Korean Roasted Dried Sea Trout (구운 민어): Time flies so quickly

As I walked behind Daughter #1 to school (first grade) this morning, I marveled at how big she was.  She used to be a baby, not just one blink ago, and suddenly, she was walking in front of me, laughing with her sister, backpack on her back and a skip in her step as she looked so forward to going to school.  I was struck with the emotion at that moment of wanting to hold her back from going into school, from growing up, and from changing and no longer being my baby.

For Daughter #1, time just doesn't go fast enough.  She always asks how old she is (in years and months), how long until her next birthday, how many days until Christmas, how many days until she can have a playdate.  For her, time is about rushing through to the next moment to get to the next event.  Time is not a cherished thing, but rather something to get through.   Most days, I think like that as well.  Time is about the schedule, squeezing enough hours in, planning the next meal, the next lesson, the next dinner.  But today, in that split second of seeing my baby grow into a first grader, time became something different; time was precious and fleeting and oh so quickly gone.  I found myself in my mind wanting to slow down the events, wanting to move in slow motion as a I reached to grab Daughter and whisper to her, "Just be in my arms a little longer.  Be my baby a little longer.  Don't hurry to grow up and leave me.  You don't need all the answers just yet."  But she skipped to school, with a spring in her skip, faster than usual and confidently walked through the doors of first grade and didn't even look back to see where I was.  She was there.  Ready.  Growing up.

When I picked her up after her first day, I reached for her hand and was relieved to see that it was still smaller than mine.  My hand was still bigger than hers and I could enfold her smaller hand into my own and fully enclose it within my grasp.  She hadn't grown up so much that her hand no longer could hide in mine.  I was also relieved to discover that she still let me hold it and together we walked to the car, as she chattered on about the events of her day, on how first grade was so much different than kindergarten, on how she did her math sheets faster than anyone else, and how she made a new friend.

It was on our walk to the car that she asked me to make her fish for dinner.  Her favorite thing to eat is fish, so I readily acquiesced as it is hard not to when you're overflowing with so many mixed emotions.  If she had asked me for an ice cream sundae with two scoops of hot fudge on top, I might have even allowed that, my emotions were so jumbled up.  Thankfully it was fish, and even more thankfully, I had some in my freezer ready to go.

This is the fish I had in my freezer.  (Thanks Mom-in-law!)  It is a partially dried sea trout (민어).

This is what it looked like inside.  The fish has been sliced down the middle and butterflied to make for a wonderful roasting surface.  I took one look and decided it would be great for some oven roasted fish.  (I don't like frying fish.)

Korean Roasted Dried Sea Trout (구운 민어)
Serves 2-3

1 butterflied sea trout
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Set the oven rack as close to heat as possible. Preheat oven to broil, to get it really nice and hot.  Line a cookie sheet or roasting pan with aluminum foil and place fish onto the pan.  Rub the entire surface with the sesame oil.  Once oven is preheated, place fish into oven, as close to heat as possible.  Cook until fish is golden brown, anywhere between 10-15 minutes.

Serve immediately!

Printable recipe

Little fingers eager to eat fish.  Note the lovely golden brown color. (of fish not finger.)

Korean Soy Cooked Potatoes - (Gamja Jolim 감자 조림): When the little things are hard

I finally did it.  I was forced off my lazy bum and have started potty training Son.  After a serious lack of motivation (read about that here) I had to bite the bullet and start potty training him.  I was actually sort of forced into it, when I discovered that I did not have any more diapers, and only had pullups and underwear.  With an inward groan, I figured that I might as well give it a whirl and see how far I got with the training, and so here I am on day two of training Son, and I will only say this...

It is NOT going well.

My most recent potty training experience is with Daughter #2, who was, remarkably easy.  I simply explained to her to pee in the potty. She did it once, figured out that is what she was supposed to do, and did it.  One day.  One explanation. One successful pee in the potty.  She knew and she understood.  She from that day forward has had a total of about 10 accidents.  She also went spontaneously dry in the night about three days later.  That was my last experience with potty training.  I know that it was insanely easy and simple compared to other experiences and it was for that reason I was particularly dreading Son's training.

You aren't supposed to compare children and their potty training experience, so let me in my defense say this - I'm not comparing the two at all.  What I am comparing is how EASY the training of Daughter #2 was for ME  to how hard training Son is for ME.  I'm not comparing the two kids. 

It has been two days of endless reminding "go to the potty" every 15 minutes, and having him sit there and produce nothing.  Then I have the frustrating experience of right after he has sat on the potty, to have him go in his training pants.  Today, finally, he made one into the potty and Daughters #1 and #2 and I applauded like crazy and did a little dance in the bathroom for him.  Less than fifteen minutes later, he did it in his training pants.

