Tag Archives: march

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?

Uijeonbu: Palga

From what my good Korean friend tells me, Palga is a famous family owned and operated Chinese restaurant located in Uijeongbu city, that is well-known for its Koreanized sweet and sour glutinous rice pork, also known locally as Tangsuyuk (Korean: 탕수육, Chinese: 糖醋肉). Mmmm lets talk about the word “glutinous”. It doesn’t sound appetizing but it taste oh so good! If pork isn’t your thing you can swap the meat out for beef, or even shrimp.

I know if family is reading this post, they are a bit shocked I’m even writing about a Chinese restaurant. Why? When living stateside, every single time we’d order Chinese, or go to a restaurant, I’d get ill and have all sorts of stomach issues. Later it was determined that it was because of MSG. Anywho, if you are like me, you’ll be glad to know that this restaurant passed with flying colors. Thankfully no upset stomach to report back on.

The restaurant sits out on the Main Street and is very easy to recognize with its Chinese style that starts on the outside and continues on into the dining area. When we walked inside, the decor made me feel like we were back in China for the afternoon, possibly visiting a traditional tea shop. The wood furnishings were beautiful and overall the restaurant was very clean. There are 104 items on the menu and each one is also translated into English in case you cannot read Korean. The staff was not overly welcoming, but they were quick and attentive to us. The prices were fair and the portions plenty, so much so we couldn’t eat everything we ordered. I think it was a serious case of our eyes being bigger than our stomach.

So what did our eyes order? Of course a plate of Tangsuyuk, Jajangmyeon (Korean: 자장면, Chinese: 炸醬麵) – steamed noodles served under black bean paste (if you recall we ordered when we were moving into our new place last summer). Jjamppong (Korean: 짬뽕, Chinese name: 炒碼麵) – spicy noodle soup flavoured with onions and chili oil and various seafood and creatures (we eat this often when Mr.B is scuba diving on the east coast). Oh! can’t forget the FREE banchan! You know, the free little side dishes served in Korea that make it feel like Christmas when they are sat on your table. We had pickled radish and toasted peanuts, both dishes equally addicting!

If you are ever in the area and Chinese is striking your fancy that day… stop in and give it a try.

Directions:

Palga
Address: Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi-1-dong 201-11
Phone: 031-847-8988
Hours: 10:00 – 22:00

Wednesday Weekday Update

Well hello again and welcome back! I hate to ask, but how’s the weather been where you live? Here? Oh, here it’s been rather mild, we’ve been pretty lucky. Some of the local expats married to Koreans tell me that the last snow we had recently is like the same representation of punxsutawney Phil (the groundhog) in the states. I’m not sure if it’s really true, or even makes sense…but…who am I to question it? Eh, I’ll go with it.

Enough weather chatter let’s get down to the important stuff. You know like what have you been eating these days? Salads? Soups? Meat stuffed with more meat? Inquiring minds want to know!

I’d love to say that lately we’ve been eating less sugar and sweets, walking more, traveling more, but then I’d be lying, LOL. You know we love a good dessert, the yellow dust has been creeping in lately from China and messing with our walks, travel, nope there hasn’t been any traveling to update you on. Wamp-wamp.

We have however been reading lots of books recently, which isn’t the most typical for both of us, but Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly been a favorite! Also, I’ve recently discovered podcast on ITunes. Seriously?! How did I miss the boat on this one? Stuff you Missed in History Class, Freakonomics, The Sporkful. If you didn’t know, you’re welcome too.

We have however decided to go meatless for the entire month of March. Yep, you read it here first folks…Bees have went vegetarian! Be prepared if you cross our paths and we go caveman on you. How’s the saying go? I’m sorry for what I said when I was hungry? Ha-Ha! Something like that, right? Just kidding, it’s not that extreme for us. We honestly don’t consume a ton of meat To begin with.

We’ve got two exceptions to our month of meatless March. One is that we sorta kinda scheduled a supper club already and can’t force all of our guest to only consume vegetarian…wait…or could we? Kidding! Don’t worry Mandy, there will be bacon! The other is that we will still consume fish. I think that technically makes us Pescetarian, but who’s labeling here?

We kicked off our very last day in February with our final meat filled meal in Itaewon at Linus BBQ. This place has a MASH tent and vibe going on, what’s not to love about that? I forgot my camera, but Mr. B had me covered with iPhone photos of the meal. Someone recently said that if you don’t take a photo of your meals, it didn’t really happen. So here we go…because….this.really.happened. (And we already crave more) make sure to show up early to get a table and due to popular demand they might run out of whatever you and your belly craves.

