Tag Archives: South Korea

Baked Couscous

I am such a lucky gal to have such a great husband that is willing to try just about anything that I cook for him. Tonight served as a nice reminder of that feeling. Couscous. Never have I ever cooked it, never have I ever ate it..

uh oh.

No, no… it turned out really great! Victory dance over here folks!

Have you ever had couscous? What are your thoughts? Favorite way to cook it?

Baked Couscous

Ingredients:

4 Egg whites
1 Box couscous
1 Cup whole milk
1 1/3 Cup heavy cream
1 Cup Gouda cheese, grated
1 Cup sharp cheddar, grated
1 Cup Feta cheese, crumbles
1 Small yellow onion, chopped fine
1/4 Cup fresh or dry chives
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat oven to (400 degrees) or 200 degrees Celsius. Beat eggs, milk, heavy cream, onion, and cheeses. Then once well blended, add couscous, salt and pepper. Mix again until blended in with liquid cheese mixture. Then pour into a greased baking dish. Cover with foil bake for 30 minutes. Once 30 minutes ends, uncover and bake an additional 30 more minutes, or until you get that nice brown and firm consistency.

Try paring with a nice chopped beet and yogurt salad as a side. Have fun, dress up the meal with swanky little cups as serving dishes too!

What’s cooking in your kitchen tonight?

Backpackbees

Relay For Life – South Korea

Dear friends, Many apologize for being MIA this past week, of course I have good reason for my absence. Relay for Life! My team and I walked over 24 hours these past two days, helping to contribute to raising roughly over $35,000 dollars! Finding a cure to kick cancers bum, meeting caregivers, survivors, and new friends, give me an annual sign up, please!

This was the first year that Seoul, Korea has participated in Relay for Life. All and all I think it was a smashing success! So many participants from all walks of life. Each with a story of survival, or the care they gave or are giving, or passion to fight for the cure for others. Such selfless people with huge hearts. It might have been all the chemical in the air from the AstroTurf getting ripped up, but there was such an incredible contagious high felt by all.

Watching the survivors take their first lap really set the tone to kick off the event. Men and woman of all ages. Cancer knows no age, color, race, or boundaries.  Grabbing breakfast that morning a woman approached my girlfriend Mary and I, stated she saw our shirts and had to say thank you. She stated she was a two-time survivor of cancer, always tried to participate in the Relay events each year, but was not able to this year. She shared openly shared a personal piece of her survival story with us. I cannot explain the flood of emotions that consumed my body at that point.

I have to reign in the misty eyed vibe I’ve got going in this post, end by lighten things up with some of the fun lap theme’s that our team participated in. These include the bubble lap, the beach party, children’s character, and red white and blue pride.

Keep calm and relay on!

Backpackbees

Spring Wedding

Today was an absolute breathtaking day for a Spring wedding! The sun came out, the temperature was warm in the sun, cool in the shade, the birds were chirping, everything in budding and blooming. Ah… just breathtaking!

We attended Mr. B’s co-worker’s wedding in Seoul earlier this afternoon. Such a beautiful ceremony! It was half in Korean and half in English (how fun is that?). The pastor was outstanding too, some of the best vows and sermon that we have heard yet. Particularly the part that sticks with us is the joke he cracked about Adam and Eve. He said, “GOD, why did you make Eve so beautiful? God replied, so that you will love her. Adam then says, GOD, why did you make Eve’s skin so soft? God replied so that you would love her. Adam then asks, GOD why did you make Eve so stupid? God respond, so that she would love you…” .  LOL!

All jokes aside, the vows were a strong message about upholding your marriage, your friendship, your commitment to one another forever. Once you are married your best friend is your spouse. What a beautiful reminder to each and every one of the audience attending the ceremony.

The bride and groom were such a gorgeous couple. Seriously, look how cute they are! Happy, smiling, and now not only husband and wife, but best friends forever too.

Congratulations you two! We wish you nothing but a life long of good health and happiness together forever and ever!

