A Coffee Moment...

Today after lunch the Thai brother comes into the room with his 3rd or 4th cup of coffee for the day. His mom mumbles something about how he drinks coffee just like it is water.He defends himself:"I drink 6 or 7 coffees a day so that I won't fall asleep," he said sincerely.Sure that makes sense. 6 or 7 is a lot, but I lived through college. I understood him.But then I ask him, 'So then why do you always have to drink one cup of coffee just seconds before bedtime?'"If I no drink coffee,' he said 'I sleep no good."I tell him that he's nuts and then hand him a caffeine addict anonymous card.Coffee logic. It's amazingly delicious :)

~ Back to School 2012 ~

These days I feel as though I am on the yellow school bus headed back to elementary school. It is the first day of school. The air is crisp, and there are so many exciting possibilities that await me, but also overwhelm me when I realize what there is left to learn. I question whether I can really digest all of this in time to use it for life?I have to remind myself again and again and then again that anything of quality takes work and lots of time to build. So Inge, breath in and out, repeat slowly (similar to all those pregnant women on TV, but hopefully much less painful?) and take in every moment of this lovely life and learn at your pace. Because the elephant is much more tasty when you enjoy each bite rather that trying to put the whole animal in your mouth at one go. That is unless you're one of those wicked cool snakes with a crazy detachable jaw.. But since I'm not, I'll stick to one bite, chew, swallow, and then repeat. Only 1,999,998 bites to go. I've got this!   

Happy Birthday! May it be Full of Specialness :)

Happy Birthday to one of the coolest people on the planet! My little brother, Michael. I hope your birthday is full of magic, Oreo ice cream and good country music.Can you believe how old you are today?You know, I remember when were just five years old, and you about gave us all heart attacks because you liked to stick metal knives and forks into the electric sockets. I assume you wanted to check if they were still working. And our sockets, without fail, worked very well. They lit you up, but I guess you didn't mind because you would still try to sneak past Mom and go back for more.Do you think the unnatural level of electrons in your body is the cause of your brute strength? hmmmm.. Quite possibly, Maybe this was why you would always gain muscle mass 20x faster than I would at the gym even though we both worked out the SAME amount of time with the SAME trainer. Not fair!But regardless of your past unhealthy obsession with electric conductivity, I want to say that I am super proud of the intelligent, fun, kind person you've grown into, and I wish I could be there to give you a big hug and a kiss and lecture you on life. But instead, I'm harnessing all my magical powers, and I'm sending loads of blessings your way from Asialand. These should keep you nicely until I see you again in a few months. :)Happy BIRTHDAY, party, party like it's 1999! :) Isn't he just the cutest thing you've ever seen? (hehe, I hope I'm succeeding in your severe discomfort, Michael. On a scale to 1-10 how uncomfortable are you? Because I am trying very, very hard).

Fruit Angels, Papaya Skin and Beach Bumming

 Last week = Sunny skies, Ocean Kayaks, Pineapple smoothies, Moonlit swims, and Dark Chocolate ummmm... Are you jealous, yet? What if I added eight dollar beach massages to that list? Hehehe? Am I evil? Yes, I think so.Well then I guess you'll just have to visit me. Not to experience my evil side, but rather to partake in the Earthly heaven known as Thailand. When you deplane you will understand more clearly. There are practically wingless angels on every street corner, who sell fresh papayas, mangos, pineapple and watermelon. And Every time they sell enough fruit, they float into Heaven to get rewarded the prettiest wings in all of God's Heaven.So you must come to visit this 8th wonder of the universe. However, I won't let you in-country unless you promise to pack in ample HIGH-quality dark chocolate And sufficient cheese to last me for the next three months.  And if you succed in your mission, I will provide the above list of perks WITH a daily supply of coconut water and so many fresh papayas that your skin will turn Orange!Are you excited?I am normally not so generous with my Papaya. No, I usually guard it with my life. All Papaya thieves' hands are quickly tarred and feathered!But I have to change my tune, because, you see, I DID eat so many papayas that my skin has turned ORANGE. So orange that when I went to Americaland for Christmas half of my family asked me if I bathed in carrot juice in Thailand and the other half asked how much my full body tattoo cost me. Oooops! So I got their slight hint that maybe, just maybe, I needed to ween myself off my IV drip diet of papaya, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin deliciousness. I am slightly depressed from the lack of the 3 most important foods, but I'm using the patch, the 12 step cleansing program, and day-by-day I'm turning slowly, but surely back to my transparent state of whiteness. My grandmother would be proud.So in my new state of transparentness last week I spent the my days beach bumming, fruit shake slurping, kayaking, and just learning the value of being and enjoying the company three of the coolest ladies on the planet. Life is good.