After we finished our meal, I made sure to shoot Linus a message. “Just wanted to send a quick thank you. We had an outstanding dinner tonight at your restaurant. Your staff was super quick and very attentive. The food….wow…I’m not even sure how to even begin to describe the deliciousness. We were instantly swept on a daydream back to our hometown in Pennsylvania with the sides of baked mac and cheese, coleslaw and baked beans. The meat brought back so many memories of our travels in the deep South. epic. It had the perfect balance of juiciness, smoke flavor and season. Well done! We will absolutely tell our friends and continue to come back for more when we get down to Seoul. Thanks again Linus.”

There wasn’t any korean fusion in the food, just flat-out good Southern BBQ. It’s sure to cure any homesickness you may be feeling, or in our case celebrate and kickoff a months worth of being meat free. Ps: wait until you see what we’ve decided on when we end our month!

Next, let’s talk live culture, probiotic to be exact. I’ve got a mini science lab brewing between my fridge and countertops. I’ve been lucky enough to come across milk kefir grains gifted from a sweet friend that is just as passionate about cooking, eating, nutrition and just plain food! Have you ever heard of Kefir, or maybe you make them as well? Tips are always welcomed. These guys are a powerhouse of goodness and I’ve been throwing it into our morning breakfast smoothies. YUM!

Off to bed, goodnight all!

Click, Ship & treat yourself!

Linus BBQ: on Itaewon Street locate McDonald’s and take the staircase to the left downs keeping straight in the underground shopping area until you come to a glass door. On the other side of the door you will find The restaurant.

Address: 서울시 용산구 이태원동 56-20 지하상가
Yongsan-gu, Itaewon-dong 56-20 B1
Seoul, South Korea
PHone: 02-790-2920
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LinusBbq

Secret Garden

You know, spring really is magical.

Everything is finally cheerfully waking up from their long winter hibernation. Even on my grayest of days, I still find myself feeling happy inside when admiring the beauty that surrounds me. It takes my mind off the reality of adulthood and the complexity of pressures and stress, much like a self fulfilled mini-vacation since I haven’t done much traveling as of late.

This past week every day on the way to work I continued to admire from afar this one magnificent tree that pokes out from behind an abandoned restaurant very close to our complex. Each morning I would think I need to see this tree up close. It was practically begging to be photographed. Today was Friday so after work with no time schedule or plans I finally walked over to admire it up close and of course snap some photos to share with the rest of you. I cannot help but to feel like Mary Lennox from The Secret Garden.

Driving to the DMZ for Local Honey

As odd enough as this sounds, I spent my Saturday morning driving to the DMZ for local honey. Perhaps I should digress?

While Skyping with my grandparents one weekend morning we got on the topic of seasonal allergies. My grandpa specifically minds certain points during the Spring season and sought relief outside of the typical Claritin or other over the counter drug on the market. He found out that his gut wasn’t happy. Ha Ha! What does that mean? Well it means that he wasn’t getting the right kinds of bacterial into his stomach to fight off the bad ones. So the journey began….how does one make their gut happy he asked? I’m sure thinking of all the sugary goodness he treated it with. Surly those treats have to be making his gut happy, because he felt happy while savoring them in the evenings. Wrong…he found out that he needed to get some probiotic and live culture in his diet. The easiest form being yogurt. Next he needed to take bee pollen pills daily as well as find local honey. I know what you might be thinking and no local honey is not the mass-produced stuff that comes from the cute little bear on the shelf in your supermarket. Luckily my grandfather has found relief with his regiment.

While out to lunch one afternoon with some girlfriends we got on the topic of allergies and local honey. My friend stated that she suffered from allergies since moving to Korea but was able to find local honey. She asked if I wanted her to pick some up when she went on her next trip, I eagerly said yes! Best decision ever! I’ve used the honey in my tea, Greek yogurt and oatmeal. It’s sooo delicious and flavorful.

Fast forward to the week before Kelsey came to stay. While texting one evening she told me that she was suffering from allergies and it was driving her nuts. So of course the conversation about local honey occurred again. Kelsey stated she was absolutely willing to give it a go!

