Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles

I was bored this weekend and was browsing my FB when I came across an notice about an event in Itaewon ( fund raiser ) and a couple of the women involved had a bake sale. I was looking at their pictures and there was a picture of this amazing looking Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles, so I thought.. best try them out!

I searced the web and found one on Punk Post Kitchen though I tweaked it abit, as I didn't have the ingredients..
So I used hot cake syrup instead of maple

lactose free milk ( yes I have found some!!!!)

and 고추가루( Dried chilli flakes) instead of cayenne.

The mixture is really thick, but fun to roll into shape. It's like the science experiment that involves warm water and cornstarch.. looks liquid but solid.
It's solid until you handle it and it kinda almost turns to a really thick goo if your not fast enough. Definitely fun!

Now I am one of those people who don't really like thick biscuits. I prefer my slim :) But I suppose no matter how thick or thin you make them they defintiely have a kick to them with the chilli!!

Hubby was nice enough to be a guinea pig, he said they were good, then I askedhim to tell me truthfully, then he told me he wouldn't buy them..ha .. well I think they taste ok and his friend thought they were great..so .. hmm may have to try them out on my friend
But hopefully you will enjoy them if you want something easy and different to make!

Part two: Squid and bean paste soup

I was faced with this the other night....

What the hell was I going to do with this fully intact squid? Then it came to me, why not try making 오징어됀장찌개... so away I went.

First thing I had to do was de-squid the squid. ( ie take out its guts, and squishiness)

After much screaming and getting squid bits between my fingers I ended up with this beautiful sexy sleek thing

And sliced it up into pieces. And made soup following this recipe :

4 cups water ( when you rinse the rice)
2 Tbsp bean paste
1 handful of cockles
300 g semi firm tofu
1 tsp of seafood stock
1 handful of chopped leeks
dash of salt

Heat water up and dissolve the bean paste.( 10 mins)
Add cockles and boil for about 5 mins.
Add tofu and squid.
Boil for about 5 mins.
Add chopped leeks towards the end and serve with rice, kimchi, banchan etc

I add a few 청양 chillies. ( super hot ones) for a kick in the teeth.

Ben's birthday

Well my lovely wee boy turned 2 in August, and I decided against my better judgement to have a party at home in our tiny apartment instead of at a kids cafe. I have learnt the lesson of having 10 or so under 5 yr old kids in one room is a really really bad idea on a hot summer's day!!!

So I made a few things like gluten free sausage rolls! They were made from potato, some rice flour etc. I know it's easy to find gluten free stuff in New Zealand but nigh on impossible here in Korea!^^

Thought they tasted ok, not bad for a first attempt, as I honestly suck at making pastry, I get so frustrated with it and impatient.. but this recipe was awesomely easy to make!

I also made a cake similar to Tayo the little Bus which my son loves, however It didn't turn out how I wanted it, but oh well my son loved it, but I didn't get any good shots of it, so I will have to find some from someones Facebook account^^

I also made little cupcakes for Ben to take to daycare for his party there. He loves Barancle Lou.. so I made cupcake toppers from royal icing.
I have never attempted to make anything like this before EVER so for my first time I think I did ok... I know my son was so excited to see them!!

The beginnings of my Lou Army

Head... check... body... check... beaks..CHECK!!!

...eyes... YES.. finished!!!

I was excited to finally see them on the cupcakes, though my icing failed but oh well^^

Korean food : Part One

Well since I live in Korea I thought maybe I should impart some of my favourite Korean recipes that my MIL has taught me to cook. And I have had the most surprising comments from my husband, when he told me " You can make this better than my mum!" If that didn't blow my socks off having my MIL tell all her friends that I made the best Mi-yok soup she has tasted. I was
truely humble that day and strived to perfect the art that is Korean cooking.

So I though I would start with something really very simple.

됀장찌개(Dwenjang jjigae) or for those that don't read Korean Fermented Soy Bean paste and Tofu Soup.

What you need are the following ingredients ( and this got a Wow, this is like my Mum's one from Darling hubby)

Now the secret of the smoothness of the soup is to use the water that you wash your rice in ( MIL secret tip) So when your washing the rice fill a large pot with this water.

Like so.

Then add 2 BIG spoons of the Fermented Soy Bean paste.
Huge tip is to dissolve it in a ladle submerged in the pot, Otherwise the paste will stay in one big hunk.

