Ambitious Deliciousness – Dont Eat Lazy.

Is there a “correct” way to make dumplings? Some would argue so. It all depends on who you ask. And I don’t feel qualified to answer!

Dumplings (wonton, mandoo), by definition, are cooked balls of dough that are filled with different fillings. Usually, Asian dumplings contain meat and/or vegetables.

Back in January, I went to a dumpling party. It opened me up to this new world and helped me see how easy and delicious fresh dumplings can be! If I recall correctly, we made 4 different kinds, and the one that stood out to me was made with pork. I think there’s something about the combination of pork fat and vegetables that make it taste so good!

This dish was born out of sheer hunger, after a long day of working. Call me crazy, but if you invite me to an event, especially one going on for more than a couple of hours, the first thing that pops into my head is, will there be food? If not, can I get food before-hand? Or bring food?

When I’m hungry, I can’t focus on anything! I turn into a cranky monster, and needless to say, no fun to be around whatsoever. If you haven’t experienced this in person, consider yourself lucky!

Taking the time to focus on creating a delicious meal is, of course, preferred. However, there are times when your stomach won’t let you get away with not eating for another minute. Instead of going out to pick-up something to eat, I spend 8-10 minutes on making a super easy noodle dish.

(more…)

This photo is from the next day, using fresh fish instead of pan fried fish all because I did not like any of the photos I took earlier. (For those of you who care about that sort of thing!)

Inspired by this month’s cover of Food & Wine magazine, I have been hankering for some tacos lately. Not just any tacos (though I must confess Taco Bell every once in a while is my guilty pleasure), but those made from our friends who reside in the sea.

This post is a compilation of two separate days, consisting of two different kinds of tacos – first with shrimp, and then with pan fried sole. I also had the opportunity to make this for some friends who were at my place, helping me with a special project. But more on that in a future post.

(more…)

I attended an event called Quick and Easy Korean Cooking at The Korea Society on April 2nd, with about 40 others.

Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee is an author of two Korean cookbooks. I follow her blog, so when I discovered that she was teaching a Korean cooking class in NYC, I was excited! Since she’s usually in the west coast, I thought it would be a great opportunity to see her in action.

The session consisted of cooking demonstration of three dishes – pajeon, so myun noodles and ddukbokki (more on all those later). The cool thing was  that all three of these can be made in under 30 minutes.

Despite the challenge of cooking in a make-shift kitchen, I thought Cecilia did a great job answering questions while chopping vegetables. She was relaxed, funny and easy going, which helped the audience members feel comfortable enough to throw questions her way as well!

(more…)

Here is a recipe for a popular restaurant dish that is often found in Chinese style Korean cuisine. Say what?! If you’ve never had the pleasure of eating weirdly sounding dishes like Jja Jang Myun (noodles with black bean sauce) and Jjam Pong (noodles with spicy seafood soup), then you definitely are missing out! It’s not your typical meats and side dishes with rice – it’s more of a casual meal, mostly consisting of fried rice, noodles, and a large entree like this one for people to share around the table.

This recipe is for my friend J, who has been asking me to figure out what the heck is in this amazing dish! Now you can make this at home.

(more…)

We had torrential downpour of rain and high winds for about three days straight. I thought I was going to lose it. I’ve realized that it’s not good to be so weather dependent, but I reaaaally need sun! It’s been 60′s and sunny for the past two days though. YES!

I’ve always enjoyed ordering Thai iced tea at restaurants. Thai tea is black tea mixed with orange blossom water, star anise, crushed tamarind seed or red and yellow food coloring. It is usually mixed with condensed milk, giving it a sweet, milky contrast to the bitterness of the tea.

(more…)