Food porn: Bibimbap

So, I just got feed back on my speech presentation on How To Make Bibimbap. I got a 93%; a few points were knocked off because I didn't have references in the Power Point. Oh well. Still an A, that's all I really care about.

If you follow me on Instagram/Twitter/FB you've probably seen this photo:

I probably could have taken a better photo, but I was tired and hungry...and I was just ready to get this assignment done. Also, you'll notice that this isn't really a traditional bibimbap. I didn't use bean sprouts, gosari, spinach, or kimchi. With good reason of course, my presentation would have taken way too long. I think explaining gosari would have taken at least 2 slides. :P You know, even though bibimbap is easy to make, there are A LOT of steps. I probably should have just made a How To Make Bulgogi.

I don't think I'll post the recipe here. But if you want a good how to, check out AerisKitchen's YouTube video.

Why am I so lazy?

UGH. I'm such a procrastinator! My power point has to be emailed before tonight...AND I started putting it together this morning. HAHA. Oh yeah, I'm a little nutty.

But so far it's going okay..

Looks really, really, really boring. But all I care about is that I follow the rubric and I turn it in on time.

Oh boy. Only 10 more slides to go. >.>

Epic birthday cake fail

I was flipping through the thousands of photos I have on my phone and I found this from Lissa's (my fiancé's sister) birthday this year:

eeeeek!

First of all, I want to thank Instagram for making this epically failed birthday cake look pretty sexy in photos. And secondly, I blame Dillon. Well, I blame the both of us because we were lazy and tried to make the cake hours before Lissa's birthday party. The cake did not have time to cool, hence the icing would not go on the cake. And the icing got all melt-y. LOL. She still loved it (or was lying to our sheepish faces) because we made it AND it was a rainbow layered cake.

Next year will be better!

Friday notes

Okee, so my goal of posting something at least once a day has failed.. LOL. I'm so busy right now. Granted, I'm currently jobless, but job hunting is no joke! And I've been going to the gym practically every day. Oh, and let's not forget school.....

.....and playing Warcraft....*cough*

But any way, I have to get my bibimbap power point done by Sunday, so hopefully I will have something posted by then.

Other notes about today: IT FREAKING RAINED! And opening Olympic ceremonies tonight. WOOHOO.

laters.

Speech on Bibimbap

I have a power point presentation due for my speech class. And how luck am I that it has to be on a cooking recipe? SCORE! I better get an A on this speech. And of course I'll need too work on sounding "natural." During my last speech my instructor told me I sounded "unnatural" and "robot-like." I get excited about food so I shouldn't have a problem this week. :P

I'll post my bibimbap.. err, my mom's bibimbap recipe later this week.

Oster 10-Cup Rice Cooker

Food porn: Naeng-myeon

Naeng-myeon (or naeng myun, naengmyun..) is one of my favorite hot weather dishes to make. It's cold buckwheat noodles (gluten-free!), cold broth, hard boiled or soft boiled egg,and usually cucumbers and kimchi on top. I mom always added chopped red leaf lettuce so I always add that as well. Authentic Korean naeng-myeon will always have beef or chicken based broth. But you can make a vegetarian version; one of my favorite blogs has a great recipe posted here.

add ice cubes to make the soup colder!

Eden Foods 08639-3pack Eden Foods Soba 100% Buckwheat Wheat Free - 3x8 oz.

Spelt, egg, rice cheese, & tomato breakfast sandwich

My mom use to make us egg, cheese, and tomato sandwiches when we were younger. That's probably why it's one of my favorite breakfast meals to make. Hmm, now that I think about it, I think it's the first meal I made for Dillon when we were first dating. But, I haven't been making it lately because I'm trying to eat less dairy and wheat products, but once in awhile I'll spoil myself by making one. And this version will let me cheat more often!
I, like most Asians I know, am lactose intolerant. Of course that usually doesn't stop me from eating cheese (Lactaid to the rescue!). But I do try to use alternatives whenever I can. I recently discovered rice cheese. It's supposedly vegan and also soy free--another thing I'm trying to avoid--and it actually tastes okay. Well, it tastes okay after it's been melted. The rice cheese crumbs a little and you can tell it's not real cheese if you just eat it cold.

Gluten is another thing that I'm trying to avoid, although I'm having little success. I'm a total bread lover, but I know that if I'm going to eat anything with gluten I'll have to deal with the consequences. Why is everything that is bad for you, tastes so good?! Gluten-free bread is so expensive so I'll only purchase it once in a while. I haven't really had a problem with spelt bread even though spelt is in the gluten grains family. I love Trader Joe's organic spelt bread. It's reasonable priced at $2.99, the bread is not dense, only has 2g of sugar per slice, and is really tasty.

