Tag Archives: food

South Korea: Lunar New Year!

새해 복 많이 받으세요, Happy Lunar New Year all!

It’s crazy to sit here and realize that this is our 4th and 5th Lunar New Year in Korea. Honestly, WHOA! Anywho I’m sure if you’ve been following along with our blog from the beginnings you know what Lunar New Year is all about. FOOD! Kidding… well kinda, sorta. It’s about family and being together, much like our own special holidays in the US. And FOOD.

So to celebrate Lunar New Year, why not get festive and gather up your friends and teach them how to easily make dumplings? Just remember two magic words, fill and fold and the rest will come into place for you. The great thing about dumplings is that you can be as basic, or crazy creative with the filling ingredients as you’d like and they will still be delicious. This time around we kept ours fairly simple, easy to follow and vegetarian.

Remember…Confucius say, “Man with one chopstick go hungry.”

Enjoy!

^If you are in Korea these bamboo steamers and steamer liners are EASY to get a hold of. If you can’t find any liners, use some cabbage leaves and call it a day.

Easy Steamed Dumplings

Ingredients:
About 15 shiitake mushrooms, or your favorite kind, sliced
1/2 of a small onion, sliced
EVOO- Extra virgin olive oil, used to drizzle
1 Cup shredded carrot
1 Cup shredded cabbage
3 Inch slices of fresh ginger, diced
3 Cloves garlic, diced
1/2 Cup of mixed yellow, red and green bell pepper, diced
1/2 Of a block of tofu, diced into small squares
1/4 Cup chopped scallions
4 Tsp soy sauce
4 Tsp hoisin sauce
2 packs of wonton wrappers
Salt & pepper, to taste

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Combine the mushrooms and onions onto a baking sheet and drizzle with EVOO and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Roast in oven for approximately 10-15 minutes, checking for a nice golden brown coloring. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool.

After the mushrooms and onions have cooled, combine all of the dry ingredients and add in a pinch of salt. Add in the sauces and toss together.

You want to fill the wrapper with about a tablespoon scoop of the mixture. You will know if it is to full by the way it’s folding together for you. Take your finger, wet the outside edges of the wrapper with a bit of water and begin to pinch and fold edges completely closed, as shown on the wrapper instructions.

Place the dumplings inside and steamer for approximately 9-10 minutes, or until the wonton skins are soft.

Click, Ship & treat yourself!

Bangkok: What To Order

You knew I couldn’t resist… we are foodies through and through! We feasted on some rather delicious Thai food while we were in Thailand! These were just a few of our favorites shots.

Poo Phad Pong Karee – Stir-fried crab with yellow curry sauce

Stir-fried Scallops with Black Pepper Sauce

Som Tam- a salads of shredded green papaya with lemon dressing, tomatoes, chilli and dry shrimps

Pad Thai- stir fried rice noodles with egg, bean sprouts, and ground peanuts

*Not included in photos:

Tom Yam Khung Lai Sua – Spicy Toger Prawns soup with lemongrass, galangal and mushrooms
Pad See Eew- Stir fried flat noodles with egg and vegetable

What are your favorite Thai dishes? Share! We’d love to order them and maybe even try to cook them too.

Kuala Lumpur Day 5

Gosh dangit already on Day 5 of the Memorial Day getaway. Well, we trucked around center city Kuala Lumpur on our last day with Luis. We checked out Brickfields also known as Little India, China Town or known as peddlers ally, and the Central Market.

We ate the local eats, such as durian fruit (AKA hot trash) and ais kacang or known as ABC (acronym for Air Batu Campur, literally meaning “mixed ice”). The ABC reminded me of S.Korea’s potbingsoo but cracked out. There was so much on this thing my mouth was totally confused by all of the textures and flavors that were going on inside of it. I am talking about crazy flavors like palm seed, red beans, sweet corn, grass jelly and cubes of agar agar, aloe vera, cendol, ice cream. A final topping of evaporated milk, condensed milk, or coconut milk drizzled over the mountain of ice along with red rose syrup and sarsi syrup.

Perhaps I am bias, but I will always hold such a dear spot for our beloved original potbingsoo. It’s good to be back in the graces of Potbingsoo’s again. Cheers!