With the mental burden of trying not to lose my mind while potty training, I decided to make an easy potato dish that Son and Daughters really love.  With the stress of potty training, I could only manage to make an easy dish.  This is a Korean side dish (banchan 반찬) that you might often see at a Korean restaurant.    It is because it is easy to make and cheap to boot with a great balance of sweet and salty.  It tastes great warm and lovely cold.  It would be a great addition to any a bento/lunchbox for your child.

Korean Soy Cooked Potatoes (Gamja Jolim 감자조림)
Serves 4-5 (depending how much they like potatoes)

2-3 potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes.  (about 2 1/2 cups of potatoes cut up)
2 tablespoons of oil
1 onion, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup of water (you may need more depending on the potatoes)
3 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of honey
1 tablespoon sake
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sesame seeds (I used black just for dramatic touch)

Place cut potatoes in cold water to remove excess starch. Give them a swirl in the water and drain.

Heat a fry pan over medium heat.  Put two tablespoons of oil and add drained potatoes, onions and garlic.  Cook stirring occasionally, until the onions turn translucent and potatoes are partially cooked, about 10 minutes. 

Add water, soy sauce, and sake to the fry pan.  Continue cooking, allowing the potatoes to soak up the liquids and cook, stirring occasionally to allow the potatoes to cook evenly.  

When all the liquid has evaporated, check to see if potatoes are nearly done.  The potatoes should still hold their form and be slightly firm to the bite.  (not mushy.)  If necessary add a 1/4 cup more water, otherwise add honey and sesame oil and coat the potatoes with the mixture.  Sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

You can serve it immediately, or let it cool and serve it cold.

Printable recipe

Green Tea Mochi Cake: Living with regret

Recently, quite a few people have asked me about having a fourth child, as most of my close friends know that I've always wanted many children. In my most recent response to that question, I said, "I decided that not having a fourth is the regret I will always live with." 

As much as my belly expands when it sees a pregnant woman, or my uterus contracts when it comes close to a newborn baby, or my arms itch to cuddle a gurgling infant, it seems rash and ill-advised to pursue the fourth child.  Husband and I are 40 and 39 years old respectively later this year.  By the time this child graduates from high school, we will both be very close to 60 years old, which is a sobering thought.  Friend SJ, who is a fertility specialist regularly says to me, "You have three beautiful healthy children.  Why risk having another at such an advanced age?  In addition, another friend half-jokingly said to me, "Having yet another child would dramatically increase your family's carbon footprint." 

Counter to all the arguments lies the knowledge that I will live with regret.  The bigger question is wondering whether I want to live with this regret for the remainder of my life.  I think that most people live with regrets over the choices that they've made or reactions to situations.  I am now trying to come to terms with the idea of regret.  I simply hold on to this regret for the time being.  Hopefully with continuing wisdom and time, regret will begin to fade and really become nothing more than the faint memory of a wish once made long ago.

This pretty green MMC (Matcha Mochi Cake) was made with the thoughts of future and coming to peace with my decisions.  This is my second attempt at the recipe.  Although I thought the first one was pretty good, I wanted to make sure that I could make the matcha flavor sing in the cake.  The color and flavor is very much like green tea ice cream, or green tea frappucino.

One warning - I think the matcha powder has some caffeine properties, because after I ate too many pieces of this, I could not sleep that night. 

Matcha Mochi Cake (Green Tea Mochi Cake)
adapted from Gourmet Magazine | May 2005

Makes one 9X13 pan, or 24 squares
1 lb box of mochiko flour (3 cups equivalent)
2 1/2 cups of sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
4 teaspoons of matcha powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 14 oz cans of coconut milk - not lowfat
1 12 oz can evaporated milk

5 large eggs
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup of butter) melted and slightly cooled

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9X13 baking pan.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together mochiko flour, sugar, baking powder, matcha powder and salt.

(lego is there to show you the pretty green color)

In a separate bowl or large measuring cup (4 cup capacity), beat eggs, then add coconut milk,evaporated milk and melted butter.

Carefully pour the wet ingredients over the mochiko flour mixture and whisk until mixture is smooth and uniform in texture.

Pour batter into greased 9X13 pan. Carefully smooth out the top.

Bake for 90 minutes, until top is golden brown and the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Allow cake to cool for about 30 minutes on a rack, and then carefully flip it out and cut into 24 squares, or the size of your choice. Can store mochi cake for three days, covered.

Printable recipe

The matcha powder I bought- I paid $7.99 at the local Chinese market. (I did go to two different ones to source it.)

Chicken Vegetable Barley Soup: On missing someone

For my one true love...

