Tag Archives: new year

What’s cooking?

Oh man am I ever glad you asked!

This year, like many past years, we didn’t make any official resolutions. But, I guess you can say this is sort of something we’ve decided to try to stick to in the new year. I guess you can say that goes along with a form of resolution, right?

Weekly dinner menu planning. Boom. It sounds so simple, right?…It is! So… Uh… Why haven’t we done this in the past? …… clueless.

Anywho. We did our first full week of dinner menu planning and it looked a little something like this.

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We’re trying to incorporate a ton of veggies into our meals too. Oh! Plus I got my hot little hands on this really cute weekly menu planner stationary/ a store list. I cannot wait to share with you all! Stay tuned on Instagram. (Thanks Jenny!) We had a really good time sitting down together and planning meals from our cookbooks and must bake/make bucket-lists. I know it’s a time I’m going to look forward to in our future.

Our goals are to incorporate more veggies, take the stress out of any weekday scramble of what’s for dinner tonight, plus try to make fewer trips to the vegetable stand and grocery store. We will promise to keep you posted with delicious photos along the way. Follow us on Instagram if you aren’t already.

Speaking of delicious photos… This is one meal from our past week of dinner planning, minus the dinner salad. Meh. Sometimes you see one, you’ve seen them all.

^ Armenian eggplant caviar. I get the sweetest memories of our dear friend Mary when I take a bite of this stuff! Hi Mary!!

^ Homemade Pumpkin-Sage Ravioli with Browned Butter and Pecans from kitchenAide
(Don’t worry we’re sharing the recipe below. You are welcome!)

^ Homemade tapioca pudding with fresh local Korean strawberries

^ Lamb steaks seasoned with curry spice grilled in a cast iron pan, creamy garlic parmesan quinoa, Korean pumpkin purée

^ Homemade ricotta chocolate mousse from The Forest Feast Cookbook (Highly recommended purchase!)

^ Sous vide pork chop with homemade Asian BBQ marinade, roasted garlic ancho chile potatoes, cauliflower and puréed sweet peas

^Seared ahi tuna (marinated with soy and Worcestershire sauce and sesame oil) with quinoa, broccoli and puréed beets

We hope you enjoy every bite!

Pumpkin-Sage Ravioli with Browned Butter and Pecans
Taken directly from our KitchenAide manual
Yield: 6 servings (12 to 15 ravioli with 1 tbs [15 mL] butter and 1 tbs [15 mL] pecans per serving).

Ingredients:

1 recipe Basic Egg Pasta
1 can(15oz[445mL]) pumpkin
1/4 cup (60 mL) packed brown sugar
1 tsp (5 mL) ground sage
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1/4 tsp (1 mL) black pepper
1/4 tsp (1 mL) ground nutmeg
6 tbs (90 mL) chopped pecans
6 tbs(90mL)butter

Directions:

Prepare pasta dough; let rest.

In medium bowl, combine pumpkin, sugar, sage, salt, pepper, and nutmeg; refrigerate until ready to fill ravioli. Follow directions in “To Prepare Pasta Sheets,“ “To Use Ravioli Maker Attachment“ and “Cooking and Storing Ravioli.“*

On baking sheet, place pecans in single layer. Toast in oven at 350°F (180°C) for 5 to 7 minutes, or until golden brown and aromatic. Meanwhile, in heavy 1 qt
(950 mL) saucepan over medium-high heat, heat butter until golden brown. Serve hot butter over cooked ravioli and top with pecans.

Backpackbees

Click, Ship & treat yourself!

Cheers To The New Year!

Whew! It’s officially 2016! I know each year I say this…but… where does the time go?!? We just keep blinking and years are flying by. Is this another adulthood realization/moment that stinks? ….I think so!

We, much like you, have got so very many blessings in 2016 to look forward to! Perhaps our best baked goods yet…

So, What exciting things did you do to ring in the New Year? Did you get all dolled up? I was loving the sparkly dresses posted on Social media! How about making it until midnight to snag that good-luck kiss? Wink-wink. Tell us!

Well…we loved living in our own little world this New Years Eve. We went out in style New Years Eve. Yep. Total party animals here! HAHA…We celebrated by cooking up a storm in our cozy kitchen at home. An outstanding homemade four course dinner. We toasted (way before midnight) with sparkling cider and Belgium beer.

So what was this dinner we devoured and taunted our friends and family on Facebook with? Oh boy! Glad you asked, because you are now going to get a play by-play!

The first course up was hot bacon dressing using homemade mustard, bacon, shallots and vinegar. For those of you not familiar with hot bacon dressing, it is a very nostalgic memory of Sunday dinners in our families Pennsylvania kitchen. We modified and tweaked a bit to feature Korean pork AKA Samgyeopsal. It was excellent if we may say so. If you’re curious, this cut of meat is thick, fatty slices of pork belly meat. Oh and it just melts in your mouth when grilled to perfection too! Order this next time cut of meat when you find yourself in a Korean restaurant.

The second course was sous vide tarragon butter lobster tails (yep, here we go cooking our condom foods again). The lobster tails were seasoned with fresh parsley, chervil and of course melted butter. Much like its friend escargot, it’s an amazing little vehicle for melted butter! Mmmmm!

The third course, seared ahi tuna crusted with sesame seeds and black pepper. The marinade was sesame oil, soy sauce and a splash of Worcestershire sauce. Just when I thought the meal couldn’t get any better the tuna made its cameo and completely blew our minds.

Drum roll please…..vanilla bean crème brûlée with fresh strawberries. No further description needed.