Many thanks to you Luis and showing us your Malaysia. It was a dream!

Curious, would you dare to try the local eats such as local eats, such as durian fruit or ABC?

Kuala Lumpur Day 3

I was pretty excited for the evening of day three because I knew that it consisted of sipping on something refreshing while taking in some the best panoramic night views of the city and Petronas Towers. Again, using my trusty, “36 Hours Travel Guide”, we headed off to the SkyBar. The Skybar is located in Traders Hotel on the 33rd floor and is a “Top 10 Must Do in KL Attractions”.The bar is open from 10am -1am (3am on weekends), weekdays are much more low-key.

Skybar is an open pavilion with swimming pool by day and a cool, sleek, sophisticated bar by night. One travel tip that I did take from my guide was to call ahead for reservations of the couches located right next to the huge windows that align the Skybar. Why? Just look at the views below. I really wouldn’t want you to miss out on the opportunity to have a clear shot. The dress code is smart casual, also known as genius casual for Mr. B (inside joke).

I asked our waiter if people ever go for a swim in the evening and was told that yes people do indeed swim in the evening, however never quite plan on that swim. Word to the wise, watch your step as you sip on those drinks. Luckily we three didn’t see any or plan on partaking in one of those unplanned swims.

Our intention was just to grab one drink, relax and take in the views before heading off to dinner. Well we got there and were memorized by the view and ordered mojitos that were oh so smooth…Yep, this place really Harry Pottered us right on into more drinks and a pre-dinner appetizer. Well played Skybar, well-played.

Now that we got to see the towers at night, I couldn’t wait to see them up close during the day!

Could you handle that gorgeous views with a refreshing cocktail in hand?

Address:

Traders Hotel, Kuala Lumpur
50088 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia

+60 3-2332 9888

Easter Sunday & Herb Island

What A big, beautiful weekend! Strawberry picking, tIme shared with Kelsey, dyeing Easter eggs with the twinkies, an Armenian Easter feast, celebration of new beginnings for dear friends and a trip to Herb Island. I hope you all had a fantastic, laughter filled, delicious weekend too (just check out the food below)! Happy Easter, Happy Weekend friends!

Silly Herb Island fun….

Address:

Herb Island
35, Cheongsin-ro 947beon-gil, Sinbuk-myeon, Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do
경기도 포천시 신북면 청신로947번길 35

http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=1051901

Assimilating

I’ve written some time ago just how difficult it can be to assimilate into a new culture while living abroad. Regardless of if you are a adult or not, everyone has some level of trouble adjusting. While everything is very exciting, it’s also bit overwhelming in a sense too.

This past weekend we met up with a family member that has very recently relocated from the East coast of the US to a smaller town on the outskirts of Seoul here in Korea. Yes! You read that I said KOREA, right? We finally managed to get some family here with us! On a semi permanent basis too! Eeek! We are shrieking with delight!

Kelsey has been getting acquainted with the Korean culture but was already in desperate need of some normalcy. (Insert two eager Bee’s to the rescue!)

The thing we are most excited to introduce to friends and family is definitely Korean cuisine. We typically like the shock and wow factor. However we knew that we needed to give Kelsey a nice healthy balance of what we introduced. After all we didn’t want her on the first flight out of here, especially when we just got her here. So we decided to stick to the foreigner friendly areas around Seoul for the day.

All three of our fitbits were buzzing because we traipsed all over Itaewon and Myeongdong. I am sure from past post you recall trips to both places. But if you are fairly new to the blog, Itaewon is a multi-cultural place full of bars, restaurants, shops, clubs, and Myeongdong is a large shopping area that features stores like H&M, Zara, and Forever 21.

The Bakers Table

244-1 Noksapyeong daero Itaewon dong Yongsan Gu
Seoul, Korea 244-1

Mon – Sun: 8:00 am – 9:00 pm

Phone	070-7717-3501
Email	mirabakery@naver.com
Website	http://blog.naver.com./mirabakery

Burgers, Spuds and Shakes

Beef, vegetarian, turkey, tofu or chicken. Burgers are always a food of comfort to us all in one way or another. I feel like they are meant to be enjoyed and savored with good friends. Tonight we had the pleasure of sharing our company with our dear friend Krista and her sweet baby girl while Dave, hubby/dadda was working the night shift. (I’ll take any excuse to snap away photos of our Jilly-bean).