Husband travels sometimes in his job and he often jokingly says to me, "I'm traveling.  It's your break."  I know that many consider the times their spouses travel to be incredibly trying and difficult; in contrast, I do not.  Usually his travel means that after days with the Children, the nights are all mine.  I can catch up up on email, edit college application essays which is work that I love, and blog about books and food, two of my passions.  When Husband is away, I have at my disposal many hours in the evening where I can spend the minutes any which way I choose.  It is a wonderful luxury to have that kind of time at my fingertips and I cherish those quiet evenings doing the things I love most.  Mostly, I do not miss Husband when he is away.

However, today I made some soup with leftover rotisserie chicken.  I found in my cupboard some barley and decided to add it to the soup, if only to make it more substantial and to give a small bit of a chewy bite.  Suddenly in my heard, I heard Husband's voice saying, "I love barley.  I love the texture of it."  Like the sharpest arrow to my heart, I missed him.  Furthermore, he wasn't even going to get to eat the yummy soup and enjoy the little bits of chewy barley that he loves so much.

A quarter cup of barley made me feel a bit of emptiness where Husband's absence has left a space.  I found myself missing him so much that it made me think that perhaps all my free time that I had been enjoying was perhaps merely a way for me to avoid acknowledging how much I actually just miss Husband.  I'll have to fill that space with some soup.  Perhaps this one.

Chicken Vegetable Barley Soup
Serves 6-8

3 carrots, cut into rounds
3 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
1 onion diced
1 leftover Costco rotisserie chicken, a lot of the meat removed
2 quarts of chicken stock
1/4 cup of barley
1 14.5 oz can of tomatoes (I used diced, which I ended up pureeing.  If you like a chunkier soup you can keep them whole, but my kids don't like whole cooked tomatoes.)
1 cup of fresh basil leaves, chiffonade
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot over, add two tablespoons of olive oil.  Add the carrots, celery, onion, and cook for 7 minutes.  Add chicken stock, leftover rotisserie chicken and tomato puree.  Bring to a simmer. Add 1/4 cup of barley.  Reduce heat and keep simmering for 20 minutes.  Remove chicken and set aside to cool a bit.  Remove soup from heat.  When chicken is cool enough to touch, remove remaining meat from bones and add to soup.  Heat soup up again (if necessary) and add basil leaves.  Add salt and pepper if needed.  Serve.

Printable recipe

Vanilla Bean Mochi Cake: My obsessive personality

For those who support me during my mochi craze

AGAIN?  That's what I heard this morning when I told someone I was going to make a mochi cake.  I had a good reason to however, as good friend LKL was coming over for lunch and had yet to try the cake.  I wanted to treat her to something yummy along with her lunch of Asian Pasta Salad and Curried Chicken Salad.  I figured a dessert that bridged both Asian and Western culture would be appropriate.  Thus Mochi cake it was.

Only, the other part of my personality is that I get fixated on certain things and can't let it go.  Right now, I have MMS...Mochi Madness Syndrome.  I can't let the concept go.  A year ago or so, I was obsessed with cupcakes and frantically began researching all these different cupcake recipes because I couldn't let it go.  This is no different.  I am curious about changing sugar amounts, trying to reduce fat and my all time favorite, adding vanilla bean to anything that that has a pretty white background so that you can see flecks of vanilla.  I thought I'd take the first Mochi Cake recipe I did last week and change it up.

The result - another really yummy cake, only with less sugar and less fat.  It does feel lighter somehow and less rich, and the vanilla bean was a lovely subtle flavor mixed in with the coconut.  It was a hit with Friend with  LKL, who was excited to take it home to her husband.   And I was pretty excited because it was another fun stop on the road of my obsession.

Quick Vanilla Bean Tutorial 
Please excuse the photographs, as I had to shoot with my left hand while my right hand tried to demonstrate.  Hopefully you'll get a sense of what you need to do.

Carefully cut down the center of your whole vanilla bean and split it into two parts.

Starting at one end, with the back of your knife (not sharp side), scrape along the length of the vanilla bean.

You will have a knife tip covered with tiny gooey black dots.

Add vanilla bean goo to batter and repeat on the other half of the bean.

Vanilla Bean Mochi Cake
adapted from Gourmet Magazine | May 2005
Makes one 9X13 pan, or 24 squares

1 lb box of mochiko flour (3 cups equivalent)
2 cups of sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 14 oz can regular coconut milk
1 14 oz can light coconut milk (readily found at Trader Joes)
5 large eggs
1/2 stick of butter (1/4 cup of butter) melted and slightly cooled
1 whole vanilla bean, split in half and beans scraped out

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9X13 baking pan.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together mochiko flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

In a separate bowl or large measuring cup (4 cup capacity), beat eggs, then add coconut milk, melted butter and vanilla bean.