Besties Reunite in Tropics :)

I’ve made it back safe and sound to the land of Sunshine and Smile. The 27 hours of plane torture were well worth the 80 degree weather and the .50 cent pineapples and two of my bestest friends who greeted me soon after I deplaned. :)I’m now in Bangkok for the first time! It’s not really as bad as I thought it would be. I had avoided this monstrous place for the past 8 months believing that I would be walking into a dangerous land of pick-pockets and hair pullers, but have been pleasantly surprised that no one has even once tried to pull my pony tail! The Thais are just such gentle people.But tomorrow we're leaving the big city behind and guess where we are off to? The beach! I’m pee your pants kind of excited. I know I’ve lived here for 8 months, but you see I’ve never ventured to the beach.I live in the mountains so I have not even once been to the south to stick my big toe into the salty ocean. Nope, never! Can you believe it? I can’t either! And tomorrow My besties and I are going to take a well deserved trip to the ocean. I don’t think I’ve been to the ocean for almost 2 years!We're bringing loads of Trader Joe’s sunscreen, UNO cards, flip flops and just enough money to buy an I.V. drip of fresh pineapple juice 24/7. Oh! This will be the best beach trip to date! 

Dove Wisdom

Last night after dinner I cracked open a delectable Dove Dark Chocolate Almond morsel, and this piece of deliciuos wisdom greeted me. How would your life look if you did just remember to keep the promises you make to yourself? Think about it. 

Green Curry or Egg Nog? That is life's most difficult question!

It's a new year, woot, woot! And TODAY, my dear friend Elizabeth Lauer slapped me in the face. Ouch! What? Why?! Jerk! (can you believe her violence? I have red markSSS to prove the attack!) and then she told me that I should get it together and blog more often. Blog about what? I asked. "Blog about your life," she said ::I yawn:: "Who really cares?" I inquired.Lauer thinks that since I moved to Asialand 3 years ago that I am hard to get in touch with.. Can she really be talking about me? Me, hard to contact? really? no, no, not me!?! I am awesome at the keeping in touch! I'm really fabulous in this department. You know I think that I'm as good at keeping in touch with people as Superman is at flying or Garfield's is at eating or perhaps, perhaps! I am better!Ok. you're right, dear readers. The above analogies may have been exaggerations...er... or uh... boldface lies (sorry Mom, that won't happen again.). So this year I resolve to write more about the mundanities of life on this blog to keep in touch, and I shall also eat more pineapples!!Sooooo let's began...hmmm...Where shall I begin in my journey of story telling!?Life Story #1.One day long, long ago.. er..about 3 weeks before Christmas, I was riding my bicycle blissfully through the rice fields. Listening to my iPod 'White Christmas'  song to be exact! And then it hit me, almost as hard as Ms. Lauer slapped me today! This year an 80-degree, green curry-filled, no eggnog Christmas was not going to work for me, no sir!  I was not going to settle for a Christmas without a good measure of dark chocolate, ugly sweaters, weight gain and family drama. It wouldn't be Christmas, would it?So I turned my little bike around and peddled as fast as I could to the nearest Expedia.com hotspot, so fast my bike pedal fell of.. And there I booked my ticket back to Americaland for 3 weeks to surprise my family and enjoy a sweet Tennessee Christmas with them. Ahhhhh! It has been so worth it, and I'm so happy that the spontaneous side of me won over Ms. Practicality.Oh, you see! that ride made me realize that it truly doesn't really matter if I live in the most beautiful or tropical places, make oodles of money or most notably eat papayas and pineapples until my stomach explodes..... If I have all of these things, but I don't take the time to live life with the people I love, who cares about the rest?So Happy New Year Ya'll,... Aren't you excited to see what beautiful things will ensue? :)My beautiful family is below!   