Saturday morning I picked Kelsey up from our local train station, she hopped into the car and I asked if she wanted to venture out to find the local honey? Kelsey stated eagerly yes! Isn’t it so gratifying to find a kindred spirit? With brief directions on my phone from my friend, we headed North on highway 3 towards the DMZ, North Korea. We drove for about 50 minutes one way passing more farms and brown fields than people. Even with the haze and gray sky, Kelsey stated that she enjoyed a different perspective of Korea and the feeling of being able to breath and not feel so crammed with people.

Eventually we made our way to the end of highway 3. Directly in front of us, two guards stood armed with rifles not allowing anyone to proceed North anymore on highway 3. The option was to turn left or right. We turned left then took the first right leading us to the Battle for White Horse Mountain memorial. We parked in the large parking lot and proceeded into the only building on the property that resembled a store. Once inside an older Korean woman greeted us and two South Korean soldiers were sitting at the table with three children chatting and eating. The back wall was covered in jars and bottles of honey and two small shelves with various local items. You could tell they were slightly intrigued that two American women were visiting and discussing the wall of honey.

I asked one of the soldiers if he could tell what the differences were in honey. The soldier so kindly offered us to taste the honey while explaining the differences. The dark-colored honey was from chestnuts and had a slightly bitter taste, the medium colored honey came from various local flowers and the clear colored honey came from a flower called pronounced “Akasha” here in Korea. I haven’t done any research yet to see what the comparable flower would be in the US.

We each purchased honey and said our many thanks. We then decided to walk up the hill towards the memorial structure and of course curious to see the view. You can find a bit-o-honey, I mean history about the memorial here.

(See the horse icon located on the upper left hand corner? That was our location)

We headed back home for lunch and some meandering around our neighborhood. I wanted to share some of the special places that I enjoy and thought she may too. While walking we were both excited to see that Spring was popping up in little places right before our eyes. We headed to the vegetable stand that we used to purchase produce almost weekly from, plus the guy that runs it is comical (He photo bombed almost all of the shots and threw up his kimchi finger pose in each photo). Of course our favorite coffee cafe as of late for potbingso, carrot cake, grapefruit tea and royal milk tea was on the list. Oh and the cute little greenhouse right down the street with all sorts of reasonably priced succulents and the sweetest owner too.

Having family nearby is absolutely is the bomb diggity… yep.. I just aged myself.

HA-HA! Wait…does anyone even use the term bomb diggity anymore?

How was your weekend?

Do you suffer from seasonal allergies?

Do you take anything? Any tips, tricks, suggestions?

What’s in the Box?

Do you want to eat healthy, organically grown food that hasn’t had to travel miles upon miles? Or in our case cross oceans just to get to our plate. If you are shaking your head yes, you should really think about joining a CSA.

What is a CSA you ask? Well, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and when you become a member of a CSA, you are purchasing a “piece” or “share” of the farm’s bounty throughout the growing season. Your money up front goes to supporting a local farm or farms for an entire growing season. With these funds the farmer can easily purchase and prepare for the season. By becoming a member, you have access directly to fresh, high quality organic produce that is grown locally. Sound to good to be true? It’s not.

We did it! We joined the WWOOF CSA here in South Korea. This was actually a big step for us as foreigners living abroad. For the past two weeks we excitedly stroll down to our gate guard shack and pick up our box where we get a selection of amazing certified organic produce grown on local organic Korean farms. I wonder what’s in the box this week we say in unison. My hippy-dippy Tom wearing side loves that we are helping the environment and that we are nourishing our bodies with quality foods that do not use toxic pesticides, or herbicides. Not to mention the taste! I kid you not… organic strawberries are where it’s at and it’s absolutely my jam! I swear you are going to think that I am crazy when I say this, but I can instantly taste the difference between a berry that is grown organically vs. one grown with the use of pesticides and other chemicals. The berries are just so much more flavorful and pure.

The first week started off a bit rocky with delivery, but to be honest it was more or less our complex gate guards that held onto the package and didn’t inform us of the delivery. The box sat in their office for three nights until I contacted the CSA and was helped by the managing director, Joon Lee. Mr. Lee was outstanding and immediately got to work tracking down our package. Once we realized and confirmed that the package had been delivered to our complex and sat there, Mr. Lee said with concern that if any of the produce was spoiled or rotten to contact him back and he would take care of it because quality and the experience was important to him and the CSA. Fortunately we only experienced one moldy strawberry. Nothing we’d ever complain about. I was extremely impressed with the compassion, urgency and overall care that Mr. Lee had all around. Absolutely another reason that I’d promote a CSA to friends or bloggers living in Korea.

