I have a lovely bowl of stinky nuts *giggle*

If your mind was in the gutter when you read the title, then your my kind of person! But actualy I meant to say Stinky bowl of Ginko nuts^^ Or their nom de plume 은행.
Now before coming to Korea I had no idea what these were, or even why they smelt so bad! ( Think baby milk puke mixed with dog pooh and other various faeces and you got the smell...yummy eh!?)
But I was uber curious to see these little old ajumma's toting bags around wearing gloves, picking up these things off the ground. It wasn't till years later ( 5 yrs to be exact) that I actually tried Ginko nuts for the first time in a bar. I think I may have been slightly wasted but I did enjoy them and their smooth texture and interesting taste.

Last week I found out that there were only 20 students at school and 2 teachers and 2 admin staff. That was it !! After lunch we stole down to the schools veggie plot and borrowed some 무 ( radish) and there infront of us was all these Ginko trees. ( queue heavenly music)
Now there had been a few old biddies in the morning collecting all these berries, and there was bugger all left on the ground. So I spied a big ol stick and the others found some rocks so we began to pummel and stone these trees.
I got quite a few Ginko's.. see my stash!?

I had to soak these buggers in warm water to help get the nuts inside. And loooooord did it stink to high heaven.
The conversation I had with hubby was kinda funny

Hubby: Leigh, did you fart?
Me: Ummm , not within the last 20 mins I didn't.
Hubby: What the hell is that smell?
Me: Ah, 은행
Hubby: Fuck, it stinks! Close the door
Me: Ok.

So I spent a few hours coaxing the little nuts out of the stinky fleshy pods and into a baking tin and banged them in the oven to dry out before I could get the yummy-ness inside

Now I have to figure out what to make with them.

C is for Cookie, that's good enough for me!

Ok So I have been super busy *insert - lazy* and I apologise to all my fans out there ( a whole 3 at most^^)

So I was beckoned into the kitchen by my lovely hubby last weekend, waving a packet of M&M's above his head, doing some kind of rain dance.. or so I thought, actually he had just rescued said packet from the sticky hands of our son, and was actually trying to shake him off.
Our conversation went something like this;

Me: Whaaaaat are you doing?
Hubby: Bloody Benjamin had the M&M's
Me: Yes, well you did leave them on the table. He likes Chocolate you know.
Hubby: I know! But you have to make cookies!
Me: Have to make what?
Hubby: Mr Oh wants cookies.
Me: Mr Oh can make his own bloody cookies.
Hubby: But yours are the best in the whole world.
Me: *slapping myself in the face* Ok I will make cookies.
Huby: Can you wrap them individually?
Me: *One eyebrow raised*
Hubby: Oh and put them in a box.
Me: (*#(&^*&#*!&@ sigh.. Ok.

End of conversation.
There was also some crying involved from my son as he wanted to eat the whole bloody bag of M&M's but was super angry when he got 5!

So what actually transpired was this, hubby had been bragging about my baking skills to his work buddies, and they dared him to bring a box of cookies ( man he is gullible) And Mr Oh whom I have never met is hubby's GM thus had the athourity to make him do things, so he asked hubby nicely if I would make them some cookies. Chocolate chip cookies that is.

So I went about looking for a recipe that doesn't involve a shit load of butter, and found a very interesting vegan recipe from myrecessionkitchen
I will try this out this weekend, but I settled for a run of the mill normal chocolate chip cookie recipe ( which I can't remember which one I used) and made up 3 batches of these bad boys

Hubby: Why are they colourful?
Me: Ahhh, because I used the M&M's.
Hubby: They aren't crunchy are they?
Me: Ah, no. Did you want crunchy ones.
Hubby: *sigh* no these will do.
Me: * mentally slapping him around the head*

When hubby returned truimphantly from work he declared in his words
" They are the best ones ever had" ie. They were the best ones they had tasted so far.
I even got a text from one of his workmates's wife saying she had heard that I made great cookies and would like to learn^^
Definitely made my day

Weekend

Well last weekend my son had gone to bed for some random reason at 7:40ish ( I think it was due to the fact that he hadn't had a nap at daycare) and hubby was quietly playing on his PSP and I was all by myself and wanted to do something, make something . So I rummaged around and found this in my kitchen.

Then I rummaged some more and found this

What the hell is that you may ask.. well it's "ingredients" to make soap! Yup I spent my Friday night making soap..and lip balm ha ha Man I am old!

So I added everything into a huge pot, melted it down, added the oils, and smellies and strawberry powder and poured it into my mould like so..

But I had ALOT still left over so I grabbed al the moulds I had and made

( mini dinosaurs for Benjamin..cos he loves to wash his hands)

lips, hearts, flowers and a handbag

(baby apples for Benjamin to take to daycare.)

