The Things You Do When You're Away from Home

Here is a shocker for many of you. I just finished cooking most of my meals for the week! Yes, that is right I cooked. I still can't believe it myself especially since I have to make everything fresh and only have a two burner mini-stove to use. Yep, no microwave! (Oh how I miss my microwave popcorn).

I started cooking because I grew tired of just eating Korean food and thank goodness I have a friend who lives on an American military base in Daegu so she can help me buy items that I can't get at the grocery store here. Thanks Kristen!

I have made quesadillas, chicken and beef Philly cheese steaks, various pastas, vegetables, enchiladas, salads (very very hard to find here, although they have all the ingredients), breakfast potatoes and many more. I found out from a fellow foreign teacher that he made eggplant Parmesan in a toaster oven! I can't wait to get that recipe. The funny thing too is that I tell the Korean teachers at my school and most of the stuff they have never tried, so I bring it in for them to taste. I wish I had a tape recorder for my grandma (Ms. Gourmet Chef) to hear them say I'm a good cook. Haa haa! It cracks me up how they comment on the dishes, because like I said they have all the ingredients just never thought of mixing them all together I guess. I'm not sure what their favorite is but so far they have really enjoyed the potatoes and quesadillas.

This weekend I was lucky enough to find dried cranberries, walnuts and feta cheese to make a "Brownstone" favorite (thank you Kim & Glen) , the harvest salad sans raspberry vinaigrette. I also whipped up a semi-Greek salad. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. I am really looking forward to making breakfast tomorrow for some of the other teachers. The menu will either be breakfast sandwiches (thanks Vinaka), breakfast burritos, or omelets with breakfast potatoes and bacon.

Oh I also made smoothies last week, which even though there are a bunch of Smoothie Kings around, the other teachers hadn't had a banana, strawberry, blueberry and apple juice smoothie (another props to Vinaka for that quick fix).

If you have any suggestions or stove top recipes that you could share I will try my best to gather the ingredients and attempt cooking it. I am always looking for an excuse to go to Costco, which I still have not been to yet. Oh and the Daejeon International Culture Center will be hosting free cooking classes in January so I am hoping to learn how to cook some of my favorite Korean dishes.

Love to all and look forward to hearing from you!

Annyong-hi chumuseyo
(Goodnight)