The second week we knew what day to grab our package at the guard shack, plus Mr. B also received a telephone call from the delivery man confirming that it had been dropped off that day. Only one broken egg, again nothing we’d every complain about.

We’ve been loving the fact that the ingredients force us to incorporate them into our everyday go to dinners and lunches. We’ve been getting creative and have had to do some research on the unknown items such as the mallow greens. Personally I have LOVED the organic eggs! My mornings have been such a treat knowing that my dippy eggs with a side of toast are coming from happy healthy hens.

So with that said, what did we get in our box you ask?

Week 1

Week 2

If you are living in Korea and are interested in signing up too check out the WWOOF website.

Are you part of a CSA where you live?

Do you frequent farmers markets for your produce?

Organic foods what are your thoughts?

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?

Focusing on the Good

Seoul is broken into various markets and districts making it easy but sometimes challenging to purchase specific things. If you are looking for cooking and baking supplies you might want to check out Bangsan Market, or Yongsan Electronics Market for any type of electronics, Namdaemun Market for traditional goodies, etc. Endless marketplaces to explore! I find myself falling back in love over and over with Korea while taking friends and family around to places I’ve been countless times, as well as new places I’m still crossing off on my bucket list.

Early Saturday morning I met Kelsey in Seoul at the Express Bus Terminal where we planned to explore the Gangnam Flower Market. This Place has been on my bucket list since the first year I arrived in Korea. Embarrassingly, I still cannot believe I let it on my list this long. Eh, better late than never, right?

I arrived at the terminal 30 minutes earlier than Kelsey so I sat at Holly’s Coffee, near exit one and sipped on some hot milk tea, my favorite tea served both hot or cold. I read a few chapters in my book and enjoyed the quiet morning hours. Eventually Kelsey caught up and off we went.

At first we weren’t sure quite where to go. We walked towards the location I thought it might be and then started to see a few women and men carrying all sorts of beautiful flowers wrapped neatly in newspaper. From that point it was very easy to locate. We went inside the terminal building for the Youngdong and Honam (bus) lines, headed up the escalators to the second floor and through the glass doors. Once we got through the glass doors we both looked at one another and immediately had a permi-smile on our faces.We didn’t know the prices, or really how it worked in general, I only researched on various blogs and guidebooks so I was purely going off of others experiences.

The hall was endless and massive! I thought to myself I’ve officially found my little slice of Heaven in South Korea. One side of the hall was fake flowers and the other side was fresh. You could purchase vases, ribbons, and baskets. We giggled to ourselves and said that we could start-up event planning and get all of our goodies here secretly. We walked up and down each row smelling, snapping away photos and chatting with various vendors. We were pleasantly surprised how friendly the vendors were. As curious as we were about the flowers, they were just as curious about us and if a certain type of flower grew where we were from. The prices, oh gosh! The prices were amazing! We picked up multiple bouquets for 4,000-5,000 won each ($4.00-$5.00 USD) that seemed to be the standard rate for the most part. If I lived closer our entire place would have fresh flowers! Dangerous because this was truly my happy place.

Sorry for the photo overload… I just couldn’t resist!

Aren’t those flowers just gorgeous? Sorry, moving on from flower chat. Next we head into the Shinsegae Department. A girly day full of flowers and good stuff isn’t complete without macaroons! I heard the famous Ladurée shop was here in Seoul. You can’t get more authentic than that. Even though we were surrounded by delicious macaroons, we weren’t overly excited about the size of the place. We expected more… Nonetheless, the rose macaroon was perfect (even after it got smashed in the bag in my purse. Sad face.)

From Macaroons we needed actual food. With my OCD I pre-searched various places to eat lunch so I could provide Kelsey with lots of options. The food court in Shinsegae was perfect because of the range of foods that can be purchased, offering something for everyone. Japanese, sushi, Korean, baked goods, salad bars, Johnny Rockets, Italian among others. We opted for Dean and Deluca. The fresh homemade ricotta salad and brunch menu spoke to our bellies and that was that.

I loved sitting and chatting with Kelsey. We talked a lot about focusing on the good things in life, traveling, living for the weekends and of course our next adventure. You will have to stay tuned because I’m not spilling the beans.

