My Korean Life #52: A Random Thought

A Random Thought

Random Thought: I am not sure if this is just a Korean thing or an if-you-have-young-children thing. But I have noticed that the publishing industry for educational materials (at least in Korea) is huge. Families will buy whole series of educational books for math, reading, grammar, foreign languages, etc. Whole walls in people's houses will be covered in shelving just for educational books (in additional to general children's books, reference, and sometimes other literature).

My parents said they used to have a ton of kids books when I was growing up but I never remember having whole walls in a room dedicated to just books for me and my brother.

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Anyway, how are things going for you these days?

My Korean Life #51: In which I mess up making cream pasta...but later redeem myself

Cream Pasta Redemption!

I have become more ambitious with my cooking lately and decided to tackle making a cream sauce from scratch. I failed miserably making the roux the first time but my second time practicing it turned out ok!

Practicing the sauce

Practice with spaghetti and peas

Finished pasta with parmesan and pepper

I had invited over friends for dinner to try out my new dish and it actually turned out quite well! I first cooked some chicken tenders, mushrooms, and peas. Next I made the pasta and then the sauce. After the sauce was complete I combined everything together for what you see below. I decided to use fusilli pasta since it seems to hang on to the sauce better than spaghetti. Here is a link to the pasta recipe if you'd like to try it for yourself! I decided to use an Italian spice blend instead of just parsley and I used a little less flour for the rue. Feel free to modify the recipe to your own tastes. What do you think? Does it look good to you?

Dinner party version: Chicken, mushrooms, peas, and the creamy garlic pasta

My Korean Life #47: Dinner Party!

Last night I hosted a small dinner party for 3 people! My cooking post gathered a lot of attention and I offered to cook for a few people recently and they took me up on my offer. They even brought me a few gifts :) Check out the photos below!

Table setting - disposable everything since I don't actually own that many dishes :/

Take a seat! 

Vegetables all prepared

That close up shot

The finished product! Tuna and vegetable stir-fry with rice, topped with roasted sesame seeds

Thank you so much for the wine and fruit!

The dishes aftermath, all fit on the rack except for the cutting board

Thanks again to Cook Smarts for the tasty stir-fry ideas!

Cook Smarts

My Korean Life #46: Delicious Stir-Frying!

Delicious Stir-Frying

I've been using this guide by Cook Smarts to make tasty stir-fries lately. Here is a link to a full infographic on imgur. With only a few basic ingredients and your choice of protein and vegetables, you can create delicious meals quite quickly. I also now know the secret to making sauces shiny and sticky like you might see in American Chinese food restaurants - corn/potato starch! Here I have my basic sauce/seasoning ingredients, which you can modify to your liking but I've had good results with the items pictured here. Other things to add would be citrus like lemon/lime/orange juice as well as maybe green onion, shallots, chili flakes, whatever you like!

From Left to Right: salt, pepper, soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, potato starch, garlic, ginger

One of my latest attempts was the orange ginger sauce recipe with vegetables and tuna. I snapped some pictures and have posted those down below.

Orange ginger sauce

Vegetables prepped - use what you like!

Vegetables cooking

Sauce and tuna added to the vegetable medley

Mixed and heated through

Ready to eat!

I often have leftovers if I only am cooking for myself so, many times I can get two meals out of cooking once. I haven't done the calculations but I'm sure I am saving some money even if it takes a little time to prepare and cook my meals. The next time I shop I will record the prices and update this post with approximate costs (but it will vary for you depending on ingredients and availability). For example, I have a vegetable stand near my house where I got like 7-8 onions for only 3000KRW and a bag of about the same number of carrots for 1000KRW.

Cook Smarts

My Korean Life #32: Seoul Global Cultural Center

I recently attended two events at the Seoul Global Cultural Center in Myeongdong. The center offers free activities as well as paid activities many times throughout the year. The two events I attended were a cooking class and a journal/diary making class.

The center is actually open daily for people to drop in from 10:30am - 7:30pm. They have English, Japanese, and Chinese speaking staff. All the staff I've interacted with have been very friendly and the activities are run well.

If you would like to meet some other foreigners (and sometimes Koreans) and also enjoy some cultural activities, I would 'like' their Facebook page to stay informed about what programs are coming up. I went by myself but many people come with a friend or as a family. The age range is quite diverse usually so don't be afraid and give the activities a try! Normally the language of instruction is English, sometimes staff is available to translate to Japanese/Chinese/Korean.

You can find the center's Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/Seoulcenter3789?
Their official website is here: http://www.seoulculturalcenter.com/
Location link: http://www.seoulculturalcenter.com/2013/eng/center/center3.asp

Here are some pictures from the events I attended:

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