Now that we’ve left you with a grumbling belly, cheers everyone! Wishing you all a happy healthy New Year!

Backpackbees

2015: Cheers to the New Year!

Whew! 2014 was definitely a roller coaster of a year! There were really incredibly sweet moments and memories made and then of course some doughy times too.

Along the way I’ve learned that life is like baking a loaf of homemade bread. Each single ingredient put in is vital and important because that’s what helps bake and form the loaf in the end. Sometimes in life the ingredients just don’t seem to come together correctly and you get disappointed, or discouraged. You start to think maybe I should dump this damn thing and start over, or question if was a waste of time from the beginning. But you know what? The great news is if you don’t toss in the towel and you let all the ingredients mix and knead, give a little time to bake, it ends in a great crusty loaf! I mean, come on, ending up with a freshly baked loaf of bread in my book is something to be thankful for, am I right, or am I right? Wink-Wink.

So if 2014 was a roller coaster of a year for you as well, know that 2015 might be your best mix of ingredients to come! For 2015 let’s all wake up together in the new year thanking God for giving us yet another day, a day to enjoy another slice of our fresh loaf!

With that being said, who is popping by for some freshly baked whole-wheat honey cinnamon raisin bread? If you can’t make it we highly recommend using some of that Christmas dough on a swanky bread machine like we did (Psstt… IT’S ON SALE TOO!) I don’t think that we will ever purchase another loaf in the store unless in a pinch. Thank you Williams-Sanoma.

Here’s to the greatest mix of ingredients to come!

Happiest of New Years to you and you and of course you!

Honey Whole-Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread
Source: Breville Food Thinkers
Makes one 1.5-pound loaf
Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
3 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 1/2-inch pieces, room temperature
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 3/4 tablespoon milk powder
1 3/4 dry active yeast

Add to the fruit and nut dispenser: 1/3 cup raisins

Instructions:
Ensure the collapsible paddle is attached in the bread pan and is in the upright position.

Add the ingredients to the bread pan in the order listed above, then secure the bread pan into the bread machine.

Place the raisins in the fruit and nut dispenser. Select the Whole Wheat setting, the desired crust color, and the 1.5-pound loaf size, then press start.

When the entire cycle is complete, use an oven mitt to remove the bread pan from the machine via the handle, and allow this to cool before removing the bread from the pan. The bread will slice best once completely cooled.

Backpackbees

A New Year

New Year resolutions are something that everyone does, but the harsh reality is that we almost rarely stick to them. Weeks leading up to new year’s eve I found myself asking close friends and family if they had a resolution for the new year. It was really interesting to me to hear their response or watch their facial expressions.

To be frank before this year I really never paid much attention nor bothered to spend time giving thought to a resolution. However this year the thought loomed in my head and while on our night walk Mr. B and I talked about our personal goals as well as our together goals, for the most part a continuation from 2013. You know… travel and saving more money, (I know, I know…if that isn’t the most contradicting statement EVER.)

I guess the thing that I realized as I rolled out pizza dough while entertaining our friends this new year’s eve is that life, goals, and things are going to happen the way they happen, goals met or not…life has that funny way of just working out in the end, even if you thought you had a solid plotted out resolution for the new year.

So with that said… cheers to the unknown in the new year of 2014!

Almost forgot! Included some fun photos below of dear friends we cheered the new year with.

Backpackbees

20 Degrees

After a wee little snafo with forgetting a tripod piece…oops…who would have thought that piece belonged to that thing…

We crazily shivered captured ourselves in the beautiful snow covered belly of the Soyo mountain. Yes, in 20 degree weather.

Brrrrrrr.

Dear  Lord,

Thank you for leading my heart to this very patient and kind man. Bless his huge heart for not putting up a fight when his crazy wife comes up with silly little things….

well…not that much of a fight.

Happy Holidays 2012

Cheers to the new year!

With Love,

New Years Day 2012: Wishing You Good Fortune in the New Year!

2012_01_01 New Years Day

2012_01_01 New Years DayJan 1, 2012Photos: 7
 

Happy 2012! It is now the year of the dragon in South Korea. What does the dragon stand for? It all boils down to representing the year of empowerment. (We like that!)

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(At 2 pm today we got to watch Time Square drop the ball live in the comfort of our living room).

Since we’ve lived in Korea, we’ve been exposed to many customs and cultures of friends from all over the globe. We’ve learned that all of these cultures have various traditions and superstitions when it comes to the foods served in the first hours or day of the New Year.

The one thing in common all these cultures have is, they all say the best and luckiest of foods to eat, will help you to live long and prosper in the coming year.

Almost all Of these traditions surround foods that symbolize money in the hopes that the New Year will bring promises of new wealth.

Greens are popular because of their similarity to stacks of green paper money. We Bees are from central pennsylvania, our PA Dutch traditional food to eat on New Years Day is, pork and sauerkraut. We throw in some hot dogs (turkey to keep it healthy, and also because Mrs.B can’t stomach normal dogs) and of course mashed potatoes.

When we lived in the south we learned that they too eat a similar meal, but they throw in black-eyed peas. These symbolize the rich wealth of coins.

So what does our meal exactly mean or stand for? Well we’ve grown up being told that the cabbage (sauerkraut) represents money, but the pork also has significance as well, pigs are sturdy strong creatures, they root in the ground with their snouts, it is always in a forward direction, symbolizing a year of progress and moving forward. Yes, it really is as simple as that!

What is your traditional “good luck” food in the New Year? Well, whatever it is, we wish you good fortune in the new year! Cheers, and Happy New Year!