The great thing about burgers is that you can build them with any sort of fun toppings just the way you want!

Tonight we opted for some very healthy choices that included pan-fried bacon and sautéed onions, melted extra sharp cheddar and roasted rosemary spuds in the oven. Then to finish off our light meal we toasted marshmallows over our gas range for nutella milkshakes.

Mr. B kept reminding me that I needed to live on the edge a little and indulge. Obviously I didn’t need that much convincing. . .

You know you want to make it…. just do it!

Nutella Toasted Marshmallow Shake

1/2 Cup milk

2 Cups packed vanilla ice cream

2 Heaping Tablespoons of Nutella

Toasted marshmallows, for garnish (optional)

Huzzah for the weekend!!

What are your favorite burger toppings? Share your delicious creativity with us!

Buñelos Dagu

Fried yam donuts, or also known as Buñelos Dagu by the Chamoru people of Guam.

We Bee’s had the opportunity to feast on some dagu while enjoying ourselves at a typical Chamoru family celebration with our friends. As I got to watch the mixture drop into the oil, I was told that Dagu is served at Christmas time because the yams are harvested during that season. Lucky for us… we made it just in time!

Talk about island hospitality! This was the very first time we met this group through our friends, we were instantly greeted with kisses on both cheeks, handed adult beverages and pointed in the direction of the mounds of delicious foods. Maybe it was the warm tropical island breeze? Or, maybe It felt a lot like home…Whatever it was, I know we both equally relished the warmth and generosity of this family.

Under the crystal clear moonlight sky we listened and swayed to festive music, were intrigued by the families telling folk tales of taotaomonas and duendes (Google it! interesting island superstitions), watched children run and play as most of their fathers were losing their hands time and time again at Texas Hold’em card game.

Buñelos Dagu recipe here.

Let me know what you think! Oh! Don’t forget maple syrup or simple syrup too!

(You’re welcome!)

Sleep Eat?

Lately we’ve been watching all the old episodes of Seinfeld as we cook dinner together in the evenings after work. Can you guess who takes on the role of chef and who the sous-chef is? I’m sure your presumption is correct. Anyways, did you ever see the episode where George is in the kitchen and see’s the eclair on the top of the trash pile, obviously it looks rather delicious so he proceeds to pick it up and eat it?

Last night I realized that I had four bananas that were rather ripe sitting out the counter. I decided to just make a loaf of banana bread and use them up. It’s just so darn tasty that it reminded me of that episode. Short of wanting to dump the loaf for our own good, I know we’d be suffering from Costanza moments if I did it.

I wake up in the middle of the night and sleep walk over to the water-cooler located next to our refrigerator..what a convenient location, right? ..Oh heyyy there banana bread! Leaning over the sink (of course not to crumb anywhere) I happily shovel in two delicious bites. Fulfilled I retire back to bed. I wake up in the morning with this gross slightly recognizable taste in my mouth. I think to myself in the shower, damn Did I really sleep eat that banana bread?

Can you relate? Or is this one of those awkward non discussed topics? Well, whatever the case, I don’t have willpower when it comes to this stuff. Hence a non typical baking occurrence. Luckily there’s only one loaf, must eat and keep it out of our bee hive!

But that’s just us…I’m sure you have much more willpower and should totally bake some! Thanks baby bistro cookbook (and Mary).

Banana Bread
Slightly adapted from The Baby Bistro Cookbook

Ingredients:

4 Very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed with a fork
1 Egg
1/2 Cup packed brown sugar
1/4 Cup safflower oil
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
2 Teaspoons baking powder
1/2 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×5″ loaf pan, set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together bananas, egg, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla just until ingredients are blended. Next add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon and stir just until it’s blended together. Pour ingredients into the prepared pan and bake 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Strangers

What I love about Seoul is that I never know day-to-day, week to week, what I am going to get myself into, or who I am going to meet. The adventures are always endless and the choices are so grandiose. Do I hike? bike? head to a coffee shop? be a tourist? head to the east coast beaches? shop? Or, do I decide to hop on a train and just explore a random train stop?

