I watch her all day and I have the same thoughts over and over… PLEASE God let me always remember this moment, this little grin, this teeny face, this sweet snuggle, this precious giggle, this monster coo… I know I have to savor each of these moments endlessly, we’ve already hit the 6 months mark and she’s growing so very quickly into a little lady, these photos only prove my point more so.
Tag Archives: home
Cookies
Let’s talk serious stuff here folks… COOKIES! That’s right… we caught you binge eating those little suckers, just like we are. Hey, it’s okay… times like these we get away with it and say, ’tis the season. So go ahead and munch away. We are not going to spoil it for you.
So….on the topic of cookies….do you have a go to cookie recipe for the holidays? If, so please share! We are always looking to try out new combinations and creations.
Speaking of trying out new things… Have you guys seen the BuzzFeed video circulating around for mini pecan tarts? No?! Oh goodness… let’s fix that right away. GO.HERE.NOW.
We were not sure how these little guys would turn out, but man are we pleased we gave it a test-run. They are not the pecan tassies that Mr. B grew up on, however they are a very easy and delicious substitute. SCORE! If you decide to give it a go as well, give us a shout and let us know what you thought. Don’t forget that tall glass of cold milk too. Hey, just remember, ‘Tis the season!
Sous Vide
What in the world is sous vide? Sounds rather fancy and like something that takes a lot of work. Am I right?!
WRONG! First let’s get down the pronunciation together lets (say “sue veed” or, “soo–veed”). Great job! So…cooking your food sous vide is actually a very simple, easy, most consistent way to get amazingly delicious results in your restaurant or home kitchen. We are talking tongue tantalizing steaks, to the most flavorful vegetables, to the softest fish ever!
One of the million-zillion reasons that cooking your food sous vide is awesome is that you get to ultimately pick what your desired doneness is. You are setting a water bath to the appropriate time and temperature with your immersion circulator (we use an Anova), the water bath then does all the hard work being heated to the just the right temperature and cooking the food without any worry or fuss about over or under cooking anything. Seems to good to be true? Seriously, it’s not!
^We like to joke and giggle that we are cooking our dinners in a condom. LOL!
Sous Vide by definition is French for “under vacuum”. We seal our little “condoms” of food with a vacuum-sealer and drop it off into the pool to cook. Again, super easy!
So let’s see just one of the results of our condom cooked food, shall we?
After searching high and low in Korea for a duck breast like the one we prepared in France, Mr. B finally discovered the ticket! Gmarket! If you are living in Korea, and obviously under a rock like we have been, the site is in English and user-friendly. You simply find what you are looking for, click, pay, and next thing you know it’s at your door packed on ice. Talk about convenience! Oh, and here is the link to the duck breast.
I think the photos really speak for themselves, but just to reassure you…. absolutely delectable!
Springtime in Korea
It wasn’t that we had a lot of snow this past winter, it was that winter seemed to last so terribly long. We along with 50 million other Koreans have been patiently awaiting warmer days. The chance for new beginnings, a fresh start, a spring clean!
Springtime in Korea has got to be one of my favorite times of the year! The cherry blossoms are so beautiful! The walking paths and streets are covered in the tiny pink and white petals every time the wind blows. I drive Mr. B crazy insisting that I need to stop and smell or photography almost every flower that we come in contact with. Especially the cherry blossoms and lilac bushes. I can’t help myself. I.am.obsessed.with.flowers. Luckily for the most part he doesn’t mind and even pauses for a moment and points out a flower if he sees something that I will swoon over. That boy of mine, what a catch!
This year we got to experience the cherry blossoms from another view because we moved into a new place at the end of the summer last year. These photos were taken after I had come home from work and the sun was setting with that beautiful warm orange glow. Looking at these photos now, I feel like these photos don’t even do the trees justice. We instantly fell in love with our new place because of the greens and blooming trees just outside of our windows. The daily drive or walk in and out of our little neighborhood just fills my heart and continues to remind me that even in our crazy messy world, there is still so much beauty around us.