Carefully pour the wet ingredients over the mochiko flour mixture and whisk until mixture is smooth and uniform in texture.

Pour batter into greased 9X13 pan. Carefully smooth out the top.

Bake for 90 minutes, until top is golden brown and the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Allow cake to cool for about 30 minutes on a rack, and then carefully flip it out and cut into 24 squares, or the size of your choice. Can store mochi cake for three days, covered.

Printable recipe

A beautiful tower of mochi cake

I love these beans and this company has excellent customer service and great product.

Korean Oxtail Soup - Gohlee Gook (꼬리국): A Mini Lesson

Especially in Korean cooking, I feel that the way a dish comes out can dramatically change based on technique.  I always thought I knew how to make Oxtail Soup/Gohlee Gook, since I always came home and it was boiling on the stove.  Big deal.  No problem.  I can do that.  What's the big fuss over it?  It wasn't until I was living in HK, and I started making the soup that I realized that there might be more to it than met the eye.

The ingredients - simple.  Beef Oxtails.  A few cloves of garlic.  An onion.  The cooking time?  To make it really great?  More than 5 hours.  A few steps in between?  Why yes.  But nothing is hard or impossible, but it does take a bit of care to make good soup.

However, investing the time into making a good gohlee gook will yield the following - a ton of soup, and in addition, you can probably get two or three quarts extra of soup base to make other delicious Korean dishes like mandoo gook (which tastes MUCH better in gohlee gook broth than in any other), Spinach soup with deunjahng base (된장시금치국) or even good ol' dduhk gook (떡국).    You can simply freeze containers of this fantastic soup base and if you ever need it, you can have it ready in an instant.  


Equipment Needed 
A large stock pot.  (Mine is an 8-quart pot.)


Skimmer (to skim off scum and fat.)  I love this one.


Strainer (handy at the end to keep things nice and clean in your broth)


Storage containers for your extra soup broth.  I'm slowly moving to glass, but haven't made the complete changeover yet.  Will do so to something like these.  (I've seen these at Costco.)


A teapot or another pot with which to boil water with.

Korean Oxtail Soup - Gohlee Gook (꼬리국)
Makes a lot
Time - 6-8 hours

2 to 2.5 lbs of oxtail - try and choose pieces that are medium, without much fat, good red color, and not too many humongo pieces
1 onion - whole, but peeled
6-7 cloves of garlic - whole, but peeled

Put oxtail meat in stockpot.  Cover with plenty of cold water.  Allow to sit for about 1 hour.  (This is to drain the blood from the meat.)

After an hour, or so, the blood from the meat will have drained into the water, looking something like this.

Drain all the water and rinse the meat.  Add enough water to cover the meat one more time.

Place pot on stove on high heat uncovered.  Boil for about 20 minutes, until you get gunky water and it is brown and yucky. (It can actually be browner and gunkier than this, which is good because it means you are getting out all the extra blood and even helping to get rid of some of the fat.)  Drain all of this liquid and individually wash each piece of meat and get the pot nice and clean.

Fill the pot with fresh water, and add an onion, a handful of garlic cloves and the oxtail.

Cover pot, place on high heat and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat enough so that it isn't boiling over, but a good rapid boil is what you want.  Allow to cook for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, check the soup.  You will have lost some volume of liquid.  Skim off any foam and fat that you see.  (you want to see less foam than this, especially if you did the soaking and the initial first boil, but I must have skimped out on the time of the initial first boil.)

After skimming all the foam and fat, continue boiling soup and add to it, more BOILING water to bring the volume back up.  (do not add cold water, for my Korean ancestors have said that it basically means that you are starting over with the soup.)  Continue boiling for another 2 hours. This would put the soup at 3 hours total.

Check soup at 3 hours. If the oxtail is tender, and starting to fall of the bone, you have cooked the meat enough.  If not, then cook for an additional 30 minutes.

This is what my soup looked like at 3 hours.  I actually prefer my soup to be whiter and milkier than this, but you CAN serve the soup at this stage. 

But I like to use this broth as a base for other soups.  I carefully ladle it out through a strainer into a container so that I can freeze it for another day.  I like to use the strainer to catch any extra bits of meat or even bits of garlic and onion that may have already begun to disintegrate.  Cool the soup for 1 hour and then put into the freezer to use for later.  You can also serve the soup with meat at this stage.  If you cook the meat for more, then you really just lose the flavor of the meat but you increase the flavor of the broth.  I usually serve some of the meat at this point with some of the broth.

Replace pot onto stove and then once again add BOILING water to bring the volume up.  Continue cooking for an additional 2 hours (5 hours total) until you get a more milky and more opaque color. 

