Countdown: End of school year preparations and Momento App Giveaway!

If you're like me, you're counting down the days until the end of the school year, not necessarily because you're looking forward to it (heh) but maybe because, like me, you're looking for a hot air balloon to whisk you away before things become too intense.

The countdown to the last day of school is typically so insane, filled with end of school year activities, parties, celebrations, and last minute scheduling of EVERYTHING before kids are fully yours for the summer.  Our countdown happens to be longer than 30 days, but we're at a year round school, so I'm guessing that most of you are at fewer than 30 days.  (In case any of you are wondering how I created that cool countdown above - I found a super fun app called "MOMENTO" and it allows you to create fun little countdowns.)

It becomes the time of year that we begin thinking about how we honor our teachers, and believe me I'm thinking the same thing.  I've got a little plan in works with my friend over at Sillie Smile, and hopefully in a few days we'll have a fun and neat project for you to do for your teachers.  I'm thinking some yummy cookies (if I could only perfect my popcorn cookie) as well as some movie tickets or coffee gift cards.  For me, the most important thing that teachers do (this includes me of course) is RELAX and not think of students and just rest their brains after a grueling school year. I like to give them things that will allow them to do this - hence this year's idea of movie tickets and coffee.  (If only I could guarantee they aren't going to run into students at the theater - because when I was teaching, I always ran into mine.)

 This was the first round of something I tried, and it is going in the direction I wanted, but isn't complete.  I'll come up with something a bit cuter I think in the coming week or so.

Giveaway details!
And for a little bit of fun - the creators behind Momento are allowing me to give away 4 free apps! In the essence of time, I'm just going to give them to the first four people who leave a comment below.  Be advised, Momento is currently ONLY for iOS, so if you're not on an iphone, it's not as useful.  In the comments, please let me know what is one thing you're counting down right now!  The first four commenters, I'll be emailing you a redemption code and instructions!

If you want to buy the app, after I have my first four winners, click here.

Asian Quinoa Salad: Late nights in the kitchen

Because Husband works long hours, I often have to serve a second dinner (I eat with Children at a normal hour) closer to 9 or sometimes even 10 pm.  This means setting the table a second time, laying out dishes, reheating, or preparing another meal at the later hour, and  as Husband is particularly against eating alone, sitting with him while he consumes food.

The other evening, as he sat in front of an uninspired meal (his opinion not mine) he suddenly lit up and said, "Oh!  I ate this REALLY yummy thing, kind of couscous like, but not really, kind of rice like, but not really, kind of pasta, but not that either.  It was AWESOME!"

He looked so excited I began racking my brain and asked, "Was it quinoa?"

"Keen who?  I have no idea with that is."

I rummaged around and showed him a couple of pictures, and said, "Was it something like this?"

He nodded slowly and said, "I think so.  This one was AWESOME!  It had orange segments and some sort of dressing" and he waxed on and on about the number of servings he had of the dish as I mentally thought, "Quinoa?  I've been making it for you and you keep rejecting it."

And so, because of my nutty need to be the source of all yummy food, I set out to make a yummy WOM version of quinoa.  I wanted light and bright Asian flavors, and just something that would taste good next to nearly everything.  I wanted it to be sturdy enough to take on picnics and bbq's this summer, and mild enough that everyone could enjoy.

This is the salad I made, and it is yummy.  I do think it tastes better chilled as it is refreshing and the little crunchy bits of bell peppers just make it taste extra fresh. If you wanted to venture out and add cilantro (I would love to only Husband is not a fan) I think it would also taste really good.

Asian Quinoa Salad
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
½ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup finely chopped scallions
1 cup finely chopped bell peppers (red, orange or yellow)

Method
In a large heavy saucepan add quinoa, water, and salt.  Bring to a boil uncovered, and once boiling, cover, and reduce heat to simmer.  Cook for 10 to 15 minutes until all water is absorbed.  Check to see that quinoa is translucent and the germ is visible (the fine line).  Remove from heat and remove quinoa from pot to cool.  Set aside.

While quinoa cools, whisk together oil, vinegar, soy sauce, honey, and salt and pepper.  Pour over quinoa and toss.  Add bell peppers and scallions.   Season with salt and pepper if necessary.

Can be served at room temperature or chilled (which I think tastes even better!)  Allow to cool and then refrigerate if you want to have it cold.

Printable recipe

The measuring cups where I love to whisk my dressings.  Awesome kitchen tool.

Avocado, Tomato, Quinoa Salad: The C-Word

To my warriors - I love you all so much.

In my life, right now, I have four friends who are battling cancer.  There are various types, various stages, various treatments, but at the end of the day, I have four friends who have found out something is happening to their bodies that they cannot control.

