Helping a Friend with a GOOD Cause

My friends are in the process of adopting internationally. :) Hopefully, Lily will be with her forever family very very soon! Please check out her blog of the whole process at www.wearespeechless.blogspot.com. I promise you this family is very deserving of your time. :) Also, link her blog on your blogs as well. Lastly, any donations would help, but please don't feel obligated.

Charlie is a little monster today. He had his second flu shot, and he is one SUPER UNHAPPY baby. I feel so bad for him, and I have no idea what to do to make him feel better. He's never been so fussy with any of his other vaccinations. Hopefully, this will pass soon.

I've been really really homesick lately. I miss my family and all their quirks.... even my sister. (See alal you got a mention) I probably think about moving back home or just the Southeast in general 50 times a day. I have a tendency to exaggerate, and that is not an exaggeration. Take this example at HomeGoods today. I was pushing my buggy down the aisle, and this other lady had her cart in the middle of the aisle sideways. There was no passing in any direction. She looked up and saw four other people trying to get around her. She just went back to rifling through the shelves. She didn't even bother to move her buggy! She even looked annoyed that people would try to go down "her" aisle. This rarely happens back home. Favorite example of why TN is way better than NJ: People in NJ leave their carts in the parking lot! My car has been dinged about 20 times now. Why can't people take the extra time to put their buggies in the corral? Or just push it back up to the store? ** Disclaimer: I know I'm biased. :) I also know that if my friends from NJ moved down South, they would dislike it just as much. Please don't get your feelings hurt. I'm just venting, because I want to go home.

One Crazy Week

This week has been crazy!

Two of my courses were shortened into the first half of the semester. So, I've done twice the amount of coursework in the same amount of time as a normal class. The last week has been nonstop preparation and final exam taking MADNESS! I can honestly say I'm exhausted. Charlie hasn't liked the change of pace (read here: I've been ignoring him a little to get all my work done), so he has been protesting by not sleeping. Poor little guy.

Charlie's new thing this week is to whole bodily fling himself when he doesn't get his way (like being immediately picked up from the shopping cart when he gets bored). He usually hits my nose or my face or my eye. You get the point. I'm starting to look like a battered woman. He is so strong willed and stubborn. I have no idea who he gets that from.... (definitely not me. :) I thought this wouldn't start until he was a toddler. I had no idea 10 month old babies could have such a strong will!

Michael may or may not have an exciting opportunity for advancement at work. So, we are praying about it a lot, and we REALLY hope he gets the opportunity. :) To our little human eyes, it looks like the perfect scenario. It may not be in the grand scheme of things, but we have hope.

Speaking of the little booger, it is time to go to sleep. :) More tomorrow. I promise I haven't forgot about all my faithful readers (all two of you)!

kimchijeon

Korean pancakes are so so yummy! They are more of what we would consider a fritter. :)

In large bowl mix:
1 cup kimchi (the more sour the better)
1 and 1/3 cup flour
1-1.5 cups water
a couple spoonfuls of the kimchi juice
a dash each of sugar and salt
mushrooms, shrimps, green onion, etc...

Fry it up in a pan with oil like you would a regular pancake. The thinner and crunchier the better. :)

My favorite cookies with icing.

HI! It is fall again. Everyone knows what that means!!! LOTS OF BAKING! Below is my favorite cookie recipe with favorite homemade icing. :)

Cookies.
Ingredients:

8oz cream cheese
1/4 cup butter, softened
1tsp vanilla
1 egg yolk
1 package yellow cake mix


Cream butter and cream cheese together. Add egg yolk and vanilla. Beat thoroughly. Gradually stir in cake mix. Put in fridge while the oven heats to 375 degrees. Bake approx 10 minutes. (grease the cookie sheet)

Icing.
Ingredients:
1/2-1 stick butter
2-3 tbsp milk (I use coconut milk)
3-4 cups confectioners sugar

Beat all ingredients together. Pipe onto cookies. 

Yukgaejang (spicy beef stew)

This is in the pot now! :) I'm so excited to try it!

Ingredients:

• beef brisket- 1lb
• 1/2 onion
• 12 green onions
• 5 cups bean sprouts
• kosari
• 1 stalk celery
• garlic
• hot pepper paste
• sesame oil
• salt
• pepper
• soy sauce

Directions:

1. Put meat and onion in pot. Cover with water. Boil for 40-50 minutes (This is your stock)
2. Cut the green onions, celery, and kosari into pieces about 3 inches in length. Put them all into a big bowl.
3. Put 3 tbs hot pepper paste, 1 tbs of sesame oil, 1 tbs soy sauce, 1 tbs of salt, and some grounded black pepper into a small bowl and mix it. This is your hotpepper oil sauce.
4. Put the hotpepper oil sauce into the vegetables mixture and mix them all up.
5. When the beef is well cooked, take it out and set it aside to cool down.
6. Add the mixture of vegetables and hotpepper oil sauce into the boiling beef stock. Boil it for 20-30 minutes.
7. Slice the beef thinly and add it into the boiling soup. Cook it about 5-10 minutes more.

ENJOY!

Sweet and Sour

Sweet:
I got to go on a date with my husband sans baby for the first time since early May. It was much needed. :) We also got a jogging stroller that I am so excited to use. vroom vroom. Then when we got home, my hubby bubby packed up the baby and took him to hang out for a couple hours. YAY alone time. :)


Sour:
I have a really hard time making friends. :'( It hit me today that I really don't have many mom friends that I hang out. (One to be exact). Trying not to mope, so I'm gonna make cookies or cake.

I will blog more tomorrow. I'm so tired tonight!

