Recipe: Beef Barley Soup

So I went grocery shopping a few days ago. Which was a bit of a feat, as the landlady didn’t bother to mention to me that they were going to redo the concrete on the side path to my house (they had ripped it up a couple weeks ago, just before Chusok, because of a blockage in one of the drains to the house–I think the hole they made there was another random hole and not where they actually found the blockage. This seems to be common around here…when there was a flood in my house a couple years back, they started ripping holes in each room of my house even though they really didn’t know which pipe had burst. Now THAT was fun. Remind me to tell you about it sometime.) So anyway, when I went out to go to the market, I found the path out of my house blocked. I suppose I could have found a way to scale the concrete wall behind my house, but I didn’t really feel like climbing something almost as high as my head in a skirt. So I removed the blocking pole and walked across it anyway, after making sure that it was at least dry enough to walk on. (She “happened” to call while I was at the market to tell me not to walk on the concrete. I say “happened” because I’m sure she was just being her old nosy self and actually saw me leave the house. By the way this was at about 8:30 at night, so I doubt it was just a coincidence. Which means she never really intended to inform me at all. Do I sound ungracious towards my landlady? There’s a whole big story behind that too. Remind me to tell you sometime, if you’re not one of the people to whom I have already vented my spleen, most of my liver, and possibly one of my kidneys about it.) Apparently, there IS another way to get out to the street from behind the building, but it requires squeezing through a 6″ opening beside my boiler room. I always thought that was walled off. Now I know. Can’t fit through it anyway.

So ANYWAY, I went grocery shopping. I kinda like grocery shopping. (Except for this weird thing that happens every time. As soon as I make the decision to go, it immediately starts raining. Very strange.) I especially like it when nice people chat with me a little while I’m at a counter or at the till. (That’s one of the things I miss about being a native speaker in Canada–the pleasant small talk with strangers.) And for some reason, I’ve been buying a bit more beef than usual, so I’ve had to ask for things at the butcher counter the past couple of times. The first time, the older butcher started off chatting with me (of course, finding out my age and my marital status as soon as possible–but I like the way he did so. Instead of blasting me with the question, point blank, he asked me what “sir’s” job was, after I mentioned that I had been in Korea for nine years.) Which sir, I asked? Oh, you mean my husband? Oh, I’m not married. He seemed surprised that I have stayed in Korea for nine years of my own volition, not because of my husband’s job. Soon after this, the young butcher came out, and the older informed him quite enthusiastically that I was not married and sort of got him to take over the rest of my order. So butcher the younger proceeded to chat me up while he was mincing my beef. Quite fun.

So this time, even though they had the stewing beef I needed prepackaged in the refrigerator case, there was no ground beef out, so I had to go up to the butcher’s counter again. And, well, who do I see but butcher the younger, again, at my service. He didn’t chat so much while he was cutting up the beef I needed but as he handed it over, he spent quite a while telling me how important it was for me to believe that they have the freshest beef, even though you see that this beef I have cut off, here, has a different colour on the outside than on the inside…that’s just because it’s later in the day, but we really do have good quality beef here, and you must trust our quality, and it’s really good beef, and that slight discoloration is really nothing to worry about, and you absolutely must believe in us. Smiling charmingly the whole way through. Of course, I’m laughing and agreeing with him enthusiastically the whole time. Hmm, I think I’m flirting with the butcher, or he’s flirting with me, or something. Expect more recipes featuring beef for the next little while.

Oh, and as I was leaving the store? It started raining. Hands full and no umbrella. Next time that happens, I’m going back in and borrowing an umbrella from butcher boy.

Beef and Barley Soup
Adapted very liberally from Extending the Table, because I didn’t have peas (used green peppers instead) and I realized I still had some squash to use up.

1/2 lb. cubed stewing beef
1 lg. onion, diced
6 c. beef broth
3-4 stalks celery, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 lg. carrots, diced
1/2 medium butternut squash, cubed
1/3 c. pearl barley
2 T. vinegar
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 t. basil
Salt and pepper to taste

In bottom of soup pot, brown beef with onions and celery. Add broth to the pot, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until beef is tender. Add green pepper, carrots, squash, barley, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and basil and simmer until barley, squash and carrots are all cooked. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add more water if needed, especially if reheating the next day, as barley may absorb a lot of the liquid.

Serve with warm, buttered slices of homemade bread.