To this add a big handful of pre washed cockles. I guess my North American freinds would call them clams (?) Anywhoo a BIG handful ( I like cockles^^)

While this boils away get one 애호박 a young pumpkin, like a marrow light green.
Anyways slice that into quaters and chop roughly.

Next add some enokitake mushrooms. They are long and stringy!

Next roughly chop up 1/2 an onion and add it to the mix.

Drain your tofu and use as much or as little of a 300g pack you want. I like to use alot of it so I stick the whole thing in.

Then let it bubble away for 20 mins. If it's alittle bland I add a tiny bit of salt and some shellfish stock.

I add some scallions, a good handful, roughly chopped and then bubble away for another 5 mins until it ends p looking like this...

Then you serve it with Kimchi, rice and other side dishes that you happen to have in the fridge.

Honestly it is an easy recipe and very delicious and healthy. Even my 2 year old son loves this. Well he loves all Korean soups so...

I hope you try this out. YOu can't go wrong with it!

Enjoy
( I had to "borrow" the pics of the young pumpkin, tofu and onion off the web as I forgot to take photos ...doh so thank you to the people who posted them^^)

My .......time flies

Well I just remembered that I started this blog last year!! I apologise for my slackness, but I am at the best of times a walking zombie, minus the blood, same vacant stare though.

It's been a tough last half year or so, settling into the be a nice mummy, good housewife role ( which at times I totally suck at and want to go out and get stinking drunk!) Also I have PACKED on the kilos.
This is not something I am proud about. I have fought againt my weight since I was about 13 being the biggest in the class. ( Not fat.. but the well built one.. the one that liked to play with the boys.. one full of muscle.. not the lovely feminine sleek muscles but the huge  rugby player type muscles) and then it all turned to fat.And then baby and more fat wobbly bits. ( Hence why now if I want to go for a plod I go at night time where no one can see anything jiggle!!)
There are times when the only thing I like about my body are my eyes! But enough is fecking enough! I don't want to be the big jiggly mummy that my mummy was( she lost alot of weight) I don't want to feel sorry for myself anymore, I do not want my thighs to touch anymore ^^ And I soooo don't want the inner thigh rashes that I use to get in Summer ANYMORE. I am getting a running machine tomorrow and then I have no more excuses when hubby spends the night out pissing it up against the pub wall and I am stuck at home with Ben, who is fast asleep.
I have been using "Spark People" to get myself on track.It's helping me watch what I eat, has great recipes and I keep a total of everything on there even the sneaky things I know I wouldn't write down if I kept a food diary at home. Also because of this site I am drinking more water, cutting back on the coffee and wheat. Though what I wouldn't do for a bowl of ice cream or a huge class of milk.. stupid lactose intolerance. Though I found the most amazing Rice milk recipe on a blog the other day.
I couldn't seem to find any other recipes. But this one is great if you a) want to save your cash and b) live in a country that does not have a non dairy/non lactic "milk" available. Rice milk here in Korea is delish, though I use to wonder why I was always sick after drinking... lol and behold after reading the label it has MILK in the fecking thing..no wonder.
The recipe is as follows but I amde a half batch and added cinnamon to mine. ( Makes amazing smoothies)

Rice Milk – The Recipe

you can find the recipe here:
http://www.veganreader.com/2009/05/17/how-to-make-rice-milk-and-stop-supporting-rice-dream/

It lasts ok in the fridge and it's beaut on cereal and muesli. Try it out... I dare you. Though you will have to water it down aloooooooooot as it has a distinct rice flavour and is very thick.

HOT hot hot!!

Man as if this month couldn't get any hotter!
Well I had a very productive last week, well not really that productive, but quiet busy.

1) I took the subway with Benjamin for the first time from our place all the way to Itaewon! What a mission! Of course the elevators were fantastic WHEN and WHERE I could find them. More  than not I went the way where there were no elevators but tons and tons of stairs! But many a nice random strange helped me carry Benjamin and the buggy down them. I was so glad I didn't take the Super Duper Off Road 4 WD drive bugger, cos there would of been no way I would of been able to fit on the escalator due to the fact that the elevator wasn't working at Samgakji ga Station!!!
Finally made it to Itaewon, our mission was to go to Taco Bell. FYI there is NO Taco Bell in New Zealand, we have only ever heard of it much like Dukin' Donuts ( which on my last visit home last year found a DD in the Airport!!!) Like we need Donuts!
However once we arrived at said destination the line that snaked out and around the corner told us that there was no way in hell we plus buggy were gonna wait or fit in the tiny poky store, so we had Quizno's ( which we also do not have in NZ) a good healthy option and Ben enjoyed his Chicken soup bread bowl thingee.
Enough said for adventure number one.

