can mix it up any way you like, an unni in Korea made it with pork and beans once and it was delicious, but I didn’t know how to replicate.  This is similar to the one in Apgujung in Vancouver…  they have bean sprouts in their broth and the last time we went up there, it wasn’t as good as the first few times we went… hopefully they were just having an off day that day?
 
SOUP:
chicken stock about a box (not sure about can… maybe 2 cans?)
go chu jjang hot pepper paste (4-5 tablespoons)
minced garlic (2-3 large cloves)
kimchi (I liked it chopped small)
dduk (on top of everything above, to prevent it from sticking and burning on the bottom)
 
ON TOP:
tofu (cubed)
spam
sausage (mark loves hotlinks, but beware there’s some kinds that are super greasy…diagonal slices)
onions
green onions
carrots
mushrooms
1 slice of American cheese *Kraft works the best…
zucchini
 
ramen (minus the soup stock, unless you want it)
 
(quantity all to preference) put all the soup part into a shallow wide pot, then put all the top part on, with the ramen noodles, I either break it up-into the soup part or cook separately to get the palm oil to boil out of it (I heard palm oil is really bad for you, but not sure if this is true) and mix it in right before the onions turn see through…
 
cover and start boiling after you have everything in there and you’ll know when it’s ready when the onions are sort of see through.

*although an electric hot pot thing is nice (seen in picture above), you can also do this on a stove with a shallow wide pot and if you don’t care about presentation, just stick it all in a pot and boil.

**I like using this kind of dduk when I can find it.  It’s chewy, delicious and cook up pretty quickly without soaking in water beforehand but the flat ones used for dduk gook work fine too

First, Happy New Year, everyone!

Okay, I need to be honest.  I’m not sure if anyone has noticed my tepid writing lately, but I’ve had severe writer’s block for the past several months.  So, now that we’re in the new year, I decided that I need to do something about it.  My solution?  To write about whatever is on my mind, at that particular moment, no matter what the subject might be.  Well, at least on my appointed days, which are Tuesdays and Thursdays, I think.  Simple, huh?  We’ll see…

So, what’s on my mind right now?  New Year’s resolutions.  I made one primary resolution and that was to study a list of subjects at our local, newly remodeled (yay!) library, but Steve told me today, to shorten the list.  I agreed.  A couple or a few things, but not 5 to 10…  I’m sure others can juggle that many, but I think Steve knows me…  :P

Another resolution, is to slow down or completely stop myself when it comes to talking.  I know that sounds weird, but after a decade of spewing all the contents of my heart out at anyone within range, I feel like the Lord is telling me that it’s now time to close the door on that time of my life.  It took me a few years to sort this all out, but thankfully, the Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness…  So, this year, I’m ever-so hopeful…  The word, “hope,” being a theme for 2010.  Wow, the more I think about it, what a beautiful word…  Hope.

In 1997, I made similar resolutions that altered the course of my life.  I set my will about something and drastically changed the direction I was headed - it was one of the happiest years of my life.  I made many wonderful friends and experienced things that make me smile even to this day…  One of the results of that time, is that I started dating my, now husband, Steve.

So, for 2010, I “hope” in the Lord…

There’s something so cozy and comforting about traditions.  It’s reliable and you don’t have to stress about doing or thinking up something new…  Many years back my small group (lylas… or love you like a sister) started a little  tradition of our own.  Since the holidays are so busy and expensive, we decided for our group, we would have a gift exchange and pajama and spaghetti night.  Everyone picks up one or two ingredients to contribute and we went from having a secret santa gift to doing a white elephant gift (which has been hard for me, since I usually only have stuff I really want in my home…, I might need to start picking up things I don’t really need for the holidays ^__^)  we cook together, and sit around in our elastic waisted pjs and eat to our hearts content and chatter away until food coma sets in.  Then we retreat to another room to do our gift exchange.    I wish we had a picture this year, but we were missing our facebook loving, photo posting sister this year.  And I keep forgetting to take my camera around with me…

I <3 my small group.  I really do love all of them like a sister ^__^

Here’s the closest thing I could find to the pajama set I picked up from Macy’s- only $18 on sale and coupon combo, but mine was creamish color with red little birds with gray decorative things on it. 