I like the milky soup, really mushy pieces of meat.  You get this at about the 5-6 hour mark of cooking the meat.  You can continue to add boiling water if the water level drops too much.  Serve soup with salt and chopped scallions on top.
Printable recipe

Chili Spiced Potato Wedges: Variety is the spice of life

Today, for a change of pace, two girlfriends and I decided to walk Sawyer Trail, a beautiful winding path that circles Crystal Springs Resevoir in the Bay Area.  The day was just beautiful and seeing the reservoir sparkling in the sun, feeling the fresh breeze, and pumping my arms to get my blood flowing was a lovely start to a new week.  Last week, as you all may know, was a series of frustrations and difficulties, and I was determined to make this week different.  The walk helped.  The change of scenery helped.  Seeing the outdoors in a new light definitely helped.

With that, I thought I'd do a different kind of roasted potato.  I generally do the simple roasted potatoes, as they are really simple and Son and Daughters love them and eat them without a care.  But I wanted to spice things up a bit in the kitchen and since we were having a rotisserie chicken and some sauteed spinach for dinner, I thought some action in the potatoes would be good.

Initially the meal was met with groans of, "This is ALL you cooked mom?"  and "Where is the other stuff mom?" and "I don't like this" but soon the hunger pangs of children won out over the whining and there weas lots of munching and eating.  Suddenly Daughter #1 said, "Hey Mom - can I dip the potatoes in ketchup or something?" and I realized it would be the perfect touch - and I passed it out.  Kids ate more, gobbled it up and before I knew it 1 1/2 lbs of potatoes disappeared into our mouths.

These are NOT spicy  - they rely mostly on chili power for flavor, and rather they are just kicked up a bit.  Son and Daughters gobbled them up, and I have to say, with the dip in ketchup I was really excited.

Chili Spiced Potato Wedges
Serves 4-6

1 1/2 lbs potatoes, cut into wedges (I used a mix of purple, yellow, and red rose potatoes - a bag of them from Trader Joes)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 425.  In a large bowl, mix together olive, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder and salt.  Carefully toss potato wedges in olive oil mixture to coat each potato.

Lay potatoes in a single layer on a baking dish. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until potatoes are slightly crisp and golden.  Serve with ketchup.

Printable recipe

Extra yummy with ketchup (and the purple potatoes tasted the best to me!)

Raspberry Blackberry Mochi Cake: On being famous and recognized

For all those who use the blog and find it helpful.  Thank you.

The blog got started when I wanted to streamline my efforts in helping my friends to get into the kitchen.  I've always enjoyed cooking, and getting into the kitchen came fairly naturally to me, especially with my mom being so active in the kitchen herself.  But growing up, raising kids, working, and the day to day nonsense of life make cooking sometimes so cumbersome and not worth it that many just give up.  I can understand that but I wanted so much to make cooking faster, simpler and more accessible to the person who may just not have all the time in the world to invest in a meal.  That's really the focus of my blog.

However, along the almost two years that I've been doing it, a funny thing has happened.  I've gotten a lot out of writing the blog.  Initially I really thought it was all my giving to the readers what they needed, but what has happened is that I have gotten a lot more in return.  I can honestly say that I receive much pleasure when I see and hear that people are using my blog.  I get quite a few emails from people I don't know who tell me that they have started cooking and that they like my recipes.  That really gets me excited.  Of course I love hearing that people like my recipes and my ideas, but more than that I get thrilled to hear that someone else has started cooking.  I equate it to the pleasure I get when I student I am helping with writing, suddenly saying, "OH I GET IT!" or "OH, I like to write now."  My hard work has paid off and somebody is being changed through it. 

The other more comical aspect of it is that, as my friend EM puts it, I am a "celebrity."  Brother calls me "semi-famous" and most recently I've discovered I am the topic of discussion even when I am nowhere near the room.  Close friends of mine meet people, and somehow get on the topic of Week of Menus.   Sometimes the "Oh my gosh, you know her?" question often comes up and then my close friends nod and say, "Yes...I was roommates/best friends/good friends/hanging friends/teaching buddies/older sister to my buddy."  I find it hilarious. When friends tell me that I have "celebrity" status I have to laugh maniacally, because recently my "celebrity" status has found me in the following situations, all within the last 10 days.

I showed up at a birthday party of a Friends' twins, only to hear someone gasp ,"Oh my gosh!  You're the Week of Menus person."  It was kind of nice to be recognized, but it became more funny when I was immediately embarrassed after I realized that my fly was down while she was addressing me.