Are you seeing buds of greens and new blooms popping up wherever you are located? What is your favorite thing about spring?
Some Weekdays call for Wasabi
Wasabi is plentiful here in Korea. You can purchase bags of wasabi powder or paste at just about any supermarket. What am I saying? Gosh, wasn’t that just the understatement of the year? What I am getting at is that really anything with a nice spicy kick is plentiful here! Mr. B and I feel that wasabi is one of those ingredients you either love or don’t. For us, we are addicted to the fiery, nose-clearing unexpected heat that takes over the palate. Yes, we are oddballs.. but oh it’s so good!
We recently picked up a new cookbook by Max and Eli Sussman, “The Best Cookbook Ever”. Cocky title right? We were instantly drawn to the exciting recipes like carrot wasabi soup. If you ever have tasted carrot ginger soup this recipe is very similar only edgier with you guessed it, wasabi.
The soup is rather simple and it has you start off by coating your plump carrots in olive oil and roasting in the over. I feel that this one simple factor truly brings out the flavors of the carrots more in the soup. After roasting you then toss the carrots into a blender or food processor with water and the remaining ingredients, rice vinegar, mirin, sesame oil, and wasabi. The only two adaptations we made to the recipe was we used baby sweet peas instead of sugar snap peas, as well as we would cut the rice vinegar amount in half. Overall Mr. B and I throughly enjoyed the soup and will serve it cold or hot in the future with some dinner guest. Truth be told, I’ve had so much of the soup this week I believe I am starting to get an orangish tint.
Continuing on with our wasabi weekdays kick, we also made salmon sandwiches with wasabi and pickled ginger for dinner one night. What an interesting delicious twist of ingredients on this sandwich! It was light and just a perfect paring for the warmer Spring temperatures we have been enjoying.
Salmon Sandwiches with Wasabi and Pickled Ginger
Slightly adapted from
Ingredients:
1/4 Cup olive oil mayonnaise
1 Teaspoon wasabi paste
2 Cups (14.75-ounce can) canned Alaskan wild salmon, drained
8 Slices of Ezekiel bread, toasted
4 Thin slices red onion
4 Thin rings yellow bell pepper
4 Teaspoons sliced pickled ginger
1 Cup arugula
Directions:
Combine the mayonnaise and wasabi paste and stir until smooth. Taste. Add in more wasabi, if desired, to tickle your fancy. Gently fold in the salmon.
Place 4 slices of the bread on a work surface and top each with the salmon mixture, 1 onion slice separated into rings, 1 pepper ring, 1 teaspoon ginger, and 1/4 cup arugula. Top with the remaining 4 slices of bread. Enjoy!
So what are your thoughts are on wasabi?
Do you think you could handle the carrot wasabi soup? (Honestly, it wasn’t that spicy)
What’s cooking in your kitchen this weekend?
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
Huzzah for the weekend!!
What are your favorite burger toppings? Share your delicious creativity with us!
Around The World In One Week
Okay, maybe it wasn’t around the world…but it truly felt like it! It ended up that we went back to the states for a wonderful whirlwind of the fourth of july week. We tackled DC, PA, 3 full days of work, a best friends wedding, family, and a scuba diving certification. I think its safe to say, been there, done that, got the tee-shirt. LOL! We still wouldn’t have traded the time for anything in the world.
How blessed am I? I got to see two of my childhood best friends in one week! Cassie and Josh drove up from North Carolina and toured DC with me for three days. Don’t worry, I’ve got some photos to share of our adventures from the DC duck tour, and yummy sweet treat to ourselves at DC cupcake. Yep, we were the crazies that stood in the rain, but I’m telling you….Mmmm…the carrot cake cupcake was absolutely divine! We then went to Arlington cemetery to visit the tomb of the unknown soldier, so surreal!