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of spelt bread, or any bread of your choice
• 1 slice of rice cheese
• 1 fried egg, you can just use egg whites too
• 1 fat slice of tomato, I like beefsteak tomatoes
• mayo (optional)
• salt & pepper to taste

The egg will melt the rice cheese or you can just pop the rice cheese on the egg before you take it off the pan. And I usually just put a little bit of salt & pepper on the tomato instead of sprinkling it on the egg. Enjoy!

"Cooking with Trader Joe's Cook Book Skinny Dish"

Food porn: Yo Joy

It never fails, if I'm having a bad day I always head over to Yo Joy. Thank god that they have sugar, fat, and gluten free options! Oh, and how exciting, I have 54.84 yo joy points; 60 points and I get $5 off. I'll have to save that for when Dillon comes home for a visit. ^__^

Tahitian vanilla frozen yogurt, coconut, walnuts, pecan, and blueberries. YUM.

Food porn: Harumi sushi

I'm really craving some sushi right now. OH Harumi, why can't you be here in Indy? Oh wait, I'm suppose to wish I was back in California. :X

Good thing I took food porn pics. Excuse me while I drool and fantasize.....

I forgot the mix!!

Dillon said my post makes it seem like IDK what I'm doing....he is right! Lol. I make a lot of random comments, but I'm just trying to make this fun.

I went to Saraga, which is a huge international food store in Indianapolis, to pick up some pantry items and veggies. I was in the Korean/Japanese aisle when I realized I should have posted a picture of the mix I used yesterday. You should be able to find it at any Asian grocery.

Yissine pancake mix

grrrrr, photo will not rotate! So any way, you can buy this ($2.49 a bag) or just make your own mix. Maangchi, one of my fave YouTubers, has a video on green onion pancake and she has a recipe for the batter.

Korean Pancake

I don't know if I would consider myself a foodie, but I love cooking, eating, and drinking--so maybe I am a foodie. I, by all means, do not think I am the best cook in the world (Dillon thinks I am, but he thinks I'm great at everything *mwah*) but I have been trying to be better at it. First of all, it is always cheaper to cook at home than it is to go out. And second, I'd rather hang out at home. Maybe in a few months when I have the svelte body I want (hitting the gym & hitting it hard) I'll be more up for going out.

This first recipe is my version of the Korean pancake. NOBODY makes it better than my mom, but unfortunately she is 2,338 miles away (yup, I know the exact distance, I miss her lots). I've watched YouTube videos, read blogs, and dissected the pancake that I've had at restaurants and I've come up with my version which is easy and tasty (well, all of them are pretty darn tasty).

Ingredients:

• 2 green onions, sliced (diagonally, makes it look pretty)
• 1 medium, red onion, sliced (or white, yellow....i just like the color and the peppery taste)
• 1-2 red chili pepper, chopped (again, it's more about the color. jalapenos would work too) 
• 1 medium to large zucchini, julienne (with a mandolin or just julienne it yourself)
• canola oil for frying
• half cup to cup of Korean pancake mix (depends on how much batter you want)
• water (errr...1 to 2 cups... maybe more!)

(just a side note, i don't really measure.. maybe i will in the future if i get serious about this, so pls. bear with me. :P)

chop, chop, chop!

Step 1: chop, slice, and julienne all the veggies. Oh, and feel free to use whatever veggies you want. Most recipes call for zucchini, but you can use whatever veggies you love.

Step 2: mix the batter up in a large mixing bowl. You don't want the batter to be like the pancakes you eat with syrup, it needs to be a little bit more fluid than that. (oh geez, i'm terrible at giving directions.. hahah..)

Step 3: mix in all the veggies with the batter!

Step 4: put a generous amount of canola oil in a heated pan. I might have gone a little over board on the oil when I made these, but it wasn't too bad. I made some pancake size ones and some smaller patty-size. I think that the larger size came out a lot better, but I just need some practice. :X So anyway, fry until golden brown. Or crispy brown, whichever you prefer.

Step 5: EAT! Well, first you want them to drain & cool on a cooling rack OR just on some paper towels. The only problem with paper towels is that the pancakes are a little sticky. 

YUM, i ate it all!

I was too lazy to make a sauce, so all I did was dip the pancake in ponzu sause (citrus soy sauce). I enjoyed making this and of course eating it. :P

yeaaah.. stool in the background..hmm..