While walking out of Costco with two bickering kids in the shopping cart, wearing a pair of ratty shorts, my sports bra and a t-shirt that I had worn for my AM yoga class and somehow managed to spill a ton of coffee on, I got recognized in the parking lot.  My hair was disheveled, I think my fly was up this time, but I am pretty sure I smelled and looked frustrated as my kids were going non stop.  This person was a friend of a friend and called to me across the parking lot, gave me a warm hug,  and the point of conversation was of course Week of Menus.  We had a nice fun chat, all the while I was self-conscious, staring at my coffee stain as this person was impeccably dressed and looking cute and spunky.  Not a good moment.

Finally,while walking through a shopping mall with another friend and our combined five kids in tow. I ran into another friend of a friend.  True to form I was wearing my super celebrity most stylish outfit of a ratty tshirt with possibly perspiration stains under it for the day was hot and I was trying to calmly manage three of my children through one of the most potentially crowded days in the store, the Nordstroms sale. My face was shiny for sure, my fly was up (I'm now forever going to be worried about that) but I was pretty tired and not feeling all that peppy when I ran into friend of another friend, her husband, and new baby.  The conversation was fun, but choppy as Son and Daughters don't like to see me talk to anyone but them.  We hastily broke away as it was clear that I wasn't going to be able to have a graceful adult conversation.

I will have to do as Friend EM has advised, which is to go out in public with sunglasses.  This is not to appear cool, but to rather hide myself so that no one can see me in my nonsenical glory.

In the meanwhile, as you laugh at me, and I truly invite you to laugh at me for it keeps me humble and reminds me who I really am, I thought I'd encourage you to to make another variation on the mochi cake.   I gave another whirl at the blueberry one to see if the texture was better in the 9X13 pan vs. the muffin pan, only I had no blueberries, only raspberries and blackberries.  I am REALLY glad I did it however, because I loved the texture in the 9x13 pan a lot!   I think the problem is that I was going for too much crust on the muffins and I over cooked the blueberry mini mochi cakes.  The flavor on these were scrumptious, the texture really special and overall just a perfect bite of fun.  Run and get your mochi and make these now!

Raspberry Blackberry Mochi Cake
adapted from the Food Librarian
Makes 24 regular size muffin/mini cakes, or one 9x13 pan

1 lb box mochiko (sweet rice flour - equivalent to 3 cups)
2 sticks of butter (1 cup) melted
1 1/2 cups of sugar
12 oz can evaporated skim milk
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

6 oz fresh blackberries
6 oz fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x13 pan. (I find it easiest to just use cooking spray oil like Pam).

In a large bowl, mix together melted butter and sugar. Whisk until well combined.

Add evaporated milk and mix. Add eggs and mix well.

Add vanilla extract, salt and mix. Add baking powder and whisk until it is fully incorporated. Finally add mochiko powder, and mix until the texture is uniform and smooth.

Carefully pour about half the mixture into greased 9x13 pan.  Sprinkle the top evenly with blackberries and raspberries.

Carefully scoop remaining mochi batter on top, smoothing out with a rubber spatula to create a smooth surface.

Bake for 1 hour, until crust is golden and slightly crisp.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes and then serve. Perfect with coffee ice cubes drink. 

Printable recipe

Spicy Korean Style Salad: Good things come to those that wait

For my Son, who is completely making me bonkers these days, but whom I love anyways

I called Husband the other day, completely worn out, upset and on edge.  He immediately heard something in my voice and said, "Is something wrong?"

"The twos," I responded.

"The what?" he asked.

"The twos.  They are really terrible."

Husband started laughing when he figured out I was talking about Son and his current behavior pattern which is temper tantrum after temper tantrum.

"Come on honey, it can't be that bad," he said chuckling.

"YOU come home and YOU deal with him," I responded testily.

Yes, I am in the midst of some of the most painful child-raising I have done in a long while.  Son is not my first; I've already done two before him with struggles so I should be used to it, if not a master of it.  However, Son is nothing like Daughters.  He is BOSSY.  He is LOUD.  He is RAMBUNCTIOUS.  And he just gets my ire up so hard and so fast I want to do bad things with my hair - like rip it out or shred it to pieces.  I would estimate about 50% of our interactions end up with his screaming at the top of his lungs - NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO and screeching like some lost banshee in the jungle.  And when that screeching scream starts, it is the grace of God and some modicum of self control that prevents me from covering my ears and screaming back at him before running down the street away from the noise that is currently echoing in our house.

I'm using a lot of techniques - trying to repeat back to him his feelings, "I know you're upset that there isn't anymore of THAT cereal honey, but I don't have any more of it so I can't give it to you."  I'm using timeouts, "Okay. If you can't stop screaming like a hyena, then you need to get a time out."  I also have tried ignoring him, which I will tell you with this little one's voice is NOT easy. I've tried anticipating potential landmines and trying to prevent the meltdowns from occurring in the first place.   I offer choices like, "Do you want Mommy to turn out the light or are you going to do it?  Strawberry toothpaste or Orange mango?"  I try using humor - a goofy dance with a spoon on my nose as I try to break the screaming fit.   I have at my fingertips a full arsenal of approaches to deal with these completely terrible moments.  I will tell you that even with all these things, the screams continue and I just ask God for one more moment of patience before I go crazy.

