Organization makes me happy

Lately I've been cooking up a storm. Unfortunately for you I've dropped the ball on taking pictures and keeping track of the recipes. Whoops. As you can see above, I've added tabs solely for organizing Kookin' in Korea recipes/blog post. Since I plan on this being a large portion of my entries I promise to try harder at taking pictures and spreading the love. Hope you enjoy organization as much as I!

Bought a bike in Seoul a week ago. A friend and I literally ran through the subway with this thing. It was a sight, but surprisingly easier than walking without a bike. The mass crowd of people literally parted when they saw me, a tall black girl running down the subway station along with my friend Vanessa. Who at the time was not only carrying her own purse, but also my massive purse. Like I said, it was a sight.

Ready for spring!

An oldie, but a goodie:

North Korean Threats

I know you all are well aware of threats North Korea, more specifically 김정은 (Kim Jeong Un), has made. After speaking with others who live in South Korea many foreigners have been receiving numerous emails/messages from home. I unfortunately have not been receiving much worrisome emails and am still deciding if it's because my family and friends at home trust my judgement or if I'm unloved and forgotten. For the sake of my self-esteem, I'm going with the first option. From what I've also seen in western news vs what I'm hearing and experiencing right here in South Korea it seems like every other country, but South Korea is...for lack of a better phrase, freaking out. Do people have a reason to be a little concerned? Absolutely! Anything could happen; I want to strongly emphasis could. It is very possible that something could happen, but how likely is it? Should I pack my bags and book a flight home right this instant? No. Should I maybe have some type of a plan in case something happens? Yeah, it doesn't hurt to be prepared for the worst if it comes to that. But more importantly, if South Korean people are not panicking than why should I? While waiting for a movie this weekend a friend and I were discussing the what ifs of the situation. I basically said, I follow South Koreans. They generally don't drink water straight from the tap, neither will I. They always wear socks in restaurants where you're required to take off your shoes. Ok, I will too! They are not panicking about North Korea and their threats and neither will I. Not only do I trust the judgement of individuals who have been through this time and time again, but I also trust that the American Embassy will notify me and the thousands of other foreigners in South Korea if we need to take action and evacuate. Until then I (and others) for the sake of my sanity should remain calm and continue to carry out our everyday lives.

With permission I am reposting this comment made by a Korean friend. She not only works closely with foreigners, but is also a straightforward individual and therefore I trust her judgement.

"Why is it safe to stay in Korea?You guys are so worried about the current situation related to North Korea's threats.Not only that, your parents, friends in your home country must be more worried these days. Actually, such anxiety stemmed from CNN's broadcasts focusing only on a plausible war due to North Korea's threats. Nothing to worry about! As Koreans, we have faced such situations they have fabricated to take advantage of us. It has been a kind of disguised threat to hide their inability to sustain their people economically and to draw attention to North Korea's power, which doesn't exist. Recently, they came to have a new leader,김정은. North Korea wanted to show off a new leader's potential by threatening South Korea and America but in reality, they lack the power to perform what they are thinking about. And they know their structure related to arms is far behind South Korea's. They don't want to start war at all because they already know that they can't win. They just want to continue their regime as a communist country forever. To do that, they need to let all the countries notice its existence as a communist country. That is why North Korea is shouting to the world like this, " We will launch... We will do experiments...."
It has not been easy for North Korea to continue its communism system without creating such threats to South Korea and America. So don't worry and enjoy your life here in Korea! It has not been easy for North Korea to continue its communism system without creating such threats to South Korea and America. So don't worry and enjoy your life here in Korea!"

- Seonghe Seo

And now to make things light, I give you Jon Stewart.

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!