Korean Pop Stars #5

A few weeks back, Juan and I sitting in a university cafeteria, and we stumbled upon these girls filming a dance and a song for a singing competition to go to Japan. These pictures remind me to try to always bring my camera with me. Where ever you go there is always a picture. The trick is that you have to be open to seeing the picture.

The Clock is Ticking Down... 2013, Here We Come!

The New Year is getting deliciously close! So much anticipation! :) Who knows what will be in the works for us all? Something good. Remember when you're looking for something good that you'll find it and lots of it! But also when you're looking for doom, you'll find plenty of that too!So in 2013 what will you look for?What will I look for? The happiest thing in the universe, of course! Dark Chocolate.This year remember to always look for the best in people and things.. Expect it, because when you expect the best somehow people and situations rise to your expectations.

“Life has no limitations, except the ones you make.”― Les Brown

   

Dear Sister, Please tell me you Remember!

  So I got this email from my sister this week. Here is how it went...Heyyyyyyyyy Inge,We are trying to remember what you put in the salad that you made for Christmas last year... it was soooooo good and I really want to make it again. Please say that you remember???? :)My first response?? Oh, Did I make a salad last year? really? I forgot that I even helped with the cooking...Oh and you liked? cool... hehehe because usually when I cook, I just put random things together and pray to the Lord above that they taste good and luckily! Last year's Christmas,  I managed to score a hit.. Good timing, God! :DSo I couldn't remember for the life of me what salad I had made last year.. Until I went back into time in my pink polka dot time machine and realized for Christmas 2011 I was then obsessed with Thai food.. And then the pieces of my salad making brain started to come together :) I love time machines, don't you? They are all the rage in Korea now.. I named mine the super Western Digital Harddrive... ;)So here is my response to her recipe request... just incase you feel the need to make A Thai inspired salad for Christmas or any other day of the year ;)Hello, Hello!

Ok so the most important thing in the salad is the dressing...So here is the deal, traditionally it is a Thai dressing which uses basil but I used cilantro last time your choice both are good :) Here is the dressing recipe, but this is just one serving :) Make lots more.. :D and mess around with the spicy, sweet, sour, salty balance to your liking...
You can make the dressing with the blender if you like..
Dressing
1 Garlic4 tbsps soy sauce4 tbsps fresh lime juice
with cilantro or basil a big bunch4 tbsps palm sugar or white sugar (put this sugar into a couple of TBS... of warm water to dissolve it.)
fresh chili, quantity as desired
Salad ingredients - you can change as desired ---
All of these are prepped separately and then put on the salad after... not a lot of mixing going on..
1. Boiled Eggs
2. Avocados
3. Onions -- mixed with salt and soaked in lime juice.
4. Red Bell Peppers mixed with salad greens...
5. Blueberries
6. Strawberry slices
7. Orange slices
8. A saute of mushrooms and onions
9. Cherry tomatoes sliced in half
Mix the salad greens with the dressing
Put all of the other goodies on top and then put extra salad dressing on the top :D
How do I remember this salad so well?!?! because I'm a genius of course! photographic memory! could you expect anything less from a real Hooker? ha! No do you want the truth? Luckily, I took a photo and that is the only reason I remember this.... And I attached the photo to the email
P.s. Are you happy you have a cook and photographer sister in the family? I'm not even home this year, and I'm contributing to the Christmas dinner merriness! Boom.. I impress myself... hehehe
Love you guys and I hope it turns out even better than you remembered maybe put some delicious bacon on it to take it up a notch? good idea, eh?
Merry christmas and send me a photo of your salad creation! :D
p.p.s. I remember as well that we had eggs benedict last year? wow! sooo good ! I want to learn how to make those!

Mondays and Bike Lights

*These portraits were taken in a movie theater with a simple bike light used as a spotlight. :) Try using non-photography lights for your portraits, you'll be surprised at what fun things that you can get!It's Monday here in South Korea, early in the morning. I'm drinking my Camomile tea and my brain is wandering off to its list-making land and beginning to wonder. how I will begin to do all the things that I need to do this week? The week ahead is full. So much to do! But my goal for this week is to not focus on the tasks that need to be done, but enjoying the fact that I get to do them. That I'm blessed enough to have the ability AND that people want me to help them do their projects and value the skills that God has given me. And that these skills will make their lives better. It is really quite awesome when I think about it that way.. :)Happy Week before Christmas everyone! Listen to so much Christmas music that your ears want to explode and drink so much egg-nog that your stomach wishes to do the same. :)

Ukuleles @ MaeLoeGyi in Mae Sariang, Thailand

MaeLoeGyi Vegetarian Restaurant and Guesthouse in Mae Sariang, Thailand is a place that I could hang-out in all day long eating, listening to ukulele tunes and enjoying the sweet company of Net, her family and all the other guests who pop in for a taste of her delicious food. :) If you ever find yourself in Thailand, Mae Sariang is worth the trek just to try a bowl of her delicious green curry or grilled tofu salad. Yum!

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Winter Tanning...

With the weather reaching a slightly breezy -13C in Korea.....or  8 F depending on what weather language you speak, it is perfect light sweater weather, though somedays I prefer to wear just a light T-shirt. This gives me a nice sunburn and it is fantastically quick too! In 10 minutes flat, I'm red all over! There is no need to spend hours flipping from back to front, back to front, at the beach like a steak on the grill. Just come to Korea, and in 10 minutes you'll be rosy red and starting your base tan before all of the competition even thinks about summer's golden tan! :) Well I'm off to go get my umbrella drink, there is much suntanning left to do. Don't be Jealous!