Dreams of Coconut Curry and Tea Leaf Salad!

I recently made a life goal to learn how to eat and cook as many different foods possible.. My first challenge was Korean food and now my current one is Thai food! Oui! How delicious it is! Good thing I have to bike everywhere I go.. If I didn't, I might soon become Inge super~sized with all the delicious coconut curry that floats around this place and tempts me with its devilish smells.The next challenge is figuring out how I can fuse Korean and Thai Cuisine?., Now this is a quandary!And don't you dare suggest that I add fermented kimchi to coconut curry! I might just excommunicate you from ever eating delicious food again! And yes, I have that power. I know people in very, very high places., very important people who can make you eat only kimchi for the rest of your life.. Kimchi with nothing but rice! Muahahaha :)

Hellos and Goodbyes....

It is hard to believe that just 2 years ago I arrived in South Korea., and today after 2 years of teaching English in South Korea. I am finished, done.  No more are the days of eating pounds of kimchi, chatting with my favorite fruit lady, slurping delicious Korean soup, sleeping on heated floors, nodding to the nameless man at the garden store, trudging to Paris Baguette for my morning watery, overpriced coffee or seeing if I could coax a smile out of Mr. Grumpy, my school's old crossing guard each morning. (It worked twice!)All these familiarities will never be again. They took months to build but were gone the second I stepped on this bus to the airport., This is the weirdest thing about traveling. All these things that you take so long to carefully construct dissipate when you pack your bags and board the plane to another land. Life will, once again, completely change.  Your normal will no longer be the same, it will and must adjust. It's strange and sad leaving a place you get to know, but then it is also so addicting to know the next destination will be full of unpredictability, challenges and newness.So I'm in that weird, magical period of transition. Saying goodbye to my old haunt, South Korea and greeting my new one, Thailand.Yet before I jump into learning what makes Thailand tick, I will wait a moment. And in honor of the past and all the happy memories that Korean life bestowed upon me, I wanted to make a list of all the beautiful things that I will miss ever, ever so much., in no particular order. And please excuse all the food references. I have a big love affair with food. If it were legal, I would be in holy matrimony with food. It would be the best husband. No ring needed, Sir Food, just give me Tuscan wedding full of what I love the best, food! ^^1. The Korean Apple ~ the most perfectly crisp, sweet, fantastic apple ever.2. Korean Elevators ~ ahhh the ride is so smooth!3. My students.. Of course not all of them. some I thank the Lord above that I'll never see again, but there were some angels among the devils. ^^ As you may have guessed, I'm one of those bad, bad teachers who had favorites. It's True!Gasp! Inge!? You what!?!Well, let's be honest here. It's just easier to like the kid who remembers to bring you a nectarine after lunch versus having affection for the one who steals one off your lunch tray without asking..hateful child! Yes! Again my world revolves around food, sad but true., and you better not ever steal fruit from me, or else!4. Koreans and their never ending willingness to help you.5. Slurping Korean stews (jjigaes) in the Winter, Yum, yum, yum!6. Market