This weekend I decided to get myself back down to Seoul, specifically the Itaewon area and pick up freshly baked bread, as well as stop by and see my friend Mipa at her newly opened bake shop PLANT. Again, big surprise decisions made around food. I don’t care, I am not ashamed to admit that… my belly and my soul truly needed it.

The bakery of choice was Maybell 메이벨 베이커리오월의종. Maybell has been listed as one of the top 7 must get to bakeries if you ever find yourself in Seoul. What I love about Maybell is that you are not going to bite into a scrumptious crusty piece of bread to find chunks of corn or a crazy hot dog. Yes, I am serious.. it happens more than I’d like to admit here. I pick dainty little wonderfully looking creations from places like Paris Baguette, example a strawberry harmonica…and then there is a hotdog hiding in there! You think I’d learn too? No, I am almost always startled and find myself saying, “What in the world is this doing in here?” Oh Korea, ha-ha!

Maybell is the real deal, it’s true to form European-style bread. I knew that I had to get there quickly because they sell out rather early in the day. Well, I guess I wasn’t the only one with bread on the brain this afternoon, I got there and stood in a line that looped around the tiny bakery. Not to worry, there still was plenty of choices and I still was able to snag my favorites; cranberry rye, a loaf of rye, and ciabatta.

When leaving Maybell to head to PLANT, every time I’d moved my bag or bump it, the aroma of the bread would just swirl right out and up into my nostrils. Mmmmm… I could live in bakery if I could smell that all day everyday.

Prices: Baguettes ₩3,000; sourdough loaf ₩5,000

Hours: Monday-Saturday, noon-6 p.m., closed on Sundays

Address: 737-2 Hannam 2-dong, Yongsan-gu (용산구 한남2동 737-2);+82 02 792 5561

Conveniently Maybell isn’t that far from PLANT. I arrived at PLANT at the right time because there were only two woman sipping drinks and sharing conversation, eventually each seat at the three tables would become filled, as well as people waiting to grab a seat. This bit of lull gave me the chance to talk with Mipa for a few minutes. I asked about how she was doing and how business was, I was pleased to hear that she had been really busy and the business was going well. I then asked if I could snap a few photos for the blog because I wanted to help get the word out about her and her partners bake shop. She of course permitted and went back into her glass baking sanctuary to start on my lunch order.

Mipa is incredibly sweet and incredibly talented. She is very passionate about being vegan and loves to share her ideals and values through her food and blog. I knew that I had to grab lunch after seeing her post’s earlier in the week. The lunch menu for this afternoon was a tuna and chickpea salad or a teriyaki Tofu Sandwich. I wanted both! The decision was way to hard! In that moment I really wished Mr. B was with me so that he could get one option and I could get the other. I decided to ask the expert, Mipa. I explained that I needed to save room for a delicious treat afterwards, naturally. Mipa suggested the sandwich then, so the sandwich is what I ordered. Right away I decided that my treat afterwards would be a slice of red velvet cake with cashew cream frosting. All I can say is that both my belly and my soul are filled and oh so happy. The food was out of this world.

While sitting there reading my book and enjoying each bite of my sandwich, I ended up shared my table with another woman who looked to be the same age as me. We ended up exchanged a few stories, laughing together, and eventually chatting through our entire lunch while sitting there. It’s incredible when you meet a stranger that you are so comfortable with that you feel you knew practically your entire life. Again, I chalk the experience up to the unknown magic and endless possibility of Seoul. We made sure to exchange contacts and hope to get together again soon. Perhaps even at PLANT where it all began?

Directions to PLANT: ( Straight from Mipa, herself)

Itaewon Station, Line 6, exit 4. Come out the exit and walk straight, down Itaewon road. There will be a Converse store on your left. Immediately after Converse, turn left into the narrow alleyway with steps. Walk down the steps and cross the next intersection. Continue walking straight and go down an alleyway, passing a pasta restaurant on your left. Keep walking a little further and PLANT will be on your right. 5-7 minute walk from the station.

서울시 용산구 이태원동 63-15
Phone: 070-4115-8388
Hours: Tues-Sun 11am-7pm. Lunch service starts at noon.
Closed on Mondays.