And just to give you an idea of what I’ll be posting soon, this (below) is what I was up to this morning. I’m going to try to actually post recipes AS I make things (though that has always been the plan, of course) because I was looking through the over 800 food photos I have and I realized that even though I could probably locate the recipe that I started from, I now have no ripping clue how I actually made them. Dang.

Anyway, brownies. And pasta.

Greetings from Canada!

So I got here in mid-December…I suppose that’s news to a lot of people But don’t take it personally that I haven’t gotten in touch, I just needed some time to myself. Since I got here, I’ve been:

1. De-pressurizing and de-stressing
2. Hiding from the entire world (think Thoreau’s Walden, not the hunchback of Notre Dame)
3. Having Christmas

4. Trying not to think (and mostly succeeding) about the fact that I have no job, no income, almost no home, and no apparent job prospects…whoops! better be careful, I almost thought about it…
5. Knitting

6. Augmenting my yarn stash

7. Baking and cooking

8. Reorganizing my online experience
9. Looking at the snow

10. Preparing to enter Phase 2 of my four-phase plan to Get A Life, which is getting in touch with people and joining the human race again Talk to you soon!

Soundtrack of my life meme

If your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be?

Directions:
1. Open your mp3 library
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press Play.
4. For every question, type the song that’s playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the Next button.
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool.
7. Don’t skip songs.

My Movie:
1. Opening credits: 다신 없겠죠 – 김동욱
2. Waking up: 마지막 사랑 – 015B
3. First day of school: 일상으로의초대 – Crom
4. Fight song: 상상속의 너, Non-Stop Mega Mix PartⅠ – 노이즈
5. Breaking up: 사랑보다 깊은 상처 – 박정현 & 임재범
6. Happiness: 2U, Playa Hataz 2 – 조PD
7. Life’s okay: 마지막 콘서트 – 부활
8. Mental breakdown: 그대 사랑 안에 머물러 – 김정민 (from 세남자 세여자)
9. Driving: 소녀시대 (Techno Remix) – 이승철
10. Flashback: Sparkle – As One
11. Getting back together: Delicious Humming – Humming Urban Stereo
12. Wedding song: 오아시스 (feat. JK 김동욱) – CB-Mass
13. Birth of first child: 버려진 시간 – 김건모
14. Final battle scene: 넌 또다른 나 – 하광훈
15. Death scene: 너만을 위한 사랑 – 조정현
16. Funeral song: 이별의 무게 – 이승철
17. End credits: 이름모를 소녀 – 이승철

wednesday morning baking

Hanging out with some handsome guys (my level 4 writing class) on the last day of class…we went to the new Starbucks across the street from the school–it’s really nice, very relaxing, good music, and they have really great sparkling apple juice, and signature ice chocolate that is amazing! (It’s also behind the new soup restaurant on the main street called “The Soup”, which i highly recommend–their chicken jambalaya and hungarian goulash are out of this world!!!)

Anyway, it was nice hanging out with Tony, Jun, and Johnny outside of class–after a full month of writing torture!!! I know, i’m evil, but with a one hour class, there’s too much to learn in too little time! They did really well, though–they ended up writing some excellent short stories that were pages long, totally organized, really descriptive, funny, and well written. If you’re reading this, i’m really proud of you guys!

As for this week, I have four new classes, ranging from Pre-Conversation level to level 4, and everybody seems nice so far–although it will take a bit of time for the pre’s and the 1’s and I to adjust to each other

But only 56 days of teaching left until the end of my contract, and then back to canada for a couple of months! YAY!

And now on to the kitchen chronicles:

For the past few days, i’ve actually been going to bed early–new rule: no internet after work, just a bit of translation if i can keep my eyes open. So i’ve been sleeping well and waking up at 8-ish, which is nice! In fact, yesterday i was up at 7:30 and this is what i did:

Excellent cookies, but SWEET! I didn’t cut down the sugar much because i didn’t want to screw around with the physical properties of the dough–i wanted something a bit chewy in the centre, and these are! I had some cranberries that i need to use up (i’m trying to use up all my food/dried goods/spices before i put everything into storage for the couple of months that i will be in canada–oh, did i mention that i’m moving out of my apartment?) and some white chocolate that shinjae brought back for me from europe, but only 2 small bars, so i supplemented with a few chocolate chips. The recipe is from here, but i modified it a bit….