So my house is now all soaped out! We have soap coming out the wazzoo, but atleast I smell good and feel all squeaky clean. ( Homemade soap feels so much better on my old, dry, wrinkly skin^^)

Oh and my strawberry lipbalm, is smackingly good.
Think I will try and make Banana and cinnamon next when the strawberry is all gone. Though hubby has put in his order for soju flavoured lipbalm.. not sure if I can do that yet!! PLus think he would just eat the thing and get drunk!

Everyone say "Hooooo~~~ddok"

ㅋㅋ Gottcha! Well I thought since it tis the season for change ie Summer to Autumn I decided to whip up a batch of these delish Korean sugary peanutty fried pancake thingees!
Plus Benjamin loves these! And it's really simple.
My friend who will be called "S" has a problem with wheat ( she thinks) and she had sent me a txt about asking what they are made from and said she had a nommy one made made with rice and cornflour. So I thought to myself hmmmm lets see if I can make some non wheat ones too. I had rice flour,, yeast, and all the other ingredients and I set out to make them. However they turned out to be an EPIC fail. They were more like flat sonpyeong with sugary goodness on the inside..DOH. If only I had used both rice AND cornflour.

Well my son was lucky cos I made him a normal lot.. exhibit A

and exhibit B

Hmmm I hear you say whilst licking your chops and smacking your lips together. WEll I will tell you it's easy as pie to make and here is the recipe:

Dough
125ml flour
1 egg
40ml milk
2 tsp white sugar
2 tsp yeast
1.2 tsp salt.
10 ml warm water
Filling
30 g Brown sugar
cinnamon
2 tbsp crushed peanuts

Seven steps away from deliscious-ness on your plate...

Step 1:
Stick the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Give it abit of a mix.
In a cup mix the egg and the milk thoroughly, and add it to the flour. Mix this really well to form a dough.
Step 2:
Add the yeast to the warm water and stir it around. Let it sit for a few minutes and then add it to the dough mixture and mix well. Knead for a few minutes, then cover the dough and let it rise for 30 mins until double in size.
Step 3:
Mix the brown sugar cinnamon and peanuts. ( Now I like cinnamon so I give it a good shake or 3, but you can add as little or as much as your heart desires. Though I would say no more then 2 tsp!)
Step 4:
Heat oil in the pan. (Now traditionally Hoddok is cooked swimming in oil! However I don't like that so I make mine less fried!)
Step 5:
Punch down teh dough and knead it ( with a little extra flour so it's not too sticky. Make into 8 balls.
Step 6:
Flatten the balls into a circle roughly the same size as your hand. Add some filling ( maybe a tablespoon) and seal. continue for all 8.
Step 7:
Place balls *haha* sealed side down and cook for 30 seconds then flip them over and squish them flat and cook for 1 min, then turn them again and cook till golden brown.

Be very very very very careful! These suckers are full of hot melted sugar which you can burn not only your tongue but other various body parts when you bite into one and find out exactly how hot it is on the inside and drop it like it's hot. So let them sit for a few mins, or cut them up..

Enjoy.

An ode to 무 ( 깍두기)

Muu, muu how I love thee, though I was buggered if I knew what to make with them when my hubby presented me with these gigantic things!!

But then he commanded me.. "Make me 깍두기( radish kimchi) woman!"
Thus 깍두기 was made.

Now I have only ever made this once and for me I liked it, not too spicy, not too fermented, but my hubby commanded me, I want spicy stuff, none of this pussy foot kimchi you make.
Right, bugger you I secretly thought so I set about a diabolical plan of making the spiciest Radish Kimchi he has ever had!! ( queue evil laughter)

So to start off with I washed and peeled those suckers, then sliced them into about 2 cm slices, and then diced those babies up

Now this is the part where you wash them, salt them and let it stand for 30 mins. Now those 2 big arse radishes made alot of little baby radish cubes so I used about a good handful of rock salt and 4 tablespoons of sugar. Mix them around and set aside.
When time is up,save 1/3 cup of the juice, drain,rinse and put them in a really BIG bowl.

Now for the kimchi spicy paste.
The ratio I used was this
1 onion, 6 garlic cloves, 1/4 Nashi ( Japanese pear/ 배) , 1/4 cup of Fish sauce ( 멸치액젓 not sure of spelling forgive me I get things mixed up sometimes) 4 spring onions sliced .The original recipe called for 2/3 cup of chilli flakes but I stuck in a good 1 1/2 cups ( evil I know!)

Now with the paste you roughly chop up onion, pear, and bang the garlic in your kitchen whizz and whizz the bejezzes about of it ie

Then you add the fish sauce, 1/3 cup of the radish juice, spring onions and the chilli paste, and mix it really really well.

Doesn't that colour just scream " If-you-eat-me-I-will-burn-your-tongue"^^

Then rub that glorious spicy paste all over those tiny little innocent radish cubes and watch them scream.

Typical me pose.. now you see why I don't want to be in photos, I have no dress sense!!