As my friends shared their situation with their loved ones, immediately my head began reeling as I thought of these women.  Mothers.  Wives.  Daughters.  Sisters.  Friends.  Teachers.  Mentors.  Caretakers.  The roles that these women fill are myriad and they are AMAZING at what they do.

The C word makes me SO mad.  I started getting angry, and because I am always a little bit obsessed with words, I began thinking of all the C words that I could that could fight Cancer.

Crush.  I want to crush cancer out of these women's bodies.

Cure.  I want them to be cured.

Cut.  I want to cut off any cancer from taking over anymore of their bodies.

Care. I care what happens.

Conviction.  I have conviction that I can make a difference.

Christ.  In Christ, all things are possible.

This same day, a Vacation Bible School song came on and the words struck me as right.  "Don't worry, about anything, but just pray, about everything."

I have been been praying fiercely that God will crush, cut out, cure this cancer, and that these women get the right care.  I know that God will answer my cries, and the cries of so many other people who love these women.  I wrote to one of these women, that in times of great adversity, God has a chance to do something amazing.  I'm going to sit right here, praying hard, waiting for God's amazing, because I KNOW it will happen.

This quinoa salad - it's something I want to make for all of these women.   When God's miracle happens, I'll be cooking for and eating with them.

Avocado, Tomato, Quinoa Salad
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper

1 ripe, yet firm avocado, diced (you want it ripe, but not so mushy that it will fall apart.)
1 ½ cups cherry or grape tomatoes
½ cup chopped cilantro
½ cup chopped scallions

Method
In a large heavy saucepan add quinoa, water, and salt.  Bring to a boil uncovered, and once boiling, cover, and reduce heat to simmer.  Cook for 10 to 15 minutes until all water is absorbed.  Check to see that quinoa is translucent and the germ is visible (the fine line).  Remove from heat and remove quinoa from pot to cool.

While quinoa cools, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, honey, and salt and pepper.  Pour over warm quinoa and toss.  Add avocado, tomatoes, cilantro, and scallions.  Season with salt and pepper if necessary.

Can be served at room temperature or chilled (which I think tastes even better!)  Allow to cool and then refrigerate if you want to have it cold.

Printable recipe

Korean Kale Soybean Paste Stew (Kale Doenjang Jjigae 된장찌개): On giving the rice cooker the night off

Since Husband's return to regular hours with the family, Children have been slightly disgruntled, as they say,"It's ALWAYS rice mom."

Husband loves his Korean food and it seems that since he's spent a majority of the past 10 years in Asia, that desire for a hearty Asian meal is not at rest.  It is, in fact, more fired up than ever, and what he wants ALL the time and asks for ALL the time is some sort of soup with rice and kimchi.  Every. Single. Night.

I can't even handle the daily rigor of a full Korean meal for dinner as I often don't have the ability to pull one out every single evening, and Children are also just DESPERATE for something different.  "Anything mom, just not Korean."  I've taken to batch cooking some Korean comfort dishes and preparing some non Korean dishes on other nights, so that Children get a break from the onslaught of Korean meals.  Husband will come home, and on some nights ask, "What did everyone else eat?" and I'll tell him and he'll politely say that he'd like both menus - Western and Korean.  Sigh.

On a recent weekend, after I had not gone to the market to replenish a variety of supplies, Husband declared that he needed to have some sort of soup with his dinner that evening, which I was trying to keep simple for the sake of simplicity.  I held in the exasperation because on some level, it's rather reassuring that Husband thinks that I can bang out dishes at his request.  Only this time, I didn't have very much to make and so I began scrambling for ingredients, and what I came up with was kale, tofu, onions, and a bit of meat.  I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I was pretty sure that a kale soybean paste soup had great potential to be tasty.

Turns out - very tasty.  And Children happened to really like the kale in the soup (with Son declaring that he ATE IT ALL loudly) and the picky Husband slurped the soup like it tasted good.  Daughters even enjoyed it despite their protest of Korean AGAIN, and it was a great find.  I've taken to making a large pot of this so that I can have it at the ready should Husband need his daily Korean fix and the kids are in rebellion mode.