Exciting trip number 2:
This did not involve lovable bundle of pooh, but just myself! thank god cos it would of been a nightmare getting him to Dongdaemun. Anyways I went to Dongdaemun to meet up with my friend  Gerry ( she has an awesome website..check it out   http://buttersugarcream.blogspot.com/ ) as she was going to introduce me to the Bangsan Market! I didn't even know such a place existed until Gerry told me about the secret Baking/Bake ware/ wrapping Market. I was amazed. For me I usually try and find stuff on the net and order it, but this place was awesome, and semi cheap, though Gerry did tell me that in some places certain things were cheaper etc. It was amazing all the packaging, muffin cups, cupcake cups, sprinkles, ribbons, stickers, ingredients. you would not believe it but I finally found Cream of Tartar!! Now I can tell my mum not to bring any ^^ It was awesome. I bought a cookie cutter shaped as a onesie ( will try that out soon) a piping set as I need to improve dramatically. (Though I think I will have to persuade Gerry to make a class for all of us ex-pats who wanna learn!!!) some sprinkles and a couple of biscuit boxes. If I had more time and loads more money I would of gone mad! I am itching to make those onesie biscuits. Hmm maybe this week!

Last of all for my friend Summer, she is due to have her baby sometime last week or so and he is still stubbornly hanging on, it lasts like an eternity waiting for your baby to arrive! Anyways I offered to make her a nappy bag as she didn't have one and I really wanted to try out the design I found on the web. So I received her colour instructions any pastel colour except orange and off I could go.
I got this really cute pink rabbit design, coral canvas, and pale pink polka dot fabric to make this bag, also a real cute zip with a wee girl and a bonnet for it's tab!
So away I went with the design called the "Detour Diaper Bag" I got from  http://www.make-baby-stuff.com/         I just printed it off and away I went, though I had to make a few slight modifications and added several more pockets on the inside.
Anyways after I stuffed up the lining by sewing in in the wrong way, unpicking it and then resewing it this is what the finished result looked like

I was quiet happy with the result even though it was the first bag I had ever made and I did do some mistakes, so I have warned Summer not to look too closely and just hope it holds up! And if not she can always use it for something else. I was thinking about making some more similar to these, but I think I will go for a square "bum" instead or a round cos it's a bitch to line up the bottom and sew the round edges. Plus I like square. So who knows eh. I have all this time to play with and have some awesome turquoise fabric I am itching to use, plus I have some funky heavy cotton material with sheep and dogs all over it that I am sure would make a cool bag. Oh well back to the sewing machine eh!!! Oh there is the cutest wee pattern for pants so I have some awesome Woollen tartan which I will make into pants for my wee bundle for winter.

June

What an epic month!
Not only was it my nephew's first birthday but also my hubby's birthday too. The dilemma of what to buy each of them! In the end Ollie got a heap of Korean cuteness and hubby got well bugger all actually. I was planning on buying him a guitar, but had no money :(
But instead I hired my friend to make him some birthday cupcakes he only ate one cos they were too sweet for him!

 She is an amazing decorater and has a newly made site  (http://buttersugarcream.blogspot.com/)
Where she is flashing her wares to the world and Oh My what wares she has!!!^^
Living in Korea finding someone who makes cupcakes like this is like finding a needle in a haystack! Aaaand the fact that Korea has like 1 cupcake franchaise which has just started up they are overpriced and bland..

He is made about all things soccer and Nike for some reason, I was orignially going to go for a nike basketball theme, but HELLO WORLD CUP 2010 and Red Devils.. and he was mad keen on watching all possible games, and since his party was on the Saturday the day that Korea sadly lost to Uruguay it was perfect to have a soccer theme!
Everyone LOVED them they were so impressed, just wish I could of said I made them..sigh... one day when Gerry teachs me I will^^