Kimchi Jjigae (Kimchi stew)

Can I just say this is one of my favorite dishes?! LOVE LOVE LOVE! It is super easy to make. You can throw everything together in ten minutes and have it cooked in 30. :)
 

Ingredients:

• 4-5 cups Kimchi with juice, chopped
• 1 sm-md onion, sliced
• green onion, sliced into 1/2 in long strips
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 cans tuna- don't drain the water (some people used pulled pork)
• handful dehydrated shiitake mushrooms (mostly for flavor)
• 1 heaping tbsp hot pepper paste (a korean spice)
• tofu (I leave that out)
• sesame oil

In big pot:
Combine all ingredients. Add enough water to cover all ingredients. Boil for 20-30 minutes with lid on. Serve over rice. Drizzle with sesame oil immediately before serving. Enjoy!

Why is life so hard??

When I was 17, I never wanted kids. I never thought I'd get married. I never thought I'd live up North. I never thought I'd still be working on my first degree at the ripe old age of 22. I had everything planned. Get degree, go to med school, be super awesome famous doctor.

What really happened: I went to school, goofed off, met Michael. My grades were average, so I moved back home. I went to a different school. Then I got married and moved to Indiana and changed schools...twice. Michael was laid off, so we got a job in New Jersey. I changed schools again (the fifth college). We had a baby. Now?? Now, I'm not so sure what is going to happen.

I'm a huge control freak. I like to be in control of everything and know exactly what is going to happen. When I don't know what is going to be happening long term, I start to feel like I might die. Please don't laugh. It's true! I have great amounts of anxiety over things as simple as running out of cloth diapers, the baby pooped, and they are all in the washer!

I have a huge dilemma. I have no idea what I want to do with my life. Do I want to stay home? Do I want to be a nurse or something else? What is God's plan for my life? I HAVE NO CLUE! (Maybe I can be a famous blogger and make millions... ha)

There are pros and cons to each scenario. If I finish nursing school, we would be financially secure for pretty much ever. The trade off is my baby would be in daycare full time for the next three semesters, and I really don't enjoy patient care (they whine a lot). We don't have the money for daycare, and I definitely do not want some stranger raising my baby. Nursing is very stressful, and I don't deal with stress very well. I'm working on handing that over to God. I have no idea why it is so hard for me to relinquish control (haha again). If I stay home and pursue a degree in something else in the evenings, we probably wouldn't be as financially secure. I've contemplated finishing a degree in history at Rutgers (I applied and was accepted). I'm only two semesters away if I go full time. The pros: Charlie would only have to go to a sitter for about two hours every day. He'd have me all day, and then Michael would be home with him in the evenings. The cons: I have no idea what kind of job you can get with a history degree. Work part time for a non-profit maybe?

I've been praying about this for a year. It just dawned on me that maybe God hasn't given me an answer, because I'm a crazy person! Just kidding. More likely because I'm afraid to give the whole decision over to him. I keep trying to keep veto power.

Why is life so hard?

My verses of the day:

Psalm 46:10- He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
   I will be exalted among the nations,
   I will be exalted in the earth.”

See... I have no reason to feel like impending doom is bearing his full wrath upon my head!

Psalm 55:22- Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.

Food Experiment

I get pretty bored with the same foods every day, so last week I had a grand idea. "Why not make food from a different country every week?" JACKPOT! This last week we had Korean food. It was so good, I'm extending it to this coming week as well.

Today's recipe: 잡채 JapChae (Pronounced: jahp-chae)

• dangmyun (type of korean noodle)
• 1/3 lb beef sliced thinly (any type of roast or steak)
• 1 bunch of spinach
• 1 medium size carrot sliced into matchstick sized strips
• 1 medium size onion sliced thinly
• mushrooms (5 dried shiitake-soaked if dehydrated and 1 package of white mushrooms-sliced)
• 3 cloves of garlic-minced
• 7-8 green onions cut into 2 in strips
• Soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, pepper, and toasted sesame seed

1. Boil 2 bunches of noodles in boiling water in a big pot for about 3 minutes. When the noodles are soft, drain them and put in a large bowl.
2. Cut the noodles several times by using scissors and add 1 tbs of soy sauce and 1 tbs of sesame oil. Mix it up and set aside.
   
3. In the boiling water, add a bunch of spinach and stir it gently for 1 minute. Then take it out and rinse it in cold water. Cut it into 2 in pieces.
4. Add ½ tbs soy sauce and ½ tbs sesame oil and mix it and place it onto the large bowl.
   
5. On a heated pan, put in a few drops of olive oil and your carrot strips and stir it with a spatula for 30 seconds. Put it into the large bowl (don’t burn it!).
6. Place a few drops of olive oil on the pan and add your sliced onion. Stir it until the onion looks translucent. Put it into the large bowl with your carrots.
7. Place a few drops of olive oil on the pan and add the sliced white mushrooms. Stir it for a bit and then put it in the large bowl.
8. Place a few drops of olive oil on the pan and add your green onions. Stir for 1 minute and put it into the large bowl.
9. Place a few drops of olive oil on the pan and add your beef strips and your sliced shitake mushrooms. Stir it until it’s cooked well, then add 3 cloves of minced garlic, ½ tbs soy sauce and ½ tbs sugar. Stir for another 30 seconds and then put it into the large bowl.
10. Add 2 tbs of soy sauce, 3 tbs of sugar, 2 tbs of sesame oil, and 1 ts of ground pepper to the large bowl. Mix all ingredients, then sprinkle 1 tbs of toasted sesame seeds on the top.
11. Serve with rice and Kimchi, or as a side dish.

New to Blogging

Obviously, this is my first blog posting. More to follow....