Dreams of Summer

Yesterday was the first snow of the year! So beautiful, so magical, so nostalgic and of course, soooo cold that your nose and hands might just decided that life is not worth living anymore and say, 'Adieu!'All this winter land whiteness has made me think of Summer and all of its delicious salads. One of my favorites this summer? Anything with Blueberries and Red Bell Peppers! Yummy! Just in case that you live in Heaven (ie you can find fresh blueberries even in December) Then have a go at this recipe. Delicious, delicious! :)Now I'm off to bundle up and find some hot chocolate!But first here is the recipe. Quantities are to your tastes and creativity :)Baby Spinach & ArugulaHalved Orange SectionsChopped AvocadoSliced Red Bell Peppersand a Healthy drizzling of Olive Oil, splash of Balsamic Vinegar, pinch of Salt and Delicious fresh-cracked Black Pepper :) 

Unsolved Hearts ~ Vientiane, Laos

Ever inpatient to know the future? Yeah..me too! Super inpatient at times...,but I want to learn to live in the now. In this very moment, I want to always try to think about what I can be grateful for and excited about in the present second- things big and small and live them patiently and happily. This is difficult... Or at least for me it is. I need the gift of Patience for Christmas Dear Saint Nick, And I need it now, Sir! ;)

 Though I am still a firm believer in a healthy addiction to planning and list making. - Yes, it's true! I make lists for fun. - But I want to turn my focus on living the now and celebrating the moments as they come and truly soaking in life and the beautiful people that live in it.

Below is one of my favorite quotes of all time, such beautiful words.

“Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Friday's Refrigerator Inspirations :)

My momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

Forest Gump

~~~~~~~

I'm not sure what to call this maybe Mini omelettes or mini Spanish Tortillas or a Rice Patties? I not sure. But when it comes down to it I think that Friday's breakfast magic should be donned 'Left-Over Amazingness' with a Cucumber Salad :)How did the recipe pop in my head? Well it came from a combination of influences, but on Friday morning while getting ready for the day I had some serious inspiration. I was thinking about all the things that were in the refrigerator and all the ingredients started singing and dancing in my head and boom! This is what happened..Magic! :D

Left-Over Amazingness

I sauted chopped onions and shredded carrots <-- largely shredded together.Then I threw in some jalepenos...for spiceA 1/2 cup leftover of potato stew.A wee bit of chopped hamThen a wee bit of chopped-up omelet from the day before.Then 1 or 2 cups of left-over riceSaute and saute some more... add oil and water and salt until things are cooked/taste to your likingNext I took 3 eggs and beat them in a big bowlThen I added the rice saute mixture to the egg bowl, and mixed and mixed and.added fresh green onions. and mixed it up.Heated a saute pan with Olive OilAnd scooped out cute mini omelet rice patties to sizzle in the pan until brown on each side...(I also covered the pan with a lid for a couple of  minutes to let the steam cook the insides ) :) Next time I think I might put tofu or sweet potatoes or maybe cheese. Any more ideas? Mushrooms, perhaps? 

Cucumber Salad 

For the salad everything goes in one bowl.. Easy, easy!

I shredded 2 cucumbers in a bowl.

Minced 1 jalepeño.

Shredded 1/2 an Apple

Salt

Juice of a small orange or clementine

Bites sized pieces of an orange

Put my favorite dressing Sesame Dressing

A little bit of Yellow Mustard

Mix, Mix, and Taste for more spice, sweet or salt, and then plate.

Plating goes like this... = 2 Leaves of Lettuce, 2 Omelet Patties, a small mountain of salad, and garnish with Apple slices, and drizzle with extra dressing or Olive Oil... Enjoy! :)

Try this with your own leftover and tell me what different things you create! :D

Thinking Too Much?

 Do you ever feel like you're thinking too much? I do. It's frankly annoying. Sure for the first 10 minutes of over-thinking I attribute it to my major IQ points -- You know, I'm Einstein Brilliant.... Ha! Really what use was the purpose of Mom making me drink Spinach juice and Gruel regularly? So that I would be Mrs. Einstein of course! Or at least that is what she told me..I have surmized that because I suffered through the terrors of Green lumpy juice and a really UNtasty version of Oatmeal. I must be a genius! Every child needs to be recompensed for their sufferings.. It is only fair. ;)  So my reward? Geniusland... Woo-Hoo! ;) But then after this conclusion... I realize that even if my cocky delusions are somewhat true that I really wish Mom hadn't so generously given me all of these miracle foods Thinking too much is a pain. Relaxing and living out life step by step? Now that is a joy. Forgetting what is behind and Focusing on what is ahead of you? That is a relief.So if you also ate Lumpy Green Juice or equally unpleasant healthy food as a child, I understand. But stop the Madness! Take a walk and leave the over-thinking to your past.

A few quotes for your day :)

“This is probably the advantage of being stupid. Stupid people just do. We tend to overthink. If we could eliminate the “over”and just think, then we could do, too. Only we’d be smarter doers because we’d be thinkers.” ― Sarah Strohmeyer, Smart Girls Get What They Want

No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. - Philippians 3:13

p.s. If you're curious about how to make you some Genius Juice please go here --> How to Make Genius Juice <-- but I warned you. It's not worth the extra IQ points ;)