Now if your scared to use your barehands it's ok to use gloves. I had to cos well I had a cut under my thumb nail of all places and chilli and cuts just DO NOT go together. Plus the fumes from the mixing where bringin tears to my eyes, and my son was crouching looking at me, then to the kimchi, then to me again and then fanned his mouth in the sign for spicy^^
Also I found out that when the paste touched my beautiful lily pale skin I got big red rashes!Bloody hurt too!

So my possums that is how I make radish kimchi, though ideally you should leave it out of the fridge for a good day or two, so we haven't tried it yet. Though me being me I did swipe my tonuge across the finger tip of my glove, my tongue fair shot itself back down my throat. I fear my possums I will not be able to eat said creation ...bugger.

Crunchy Lemon and Poppyseed muffins.

So for the long weekend that we just had here in Korea I decided I must get rid of the lemons that have been sitting in my fridge for like years!! ( Well not years but a couple of weeks, maybe a month) So I was thinking.. Hmmm Lemon curd ( nope will make me fat..fat enough without it) Lemon cheesecake... Hmm no cream cheese ( plus alctose intorelant) bugger I though to myself, all the yummy lemon ideas either had shit loads of fattening goodness in them or tons of dairy products.
As I was sitting at the kitchen table I spied a plastic bag that my mum had bought over and it had a packet of cayenne pepper and a packet of poppy seeds. Then it hit me.. Lemon and Poppyseed muffins! ( Not Lemon and cayenne pepper muffins.. that would taste well...hmm not sure, may have to try that sour and spicy??)

So anyways off I went grating my lemon rind ( tis a bitch to do. If people can invent premade diced frozen coriander cubes, surely someone can pre grate freaking lemons!) adding flour, baking powder and sugar to my lemon rinds, and giving it a good ol shake about, then adding the liquids ( melted butter, eggs and soy milk and some extra lemon juice.. like so

Then gently folding the liquid into the dry like so

Cos if you mix it too well the muffins don't rise, they go all chewy and flat...And no one likes flat muffins do they^^

While they coked I made a glaze from the squeezed lemon juice and sugar, and when the muffins were perfectly cooked I brushed them ALL over with the glaze, and they kinda got crunchy when the sugar and lemon juice dried.

Now should I share the recipe or not? Hmmm that is the question is it not.
Fair enough I am in a generous mood, I used this recipe by Alison Holst ( fantastic woman!!) but tweaked it abit so here is the recipe

Lemon and Poppy seed muffins
2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup poppy seeds
2 lemons - zested and juiced
100g butter
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar

Method
Heat oven to 200C, with the rack just below the middle.

Put flour, sugar, lemon rind and poppyseeds into a large bowl.

Heat the butter until just melted. Add the eggs and the milk and beat
with a fork until combined. Tip the liquid into the dry ingredients and fold together until the flour is dampened. DO NOT beat till smooth.

Spoon mixture into 12 regular muffin pans which have been lightly butter or non-stick sprayed.

Bake for 10-15 minutes , or until the centres spring back when pressed. While muffins cook, squeeze the lemon juice and mix with the second amount of sugar (The sugar should not be dissolved).

Allow the muffins to cool in their pans for 3-4 minutes, then take them out and brush the lemon and sugar mixture everywhere. Cool on a rack

Enjoy!!

Banchan 1

Now I love to make 반찬 ~ Korean side dishes! I try to make enough for the week or usually at the moment whenever I remember.

Now I have this weird fascination for 냉이. I have no idea what it is called in English so I used daum to find it.. it came up with Shepards purse?!!? That can't be right I thought.. who would name a plant that?!
So I googled it and there it was, proud as can be Shepard bloody purse! (Looks nothing like a purse) and it had it's Latin name listed next to it ; Capsella bursa-pastoris.
Neither name hit me in between the eyes with recognition, even with my vast background in horticulture, did I have an inkling as to what this bloody thing was...
Anyhoo it looks like this

I love this in 됀장찌개 it gives it an.. oh I can't explain the taste..an earthly goodness to it. It doesn't taste like dirt or worms or anything like that, it's just really really delish and if you like veggies, then you will like this!!

Right so anyways this is what you need to make 냉이나물

4 handfuls of 냉이( shepards purse)
4 spoons of Bean powder ( 볶은 콩가루)
1 spoon soya sauce
1/4 tsp of salt
1 finely minced spring onion
1/2 tsp minced garlic
2 tp of sesame oil
5 c water
1 spoon of rock salt.

First wash the 냉이 really really well( cant stress that enough!). Dirt tends to hide in those suckers and nothing worse than chomping on a bit of grit!

Then boil it in salted water for about 2~3 minutes.Rinse in cold water ( like a longer version of blanching). And drain well.

Then add the bean powder, and mix it well. This makes less 빡빡해 ( crisp I guess it would be)
Next add the soya sauce, garlic, salt, onion and sesame oil.

Then you should have something that looks like this

I forgot to take a photo of the last stage so I borrowed this picture...
( thank you naver!!)