Day7. Eating7b. Eating with Chopsticks (Oh don't roll your eyes all you awkward chopstick eaters, these little devilish sticks are fantastic for more than just eating rice, If only you knew!, Angel hair pasta was never so easy to retrieve from a vat of boiling water and then when you're finished you can use the chopsticks to keep your hairdo up! Mr. Fork has nothing on you! and I bet you didn't know that you can eat cake with chopsticks too?)7c. Ordering a meal at a almost any Korean restaurant and getting it 8 minutes later. The service is incredible!7d. Korean Barbeque ~ but mostly BBQ Eel., Oh so tasty!8. Sleeping on the toasty, heated Korean floors in the bone chilling winters.9. Tea fields, sweating in rooms of jasmine ovens, and bathing in Green Tea saunas with Koreans.. Oh yes, I did!10. Getting told by a student that my hair 'looks like ramen noodles.' The most creative assessment of my knotted nest of hair yet.11. Eating silkworms, rotting skate fish, boiled blood, live octopus, and ehh... a bite, just ONE bite of man's best friend!... Yes I did it! I'm a terrible human being, I deserve death, but how many people do you know have done that, eh? Ruff, Ruff :)12. Learning that thanks to Kimchi, the Korean's manna!, garlic breath was the only acceptable smell for one's breath. No need for mouthwash in this country. So freeing! I feels as good as being old enough to tell your mom that you won't wear tights ever again! (don't judge, I had a weird childhood! and tights are oppressive!)13. Realizing that it is actually a complement and not an insult when Koreans tell you that you have a small face,white, white skin, and a pointy Pinnochio nose, who knew?14. Learning that the way to get out of trouble every time is to play the "I'm a dumb foreigner" card. Magic!15. Using toilet paper to clean up everything. No napkins needed.But Some of the most special memories, the ones that will stick with me forever and ever?1. My little orphan boys and girls., Without them I'm not sure I would have made it out of Korea sane. I would return to Korea just to see them again. I will write much more about them soon, I promise!2. My lovely Waygookin (foreign) and Korean friends., Amazing, Amazing, Amazing lifelong friends.3. My sweet North Korean Grandmother, chef extraordinaire that always made it her mission to fatten me up by giving me double the kimchi and a double-decker Korean pancakes., and never letting me leave her restaurant without giving me a million hugs and telling me how much she loved me.4. Learning that salsa dancing is my caffeine., Give me 32oz of espresso coffee at 1am and I'll be asleep by 1:30, but get me salsa dancing and I'll be going till 6 in the morning. ^^5. And every other amazing blessing, relationship, lesson, trip, conversation, etc.. that there is no time to write about, so, so blessed!So we need pictures, yes? Well I decided to focus on fully enjoying my last month in Korea will all my favorite people in Korea without the burden of carrying around my ever so heavy but beloved camera with me. Instead I decided to carry around the most awesome invention ever, the disposable camera, Magic! Here are the fantastically terrible pictures that came from all the fun!Pictures to come of Thailand, but right now I'm concentrating on napping, eating, yoga, eating fruit, salsa dancing and taking in all the sights and sounds without carrying around Sir Camera. He needs a vacation, like myself., but he'll be out in full force very soon I'm sure :) 