After we said so long to my best friend and her husband, we headed North for our hometown in Pennsylvania. My other best friend, who you might remember from her visit here with us in Korea, was getting married. The wedding was perfect! Everything was so simple but elegant. You are going to love this… the reception was at a small local airport, inside of a hanger. It gets better folks, whoopie-pie wedding cake tower! If you are not familiar with a whoopie-pie… first, I’m so sorry you have been deprived this long, second, google the word and drool! The reception also featured stations from Danville, PA (where the reception location was), Seattle (where the groom is from), and Istanbul, Turkey (where the honeymoon destination is). These stations consisted of sliders, salmon, seafood dip, pidgeon and perogies, hummus, chicken kabob, and the list just keeps going on. It was one of the best memories of my life for my best friend and her husband. As we speak, the newlyweds are relaxing in each others company somewhere in Turkey. Gosh, I cannot wait until they get back so I can get the lowdown on the trip!
So how was your fourth of July? Did you travel far? See fireworks? Maybe it was more low-key and all about grilling and chilling? Whatever the case, I hope that it was a great one and I hope to hear about it from you all.
Crunch, crunch, crunch
Greetings from my kitchen, again!
Do you ever start the weekend thinking that you are going to accomplish all sorts of things? Only to realize that you have no motivation, or inkling in your body to get out and do it. Well, that was me. It’s now Sunday and I’m a bit ashamed to report I only left my cave this weekend once, recycling. Hey, at least I’m keeping it green! Haha!
Anywho, I guess I shouldn’t shortchange myself. This weekend wasn’t completely a flop. I did clean up and move around Mr. B’s office space, make Dak Dori Tang, and this yummy granola. Mmm gosh was it yummy! …You know I’ll share with all of you.
Ingredients:
5 cups Oats (I used steel-cut oats)
5 cups Cereal (I used heritage flakes)
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup mixed nuts
1 1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk powder
1/2 cup oil (I used coconut oil)
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup hot water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Mix all of your ingredients up. Spread ingredients on greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes
Stir after the granola is slightly cooled. Seal up the mixture in an airtight container.
Enjoy with your morning milk, on top of Greek yogurt, or handfuls at a time afternoon snack….not that any of us here know anything about that…crunch, crunch, crunch.
I can’t describe the amazing aromas wafting through our home this afternoon!
What are you waiting for? Get mixing! Don’t forget to share your wealth, and recipe too!
A Little Spice
Isn’t the color of this stew is insanely appetizing? Who would have thought that ingredients like a little honey, soy sauce, garlic, onions, Korean red chili pepper paste (gochujang), Korean red chili pepper flakes (gochugaru), and some other key ingredients, would slow cook so nicely?
I made this very popular Korean chicken dish called, Dakdoritang 닭도리탕, in my slow cooker tonight for dinner. Its chicken cooked in a spicy red sauce with vegetables. Ah! I just cannot get enough Korean cuisine. So, what are your thoughts? Would you dare? I’d love to share! If you want the recipe, just let me know.
My “little helper” bahaha! Yeah right. I think the better name would be snoozer.
Huge News!
I’m super excited, I’ve got huge news to share! No, no, I’m not pregnant, sorry family.
Why so excited? Well, MY BEST FRIEND IS ENGAGED TO GET MARRIED! Yes! I got to hear it straight from her mouth in person while home on Christmas vacation. How lucky am I? What a wonderful memory and celebration to be involved in.
All the years of waiting for each other has truly paid off! I couldn’t imagine anyone else for you Rebecca. Josh, I just adore you too! We wish you both nothing but the best.
They were just so cute to watch together. Both beaming ever so brightly, how beautiful!
While home, our days together were mostly spent, reminiscing, sipping tea, cooking together, taking photos, breakfasting, giggling over old inside jokes, shopping, checking out the outstanding possible wedding venue, admiring the gorgeous ring bling (great job Josh!), and of course girl talk. (Check out some of our fun below)
It was wonderful!
Time together was nothing short of pure perfection!
Love you B!