Mythbusters

Today, I wanted to get to the bottom of a couple myths, Jamie and Adam style.

Myth 1: VAFOODHEAD, EVERYTHING YOU MAKE PROBABLY TASTES DELICIOUS. MIDAS TOUCH, BABY!
BUSTEDDDD. Nah. Everyone makes sub-par food sometimes. Maybe you forget to add an ingredient, maybe you add too much. Maybe you bake an item so long that it burns or turns dry. I experience all of these things and more weekly. Yesterday, I made brownies using a random recipe online and it turned out dry, crumbly and weird. I set a fire alarm off a few days ago. You get my drift, yeah?

Myth 2: vafoodhead, you must eat such gourmet meals all the time! you've got skeelz.
BUSTED, on both accounts. Most of the time, for my meals, I eat whatever's around or whatever's easy. Yesterday, I had spaghetti noodles with a scrambled egg, tomato and onion mixture. With a slice of American cheese on top.
Yeah. Sounds gross, tastes ok. And yes, I'm okay with American cheese product. Also, I don't think I have special "skills"-- I just enjoy cooking.


Tonight, I had rice and a basic Korean side dish (or banchan- 반찬) that's called gyeran jorim (계란조림, meaning egg + simmered in a sauce). It's pretty much boiled eggs cooked with soy sauce, garlic, and a little sugar. Quick and easy, and one of my childhood favorites. Threw some rice in the cooker while I boiled some eggs. Usually, food cooked in the "jorim" preparation is simmered/braised in a soy sauce base for a long period of time. The most popular jorim dish uses a tough cut of beef that's cooked until tender and permeated with soy sauce. The way I cook my gyeran jorim, though, is a quick way I've seen my family do it. The sweet-salty combo of the side dish really goes well with a bowl of plain rice. Mm.


Gyeran Jorim, my family's version:
Ingredients:

• soy sauce
• water
• sugar
• boiled and peeled eggs
• garlic, whole or minced
• optional: minced garlic, sliced or whole jalapenos, Asian chili peppers, etc.

1. Heat up a pan and add about a 1:4 ratio of soy sauce and water (seriously, just eyeball it. You can't really mess up). Then, add sugar to taste. You want the liquid to come more than halfway up the eggs, so some white is still peeking out. Bring to a simmer.
2. Once the liquid is simmering, add everything else and simmer while stirring for at least 10 minutes, or until the white of the eggs is a brownish hue and the sauce has reduced. The eggs break up easily, so be careful when swirling/tossing the pan to coat the eggs with the soy sauce mixture.
 Feel free to garnish with sliced scallions or toasted sesame seeds. Can be eaten hot, room temp or cold. I like it warm.

And that's it! See, my dinners aren't crazy complicated. And thankfully, this one turned out deliciously.



Cheers,
t

happy birthday, sara and jinmin!

Today (Monday) is my friend Sara's birthday, and Saturday is my friend (and her apt mate) Jinmin's birthday! In addition to going to univ together, living in the same complex, and being straight up fabuluuuzz, we all teach Sunday School at a Korean church nearby along with some of our friends. In celebration, we teachers decided to bring her a cake. I used Dorie's Perfect Party Cake for the cake, a mango custard for the filling, and some sugar glass on top. Then I baked a Funfetti cake (in the background below) just in case there wasn't enough to go around.

Oh, hay, Juno.

Sugar glass, or candy glass, is really simple to make. Simmer plain granulated sugar with a little bit of water until you get a golden syrup, put out some parchment paper, and drizzle away with a fork or wooden spoon. For the little dome in the middle, I used the bottom of a tiny glass cup. Pretty cool, eh? After the syrup cools (about an hour), you can peel the pieces off and go wild. But make sure you don't refrigerate the glass or it'll absorb moisture and get sticky.

In retrospect, I think the cake would have been prettier if perhaps I'd surrounded the sugar dome with fresh fruit, but I was running low on time! Eeek. Flipping the dome over and nestling some fruit inside of it would've been neat too. But it's the thought that counts, right? I love Sara and Jinmin... They're two amazing gals and I'm lucky to have them in my life!

A few weeks ago, I retried my hand at making challah. Thanks to Eunice for taking the photos! I lub her.

I think it turned out a lot better than the first time. A deeper and more even color on the outside, more complex flavor thanks to a 6-hour preferment, and a better braid. I decorated the loaf with some flax seeds, since I didn't have the more typical sesame seeds. I used Peter Reinhardt's recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice, which you can find all over the web. I'd repost it here, but I should really get to studying :)


Once again, happy bday to you special ladies!


T

P.S. Shout out to Sara's chingoo marina! Yeah, you! HAHAH I'm glad you like the blog!