Cranberry and White Chocolate Chunk Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 c. butter softened
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/3 c. white sugar
1 egg
2 T. maple syrup
1 t. vanilla
1 T. some sort of alcohol (i used soju!)
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 t. baking soda
Pinch salt
1 c. dried cranberries
1/2 c. white chocolate chunks
1/2 c. chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars together. Add egg and vanilla, maple, and alcohol. Mix well. Stir together flour, soda and salt separately, then add to wet ingredients. Mix in cranberries and chocolates and drop by the tablespoonful onto greased cookie sheets, a couple of inches apart. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or so–keep an eye on them and take them out when they are brown around the edges but still soft in the centre. Cool one minute on tray, then transfer to rack to cool completely.
________________________________________________

This is a bit different from my previous recipe. Both are good; i would have to compare them both side by side to decide which are better…found this recipe here. This one’s good because i don’t really need icing sugar, which is hard to get around here.

Lemony Lemon Squares

Base:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 T. cornstarch
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/8 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 c. cold butter, cubed

Filling:
3/4 c. granulated sugar
2 T. flour
Pinch salt
1/2 t. lemon extract or 1 t. lemon zest
3 eggs, room temperature
1/2 c. lemon juice
3 T. heavy cream

Combine the flour, cornstarch, sugar, salt and cinnamon. Add the butter cut together with pastry blender until the dough forms even, moist crumbs and sticks together when pinched. Press the dough into the bottom of a greased 8 or 9″ baking pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and bake the base until pale golden, 20 to 22 minutes.

Filling: Reduce oven temperature to 325°F. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, flour, salt and lemon extract/zest. Add the eggs, lemon juice and cream and whisk until just blended. Carefully pour mixture into the warm base. Bake until filling feels firm when touched lightly, about 20-22 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack; cool to room temperature. Chill for 2 hours before cutting into squares or bars.
________________________________________________

And this is to take to work for dinner, and to use up some of the dry goods in my cupboards. The original recipe is here, but of course i changed a bit–didn’t have any olives, and needed to use up the rest of my cream…

Beef and Tomato Casserole

500 g tubetti or any small pasta, uncooked
1 lg. onion, chopped
1 lg. green pepper, chopped
1 T. minced garlic
Olive oil
1 lb. ground beef
Salt
8-10 lg. mushrooms, sliced
2 14.5 oz. cans of tomatoes, diced
2 c. zucchini, diced
1 1/2 c. corn
2/3 to 1 c. cream
1/2 lb. cheddar cheese, grated

Heat 2 T. olive oil in a large pot. Add onions and peppers and saute until soft. Add garlic and zucchini and cook 1 more minute. Add tomatoes, bring to a simmer and cook ten minutes, then turn down the heat and keep warm. While tomatoes are cooking, cook the pasta until al dente. In a separate frypan, heat 1-2 T. oil on medium high and add beef, breaking it up. Let sit a bit between stirring to brown nicely. Add salt to beef while cooking. Remove browned beef to tomato mixture, keeping most oil in the frypan. Add mushrooms to frypan and saute until lightly browned. Add to tomato mixture. Add corn to tomato mixture and heat through. Remove from heat. Add cream, two-thirds of the cheese and the pasta to the pot and mix well. Transfer to casserole dish(es), and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for at least half an hour.

craft and food update

Well, since the last time i updated this journal, i’ve been busy! This week, i decided to jump back into translation. Hyunjung and i have decided to study translation together in preparation for next year’s translation contest. With all the putzing around i’ve done this year, and all the miscommunications with Paul, there’s no way we will be able to do anything about submitting this year. Anyway, we have lots of research to do, and i have decided to just get lots of practice by translating all the stories in the 2007 Yi Sang Short Story Collection, and will decide later what to submit for the contest. Good luck to us! I haven’t studied Korean seriously in such a long time, it is rather slow-going at the moment

1. yarn2, 2. blanket pile, 3. what a mess, 4. testflowers, 5. red ripple, 6. turquoise ripple, 7. chevron swatch, 8. multicolour crochet circles, 9. candleflame shawl swatches

So, i finally collected all the yarn colours for my two new ripples, though i am on pause with both of them at the moment, as i have run out of the base colours–i need to go back to namdaemoon and pick up more of those honkin’ huge skeins of turquoise and red. Meanwhile, i have untangled all the scraps and have started making granny-square flowers a la yarnstorm, though i’ll be outlining them with black instead of white. i have about 35 so far, but i need about 120 for a full size blanket…depends on how much leftover yarn i have, i guess.

