changes

soooo... i haven't been posting for a while because of the usual reasons. lazy. uninspired. but also because between this post and the last i have become a divorcée and obviously moved out on my own. my ex-husband and i are still on good terms and we 'share custody' of our two cats, which i am grateful for.


beet-pickled deviled eggs with kimchi of course i have been cooking a lot; much more so now that i live alone. i was lucky enough to find an apartment to rent with a great location and nice kitchen with enough storage to keep all my appliances and knick knacks out of sight when not in use.


(packaged) cod roe sauce on homemade noodles
one sizeable undertaking i tried in my new apartment was to make tofu. it was a lot of work that yielded a pock-marked block of bitter tofu; not sure if it was because i used epsom salt or didn't keep it at the right temperature. however, it did have a lot of okara/biji leftover for me to work with, which tasted a lot better than the tofu. i made patties with it and froze the rest. as you can see, i've also starting making bentos again but hardcore! i started using instagram and have been harvesting a wealth of inspiration from other people's lunches from all over the world.


owl tofu! with terong balado, spicy indonesian eggplant


kenchinjiru with okara instead of tofu


slices of fried tofu and tofu patties hopefully i can get back on the blogging horse instead of lazily posting on instagram. thanks to anyone who stuck around. ("

mom was here

yeah so my mom came to visit in may and made us all sorts of nice things to eat. of course i had grand plans of taking her out on the town and treating her to the best restaurants copenhagen has to offer, but she had other ideas. she really just wanted to hang out and cook with me; how can i refuse?! my mom also (predictably) brought a whole second suitcase full of korean and mexican ingredients; including two packs each of bbq eel and soondae!! is that even legal..? i don't know how i managed to squirrel away all of it into the kitchen cabinets, but eventually i made it happen. don't open any of the cabinets. >_>




kimbap



pan-fried zucchini, meat patties, and peppers stuffed with meat


oxtail soup


bbq eel and avocado rolls, chobap/inarizushi


apparently it's a cool new thing to combine chapagetti and neoguri, or so my mom tells me. the result is noodles with a moreish, spicy sauce. it's worth a try! just be sure to drain away the same amount of water as if you were just making the chapagetti. it really was such a breath of fresh air to have her here. i've been living in denmark for 5 years now and i only get to see my family once a year; maybe twice if i'm lucky. though i like living here, i miss them very much.

homesick at home

i miss my mom.
samgyeopsal


kimchi chigae


pan-fried tofu


braised mackerel with radish


japchae


doenjang chigae


tteokbokki

no recipe

so, danish summer is (or should i say "was") not all it's cracked up to be this year. there have been more cold/windy days than sunny, with lots of rain to add insult to injury. but that did make the local strawberries taste even better than i remember last year. there haven't been any strawberries jams or pies made, as we've been content with eating them straight out of their punnets. anyway, it hasn't been hot enough to avoid cooking on most days, so here is a bit of what's been going on in my kitchen.


mussels and soba


chili crab


a strange mix of balinese food; chicken in coconut milk, water spinach, fried tempe, and rice


jjajangmyun


soondubu


pho accoutrements. sorry, the soup was made from a packet. I:


pandan chicken.


clockwise from top right: spicy bean sprouts and green beans, water spinach, fried shallots, that chicken in coconut milk again, and coconut rice

i've been making a lot of indonesian dishes lately. i feel like a traitor, haha! in the following months i'll try to make more korean food. (:

auntie alice's galbi jim

last christmas my aunt alice made a wonderful beef dish in a slow cooker. the meat was very tender and packed with flavour! in korea, meat is rarely eaten the way it is in america; usually it is presented as a side dish instead of the centerpiece of the meal. this dish is so flavourful that you only need a little bit with rice... and you really must eat it with rice so you can soak up all the lovely sauce! (:



aunt alice's galbi jim
serves 12 as a side, 8 as a main

2.3 kg chuck roast or brisket
900 g steamed small yellow potatoes (optional)
handful of shiitake mushrooms (optional)
2 medium-sized yellow onions, cut in half
1 small or medium-sized korean radish, peeled and cut into big chunks
5 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
1 cup broccoli or brussels sprouts, cut into bite-sized pieces
10 garlic cloves, peeled
2 peeled slices of ginger, about 3 cm each
1 cup soy sauce (regular, not light)
1 cup granulated sugar or palm sugar
1/8 or 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
pinch of salt

wash the meat, trim off the fat, and cut it into big chunks. heat a nonstick frying pan on medium-high heat and sear the meat chunks for about 30 seconds on each side, then put them in the slow cooker with 5 garlic pieces and the ginger pieces. cook the seared meat on the low setting for about 4-6 hours until the meat is cooked. the meat should be intact and the broth should not be a reddish color.

