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

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

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.

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…

I have a super addictive personality, but my additions tend to only last a couple of weeks at a time before I move on to my next addiction (I blame this on my short attention span).   One of my reoccurring addictions… korean dramas and occassionally a korean movie.  Movies aren’t as good as the dramas in my opinion, with the exception of a few, like “Classic” ^__^…  A few months ago, we stumbled on the K-movie “babo” which means, “dumbie?” or “stupid?” I’m not 100% sure…  But in the movie this brother makes “babo bbang” (bbang = bread or sandwich in this case) to support his sister and himself, so every once in a while, when I wake up before Mark on the weekends I’ll sneak downstairs and make my version of the babo sandwich to wake him up.

If I have time to run to Uwajimaya, I’ll pick up the square sandwich bread that has the best texture for my babo sandwich, but if not, I’ll pick up some buttermilk bread that’s my second favorite by orowheat.

 here’s a picture of my square bread

I made this version with regular orowheat buttermilk bread and spam

Ingredients you will need:)

 2 eggs

 I usually use ham, but I had spam on hand slice and fry

 mustard, ketchup and mayo

 fry your egg on medium heat, and once it’s almost all set flip your egg, I was able to flip this without a spatula ^__^

 not bad right?  it’s half in the wrist and half in the way you flip :), one of these days I’ll try to take a step by step picture.

 4 slices toasted with mustard, ketchup and mayo

 spread the condiments

 cut up the eggs to fit, stack eggs, fried sliced spam

 cover

 cut and enjoy, I usually only cut mine, Mark likes his whole

Since Mark and I have been since and I have a lingering cough that doesn’t want to be shaken, our food of choice has been jook The closest thing I could think of to explain it is risotto, but way less fancy.  Also, for Koreans it is the equivalent to chicken noodle soup when someone isn’t feeling well.

Here’s my recipe that I used a few times in the last couple of weeks:

 first, you’ll need a cup of rice, I used 1/2 cup of brown and 1/2 cup of white, washed and drained

 add a tiny drizzle of sesame oil and cook over medium/low heat for a couple minutes, until the white rice, goes from translucent to white.  (it’s ok if it turns a little brown or toasted, sort of adds to the flavor)

  add water (so if you have half an inch of rice, add 1/2 an inch of water to start) and boil for 5 minutes

 add whatever you have on hand, I had carrots, onions and ham, diced pretty finely about 3 tablespoons each. the bring it back to a boil

 cover and reduce heat to low for 20 minutes (this is a shortcut, since I don’t like stirring it so often, but not necessary, you can keep boiling over medium heat until rice is broken apart looking and skip this step if you like)

  It should look sort of like this after the 20 minutes, so I’ll add 1/2 a cup or more and continue to boil.  In the mean time, I’ll prep my keem and have everything ready to scoop and eat:

 topped with keem, salt, sesame seeds, and green onion (frozen), mix and enjoy

*I usually leave some salt out just in case it’s a little bland.  Also, some people add an egg or soy sauce.  Jook is pretty versatile, so experiment with things you like

Any paid holiday is a happy day for me

Our home was filled with flu symptoms this weekend, so we weren’t able to enjoy the long weekend much, but it was nice to have a restful weekend.  Still recovering, so here’s a quick and simple pasta salad for a potluck or a BBQ:

• 1 package of penne pasta
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes halfed
• 2 chicken breasts cubed (salt, garlic to season)
• mozerella cubed or pearls (pearls have less flavor, so you’ll have to salt the pasta salad a little more to compensate)
• 1/2 package of spinach
• EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
• salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta  in liberally salted water, drain and set aside.  Cube chicken, salt, add garlic and a drizzle of oil and cook through.  Combine everything and toss.  Season with salt, pepper and EVOO to taste.

Iknow summer is coming to a close, but I wanted to share a Tom Douglas recipe that one of my cutest small group members sent me and told me I had to try :)  It was so delicious and easy.  This was my first time attempting to make a crisp so I was a little worried at first, but it was seriously amazing!  The only thing I would do differently is wait a little bit longer in the oven.  I couldn’t wait so the base was a tiny bit soupy.  But I pulled it out 2-3 minutes before the timer went off because I saw it bubbling and didn’t realize that it was ok to bubble for a bit.

Yield: Makes 5 to 6 servings

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
• 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons (¾ stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into dice

FOR THE BERRIES

• 2 cups fresh raspberries
• 2 cups fresh blueberries, picked over for stems
• ½ cup granulated sugar (if berries are very sweet, you may want to use less sugar)
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

FOR GARNISH

• Vanilla ice cream or Sweetened Whipped Cream 

Directions

2. In another bowl, toss the berries with the sugar and flour, using a rubber spatula. Pour the berries into a 9-inch pie pan. Cover the berries with the crisp topping. Set the filled pie pan on a baking sheet to catch any juices, then place in the oven and bake until the topping is golden brown and the juices are bubbling, 40 to 45 minutes.

ON THE PLATE: Spoon generous portions of the warm crisp into wide shallow bowls and top with scoops of ice cream or whipped cream.

Notes

If you enjoy making crisps, make a large batch of crisp topping (double or triple the recipe) and keep it in an airtight container in the freezer.