Korean Kale Soybean Paste Stew (Kale Doenjang Jjigae 된장찌개)
Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients
1 tablespoon sesame oil
¼ lb of steak, or some sort of lean meat, chopped into small pieces
1 large onion, chopped into 1 inch pieces
4 scallions, finely chopped
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 jalapenos, sliced
1 teaspoon crushed sesame seeds
1 bunch of kale, tough stems removed, and roughly chopped
½ cup of Korean soybean paste (된장) - but there is great variances in the flavor of doenjang so you may have to adjust accordingly
6 cups of water
1 large block of firm tofu, cut into chunks

Method
Heat a heavy pot over medium high heat and sesame oil, meat, onion, scallion, garlic, jalapenos, and sesame seeds.  Saute and cook until meat is browned, onions, translucent, and entire mixture is fragrant.  Add chopped kale all at once and begin wilting kale until it is slightly softened and more pliable.  Add Korean soybean paste and stir until it is mixed throughout vegetable meat mixture.  Add 6 cups of water, and cover, reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes, until kale is tender.  Add chunks of tofu and bring to boil again.

Serve with rice and kimchi.

Printable recipe

Avocado and Tomato Pasta Salad: This is summer

Right about now, when the heat begins creeping in, and the long sleeves and long pants and jackets make way for short sleeves, shorts, and flip-flops, advertising everywhere turns our thoughts to summer.

And suddenly everyone begins thinking about what the summer "it" thing is going to be.

Already the LA Times wrote about this summer's song, Beautiful by Mariah Carey.  (By the way, I had no idea that Mariah Carey was still around.) I listened to it a few times, and found the tune a bit catchy and fun (although the lyrics EXTREMELY worrisome with motorcycles and no helmets and boys doing things) but maybe it is the summer song.  I can see people enjoying it on the beach, in the car, or at a bbq.

There are also summer fashion themes.  Bold graphics, boho chic, shiny metallic looks and peekaboo cutouts.  Yeah, whom am I kidding?  Summer fashion to me means shorts and a tshirt, and maybe a new swim suit.    But you know that summer will bring out new and fun outfits for the rest of the world and you'll see me in my khaki shorts and black tshirt uniform.

There are the summer "it" vacation spots - Hawaii, Mexico, Europe, Thailand.  These are the places to which people travel in order to enjoy some rest and relaxation.

I know not enough about music, fashion, vacations - but I DO have this summer's PERFECT "IT" pasta salad.  It's this one.  Bright, citrusy, cilantro, avocado tomato - and with pasta.  It is so perfect to bring to any picnic you have and it goes with literally everything.  I've had it with chicken, beef, and fish, and each combination is too yummy to pass up.  You could also shred some rotisserie chicken into it and call it a meal salad, but I'll let you decide to do that on your own.  It's simple to put together and it will taste great at your next gathering.  The best thing about this "it" summer pasta salad is that it's easy to put together and easy to eat.

Avocado and Tomato Pasta Salad
Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients
1 pound rotini or another curly pasta

¼  cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon honey
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
½  cup olive oil

2 cups red and/or yellow teardrop or grape tomatoes, halved
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 cup chopped green onions
2 avocados, peeled, and diced

Method
Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain, rinse well and set aside to drain and cool.

Whisk vinegar, lemon juice, honey, salt, pepper, in small bowl or measuring cup. Gradually whisk in oil. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and chill.)

Mix tomatoes, cilantro, green onions with pasta.   Add vinaigrette; toss to coat. Add avocado.  Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)

Printable recipe

Kale Kimchi: The dishwasher is broken

For HYK - thank you for the inspiration!

It seems that my life is forever peppered by appliances in my kitchen that break.  Since moving to the US, I've gotten a new oven (I actually need to replace my oven again, because the glass is broken, but that's for another time), a new stove with two different sets of repairs, and now - the crowning achievement in my kitchen breaking appliance coursework...the dishwasher.

THE DISHWASHER!!!  I can only scream it aloud because it is, by far, my MOST USED APPLIANCE!

I need to write an ode to my dishwasher, because after 7 years living in Asia without one, the thing I wanted most in my kitchen in the US was a dishwasher, and is the appliance I repeatedly use, again, again, and again, and again.

Last night, however, as I ran the dishes, I came upon a very not so good smell of burning plastic - and opened the dishwasher to find the heating coil had melted through the plastic liner.  Even that description should tell you - it is not a good situation.  Right after I made that discovery and with a look of shock and dismay on my face, Husband walked through the door.

"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.  "Is everything okay?"

"NO!  It's not okay!  The dishwasher is broken!"

"Oh.  Well, just buy a new one."

I don't think Husband understood my panic with my non-functioning dishwasher.  My dishwasher is my best friend EVERY SINGLE DAY in my kitchen.  I check in on her first thing in the morning, unloading her and stacking the dishes and putting them away before the kids wake up.  Right after breakfast, I begin loading her back up full of all the empty plates and whatnot.  After I eat my lunch, Son comes home with his lunch box full of things to wash, and all my dinner prep is done, I generally finish loading her and wash again.  If I bake, there is an extra wash for the dishwasher to do.  If I do a lot of leftover eating, then there are tons of containers to do.  If I cook with milk or egg, large pots and pans make a visit into the dishwasher. You get the picture.  My run down, old dishwasher is my sidekick, my bestie, my most reliable in the kitchen.