on the same nonstick frying pan on medium-high heat, lightly cook the radish, carrots, yellow onions with 5 garlic pieces and add pinch of salt. do not fully cook the vegetables.

drain all but 2 cups of the meat broth from the slow cooker, reserving the rest for use in another recipe. add cooked vegetables, broccoli or brussel sprouts and add the rest of the ingredients. if using dried shiitake mushrooms then add them now, but if they are fresh then add them a few minutes before serving. cook on high for about 2-3 hours or you can cook on the low setting for a few more hours, depending on when you are serving. (:

christmas in california

every other year, the dane and i fly to america to spend christmas with my family instead of his. this year was our second time spending the holidays in california. it's always a strange feeling with the sun nearly constantly shining and the temperature sitting around a balmy 21°C/70°F. but the gaudy decorations are still all over the shops and the crappy songs are playing 24/7 on the radio. we don't celebrate christmas in the traditional way with caroling or the roast goose/duck/ham/turkey. meat actually plays a fairly small part in the korean diet compared to americans. but this was definitely not a traditional korean meal either.


galbijim! in a slow cooker! the dane told me that though the meat looked dry, it was very tender and delicious. my aunt alice made this. hopefully she'll give me the recipe soon so i can post it >here<. (;




soba salad! light and fresh, perfect for a sunny day like... christmas eve?!



my aunt silvia's delicious fish. top salmon with a mixture of mayo, pepper, and fish eggs. in the oven and there you go! if you add salt, i'd only use very little since the fish eggs are pretty salty. everyone went nuts over this, especially us 'kids.'



a nice assortment of veg. my grandma grew the leaves on the top left, dried them, and stir-fried them with garlic and soy sauce. she said it is kind of like collard greens. then we have some spicy water spinach(?) and pickled radish and carrot.



sorry, this ddeokbukki was not made in the slow cooker. it was only used to keep the dish warm after it was stir-fried. it was very moreish with rice sticks, fish cakes, bell peppers, and some little bits of meat.



my mom's japchae! she topped it with some egg strips this time. i don't know why, but every time i make it, it doesn't taste nearly as good as hers or my grandma's. (;



epic rice is epic. chestnuts and beans come together in this rice cooker to make a great cold-weather dish that really sticks to your bones. too bad there was none of that cold weather around.



poor copper... my aunt's dog was kicking up quite a ruckus seeing all these people and smelling all the good food, but not being let into the living room. we did let him out into the backyard after this pathetic pose and later they took him on a walk.


here is my wonderful christmas lunch plate! i know, it looks full... but it is mostly vegetables, grains, fish, and a little bit of meat. also, i didn't get seconds. i wasn't able to get any decent photos of the acorn jelly salad or the chicken wrap in their serving trays, but you can see them here. delicious!!


while we were eating outside in the lovely weather, we spotted an uninvited guest! a bird of prey swooped down in the backyard and caught what i think was a mouse. it landed in a tree and started digging in with the rest of us. what kind of bird is that?


and then the desserts came out... madeleines with plump blackberries and powdered sugar. these were so good that i ended up eating two. i tried not to think about how much butter went into them, even though it was my aunt alice herself who gave me the recipe, along with two madeleine pans.


this chocolate trifle was probably my favourite, although it was probably the least labor-intensive out of all three desserts. there is just something about the combination of pudding, cake, whipped cream, and crunchy toffee that is so comforting.


the irish cream cheesecake was good, though i could only manage a sliver of it. it was thankfully not as rich as the typical new york cheesecake. my aunt alice, the queen of sweets in our family, made all the desserts! though my mom is a great cook, her baking is nothing to rave about... sorry, mom!

so that is how we spend christmas eve in the kim family, or as my dad calls it, the kim dynasty. it will be another 2 years before we spend the holidays like this again, but i'm looking forward to celebrating a traditional danish jul with the dane's family again next year. maybe i can even bring a dish of my own to add a little korean to the table, hah! hopefully there will be some snow on the ground then, and it will feel like a real christmas. ^^

gapshida!

recently a series of fortunate (at least for me!) events brought me face to face with my food hero, maangchi! for some reason, i had no idea that she was planning to come to denmark in october for her global cooking show. in september, she contacted me to ask if i was still living in copenhagen and that she was looking forward to meeting me. of course i told her i was elated! but a few days later, the organizer for the copenhagen meetup could no longer participate and maangchi asked me if i could do it.

o_o

only my husband knows the sheer joy i was feeling when she asked me.