A while back one of my coworkers decided that she wanted to take an interviewing class and that I was going to keep her company in the class. :)  So I awkwardly followed her to the class and got added to an email list for people on the hunt for a job…  Every once in a while, something in the emails will catch my eye and I will end up reading the job descriptions and find a gem for a friend, but today… dun dun dun, I found one for me ^__^

BACKGROUND EXTRAS NEEDED FOR FILM

Background Extras day rate is: $94.05 guaranteed 10 hours of work. Most extras work one or maybe 2 days.
Looking for people interested in being background extras for the film “Late Autumn”.
Contact the extras casting director if interested:
Denise Gibbs
gibbsdesign@comcast.net
425.246.2725

Filming: December 12, 2009 to February 2, 2010

The Spokane production company, North By Northwest Entertainment, is
producing their next feature film along with Boram Entertainment and
M&FC here in Seattle.

WRITER/DIRECTOR:
Kim Tae-Yong (Memento Mori, Pass Me, If You Were Me, On the Road,Two,
Family Ties) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0453707/

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Ji Heun KIm (Man Chu directed by Man Hui Lee)
GENRE: Drama/Romance
LANGUAGE: English
TARGET FILM FESTIVAL: 2010 Cannes Film Festival
CINEMATOGRAPHY: KIM Woo Hyung
MUSIC: CHO Sung Woo

PRODUCTION DESIGN: YOO Seong-Hie (The Host, Oldboy, Thirst, Hansel and
Gretel, I’m a Cyborg but That’s OK, A Bittersweet LIfe, Monster,
Memories of Murder, No Blood No Tears, Flower Island)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1091794/

COSTUME DESIGN: CHO Sang-kyung
PRODUCERS: LEE Jooick, Nansun Shi, CHO Sung Woo

Tang Wei (Ang Lee’s “Lust,Caution”) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2325018/

Hyun Bin (Bodyguard-KBS-TV, My Lovely Sam Soon-MBC-TV)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1593460/

STORY:
Anna, an immigrant from China, has been imprisoned after killing her
abusive husband in self-defense. Convicted at the age of 23, Anna has
been away from the outside world for 7 years.

Despite the escalating drama in Hoon’s life and the sadness in Anna’s
situation, the two strangers begin to connect in a deeper and more
meaningful way. Through this connection, they end up helping each
other escape the threats of the present and the mistakes of the past
and ultimately gain hope for the future.

I was telling my coworker about how we should do this when she told me that she was an extra in 10 things I hate about you, so I just wanted to share to everyone I know that I know a star ^__^

now I just need to convince my coworkers or my small group girls to do this with me so we can be stars too!  anyone up for this?

My husband and I live in a fairly quiet neighborhood, but because of where we’re situated, we get a lot of solicitors.  So, one day and unknown to me, Steve ordered a personalized resin house plaque/address marker online through Lillian Vernon, choosing the words, “No Soliciting” to put on it.  (You might have to search online a little, since Lillian Vernon doesn’t seem to have our particular one any more.)  It’s a very warm and friendly looking “No Soliciting” sign.  :)  The following isn’t the same as mine, but it’s as close as I could find.  (Sorry, still need to figure out how to load my own pictures…)

For the entire summer, it was propped up against the wall on itself next to our front door.  One day, I came across a plate/picture stand and a lightbulb went off!  This isn’t exactly like mine either, but you can get the idea:

There are many other combinations you can bring together, so use your imagination!  So far, it’s working!  :)

I few months back I went to Buca Di Beppo with my hubby because I was craving their fried cheese and saw that they had green beans was curious to see how “Italian” green beans were made so I ordered them.  It was sort of delicious so I tried it at home and it came out pretty similar… at least to my taste buds.

I got two big handfuls of fresh green beans (from costco), threw it in with a tablespoon of EVOO, 2 tablespoons of minced garlic, two pinches of hot pepper flakes and salt to season.  After I let it cook for a bit and it was “screaming hot” (as Rachel Ray would say^__^) I added a couple tablespoons of water and covered and let it cook for a bit and uncovered and let all the water evaporate. 

