tina & carol

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

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?

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.

I wanted to share one more find, but there is a story behind this one :)  When Mark and I were dating, one of the times, we all (parents, sister, brother in law (BIL), Mark and I) met at a chinese restaurant by Mark’s place for some jjah jjang myun.  Afterwards, I had to take my parents home, but Mark and the rest went over to his place and my BIL asked for some iced coffee.  Since I had made it for Mark several times in the past, he didn’t realize the work that went into it… what resulted was, a “war” in his cup.  ^__^ What I usually did was, boil some water, mix a tiny bit of water with some Maxim dah bahn coffee mix and add a ton of ice.  Mark had only ever seen the result of my delicious concoction :)  Ever since then I had wished that they would make one that didn’t need the hot water and the other week, guess what I found???

not only was it a mix that didn’t need hot water, it came with this beautiful cup:

*I got two bags of coffee just so I could get 2 cups because I like to have matching items.    One for me and one for Mark :).   Now we use it for everything, I’m in love with the size of the cup, and that it can handle both hot and cold drinks and it’s sturdy so I don’t have to worry about it breaking and lastly I love that it has a handle

Our director made white chocolate mint oreo truffles (there’s another name it goes by in our department, but not sure if it’s internet appropriate ^__^) one year for a dessert competition and since then, everyone’s been attempting to make it as perfectly as she does, but no one has quite mastered it…  Here is my latest attempt:

Recipe:

• 1 package of oreos
• 1 8oz. package of cream cheese (room temperature)
• 1 lb. of white chocolate mint wafers*

*I’ve only been able to find these at a chaotic little store called Home Cake Supply (9514 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle, WA ), if you ever visit you will understand what I mean by the “chaotic” but I love the store, the people are so nice and helpful.  They sell it by the pound, but sometimes it’s not out in front, so you have to ask for it.

For the first step, take the oreo’s and grind it up, if you have a food processor, it’ll be super easy… if you don’t, you’ll need a large ziplock bag, rolling pin and some muscles to crush finely as you can, it should look like dark dirt when you are done.  Mix in the cream cheese and oreos.  After it is mixed well, form into small balls around the size of a quarter and place on a cookie sheet and refrigerate for about an hour until it is set.   Before you take them out of the refrigerator, melt your white chocolate mint wafers in a bowl over simmering hot water, if you’ve never seen this before watch Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa, she seems to do this at least once a week ^__^ (she seems so kind, I love watching her show). I used 2 spoons to cover and carry it over to a silpat to set.   One mistake this time around was that I didn’t let my oreo balls refrigerate long enough and it ended up coming apart a tiny bit and making my white chocolate freckled with oreo bits… but I think it made it more cookies n cream kind of effect so I liked it :).  These need to be kept cool, so remember to refrigerate after making them, unless you plan on eating it right away :)  Sorry I don’t have more pictures, I only made a half a batch this time because I was tired and sort of rushed throught the process. 

(I didn’t have any cute containers so I had to use a salad dressing bottle and try to pretty it up… I probably should have just gone to the store to pick one up, but since it was around 11pm, I couldn’t get myself to change out of my pj’s, so… sorry Mark’s friend who got the not so cool container :) )

A few months ago, I saw these packages on sale at Uwajimaya and remembered my coworker telling me how she loved Japanese Ramen and decided to pick up a couple of different kinds and brands.  Plus I’ve been hearing Korean ramen has negative nutritional values…

We tried the shoyu and miso flavored and there were some no MSG kinds and I got one package of the “value pak” just to see and that one was definitely a “never again” one, but this one quickly became our favorite.  The no MSG (shoyu) a very close runner up. 

I love how the noodles aren’t deep fried and feel more fresh feeling *did I mention this is in the refrigerated section. The only thing that caught me off guard was that there this fatty stuff in the soup base, so I only use 1/4 of the fatty stuff just for a touch of flavor

I used deli ham and an egg and green onions to pretty it up (you can tell when I’m running low on groceries when I break out the deli ham  ^__^) oh also, for those who miss the spice that Korean Ramen has, Sriracha sauce adds a nice kick :)  I like to put a drop on each bite of ramen, for some reason it tastes better than if you just put a huge glob and mix it into your soup…