Korea continued...

For my friend A, who is probably stuck with freezing cold weather somewhere out there and to my 6 followers (I know this sounds dorky, but I can't believe that I have 6 followers and none of them are my parents or sisters.)

Yes, cupcakes have landed in Korea and they were so big.

me goofing off at Passion 5

It was really cold when we went to Sol Beach.  At the fish market there were a lot of these yellow pots (best used for instant ramen in my opinion) boiling on top of coal.

Three sisters at the fish  market.

Getting ready for dinner.

I want a shower head like this one!

When Anna saw this picture she said...angry angry crab!  I told her it was dinner :)

View outside the window.

Watching the sunrise

taking a break from Korea

Last week I had a craving.  Usually, I forget about it but this one was nagging me.  So I caved and drove to Marie Callenders, bought a peach pie and enjoyed every bite.  Did I mention that I ate it for breakfast the following morning.

Feeling guilty about my pie, I started to make some whole wheat banana chocolate chip muffins and was even planning to leave the chocolate out.  I know talk about serious guilt!  I threw the dry ingredients into a bowl and melted the butter in the microwave.  I opened the fridge for the bananas.  Yikes, it stunk like it was on its way to being banana liquor or something.  I started to think about what else I could make with the measured out ingredients and then I remembered a whole wheat chocolate chip cookie recipe I've been wanting to try.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Kim Boyce

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. kosher salt
2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes (see note above)
1 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped into ¼- and ½-inch pieces, or bittersweet chips

This was the recipe, but remember I had already measured out some dry ingredients from the other recipe and only had one stick of melted butter.  I decided to half the recipe.

1 1/2 cups of white whole wheat flour (I get mine at Trader Joe's)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp of salt
1 rounded tsp of baking powder
1 stick of butter (mine was melted)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
3 ounces of dark chocolate chopped finely

1.  Sift the dry ingredients together.
2.  In a bowl mix the butter with the sugars.  Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.  Then add the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon.  Then the chocolate.

The texture was not creamy probably because my butter was melted.  So I threw it in the fridge for an hour.  I baked these at 350 for about 8-10 minutes.  They were surprisingly good.  Crunchy on the outside and slightly chewy in the middle.  I baked the second batch longer because I like them crunchy.  Anna liked them and so did her therapist.  They actually reminded me of a version of  Digestive biscuits or McVities Digestives.  If you like those you will definitely  like this recipe.

Once we arrived at Sol Beach we headed out to the local fish market.

There were so many food stands with shrimp tempura.

Stuffed squid

Grilled scallops with green peppers and hot sauce.

Fresh sashimi

While we were looking around my dad was taking pictures.

Crab, the reason for our trip to the market.

with my sister and my dad

Korea continued...

First of all, happy Friday!

Saturday was my cousin's wedding.  Korean weddings are interesting in a fun way.  I did enjoy the fog, the bubbles, the four tenors, and the paebaek which is a traditional Korean custom after the ceremony that includes bowing to the relatives of the groom and several other activities. 

The wedding hall.

my cousin

the bride

I forgot to take pictures at the reception.  I was so disappointed that they did not serve wedding cake.  That's one of my favorite parts of a wedding.  Looking at the design, tasting it etc.  There was one that they cut for pictures, but then it disappeared never to be seen again.  Anyways, the rest of the day was spent helping out my aunt. 


The next day we headed out to Sol Beach for a quick getaway.  On the way there we dropped by this restaurant which looked liked someone's house for buckwheat noodles.  

Spicy buckwheat noodles.  I can go for some right now.

Their pork belly was very tasty as well. 

 I think this was the hotel side of the resort.  The resort was pretty big. 

 The cafe in our building.  Loved the ocean view.

Coming up next time...outside marketplace

It's almost 10pm and my house is silent.  Daughter is sleeping and E is out as well.  Very unusual.  Everyone fell asleep around 9ish.  It's nice to have some peace and quiet to myself.  I've caught up on blogs, emails, bills, noted family/friend's birthdays & important date in my new calendar.  It's no secret that for several years E and I celebrated the wrong wedding date...I admit I am horrible with dates and numbers too.

 I want to find this mug.

{via Aurevoir Paris}

just because.....

a video about The Sartorialist 

  

More of Korea

After I went to the morning market with my dad we ate lunch (sorry no pictures, but I had Korean cold noodles). My mom wanted to take me to this bakery/patisserie.

We went to Myung Dong.  We also stopped by Shinsaegae dept. store, but they wouldn't let me take any pictures :(

Outside street vendor.

Passion 5

Lovely macaroons...right after I took this they told me no more pictures.  Thank goodness my sister had already taken a ton!

Selection of what we ate.  Vanilla bean gelato and yuzu gelato.  Cheesecake, mushroom on focaccia bread, and UFO bread (yes that is what it was called).   My favorite was the cheesecake.  Korean cheesecake is different then in the states.  It's not as dense and there is no graham cracker crust rather a nice thin layer of sponge cake.  Also the yuzu gelato.  I love yuzu...sweet yet tangy.

In honor of my Motherland and because I miss Korea....

Recipe for mandoo aka Korean dumplings. 

List #1
1 pound of ground beef
1 block of extra firm tofu (squeeze as much water as you can out of the tofu)
1/2 medium onion minced
2 medium sized zucchini julienned
4 cloves of garlic minced
1 bunch of Korean chives (buchu) or you can use green onions

List # 2
2 Tablespoons of soy sauce
1 Tablespoon of sesame seed oil
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
pepper

List #3
1 package of wonton wrappers
water in a small bowl to seal the wrappers

Put all the ingredients in list #1 a bowl.  Mix well.  Then add the ingredients from list #2 mix well.  Then place a Tablespoon (possibly more depending on what brand of wonton you buy) of the filling in the middle of the wonton wrapper.  Using your fingers wet and seal the edge of the wrapper, fold and press to seal the wonton wrapper.

These freeze well.  I sprinkled flour on a sheet pan (see above picture) and froze them.  Once they were frozen I threw them into a ziplock bag.

I took a trip to the motherland last week.  Where is the motherland?  Korea.  I was there for one week.  It was too short.  But I had a great time seeing my relatives, hanging out with my family, and seeing old friends.

Layover in SFO.  If I had one more hour there I would have gone to the Ferry Building.

My dad picked me up at the airport.  Can I say weather shock?!  I went from a zip up sweatshirt to full length wool coat in 12 hours. 

The next morning, I followed my dad on his early morning market run.  My gramps has a restaurant in Korea and my parents help him run it.  Food it's in the blood :)

 Onions, onions and more onions.

 Yes, those are gallon bags of garlic.

See that man on the right in blue?  This was a fruit auction.  It was quite interesting even though I didn't understand a word he was saying.  

Strawberries, the sweetest I've had in a long time! 

yummmmm

My dad walking back home with a case of strawberries.  The rest of the produce was sent to the restaurant.

More to come....