Korean Food Challenge, Home Stretch, Baby!

With only a short time left here, I've made it my mission to cook and eat as much Korean food possible... Except for my major fail.... Yesterday, I went to an Italian restaurant, while in Korea ::gasp!:: but it gets much worse! at the Italian restaurant... What did I order? A Greek Salad? What is wrong with me? I must have gotten out of the wrong side of the bed,  forgot to drink my morning coffee and walked under a ladder all in one day! But I'm hoping my failure will be forgiven because I've been hard at work on my Korean food cooking list and I'm almost finished! So close that my next food update I may be finished, finished! Asah!p.s. thanks to the lovely Lisa and Rosi for coming over to dinner and eating and cooking with me! ^^ 

A little inspiration on a rainy Saturday :)

I recently read this beautiful quote by Marianne Williamson on my friend Susan's blog. Susan is a fellow photographer and Mexican Taco lover.^^ This passage so exemplifies what I've been feeling lately that I just had to share..

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” ~ Marianne Williamson

Happy weekend world!

And Mandy, are you ready for the most glorious week of eating, dancing, cooking and lollygagging that Thailand has ever experienced? Mark your calendar, lady, and get Thailand ready because Thailand has never seen the likes of Minga! ^^

The Cooking Mission... Marches On!

You may think I've forgotten all my Korean cooking dreams, but you see I've been very hard at work over here in Korea land cooking! Why have there been no pictures to prove my words? The reason? Well.... I've had a few foodie failures! Yes, it's true, I think it's due to my cooking sins; I must have upset the Korean food gods by putting pumpkin and mushrooms in Kimchi Jiggae and pumpkins in my Spicy Mackerel Stew.. Pumpkin is my weakness, like honey is for Pooh Bear or Spandex for Superman.I've been having trouble following recipes because I always want to add different ingredients than those that are in the original recipe! And alas, my past few attempts I got over greedy and tried to add too many different ingredients, conflicting flavors, and well it turned out like poo. So maybe I'll go back to the basics next week? BUT it's sooooo hard!!!.. Repeat to self... FOLLOW THE RECIPE, INGE! ::inge, continues to mutter these four words over and over to herself, while slapping herself every time she reaches for the pumpkin.::After many failures and recipes mess ups.. I tried to make my favorite soup Soon-dubu Jjigae (A spicy Tofu stew) about 3 times and ickers! It just didn't come out right! I could have been because of the above problem of never wanting to follow the recipe. Why it just takes so long to read instructions. There are many better things to be done, like not reading the recipe, but alas my dinners were not tasty and after a while of nasty dinners I had to get it together, and Snap out of it! And thank goodness to the Lord above, I did! I figured out what my Soon-dubu Stew problem was. You see, I was trying to cook a Korean Soondubu Jjigae, when my soul longed for an exotic Thai Soon Dubu. So one morning at 7 am, just one hour before I was headed off to work, I came into my apartment from a morning walk and opened up my refrigerator and like a vision from Heaven, a recipe started to spill into my head. I started pulling out, ginger, garlic, jalapenos, shrimp, soft tofu, coconut oil, lime, cilantro, eggs, lime.... AND you guessed it, Pumpkin! and somehow in just 20 minutes I chopped, fried, mixed, stewed, and sprinkled until a dish that tasted so like Heaven that I was tears while eating breakfast! I scribbled the recipe down in Inge code, meaning it's short and confusing (because I hate both reading and writing directions, such waste of time). So one day, when I have my own restaurant, I can cook you this Heaven-sent dish! Please look below.. And wipe the drool off you keyboard, drool ruins electronics. I have experience ;)Ciao for now! My next week's cooking challenge? Kamja Tang! (potato and pork back stew) People say it's devilishly time consuming, but I got this right? Perhaps I'll substitute pumpkin for potatoes! Yum! And then my skin will turn even orange--ER. I swear, I've got to stop eating all these carrots and pumpkins, my eyes are loving me, but my skin, well, it practically glows in the dark! Which come to think of it could actually be fantastic! In that case, tomorrow's breakfast will totally be pumpkin eggs, carrot juice, and coffee with carrot milk and, and....hmmm.... carrots and gravy or perhaps sunny side up carrots?. But you see any way you flip carrots, they will always be sunny side up. Oh aren't they fabulous?!?!.. Ok, I'll shut up now :) Have a lovely day!  

Avocados + Mangoes = Happiness

This is the most essential math equation that you'll ever learn, who needs to worry about square roots or geometrical shapes when you know the equation to happiness. And a new friend of mine just gave me a whole lot of happiness! Thank-you very much, Denise! Do you know that in Korealand Avocados cost 3$ each and Mangoes cost 10$ a piece?.. More reason to love you girl! :) And in the spirit of summer and good friends, we had a picnic to celebrate all the avocado and mango lovin! I sure hope there was a typo in the Bible when it said that there are streets of gold up in Heaven. I think I would prefer a Heaven which has streets lined with Golden Mangoes! Now that, I could get into that!   