Backpackbees

Promise

The weather hasn’t fully submitted yet here in Korea. As the Spring weather typically seems to do every year, it’s quite capricious, here we all feel the seasonal pangs of change. I see glimpses of the promising summer seasonal bliss while riding my bike, even if I have to still wear a heavy jacket.

At last, life is full of sweet promise, as only it can be in Spring.

Backpackbees

공씨네주먹밥 Kong’s Riceball

I often find that little hole in the wall places are the best kind of places. They typically serve some of the most unusual and delicious little finds. Take our secret restaurant for instance. It’s so off the beaten path and it has some of the best food we’ve eaten since living in Korea. I guess that’s why we really can’t let the week go by without grabbing dinner there at a minimum once.

Last night I got a text from my girlfriend Mary asking if I wanted to meet up for lunch at a little hole in the wall near both of our homes, Kong’s Riceball. It’s been on my list of places to check out because every time we pass it on walks we chuckle to ourselves. Humorous name, right? Plus the slogan reads, “Get some FUN – Fast Unique Nutritious.” Obviously it was hook, line, and sinker.

I’m sure you can guess what Kong’s serves up…if you guessed rice balls, you are wrong. Just kidding, of course its riceballs silly!

You get a choice of filling like tuna, spicy grilled chicken, spicy anchovy, flying fish and cheese, marinated beef, roasted pork, crab meat and broccoli, salmon, spam and even kimchi. These little guys remind me of the Korean kimbap triangles that are sold in convenience stores here, only BETTER.

Kong’s forms a ball with the seasoned rice, sticks the filling in the center, and then roll it in roasted sea laver or seaweed. It’s really tasty, I promise! Plus, it’s really convenient and would be a great snack for when you are on the go. We got the flying fish row, the crab meat and broccoli, and pumpkin porridge. I completely forgot to post the cost! Super cheap! Mine was only 6,000W!

Check it out and let me know what you think!

718-1 Jihaeng-dong
Dongducheon-si, Gyeonggi-do
031-859-5383
http://kongsriceball.co.kr/

Then for a little sweet treat pop on over to Cafe 7 Gram across the street, just like we may or may not have…

Backpackbees

Sunday Morning Poached Eggs

You know what? Poaching an egg is very intimidating and unknown territory when it comes to a mediocre cook. Truly, I can say this from experience. Believe it or not, I never poached an egg until this morning. Boy, they are tricky little guys!

I found that using a small bowl to slowly slide the egg into the almost boiling water worked the best. Thank goodness for good old Google and some tips from Real Simple magazine to help me keep calm and cook on.

Fresh eggs are key. My eggs are fairly fresh, but not fresh-fresh, like snatched right out from under the hen fresh. When I think of fresh eggs, I instantly think of my grandparents that raise chickens. Sometimes they tell me they have so many eggs, they often run out of creative ways to use them up. Maybe after they read this post they will want to poach some eggs too?

What are your thoughts on poached eggs? Have any tips or tricks to getting them perfect?

Backpackbees

All Things Pink

Beautifully wrapped pink little packages, fresh strawberry punch, delicious pink lemon flavored cupcakes, pink cray paper pom-pom balls, and some of the sweetest ladies a girl could ask to surround herself with.

These things can only mean one thing…

It’s a girl!

This weekend was all about celebrating and showering our dear sweet friend Krista. Her special little Jilly-bean is due to make her big debut into this world shortly, and we are all so terribly excited to meet her!

Congratulations Krista and Dave, Can’t wait to meet the new addition!

Backpackbees

While Spring Is Making Promises Outside

Hello from here, where the big news is spring. Big flowery cotton like blossoms in the most gorgeous shades of pink and white are popping up all over Korea, even this far North. While I cannot say that we’ve been up to anything earth shattering or groundbreaking as of late, we have been making it a point to get out and see all of the incredible seasonal changes occurring right around our home. One bloom in particular is the cherry blossom trees here in Korea. Breathtaking!

I took these last night while on our stroll home from date night. The moon was shining brightly, the sky was a beautiful deep blue. Ah! I just couldn’t help myself from snapping some photos to share with you all.