at first we had planned to meet at my apartment if there was less than 10 attendees or at a restaurant if there were more. eventually, the headcount grew to over 50... woah! kafa-x, the soup kitchen i volunteer at, graciously allowed us to use the building for the meet up event. because there were too many people to cook for, maangchi decided to make it a potluck, which was easier for us and also gave a good variety of great food. even still, we did a lot of work shopping around at chinatown market and torvehallerne and prepping the food afterwards. yes, there is a cooking video that will appear at some point, as i was able to find a cameraman (pictured above). he's a friend of mine who is hopefully now inspired to cook some korean food at home. (:


there was so much food! the table was totally packed with plates and bowls. maangchi and i made beef and radish soup and also a spicy pork stir fry. for my friend the cameraman, we made a vegan version with mushrooms instead of pork. among other things, people brought pickled tomatoes, broccoli soup, pumpkin soup, stir-fried chinese greens, frikadeller, kimchi (duh), kimbab, potato cakes, red cabbage salad, carrot salad, butternut squash and pear salad, and some lovely desserts. two guys even brought about 10 bottles of soju, wow! i don't even want to think about how much that cost here in copenhagen. D:


these three girls were a big surprise; they came all the way from sweden to meet maangchi! one of them even made some really good korean fried chicken. i was so impressed... i will definitely invite them to the next kimchi-making class. (:


the next day, maangchi invited me to her hotel room to have lunch. turns out that she had a little picnic stashed away in her luggage! with the little travel rice cooker, seaplant sheets, kimchi, dried anchovies, spicy dipping sauce, tiny shrimps, tiny dried fish, and squid, it was one of the best meals i've had in copenhagen in a long time. we wrapped everything up in the seaplant sheets and made a long kimbap roll. after lunch, i took maangchi for a classic tour of copenhagen. of course we had to see the little mermaid first, as she's advertised in every denmark travel brochure. then we walked by the old fortification of kastellet, the palace of the danish royal family, nyhavn, the pedestrian street, and then city hall. phew, that was a lot of walking! sorry, i didn't take any photos... i just wanted to relax and hang out with maangchi, haha! she posted some fun photos already.


by the time we got to city hall we had only eaten some ice cream in coffee (yes, you read that right!) and tea since lunch, so we decided to eat dinner at my favourite chinese place. that's right, we went to magasasa! we ordered some very spicy fish in a LOT of chili oil and the spicy crab, both off the sichuan menu. obviously we ate it with rice! it was so good after our long walk in the chilly weather and a great meal to see me off to hong kong. (:

the next day i didn't have time to see maangchi again as she had another engagement and i was busy packing for my own trip. at that point it hit me how privileged i was to have her all to myself for a whole day, haha! the more we talked, the more i realized we are the same 'species.' we'll probably meet again someday. after copenhagen, she continued her cooking adventure in australia, new zealand, singapore, indonesia, malaysia, and the philippines! safe trip, maangchi! ^^

a korean hostess

last week, i hosted a dinner party with a theme of korean food. usually when i invite people over for a meal, there is a relaxed and relatively... ghetto atmosphere in our flat. people have sat on the floor, some of the bowls are mismatched, and there is only the main meal served family-style followed by a dessert. well, at least this time people weren't sitting on the floor! with such a small apartment, there is only so much i can do when it comes to feeding a group of more than 4 people. but it was great fun! appetizer, main, and dessert were served in a timely manner and i can feel my cooking confidence growing by the day. i foresee many more dinners to be hosted by me. (:


pictured above is a simple pan-fried tofu dish which i topped with garlic, scallions, soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice vinegar. a wave of homesickness overcame me as i was preparing the meal; when my mom would cook at home, my brother and i got to taste-test everything. of course it was all perfect and i had nothing to add, but i'd keep sneaking by to 'test' another piece and another and another. especially when my mom makes fishcakes! as i asked my husband to taste-test a couple pieces of the fishcakes, i missed my mom so much! by the way, maangchi posted the fishcake recipe on the day after my dinner! what a cool coincidence. ^^


there was a vegetarian in attendance so i made sure there was enough for her to eat. my mom can tell you that acorn jelly has always been one of my favourite foods; way before i was even aware of veganism or gluten intolerance. but this dish is perfect for both of those since all it contains is the starch of the acorn and water. even though i love it, i am always pleasantly surprised when non-koreans enjoy acorn jelly, as the consistency and concept are so strange. it was served with the same sauce as the tofu, which i now regret (lazy me!), but they taste so good together. at least no one complained. (;


the other dishes served were soy sauce eggs with daikon and jalapenos, water kimchi (more on this later), classic napa cabbage kimchi, a salad, and galbi. i think the dinner went well even though i decided to serve quinoa at the last minute, which was a struggle to eat with chopsticks. stupidly, i did not check on the brown rice that i'd set in the cooker; it turned on and back off again for some reason. so obviously the rice never got cooked... but it works again now and thank goodness for that! i hope my mom is still reading my blog and will be proud of my hosting skillz, though they'll never come close to hers. but maybe after 30 more years of dinner parties, i can be half the hostess she is!