Just buy a new one?

How does one replace their sidekick?  Not easily it turns out.  Since it takes me such a long time to decide to befriend a person, it's obvious that such difficult would come with the territory when choosing my kitchen sidekick.  Suddenly I was faced with price, efficiency of the machine itself, color, maintenance, style, functions, stainless tub or not, heated dry or not, German or domestic and the final question of how quickly it could make it into my kitchen.

There are no easy answers it seems.  My own personal level of stress regarding this replacement of my best friend has led me down the path of tears twice in a day, with one good friend saying, "You need to grow some thicker skin" and Husband bellowing on the phone, "JUST BUY THE ONE YOU WANT" and of course, my being stymied by it all.

Actually, what I want is for my old dishwasher to just keep on chugging away, as she did, getting my dishes as clean as she did and working for me faithfully, as she has for the past 6 years.  Why did she leave me in the first place?

Kimchi, for many people, is something that they expect in a certain way, with a certain cabbage, and a certain flavoring.  I grew up refusing to eat anyone's kimchi except for my own mother's or grandmothers' and the rest were pushed aside with my nose in the air.  That has long since changed since Mom no longer makes kimchi and mom in law makes it for me or I buy it.  Kimchi, my long trusted sidekick, has also had to be replaced.

I've been experimenting with kale in Korean food these days, as I do think that kale works well with the stronger richer notes of Korean cooking.  My most recent attempt was turning kale into kimchi, which I did a couple of days ago to great success.  I used dinosaur kale, and I found that the leaves stayed crisp and crunchy and the bitter notes were off set by the spicy garlicky flavors of the kimchi itself, and it was the perfect condiment to my Korean meal.  It's relatively simple to make and you can make a jar for yourself and your sidekick with no problem.

Just don't expect your dishwasher to always stick around for you.

Kale Kimchi
Makes 4 cups kimchi

Ingredients
2 bunches of dinosaur kale, toughest white part of the stem removed, washed and roughly cut into bite sized pieces (if you can get organic, this is nice to use here)
¼ cup fish sauce (possibly more)
¼ cup mochiko (sweet rice flour)
1 ½ cups water
2 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons Korean red chili powder (gochugaroo)
¼ cup finely chopped garlic

Method
Place chopped washed kale in a large bowl.  Drizzle fish sauce over the entire bowl and toss, lightly coating all the leaves with fish sauce.  Set aside.  The fish sauce will help draw out some of the water and being “wilting” the kale.

In a small saucepan add mochiko powder, water and sugar.  Place pan and begin heating rice flour water mixture of medium high heat.  Whisk and stir constantly, until mixture begins to thicken and bubble.  Continue whisking for another minute longer.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

After kale has been resting with fish sauce for about 45 minutes, and rice flour mixture is warm, carefully drain the fish sauce in the bottom of the kale bowl into the rice flour mixture.

To rice flour mixture add Korean red chili powder and finely chopped garlic.  Mix together making a red paste.  Taste.  Mixture should be salty.  Add a bit of fish sauce if necessary.  Using your hands (covered with disposable glove), mix red rice flour paste with kale, using a gentle touch, until all kale leaves are coated.

In nice wide mouth jars, pack kale kimchi in.  Do not over stuff jars (leave some room at the top for fermentation process) and leave outside for 2 hours until fully cooled.  Refrigerate.

Flavor of kimchi changes the longer it ferments.  Check after 24 hours to see if you like the flavor.  Try again in 48 hours, and keep tasting until the flavor you like comes out.  Some people prefer a less fermented flavor, so eat it sooner and those who like a more mellow fermented flavor, eat later.

Enjoy!

Printable recipe

Brown Butter Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies: Post-it sized messages

Husband - even when you make me nuts, I'm glad it's you who makes me crazy.

This June, Husband and I will celebrate 12 years of marriage, and this October, we'll celebrate 19 years of being together.  19 years is almost half my life, and it's a good chunk of time to spend with another person.  I left Parents' home at age 18 and never went back, so in some ways, I've been with Husband longer than my own parents.

This means, ahem, that we have our fights, our disagreements, our squabbles.  I accept that in any relationship, conflict and tension is par for the course, and that usually, such fights blow over.  I liken the tempers in the house to tropical storms that often are ferocious, but once over, the skies are blue and clear.