Have a great weekend, we’ll chat soon!

Backpackbees

Date Night: Chinese Restaurant – Gong-Hwa-Choon

What are your thoughts on Chinese food? (Besides the cute little take out containers and fortune cookies)

I find that you either like it, or you don’t. Up until a few years ago I found myself not really caring for it. Mostly I think because it upset my stomach. There was never any one menu item that pushed me over the edge, it was all of them. I later found out that I might have had a stomach sensitivity to MSG. Mr. B always enjoyed Chinese food and his stomach never seemed to mind it. Wait, wait, wait… let me rephrase that… This entire time I should have been more PC and used the term American-Chinese food. However, we did take a trip to China since living in Asia, we both agreed we liked our Americanized version more so. Snobs right? HA-HA.

Anywho, like America, Korea does Chinese food too, Korean-Chinese. I mostly find that the main dish served in a Korean-Chinese restaurant is jajangmyeon. In Chinese they call it zhajiangmian. Some places serve up a superb dish of jajangmyeon, while others offer a very sad and bland black bean blob onto of noodles. It’s hit or miss.

This week we moved our date night to tonight. YEY! You know what that means…new adventure! We decided to check out a Chinese restaurant that we eyed on a walk in passing a few weeks back. The restaurant is called Gong-Hwa-Choon. The map coordinates are listed below and will open up on a google map if you ever find yourself in the Dongducheon area.

The food was really good and oh goodness, plentiful. We even took leftover homes! The service was excellent! Plus they deliver too! We ordered SET D and shared again, think plentiful.

Menu: (All spelling and  description taken directly from menu)

Noodle A: Jajangmyeon – Noodle with black bean pasta sauce 3,000W

Noodle B: Ganjajang- Noodle with fried black bean paste sauce 5,000W

Noodle C: Jjamppong- Spicy noodle soup with some seafood and vegetables 4,000W

Noodle D: Samseon-Jjamppong- Spicy noodle soup with various seafood and vegetables. More deep flavored soup 8,000W

Noodle E: Woo-Dong- Japanese noodle with tempura and vegetable in soy sauce and dashi soup 5,000W

Noodle F: Seafood Fried Jajang- Noodle with fried black bean paste, various seafood and vegetables 15,000W (2 portion)

Noodle G: Seafood fried jjamppong- Spicy noodle with various seafood and vegetables without soup 15,000W (2 portion)

Rice A: Fried Rice- Fried Rice with fried egg and vegetables with black bean paste sauce 5,000W

Rice B: Shrimp Fried Rice- Fried rice with shrimp, fried egg, and vegetables  7,000W

Rice C: Omelet Rice-Rice covered with egg 6,000W

Rice D: Jajang Rice- White rice with black sauce 5,000W

Rice E: Jjang Ppong Rice- White rice with spicy noodle soup with seafood and vegetables 6,000W

Rice F: Jap-Chae Rice- White rice with cellophane  noodles, sliced vegetables and pork 6,000W

Special A: Fried dumplings- Fried dumplings stuffed with minced pork and vegetables 4,000W

Special B: Steamed Dumplings- Steamed dumpling stuffed with minced pork and vegetables 4,000W

Special C: Sweet & Sour Pork- Fried pork with sweet & sour sauce S-15,000W, M-20,000W, L-25,000W (sharable dish)

Special D: Kanso Shrimp- Fried shrimp with sweet & spicy sauce 30,000W (sharable dish)

Special E: Jap-Chae- Cellophane noodle with sliced vegetables and pork 15,000W (sharable dish)

Special F: Kan Poong Gi- Fried Chicken with sweet and spicy sauce 22,000W (sharable dish)

Set A: Special C, 2 noodle A, special A 15,000W

Set B: Special C, 1 noodle C, 1 noodle A, special A 16,000W

Set C: Special C, noodle F, special A 19,000W

Set D: Special C, noodle G, special A 20,000W

Grab the map coordinates HERE

Backpackbees