Despite these struggles and this nonsense, I see Son growing up.  He is coming into his own.  He is developing a very funny and cute personality (when you take out the screaming) and he knows how to love me and make me laugh most days, notwithstanding that he also brings me to tears on others days .  And I know that this too, will pass.  I know that God is watching out for him and using Son to make me a better stronger mother and woman.  And I try and accept that challenge, although there are days when I don't want to.

It is Son and Husband who are the spicy lovers in the family.  Daughters usually enjoy a salad several times a week, but Son, although he LOVES cooked vegetables, hasn't ever been so keen on raw.  But I wanted to have a salad that he would eat (on days when I don't want to COOK a vegetable for him) so this is what I came up with....a spicy almost kimchee like salad.  And he liked it.  Loved it. Even Daughters liked it quite a bit.

The only downside to this salad that once dressed it needs to be eaten right away to get the crunch.  The dressing can break down the lettuce rather quickly, so if you are going to do it for a large gathering, I would suggest mixing a small amount at a time so that you don't lose the wonderful crisp texture of the romaine.

Great with Korean Marinade BBQ Flank Steak,  Bulgogi (불고기), Ginger Soy BBQ Chicken (닭구이), Korean Chili Paste Spicy Chicken (매운닭구이) or Soy Reduction Glazed Chicken

Spicy Korean Style Salad
Serves 4-6
3 heads of romaine, washed and cut into bite sized pieces
2 cucumbers cut into rounds (Persian/mini cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, or English)
1/2 red bell pepper thinly sliced
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup green onions, finely chopped (optional)

Dressing (same dressing as the Bok Choy Salad)
3 tablespoons Vietnamese fish sauce
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon sesame seed
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
2 tablespoons Korean red pepper flakes (gochugahloo-고추가루 )

Mix all the ingredients of the dressing together. It gets really thick so do not be shocked. (I like to use an old jar to mix the ingredients for the dressing.) Place the vegetables in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and carefully mix them together. Serve.

Printable recipe

Vegetables ready and prepped

Getting ready to toss some salad

Fish sauce I like, but this is NOT a good price.  I usually get it for about $3.50 -$4.00 at my local Chinese market.

Blueberry Mochi Mini Cake: When the days are hard and the nights even harder

For Luke House Church, the once again victims of my experiment

Today I had one of those days where my patience was worn completely thin.   Granted, it's been wearing thin for a while, but today I was really pushed to my limit and found myself losing my temper with Daughter #1, Daughter #2, and Son.

There are many days, that simply getting out of the house is a gift.  In order to pacify an irritable Son and cranky Daughter, I loaded both of them into the car to drive to the ATM drive thru located about 4 minutes from our house.  The two sat in the back seat, suddenly angelic, listening to music and laughing with each other.

That scene changed about an hour later, when we got into the car to go to our house church and Son suddenly decided that the songs playing on the speakers were ALL HIS.  I wasn't entirely clear on what he meant by it, but he kept on insisting that a certain song was "MINE."  I knew that the song, "Blessed Be Your Name" was a personal favorite of his, as he often requested it, but suddenly claiming it as his own seemed a bit strange.  I asked Daughter #2 about it and she clarified that it meant that no one could listen to the song or sing to the song.  I got a bit testy, turned off the music and said, "God made the music for everyone to listen to and everyone to sing with.  It is not YOUR song.  I know you like it and it is your favorite but everyone can listen to it."

Son responded, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO," and proceeded to enter a full blown temper tantrum at the top his lungs while I was driving in bumper to bumper traffic.  My patience rapidly deteriorarted and by the time we got to our destination, I really didn't want to have much to do with my children.  At our house church I found myself completely on edge and snapping at all three kids as they made me completely bonkers with their requests, demands and needs. 

Afterwards, we drove home and the car was completely silent as all three kids passed out in the card.  Right before falling asleep, Son said, "Mom - I found the moon.  It is coming home with us."  He promptly passed out but his words stuck with me as I watched the moon watch us and follow us and he seemed to say, tomorrow is a brand new day.

That peace I found quickly dissipated when I stopped at our home as all three decided to wake up and wail at the top of their voices and I had to shepherd three little ones into their beds at a rather late hour.Thankfully there was one lovely warm memory in the very hard day, and that was these little mochi cakes.  I watched many children eat and enjoy them and it made me smile.