Keeping Your Hands Open

Two weekends ago I met Ruth, a fiery Filipina, that stands maybe 5 feet tall, she is full of smarts, wit and has more personality and heart than 100 people put together. She will give you the clothes off her back not just if you need them but even if you just like them.She is the definition of generosity. I met her at my church's women's retreat. How is she so generous? Let me explain..It was Sunday morning and Ruth and I were waiting in the breakfast line probably talking about how famished we were. When I'm around the conversation generally relates to food :) One of the girls came into the dining hall and casually commented about how beautiful Ruth's earrings were. Ruth's response? Not the typical 'ah, thank-you.' Nope, she slipped those earrings off her ears and asked 'Here you want them? They're yours' I was floored. Five minutes pass, we're still in line and the hunger pangs were getting substantially stronger and tummy rumbles were getting louder and louder.  More ladies were shuffling in for breakfast and as the line got longer, another lady from behind us said, "Oh Ruth, I love your bracelet!" Her response?. exactly.. 'Here you want it? It's yours.' Again, I was astounded. How could she be so unattached to things? Beautiful things that she liked?Then she explained that she loved to go shopping and get pretty things, but she believed in keeping her hands open all the time because when you keep your a hands open you allow blessings to flow into you, out to others, and then back into you. Giving begets giving, a beautiful cycle.,However when you close your fist tight and grip to the things you own, not only will others not be blessed by you, but you cannot receive any more blessings. You will be like a water faucet that has been closed off., no one can drink water from this faucet, no new water flows into it or out of it. The faucet just becomes musty and old and useless.Ruth said that the Tsunami in Japan confirmed to her that you can have millions and billions of dollars in fancy buildings, cars and computers but in seconds it can all wash away and you have nothing but relationships. That's it. Stuff is so impermanent.This got me to thinking. Yes, yes, I know that is bad for my brain, but I just could not really help it. Deep, deep down, I've always wished to be generous, but it's always been a struggle to let go and just give, and give freely. I have always admired people who could, but I couldn't. I think out of fear that there would not be enough if I gave too much.From that moment on and the weeks that have followed I have started to realize that when I hold onto things not only can others not enjoy my blessings, but I can't fully enjoy them either. Because I spend too much time worrying about not losing what's mine. And then my life becomes heavy by this unconscious worry and struggle to protect what is 'mine'.And I am tired of it. Life is too short to worry and waste time putting a "this is mine" sign on all my things. So I had to be honest ::shudder:: with myself and look at where I stick the biggest 'this is mine' signs. Well, come to find out. It's really, really dumb, funny actually, maybe embarrassing but where do I hoard like a Grinch during Christmas?!?! F-O-O-D!!!!!!Yes, it's true! It's out! I'm a food hoarder! Instead of the 'A' on my chest for 'Adulterous' I should have and 'FH' for 'Food Hoard! I should be on one of those reality TV shows about hoarders! I save, and save food that I love and only eat it in small portions, and I've done it since I was a wee lass. ::look at me speakin Irish! Multicultural, I am::I was that kid who on October 30, 1999, was just finishing up her Halloween candy from Halloween of 1998. I ate it sooooo slowly, just to make sure I would always have some. I grew up in a very health conscious family so we rarely ate sugar or got candy so I always had a candy stash. I think, I was afraid that I would never get candy again, but I'm 23 and I still have a candy stash, and I can afford as much candy as I could ever possibly want!So I decided to do what any responsible addict needs to do. Purge baby, PURGE! I needed to be honest ::ick. that word again!:: and see exactly what I had been hoarding and free myself of the burden! ::inge, cues the fancy church organ music!::So I whipped open my cabinets and started stacking all of my precious treasures into pile. The pile grew and grew until it became a delicious castle of food. The castle consisted of all the food that is expensive or impossible to obtain in South Korea. Items like delicious Oatmeal, jars of honey, exotic spices, pounds of dark chocolate, 4 different kinds of coffee, tea, lentils, cheese, ahhhh! Sooooo delicious.. but then I became sick to my stomach of all the food I had, mouth-watering, yes, but I could never, ever begin to finish in the next four months of my life in Korea. All this food that just sat there locked in my cabinets, food. I wasn't even enjoying fully, because I was sub-consciously afraid that I could never get it again so I would eat it slower than a turtle with a broken leg!Yes, this food hoarder had a 'come to Jesus' moment ;) I needed to stop this madness so after I cleared out my cabinets AND my sock drawers of my precious food, I took the food mountain and started making small piles around my apartment. These piles were for people who I knew would appreciate and enjoy this food. After hours of sorting, cleaning and arguing with myself to relinquish my precious bottle of balsamic vinegar or my fancy chocolate, I won! The vinegar and dark chocolate are now being enjoyed somewhere far from my dark little cabinets.This food hoarder has been set free! It is not that I think it is wrong to have delicious cheese or dark chocolate. Actually, I think it is a necessity in life; I just realized that I, personally, held onto them too tightly, and I can't fully enjoy how amazing these things are until I learn how to let them go., so I let them go. Yes, I did shed a tear or two or maybe I used up a box of Kleenex (but I have no witnesses to attest to my tree-killing ways). Yet, now that I have finished, I can honestly say that something has lifted, I am not only enjoying what I have more, but I feel less afraid to give. My fists are slowly loosening their grip, the water is trickling through and someday soon my hands will burst wide open!***Thank-you Ruth, you're an inspiration!

100th post... Ni-Suh!