I tried this again with the green beans I had left over and I had put in the freezer and it didn’t seem to be as crisp and delicious… not sure if it’s because the green beans weren’t flash frozen like the ones that come frozen?  The sad thing about this was that I made it for a bunch of people and told them how delicious it was before I made it ^__^ oh well…

I was looking through my pictures to see what I could post about this week and I realized I haven’t been taking as many pictures lately, oops~ :)  it has been a little crazy at work, which makes it harder for me to feel motivated to do much when I get home.   When it slows down, I’ll try my best to get back on track with my picture taking…

So, today… I’m going to show you a clever trick I learned from one of my friends.  In the Korean stores around Seattle, they don’t sell jalapenos individually, you have to buy a pound or more that they have prepackaged for you.  This is nice for bigger families that use a ton of jalapenos, but for my family of two… it can be a bit much.  For  a while, I was slicing them all up and using 1 or less and freezing 90% of them, but after a while, you get the ice chunks and freezer burn… and all of a sudden it hit me One of my friends were over for a BBQ last year and showed me how to pickle jalapenos, like that kind you can get from a can in the Mexican food aisle of most grocery stores.

 I got an old spaghetti sauce jar, filled it with sliced jalapenos

  pour in white distilled vinegar (I always have vinegar on hand for everything, from cooking to cleaning :))

 cover and refrigerate.

It should only take a week or so for the color to change to a dull green.  After it’s done pickling, I like to chop it up and put it over nachos or on sandwiches, one time I tried putting it on Boboli pizza crust bread with mozzarella and cheddar cheese and regular deli ham chopped up (bake per instructions of course) and it was seriously delicious :).  It’s also delicious on quesadillas.  oh the possibilities

Is it just me, or has other people noticed that all the stars of Food Network started using this bowl? I’ve seen Ina Garten, Paula Deen, Rachel Ray, Giada De Laurentiis, Anne Burrell, and Sunny Anderson using it

I was at Walmart the other day, to pick up a electric/cordless kettle (which they don’t carry the one I like anymore, my last one died after many many uses…), and I saw the bowl and I carried it around me with while I looked for my kettle.   After about 30 minutes I decided I needed it.  It was less than $5 and everyone on Food Network seemed to be using it in their shows. 

After using it a few times, I finally realized why they used this on the shows.  The main reason is because you can see the side profile of the dishes instead of just a top view.   But… even though I don’t have much use for that reasoning, I like that it doesn’t take up so much space on my table top -Koreans use up a lot of table top space with the many many side dishes and it is sort of  pretty with all the yummy foods mixed in.  I’ve been using it for salads, but I think it can be used for other dishes too…

Since it’s under $5 I might pick up another one maybe even a smaller size one as well? hopefully they still carry it by the time I get around to going to the nearest Walmart again…

This past month was a month of experiments but I learned a lot from all my mistakes… I even attempted kimchi without a recipe or the proper tools, but I’ll post about that another day.  Here’s one attempt at a dish I’ve been meaning to try for a while…

The other day I saw shabu shabu sliced meat at Uwajimaya and decided I would make my own version without looking up any recipes or anything… since I don’t remember ever trying it, it might not have been the greatest idea, but it was ok~ next time I think I will try a different soup base :)  I like experimenting, I think I got it from my mom… but in this case, it was an experiment that was a little off…  but it looks sort of pretty, no?

so what I used was…

• odeng (this one was really good, I wish I remembered the name of this type, but one time I boiled one with some kelp and my sister devoured them :))
• frozen shrimp (costco)
• very thinly sliced shabu shabu meat, I think this one was a brisket…
• bean sprouts (probably won’t use next time)
• japanese noodle (I found it by the soba noodles) (probably try a different noodle next time)
• tofu
• zuccini 
• mushrooms *I don’t really like Enoki mushrooms, so I used button, but I can see why they use that for this dish… because juices from the mushroom end up flavoring the broth, so the mushroom flavor was a little bit strong
• bok choy (probably will try napa cabbage next time)

Broth I used chicken stock because I remember seeing it somewhere, but I don’t recommend this… a tiny bit too chickeny (not sure how else to explain it?)  next time I think I’ll try a different stock… with kelp, water and use a dipping sauce?

I had the broth simmering after I brought it up to a boil and just started adding stuff I wanted to eat, but after I found out shabu shabu is supposed to have a rolling boil going and swishing the meat around until it’s cooked… oops but it was still good, since everything was really frozen and it gave us time to eat and chat.