I'd say that Husband and I have pretty open communication, and although I'm not a "yes" wife, I'm a nice wife.  I think Husband wishes I were much more of a yes wife, but hey - that's just not where I am.  He's not a "yes" husband either, so let's just say that opportunities for mini explosions are there.

Most recently Husband has been miffed because of my continual refusal to use this cheap bolt on the front door.  We have a sturdy deadbolt (which is difficult to break in demonstrated by the lock smith who failed to open both my garage and front doors) and above that is a simple slide lock that we installed when the kids were young so that they couldn't just fling the door open.  It's still high enough that even Daughter #1 can't reach it yet.  I've always thought of it as a way to prevent the kids from getting out and not as a way to deter people from coming in, as it's not Fort Knox strong.

However, Husband insists that it needs to be bolted and time and time again, I've forgotten/failed to slide the upper lock and this is majorly frustrating to Husband. Upon his return from work, he'll walk over to the front door, see that it's not bolted and come and find me and ask, "Did you see the front door lock?"

"Yeah, I locked it of course."

"BUT NOT THE TOP!  Why can't you bolt the top?"

Instead of being the good wife and saying, "Okay.  I'll try harder to remember to bolt it next time" my response continues to be, "That's not the important one to lock. It's not going to keep anyone out."

Husband generally throws his hands up in the air and stomps off frustrated at his lack of a "yes" wife.  I know, I should, but now it's become more of a way for me to torture the Husband at his expense.

Yesterday, Husband came home, noticed the unlatched top slide and called from the foyer that I hadn't slid it into place, to which I responded, "Okay okay, I'll try and remember," while keeping my fingers crossed.  However, when I went up to bed, I noticed something stuck to the door and went over to investigate.  On the door, near the lock was a small yellow post it with the words, "Lock me plz."

At first I was stunned.  A POST IT WITH INSTRUCTIONS?  However, I didn't respond, and merely went upstairs and didn't comment to husband.  Today, however, I carefully thought of what my response should be.  Clearly the doorlock is the single most annoying thing that I do, so I needed to find the single most annoying thing Husband does.  Believe me, the list was extremely long, but I wanted to keep things short and sweet.  I decided to put a post it, on the bed, and it said, "Don't eat here please."  (Husband's desire to snack in the bed has made me completely bonkers.  I can't stand it.)

Today, Husband came home from work, and I heard him bellow again about the front door "WHY ISN'T IT LOCKED?  Didn't YOU SEE THE NOTE?"  I heard him go upstairs, and then I went upstairs as well and then I heard, "YOU THINK YOU ARE SO FUNNY, don't you?"

Well, ahem.  Yes I do.  Snort.

Smaller than a post-it note, with more of a message than a post-it note, with a longer lasting effect than a post-it note, are these cookies.  I basically took the Brown Butter Cranberry Cookies and switched out the cranberries for chocolate chips to see what I'd get.  What I got was way better than a post it sized message. Packed with flavor, not too sweet, with complex notes and a crispy finish - these cookies are yummy.  I love the oat texture, the flax seed interest, and the chocolate richness.  Perhaps if Husband had taped one of these to the door, he'd get a "yes" wife.  I'm sure I won't be putting these in the bed however. That'd just defeat the purpose of my own note.

Brown Butter Whole Wheat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 5 dozen

Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter cut into pieces - either melt and turned into brown butter or room temperature butter
1 cup light brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (you can also try dark choocolate or bittersweet chips)
¼ cup ground flax seeds (optional)

Method
Preheat oven to 350.

Make brown butter if desired.  Heat a heavy pot or skillet over medium heat and add butter pieces.  Whisk frequently to ensure even melting of the butter. After about 5 to 6 minutes of melting, the butter will foam up and subside.  At this point, watch the butter carefully to see if the bottom of the pan is becoming covered in brown specks and the color of the butter has turned from yellow to warm brown.  The difference between brown butter and burnt butter (which is used in other recipes) is about 15 seconds.  Set aside and allow to cool for 30 minutes.

Whisk both flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon in another bowl set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat brown butter (or regular butter) and brown and white sugars until light and creamy.  Add eggs one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl and beating well after each addition.  Add vanilla extract and beat again.

Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, carefully so that flour gets mixed into dough.  When flour is just mixed, add oats, chocolate chips, and flax seeds.

Using a tablespoon measure, scoop out dough, separating them 2 inches apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Press down balls of cookie dough to help spreading process.  Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until golden brown.  Transfer to wire rack and let cool.

Printable recipe

In case you also want to leave notes for your spouse.  These colors might make such a form of communication more appealing.