It only took me foooorever and year to get here, but woot, woot to being 100 posts-old! You can send your congratulatory presents to my personal assistant in Asialand, a Mr. Lee. He's super cool, he lives on all things rice, and he hates, hates, hates, fruit and chocolate. He eats all my rice gifts and gives me any fruit or chocolate that comes his way. It's a perfect working relationship. If only he had an avocado tree, I might marry him.Well in all my excitement of being 100, I decided this was a perfect opportunity to cook a feast for myself (but who do I kid? Like I really need an excuse to eat). The celebratory menu?Spring Banchan, Spicy Mackerel Stew, Spicy Squid Muchim, and Candied Lotus Root! Spectacular. Breathtaking. Marvelous. Excellent.. So, So Awesome. Euphoric!. Ok. you have the permission to punch me now, but punch the left eye please, because the right one already has a nice bruise that came from my last annoying blog post. And it would just make my face look so much more level, if I had 2 black eyes instead of one. I really look like the dog from the little Rascals today. It is just not a very attractive look for me. I much prefer the raccoon-look. More chic., stylish., and you know, I am very chic. ;)But back to cooking. Well, I've been knocking out so many of these recipes that I'll be done with my Korean Cooking List in no time. Or more likely, I'll just get hungry and then I'll have to extend my list longer and longer.. oh darn!Here are the recipes and I have again modified some of them, and taken them from delicious to uber delicious land :) Yes, humility is not my strongest of suits.The Spring Banchan, Candied Lotus and the Squid Muchim (O jingo Chae Mu Chim) were not very modified. I have just a little extra garlic here and there, but the bigger heresy came from the recreation of the Spicy Mackerel Stew the recipe's below.Spicy Mackerel Stew ~ the original with my modifications is below... My modification? I've added chopped pumpkin and carrots along with the radish and I put 4x the amount of fresh ginger and put extra garlic. Next time I'll add  mushrooms to the mix to see what happens!

1 can (14 oz) Mackerel, strained and the juice reserved
1/2 lb Korean radish, diced into 1/4" thick slices
1/4 lb pumpkin
1/2 large carrot
1/2 onion, sliced
2 garlic clove, chopped
2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
2 tsp Korean soy sauce
1-2 TBS minced fresh ginger
1 tsp Korean chili flakes
1 Tbsp Korean chili paste (gochu jang)
1 Tbsp rice wine or Mirim
1tsp honey
8-10 cabbage leaves for wrapping, optional
Put radish, pumpkin, carrots and onion slices in the shallow pan, and place mackerels on top.
In a small bowl, combine the reserved canned mackerel juice with garlic, soy sauces, ginger, rice wine, and chili flakes. Sprinkle the sauce all over the mackerels in the pan.
Bring them to boil and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 10 minutes, covered, until the radish gets tender. Serve hot with rice and steamed cabbage leaves.
For the cabbage, Tear some leaves from the cabbage and cook them in the boiling water with some salt for 3-4 minutes until they get soft. Drain and rinse. Use these leaves to wrap around the mackerel, radish, and some rice.

Happy Cooking Everyone! And yeah for my 100th birthday! I look pretty good for 100, eh? That's what cheap plastic surgery does for you! and you wondered why I've stayed in Korea for so long? The surgeries, of course. They're cheap and fast!Oh and for those of you curious here is how the list is shaping up :) √'s mean I've successfully cooked it1) Kimchi (√cucumber, √cabbage, and spinach)2) √ KongNamul Banchan (Bean Sprout stir fry)3) √ Yuk Gae Jang ( Spicy Beef Stew) Probably my new favorite soup!4) Kamja Tang (Pork Back and Potato Stew)5) Dak Dori Tang (Spicy Chicken Stew)6) √ Kimchi Jjigae (Kimchi Stew)7) √ Seaweed Salad8) √ Sauteed Sea plant 9) Soondubu Jjigae (Spicy Soft Tofu Stew)10) √ O jing chae muchim (Seasoned dried Squid) So delicious you don't even know!11) √ Pan-fried Tofu12)√ Spicy Mackerel Stew13) JangJoRim (장조림)14)√ Spring BanchanLet the cooking continue!view my portfolio here