St. Patrick's Day fun + Kookin' in Korea: Breakfast Skillet + Artichoke & Olive dip

I've been back to work for two full weeks and it's looking like it'll be a pretty good year! Why? One, within the first week I received our school's schedule for the year. THE YEAR! I never received a schedule last year and never knew what was happening until it happened. Two, my first encounter with my new co-teacher was me walking into the English classroom watching her frantically clean and organize everything. How awesome is that?! Today, I attempted to clean and she yelled at me to stop and physically made me sit down. She doesn't really speak English and my Korean is horrible, but with a few hand gestures and sounds we still manage to teach pretty well together and have a laugh doing so.

I spent the weekend in Seoul with friends celebrating St. Patrick's Day. It was a blast. Actually, probably too much fun considering I was not feeling well the next day. At the festival they had a raffle with the first prize being a trip for two to Dublin, Ireland. I don't usually win things, but Vanessa and I decided to split the tickets. We took our chances and we WON! Okay, we didn't win a trip to Dublin, but we did win one free nights stay at the Sheraton Hotel. We'll take it!

Kookin' in Korea - Breakfast skillet

As a teen I spent a lot of my time at work. 

Like any other youngster wanting to start working at the tender age of 14 HyVee was one of the few places which allowed this. Don't worry, I didn't actually start working until I was 16. If you're from the Midwest especially Iowa, you most likely worked at HyVee. The place where there's a helpful smile in every aisle. I worked as a cashier, but also spent my Sunday mornings working breakfast. They have awesome breakfast skillets. Not only do I love breakfast, but the other day I found myself really craving a skillet. It wasn't exactly like HyVee, but still pretty good!

Need:

potatoes

bell peppers, assorted color

onion

ham, can also use sausage or bacon

cheese

eggs

salt, red pepper flakes, 

pepper, garlic, parsley

*All items can be purchased at any mart. They are very easy to find.

1. Cube potatoes, both bell peppers, onion and ham. Add a small amount of vegetable oil to the pan and only fry potatoes. Add the seasonings you wish to use and cook. Cover with lid so potatoes will cook from within and not only the outside. Once potatoes are soft add all veggies and ham to the pan. Let cook. Add more seasoning if desired.

I've never seen breakfast sausage in Korea, but if using bacon I suggest cooking this first, chopping then adding it into the pan once the veggies have cooked.

2. While veggies are cooking make an over easy egg. Once egg is cooked and veggies are completely cooked top the vegetables with a little cheese and let melt.

3. Top skillet with egg and eat up!

Kookin' in Korea - Artichoke & Olive dip

Once a week I meet a few friends for dinner, but instead of going out to a restaurant we take turns hosting at our apartment. With eating rice and kimchi basically everyday it's a nice opportunity to enjoy a few foods from home. This week I desperately needed something to bring. After realizing I had a jar of artichokes in my cabinet I quickly googled recipes using artichokes. I came across this dip and hoped it would be good. Not only is it super super easy to make, but it ended up being absolutely DEL*licious!

Need

1 1/2 cup artichoke hearts

1/2 cup olives

1 tbsp chopped garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

*Lemon and plain olive oil is pictured, but I didn't use these items. Was completely fine without.

1. Pour all ingredients into blender. As I said above I did not use lemon or plain olive oil. Instead I used the olive oil from the jarred artichokes and that seemed to add a little more flavor. Recipes online said to use green olives, but I could only find black. Still think it worked completely fine. Blend and bowl.

2. Eat...a lot! Bread is homemade by my friend Suzanne. Like I said, very easy and really good!

Kookin' in Korea: Hummus

Happy spring vacation to me! Yep, that's right. I'm on vacation again. For those who do not know, South Korea's academic school year is different than the United States. Back home we typically start school in August and end in May/June giving us a little over two months of vacation in the summer. Where as in Korea, the academic school year begins in March and ends in February giving two weeks of vacation (spring vacation) between each school year. They also get a month long vacation in the winter and another month during the summer; this is on top of any public holidays we also get off. Point. I make out like a bandit when it comes to paid days off!

Hummus with a splash of lemon: 

I actually made this a month ago, but just haven't had time to sit and actually write this post. Hope you enjoy!

Things you need

2 cups chickpeas (hard find, but sometimes sold at local marts)

5 tbsp lemon juice

4 garlic gloves (3 tbsp)

1/4 cup olive oil (Costco and local marts)

1 1/2 tbsp tahini

pinch of salt
cumin (rare find, but sometimes sold in small marts)

Before you can actually make the hummus you must soak and cook the chickpeas and also make the tahini.

1. Preparing Chickpeas - pour 2 cups of dried chickpeas into a colander and quickly rinse. Once peas are rinsed pour into a bowl and cover with water. You do not need a lot of water. Just enough to cover all peas. Soak peas overnight or ~12 hrs. After soaking in water the peas will almost double in size. After soaking, rinse one more time and remove the discolored peas. Once you've sorted through the peas pour in a pot and boil for 1 1/2 hours or until the peas can be easily mashed with a fork. Once peas  have fully cooked set aside and let cool.

           Rinse                                                              Soak                                                  Boil

                   

2. Making the Tahini - the recipe does not call for a large amount, but it's nice to make more than necessary for other recipes. Tahini can be easily stored in a plastic or glass jar in the fridge. To make, first toast sesame seeds for about 8 minutes on the stove top. No need to use oil. Seeds should turn a darker brown; not too brown though! Be careful not too burn the seeds, you just want them to become a little darker.

Left: uncooked sesame seeds. Right: toasted sesame seeds. I personally think I overcooked the seeds. Shoot for a slightly lighter color.