I brought this blueberry mochi cake and the original mochi cake I had just posted to share with my house church. I was curious to see which one they would like better because although both have mochiko (sweet rice flour) in them, they have significantly different textures.  The results were evenly split among those who had to decide on one.  One house church member, PY said vehemently, "If you want to eat a mochi cake THIS is the one you eat."  (he was pointing to the original mochi cake.  I have to say that both are really yummy but I really do prefer the texture of the other mochi cake.  But no matter.  These are scrumptious and really fun to make.

Blueberry Mochi Cake
adapted from the Food Librarian
Makes 24 regular size muffin/mini cakes, or one 9x13 pan

1 lb box mochiko (sweet rice flour - equivalent to 3 cups)

2 sticks of butter (1 cup) melted
1 1/2 cups of sugar
12 oz can evaporated skim milk
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

12 oz fresh blueberries (about 1 1/2 cups)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease muffin tins or 9x13 pan. (I find it easiest to just use cooking spray oil like Pam).

In a large bowl, mix together melted butter and sugar.  Whisk until well combined.

Add evaporated milk and mix.  Add eggs and mix well.

Add vanilla extract, salt and mix.  Add baking powder and whisk until it is fully incorporated.  Finally add mochiko powder, and mix until the texture is uniform and smooth.

Carefully fold in blueberries, trying not to crush them or the batter will change colors.

Carefully portion mochi cake mixture into prepared muffin tins (or 9x13 pan)

I had some leftover so I simply put it in another baking pan and baked it alongside.

Bake for 35 minutes, until crust is golden and slightly crisp.  If you prefer a softer texture, then reduce time.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes and then serve.  Perfect with coffee ice cubes drink. 

Printable recipe

the texture of this one is more cake-like and less mochi-ish, but the other more mochi and less cake.

NOT a good price, but so that you can see what it is. 

Korean Style Spicy Slaw: Preparing to turn 40....

I'm doing it.  I'm outing myself and my age.  I will be turning 39 later this year, and the next year I will be 40.  I have a year to prepare for that mental age milestone, and hopefully by the time it hits, I will do what so many women have done before me...age gracefully.  I will no longer fret about the white hair at the top of my head, because hey, I'm 40 and that's what women have at 40, white hair.  I will no longer freak out when I see my reflection in the mirror while exercising upside down, and catch my face obeying the laws of gravity and sink in a direction I don't expect.  I will no longer compare my skin to that of a woman much younger than I, and instead accept it with all of its wrinkles, spots and blemishes.  I will be beautiful in my spirit and I will embrace my 40.

To help me accept my aging self, I like to think about how to plan my birthday party. I've told Husband that I will have several different celebrations, one being a weekend away with my best girlfriends, another is a meal at a posh restaurant surrounded by the the husbands and wives who are closest to Husband and me, and the final one is one where I invite a bunch of my close friends to my home, and I celebrate 40 by cooking for them.  I already think about that menu, what I can create and make to satisfy all those tastebuds that will be in the room.  I still haven't figured it all out yet but this is one dish I sort of tried out in anticipation of that party.  I thought of it because I'm pretty sure that my 40th birthday cooking fest will involve some sort of marinated meats, grilled and lots of yummy different sides.  That is my style of cooking so I'm pretty sure it would carry over on this day as well.  To go with yummy marinated meats I like to have lots of crisp refreshing salads. 

This is the result.  A spicy slaw, that looks sort of like kimchee, is spicy like kimchee, but really is a slaw.  I loved the texture, and I especially liked it with the black pork belly that I had with my dinner tonight.

I took a piece of pork and wrapped it around a bite of the coleslaw.

Son ate the slaw as well, and couldn't get enough of it with the pork either.  It was a hit for the two of us, and I managed to get daughters to taste it, only they couldn't take the spice.  (Son at 2 1/2 years old LOVES his spicy food.)

Korean Style Spicy Slaw
Serves 4-6

1/2 a head of cabbage, thinly shredded
2 mini cucumbers (Persian), julienne
1/2 onion, (red or white) thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped green onions
2 tablespoons cilantro, finely chopped (optional)

Dressing (same dressing as the Bok Choy Salad)
3 tablespoons Vietnamese fish sauce
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon sesame seed
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
2 tablespoons Korean red pepper flakes (gochugahloo-고추가루 )

Mix all the ingredients of the dressing together.  It gets really thick so do not be shocked. (I like to use an old jar to mix the ingredients for the dressing.)  Place the vegetables in a large bowl.  Pour the dressing over the vegetables and carefully mix them together.  Serve.

Printable recipe

This is oh-gyup sahl (오굡살). See the five layers of fat and meat alternating.  It is nice because it is leaner than samgyupsahl (삼겹살).

Label on the package

And the pork belly, eaten with this, just tastes so perfect.

The fish sauce I like to use