For our last little treat I wanted to share an ice-cream place with Kelsey that uses chunks of honeycomb with drizzled honey as a topping. Mmmm! It absolutely hit the spot and I think she was pleased.

I got home and immediately put the fresh cut flowers into a vase on our bedroom night stand and kitchen bar.

Swoon.

Address:

Express Bus Terminal: Lines 3, 7, 9.

Gangnam Flower Market: Exit 1 of the express bus terminal train station, the building next to the Shinsegae Department Store and the Bus Terminal. Go into the bus terminal, turn right and look for the escalators, go up to second floor.

Shinsegae Department (Gangnam) store B1, 19-3, Banpodong, Seocho-gu, Seoul

Ladurée Shop: There are two Ladurée stores in the mall. Make the hike and head to the second floor because that’s where the actual store is located. The one in the first floor is just a small macaron stand)

Dean and Deluca: Located on the basement food-court in Shinsegae Department.
Website : http://www.deandeluca.co.kr

Where’s the Meat?

When I eat burgers not made with meat I often think back to my childhood and giggle. It was a summer month and I was with my dad vacationing on Nantucket Island visiting my aunt and uncle. My aunt’s sister’s husband prepared us all eggplant burgers. It was the first time that I had ever tried anything with the title burger not consisting of meat. I immediately fell in love with the burger and raved about it to my grandparents once we returned home from vacation. I proudly exclaimed, “I ate a burger, loved it and it wasn’t even made of meat!” I am sure at that point I confused my grandparents with my statement and had to elaborate. Nonetheless, I know whatever they kindly responded with at the time to appease me, they were thrilled that I was open to trying new things and loved my vegetables so much.

These days you cannot keep me away from my vegetables. I try to incorporate as many fresh ingredients into our meals at home during the work week. The weekend…yeahhh..those are more of our cheat nights. Hey! we all need our cheat days to keep sane.

After crazy days of work there isn’t anything more that I look forward to than cooking in our kitchen, just Mr. B and I. I love how creative we get never knowing what concoction we might whip up. I love the moments of when he gets excited to have me try a new sauce he’s made. It takes the edge off the day. Cooking together and being in the kitchen releases tension, worries and stressors that might be plaguing me at the moment. I often think of my in-laws home where everyone always gathers in the kitchen, always such a homey and welcoming environment.

Tonight’s meal I am sure you guessed revolves around a meatless burger, a portobello burger with swiss cheese and caramelized onions sided up nicely with oven roasted crinkle cut sweet potato french fries.

Portobello Swiss Cheese Burgers with Caramelized Onions

Source: Prevention Cookbook

Ingredients:

2 Tsp. olive oil
1 Medium onion, thinly sliced
1 Tsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
4 Portobello mushroom caps
⅛ Tsp. salt
¼ Tsp. freshly ground black pepper
4 Slices Swiss cheese, for each mushroom
4 Buns of choice

Directions:

In a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, heat 1 tsp. of oil. Add onion and sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, about 5-6 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from heat.

In a separate bowl, combine vinegar and remaining oil. Brush over mushroom caps and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill, covered, turning occasionally, about 9-11 minutes or until tender. Top each mushroom with slice of cheese and continue to grill about 1-2 minutes or until cheese melts. Transfer to plate and keep warm.

Top off bun with 1 mushroom and caramelized onions. Repeat for dinner guest and eat!

Kimchi Grilled Cheese

Did I just lose you with the title of this post? Are you making a face? Be honest….

I realize using the two words kimchi and cheese together in a sentence must sound utterly disgusting to my friends and family, but I promise…it’s really not. I mean I think of all the bowls of budae jiigae we consume here in Korea and without the square slices of cheddar cheese it just wouldn’t be the same. I’ve had kimchi carnitas fries, kimchi quesadillas, and now a kimchi grilled cheese. Not just any cheese, make it pepper jack pretty please.

I think I just might have died and gone to heaven.

Kimchi Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Ingredients:

2 Slices of your favorite bread, I typically pick up something fresh from a local Korean bakery (Today it was named healthy loaf?)
2 Slices of your favorite cheese, I used pepper jack… cheddar would be an excellent pairing as well
1/8 Cup Mat kimchi, chopped
1 tablespoons butter, divided to butter your bread

Super simple and whipped up in a snap!

….Wait, do you think we’ve been in Korea to long? ….Nah!

Would you try out this slightly different grilled cheese combination?