Also, i have rearranged things so that i can pile all my blankets in one place. i love the look of that!

I’m also swatching for two other projects: a chevron scarf, and a candle flame shawl. I definitely won’t be using these yarns for those projects–i need to hit an upscale yarn shop and invest in some beautiful, soft, natural fibers (hopefully for a reasonable price!) Love the patterns though! Much more fun and challenging than stockinette, or the 3×3 rib i’ve been doing for YEARS on the grey blanket!! I also want to try this pattern.

1. peanutbutter cookies, 2. beef and veggie stirfry, 3. honey whole wheat bread2, 4. out of the oven 2, 5. with a bowl of chowder, 6. homemade sausage and egg NkMuffins, 7. baked eggs, 8. comfort food, 9. pizza fresh from the oven, 10. banana bread, 11. butter tarts done, 12. tzatziki and pita snack, 13. July14dinner, 14. sort of greek dinner, 15. french bread 3, 16. french bread 5, 17. i love cherries, 18. my favourite oatmeal raisin chocolate chip sunflower seed cookies, 19. potato salad, 20. moussaka done, 21. at dunkin donuts, 22. apple bread pudding crisp, 23. tuna salad, 24. frozen berries 2, 25. banana coconut bread 3, 26. bruschetta 4, 27. pasta salad 2, 28. butternut squash salad, 29. turkish delight from haily, 30. iced coffee

Recipes and details to follow…but the highlights are: my awesome bread-baking skillz, homemade pizza, tzatziki, moussaka, and the egg mcmuffins!

Back to blogging….with a pile of books!

[books i've bought over the past few weeks: most of the titles are legible, but the bottom section is all Korean craft books (cross-stitch, crochet, sewing, cushions) and magazines (dwell, oprah, real simple, readymade, domino)]

I know, i haven’t been around online a lot lately…I guess i’ve kinda been hiding, sequestering myself in my home and doing nurturing/domestic stuff to help myself get over the fact that Mom and Jaret aren’t here any more…

I’ve barely let myself think about the whole month of April…the memories are in there somewhere, but i’m afraid to touch them, because they still might explode. But i’ve got lots of stories and pictures to share, which i will, as soon as it’s safe

First news: the green ripple is done! (Well, 99% done, i still have to finish sewing in the loose ends) Isn’t it great? It’s huge! and heavy!

And then with the leftovers, a granny-square afghan that looks like a flower garden It’s a lot smaller than the other, but it’s perfect for the couch…

When i started both of these, i originally planned on giving them away–but now there’s no way. I’m too attached! But I have plans for some floor mats and about 6 more blankets, four of which i am making for other people….

And i did a bit of playing with my lovely new oven:

[clockwise from top: ciabatta, english muffins, banana muffins, banana loaf, salmon and pasta casserole, ciabatta starter, green tea and yogurt panna cotta, breakfast sausages, crustless potato and tomato quiche, garlic and spinach dip, carbonara pasta with orange peppers. Recipes soon!]

—aaaaand, just on a side note, it’s been one year since Paul and I met (May 25th…we celebrated with some sparkling wine and another really great conversation) Thanks for being my friend, Jungho………oh! and thanks for introducing me to your amazing sister!!!

Jaret’s here!

Look who’s here! He was a bit early getting off his flight, and so he actually walked around behind us while we were looking perplexedly at the screens for flight information, and then mom just turned and saw him standing beside her

We took the airport bus back and came back to my place first. Jaret dropped his (one, carry-on) bag off, and we had a glass or two of wine before heading out into the neon Korean evening in search of food.

We walked through my market, where Jaret made plans to buy, eat, or cook one of everything new and strange during his stay, and we stopped for a moment to talk with my old landlady at her vegetable stand (with the nosy fish lady getting herself in there too). We picked up some strawberries and interesting bakery products for the morning, and then continued on to dinner.

We had samgyeopsal and oshipseju, and I taught Jaret how to pour drinks Korean style (with two hands for his nuna!!)

After a little while, Jaret finally hit the wall of travel exhaustion and we came back home to go to bed. He fell asleep pretty much as soon as his head hit the pillow

de fridge! de fridge!

The fridge is here!