Time to make tahini paste! Blend the desired amount of toasted sesame seeds and olive oil. Here I used 1 cup toasted seeds and 1/4 cup olive oil. Remember, I made more than the recipe requires.

A food processor may work better, but it's Korea. Who has a food processor here?! A small blender worked perfectly fine for me.

You may also have to add additional olive oil to achieve the desired consistency. Note - the tahini paste here is darker than I would have liked, but that's due to me over toasting the seeds. If your tahini paste is this dark you may want to think about adding less to your hummus. 

3. Hummus time - Once the tahini is finished. Add ingredients to the blender. First...

tahini, more olive oil (1/4 cup) and lemon juice. I used a combination of fresh lemon juice and bottled lemon juice. Fresh is preferred for a better flavor.

Now add garlic...

salt...

...and cumin. Blend.

Add the chickpeas. Blend. If hummus is too dry add water and maybe even a little more olive oil. Play with the recipe to find the consistency you prefer.  

4. Enjoy! Hummus is great with a variety of vegetables and of course BREAD!

You may also like to top with a little more olive oil, paprika, red pepper flakes, a squirt of lemon juice, etc. Play around with the recipe and see what you like!

Valentine's Day, not only a day for couples

This holiday can be tricky. Some find it to be extremely obnoxious while others absolutely love it and live for the typical pink heart decor, cheesy Valentine's Day cards and of course the not so tasty heart candy with messages. But, the day would not be complete without a special someone to share it with. And like society has shown us, that special someone of course must be a significant other right? WRONG. Let's just say my mama didn't raise me like that! I grew up in a house where Valentine's Day was a reminder day (not the only day) to tell all loved ones how special they are to you. So to all my loved ones...you're special and I heart you!

I want to dedicate this Valentine's Day to my aunt Michelle and my cousins Tee and Kimberly. Aunt Michelle I'm so sorry I can't be at your benefit this weekend, but Byron will be there in Texas to represent our family. I love you all and kick cancer's ass!

OCD or the way things should be?

Today was my first day back on the saddle and by saddle I mean work and by work I mean an unexpected day of desk warming. Prior to starting the first day back and also while enjoying vacation forgetting what working in a Korean school entails I stopped and asked myself, Angel, why are you always cranky at work? I thought about this and decided it's me just being irritable and the only way to make a happier classroom and work environment is to CHOOSE YOUR ATTITUDE. I'm pretty sure I've written about this phrase before. I was first introduced to this pick-me-up in undergrad when working for admissions at my university; and for the most part it worked. Now I'm older, much wiser and less patient. Because of these personality changes and my experiences living abroad I've had to adjust to a new motto, I can't. I actually picked this up from my friend MaryKate and it can be said with an eye roll if no one is looking or a slight head shake of disappointment. It also has various meanings. I can't...deal with this now, I'll deal later. I can't...even get angry about this, it's Korea. I've also been known to use I don't get it. Which has mentally gotten me through a lot of weird situations such as random people stroking my hair, I don't get. A man walks by and nearly spits on my feet without hesitation, I don't get it. 

Today I walked into school for the first day back from winter vacation excited to see my students and instead my day was filled with I can't and I don't get it moments. Read below.

1. The last day of school before winter vacation was Friday December 28th. Leading up to this day I kept hinting we should clean our classroom since it's very cluttered and I definitely did not want our classroom like this for the next school year. I think he agreed because by the afternoon the room was turned upside down from the cleaning process. Only one problem. He never actually finished. I left school with a pile of boxes, papers that needed to be thrown out, a vacuum, fan, etc in the front of the classroom. The next two weeks I desk warmed (getting paid to sit around) not knowing what to do with these things. Fortunately, during those two weeks my coteacher briefly came into work and I asked him if I should take care of the mess. He said, "of course not, I'll be back to clean before school starts." "Awesome" I thought. Today, Monday February 4th I walk in to see this. I felt my cheeks turning red from anger and had to calm myself down my repeating my new motto, I can't.

To be fair, we didn't teach today AND after mentioning the mess to him one more time I was informed that most of it was trash and our student's were coming to take it away after lunch. A few hours later our classroom now looks and feels awesome and clean! I don't remember the last time I've been so happy. There is still a fairly large pile of boxes filled with who knows what, but at least it's by the garbage can and not in the front of the classroom. I told a friend this story today and he says it's my OCD. I don't agree, it's just the way things should be or in this case the way things shouldn't be.

2. Came into school and was informed there would be no classes today. Once my computer was turned on I realized my keyboard wasn't working. I'm always having computer issues at work! Don't forget this was also immediately after seeing the mess that was left for a month. I sat and looked at my computer unable to type in my password and thought, I can't. How could I get through a day with nothing to do and no access to Internet. After wiggling the computer cords for twenty minutes I was finally able to work my keyboard and be on my way to surfing the net.

3. While waiting for our teachers meeting to begin my coteachers and I were chatting and the fact that my coteacher is probably leaving my school to work at another school somehow made it's way into our conversation. He did mention he may not teach English this year, but I had no idea he was leaving. Fair enough, I don't need to be told. I did ask when he would find out if he was leaving for sure and he answered probably February 15th. Let's put this into perspective. Yes, we did just have winter vacation. So my students were off for the month of January. Now, we are back in school for two weeks until February 15th and then we have two weeks of spring vacation. Our new school year does not start until March 4th, 2013. I most likely wont know who I will spend the next year teaching with until the first day of school. It is also likely I wont have books for prep until then as well. It is not my coteacher's fault he doesn't know so I sat with a smile and finished the conversation. But you better believe, I don't get it kept repeating itself in my head.