#223 // 03.29.11

New foods

Since we couldn't go to Japan and experience ethnic food, I started bringing ethic food home to us. This all started last week while doing some food blog hopping which turned into a bunch of Youtube video watching. I have discovered that a bunch of dishes I thought were scary or weird really aren't too different from what I normally eat and like. This has spawned quality bonding time with my kitchen and produced some delicious new dishes. The first such dish is a korean vegetable pancake called "yachaejeon". Sounds totally weird, but it's not. All it is is: flour, baking power, water, green onions, chives, zucchini, and vegetable oil. Not too bad huh? Here's the video from Maangchi.com:



Super easy and very yummy! I used Bisquick instead of flour because I only have whole wheat flour and wasn't sure how it would taste. So my pancake was very pancake-y but that wasn't a bad thing really. I rate my variation of it 7 out of 10. If you add Sriracha sauce to it I give it an 8.5/10 (so deliciously spicy)!

With asian pancakes on the mind, I did some video hopping and found a "cheaters" version of a Japanese pancake called "okonomiyaki". Okonomiyaki is a tradition Japanese dish, and a dish taken very seriously, especially in Osaka. (We never had it while we were there though... )

Okonomiyaki is my favorite new dish. It's quick, really healthy, an explosion of flavors, and mostly amazingly delicious! It got a 10/10 and I plan on making it again, for meals and even mini ones for parties.



The only thing I did differently with this was add a ton of green onions in the mixture. Soooo delicious!


My okonomiyaki

If you have a local asian market, I HIGHLY recommend picking up some "okonomi" sauce. It's very similar to a sweet BBQ sauce. We've been topping our rice with it, but it's great as a condiment for anything- burgers, hot dogs, eggs, meatloaf, etc. I forget the price exactly, but I think it was $3-$5ish. Worth every penny.

The next dish I'm going to try is kimchi. On Maangchi's website, she has an "emergency kimchi" recipe (normal kimchi from what I understand takes a while to make). Cabbage, hot pepper flakes, fish sauce (which you can use soy sauce instead), sugar, garlic green onions, and a carrot. Nothing crazy in that but the fish sauce, especially since you can swap it for the soy sauce. You can also play with the amount of hot pepper flakes, garlic, and sauce to make it as spicy as you'd like. I like all those veggies and I like spicy foods so this seems like something I would like. I'm going to try this out tonight if I can find cabbage. (The only cabbage I can find is thin and might as well be lettice which is lame).



Another recipe of her's I'm tempted to try is her Korean-style cucumber pickles or "oigangaijji". I love pickles so this spicy pickle recipe sounds like it's right up my alley.

Enough of food already! It's not even 4:00pm and I'm hungry! Two more hours until I get off work. Must get my mind preoccupied on something else! So I'm going to call my Mom.

#222 // 03.24.11

Back from break

After having taken the last almost week off of work, I am back and rearing to go! I had very little to do when I got in this morning thanks to Sean being awesome and keeping the store in ship-shape!

For my birthday last Friday, Aaron bought me this amazing bed set (new sheets, pillow cases, and comforter) and I have been sleeping like a baby! My closest friends and family know that I don't ever sleep like a baby. My sinuses keep me up or bother me enough that I have a hard time getting rest. I don't know what it was about the new sheets, but oh my goodness did I sleep well since I put them on the bed! That, I'm sure, might have something to do with my great mood!

It might also have something to do with me not wanting to get out of bed on Monday so I didn't end up posting a "Makeup Monday". Let me tell you how glorious it was lazy-ing around in bed until 10am! It was glorious! Well anyways, here is a little tutorial which includes makeup from one of ELF's new pallets:





A: Benefit "Girl Meets Pearl" primer to help get rid of my huge pores, B: Benefit "Lemon Aid" to get rid of my dark circles, C: Maybelline "Age Rewind Eraser Foundation" (I admit it- I'm a squinter, I squint in the sun, when I'm concintrating, when I'm smiling, constantly, so I have small wrinkles and this helps), D: Mark by Avon powder compact, E: Mark by Avon light pink and white eye shadows to highlight my cheek bones, F: Mark by Avon blush, G: brownish- pink eyeshadow over the eyelids only, H: darker brown eyeshadow used as eyeliner along the outside corners only, about 1/2 across top lashline and 1/3 across bottom lashline, I: CoverGirl brown mascara.

Now with that out of the way, on to FOOD! Mmm! Aaron made us dinner the other night in our new Japanese ceramic dishes:




We wanted something authentic to eat our ramen in, since we eat a ton of it (well, mostly Aaron, but I do it also). It's pretty similar to what they used in Ponyo:



Like our Star Wars Light Saber chopsticks? We couldn't resist! Haha! Dinner was soooooo good that night. I might have Aaron make dinner more often!

#221 // 03.18.11

For A Friday Afternoon

Here for your enjoyment is a nice little selection of songs that I think fit today very well. Enjoy!

#220 // 03.15.11

Makeup Monday

I got this idea from Keiko Lynn and was inspired to do my own. This last week or so I have really enjoyed low key natural/nude makeup. This look takes 3 minutes to put on so it's great for mornings when you're running late, not feeling like doing anything major, yet looks fresh and pretty.



The items I used for this look include:



A: Lemon Aid by Benefit for getting rid of dark circles (which I have every morning), B: Revlon "ColorStay" foundation, C: Mark by Avon powder, D: Mark by Avon "Dusty Rose" blush, E: ELF "Shimmering Facial Whip", F: Sally Hansen brown eyeliner, G: CoverGirl "LashBlast Volume" in brown.

My makeup routine goes like this: Lemon Aid under the eyes, concealer if needed, apply foundation and use a sponge to blend, powder, blush only on the apples of my cheeks (I have a long face and if I apply across my entire cheek it makes my face look loooonger), eye shadow, eyeliner and mascara only on the outside corners of my eyes, chapstick, then on the rare occasion (like today) lipstick and gloss.

How to on how I did my eye makeup:




Like I said, it's low key, nothing fancy at all. Well, other than the lipstick it's not fancy.

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