We were woken up in the morning by a call from the delivery guys, saying they would be here in the afternoon between 1 and 2. At 2 pm they had delivered the fridge, taken away the old one, and put in the new one. How’s that for service? I had put everything in grocery bags in the old fridge so that we could keep everything in there until the last minute and then yank it all out quick. But still, we had to wait one hour before plugging the new fridge in, and then another hour before putting the food in. But we were okay–the food didn’t thaw too much.

With the new lovely fridge, we were inspired to make dinner. Or rather, mom was inspired to make it, and I was inspired to eat it. Mom’s famous red pepper and mushroom chicken, mashed potatoes, and veggies. Yum!!

Since we were home all day, I crocheted a bit more. After I finish the remainder of the base green stripe, I will have to stop here for a while, because I need to determine the last eight colours and their order together before I start, and I need to buy a bit more yarn. So I will be doing more granny squares in the meantime.

Second trip to Himart

This time, we did it! We went straight there…well, almost straight. The new outlet store was on the corner so we just went in to the first floor to look for purses for Helaine (impossible) and makeup for mom, and a couple (4) new necklaces for me. And THEN on with our mission…

It was open! We went straight up to the second floor, located the fridge and oven we wanted, and then hemmed and hawed a bit while we were waiting for the salespeople to notice us. Eventually, we finished hemming and were done hawing, and were now actually more actively waiting, but the salespeople were scattered elsewhere in the store having conversations amongst themselves. At furthest points from us, actually. Odd, since you usually have to beat salespeople off with a stick, but I think they were just avoiding the foreigners…We finally had to call out and wave our hands to get someone to come over, which he did, after a few minutes, reluctantly. *rolls eyes*

Now came the difficult part, explaining everything in Korean. I had to ask about all the details of the models and delivery, and options, then explain the payment situation and ask for help with removing my old fridge, and information on hooking up the gas. Phew, not simple! But I did it, and I paid for the fridge, and mom paid for the oven. Happy Birthday/Merry Christmas x8 to me! And they say the fridge will be delivered tomorrow! But I have to wait a week for the oven. He was very apologetic about this. Good heavens! That’s no problem! In Canada it would take forever! Anyway, he gave us several pairs of rubber gloves as we were leaving the store, to make up for it…

This is the fridge, and this is the oven. Oooh, exciting!!

Mom wanted KFC for lunch to celebrate our success, but this is hereby a note to ourselves never to go there again–it wasn’t great, and we didn’t really feel all that great afterwards. I think if we’re going to eat fast food (why are we eating so much fast food???) we should stick to McDonalds.

Vinyl Cafe: Morley’s labour pains
Movies:

First time out of the neighbourhood: Mission Failure

Our mission today was to get our fridge and oven. After months of deliberation and internet searches for price, model, and ease of shopping (internet shopping being now mysteriously unavailable to me, ergo my camera fiasco at evil technomart), we decided to go to Himart just up the street from me, past Seoul National University station (Charlie and I went there once to look at washing machines and vacuum cleaners *sigh*). So after we listened to the Vinyl Cafe story about Dave and the fly, we got ready and went out. (That makes the morning sound quick and easy–actually, from wake-up to out-the-door is about 3-4 hours, to my mother’s extreme consternation)

We decided to take the bus there so we could get off at McDonalds and have lunch. How’s that for a meal in Korea! I tried the Roasted Bean Powder and Five Grain shake, which was very good. By the way, did you know that McDonalds has breakfast now, in Korea?? I’ve been waiting for that for years, and it has finally come true! Yay! Hash browns and sausage mcmuffins! Wheeee!

Okay, so, lunch having been eaten, we strolled ’round the corner with excitement, ready to drop a fair amount of money to make my little kitchen a little more homey…..and the Himart was closed. Just for Tuesday, April 3. Randomly. Just on the very day we went. This seems to happen to me often. *makes Marge Simpson frustration sound* hmmmmmph!

Okay, so on to plan B–Emart. Jumped in a cab and told him to get us to the closest Emart, and step on it!

They didn’t have what we were looking for in appliances, but we did find a whole bunch of other stuff!

We didn’t get much though, it was more of a scouting mission for when we go back later with Jaret so that we can cook (if I get my new appliances! jeesh!).

Quick stop at Baskin Robbins for something refreshing and to rest our feet in the middle of shopping:

In the evening, the landlady was successful in gaining entry…mom was ready for her, and we had a nice time chatting (me translating everything: argh, but fun) and laughing and hugging and taking pictures. I love my landlady–she’s such a nice lady, and she was really happy to finally see mom.

Oh, and here is where my blanket is at now: