Korean style bibim fried rice.

Kalbi dinner at home, Spokane, WA.

We grilled up tons of my parents' amazing kalbi for my last night in town!

This is what I call hardcore marinating. :)

Mmmmm. This was the first batch.. there were many more to come!

Apologies for the blurry photo. This was the spread, with banchan and kalbi!

Here is one of my ssams! Ssam is the traditional way to eat Korean BBQ. You take a piece of sang-chu lettuce or a sesame leaf (some even layer up with both!) and you create your own lettuce cup of sorts. My ssam (pictured above) included rice, ssam-jang (spicy soy bean paste), walnut banchan and a piece of kalbi. Sooo great!

When my parents and I cook we just use our hands and taste along the way so the below recipe isn't exact, but it's one I found online that sounded the closets to how we make it!

Kalbi Recipe
Ingredients:

• 2 lbs beef short ribs (flanken cut)
• 1/2 cup light soy sauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons garlic (finely chopped)
• 3 tablespoons rice wine (or Soju)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 green onions (finely chopped)
• 1 cup Coca-Cola

Directions:

1. Place the ribs in a dish for marinating.
2. Mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl, being sure to add the coke last, as it will foam up a bit when added to the other ingredients.
3. Pour the marinade over the beef and massage it in for about one minute.
4. Cover and let marinate for at least 4 hours turning at least once.
5. Heat gas or charcoal grill to medium hot.
6. Remove the ribs from the marinade and place on the hot grill.
7. Grill the ribs, turning once, to desired doneness, about 3 to 4 minutes per side.
8. Serve with rice and a variety of Korean side dishes such as kimchi, namul (trio of vegetables) and musangchae (white radish salad) for a delicious Korean meal.

Ladies lunch at Eve's, North Side, Spokane.

I brought my favorite Trader Joe's Mediterranean hummus with white and wheat pita.

I forgot to take a photo of my salad! It was: romaine, feta, pomegranate seeds, candied pecans and a light raspberry vinaigrette that I made! It was my first time making raspberry vin and I just kind of winged it, but it turned out really well!

I requested Esther bring me some of her delicious cupcakes for my last day in Spokane! Chocolate with white-chocolate frosting.

Lemon.

Strawberry.

Awww, I had such a great time with my ladies and will miss them!

Tomato, artichoke, walnut and brie stuffed peppers.

Chopped up artichokes and tomatoes, mixed with candied nuts, chunks of brie and Trader Joe's Everyday Spice mix. Instead of using olive oil I just used a little bit of the oil from the artichoke jar.

I stuffed that bell pepper like it was the last meal I was every going to eat! Haha. Kidding. This single bell pepper was dinner though so I did stuff it pretty well. It's amazing how much you can actually fit into one of these!

Baked baked baked.

Mmmmmm. Since this single bell pepper was dinner I probably should have added some rice or couscous to this, but it was still quite filling and delicious. :)

Amazing garlic mac & cheese casserole.

Oooh man. I found this box and it wasn't expired so I thought I'd try putting it to some use.. Boiled the macaroni..

Chopped up some onion, a small potato and one large yellow bell pepper. Sauteed those babies with some garlic-herb seasoning..

Added the macaroni, some chopped up sausage, jalapenos, a little milk, a bit of butter and, of course, the cheddar! For an added creamy yumminess I decided to add havarti, too. :)

Mixed, spread evenly in the pan, and ready to bake! I mixed in a bit more of the garlic herb seasoning, too. :)

Annnnnd baked. Annnnnd amazing! :)

This really was quite delicious. I had it as a side with a simple side salad and a bowl of soup. It wasn't too salty, wasn't too cheesy (If I was going for proper mac & cheese I would have just added some havarti to the box.), the garlic-herb flavor came through, and the jalapenos added just the right kick. :)

Open-faced veggie sandwich.

Now, this wasn't meant to be two open faced sandwiches, but it kind of turned out that way.. On the far (top) side we have sundried-tomato pesto, orange bell pepper and crisp romaine. On the near side we have cilantro-jalapeno hummus, harvarti and artichoke hearts. Both sides were on a whole wheat bun. Since I don't like deli-meat on my sandwiches, I opt for super tasty spreads and some nice cheese--it works. :)

Michelle made white chocolate cupcakes.

For once it wasn't me baking cupcakes for the house! Haha. These were from Michelle's mix that I posted awhile back. I'm sad to say I was very disappointed with the mix. Michelle did a good job, of course, but the cupcakes were just dry and flavorless. :( Instead of the frosting in the mix, Michelle used the Betty Crocker buttercream--probably a good move. ;)

Veggie and cheese quesadillas.

Onions, red bell pepper, black beans, corn, tomato and a little taco seasoning.

Tortilla, "Mexican" cheese, and my veggie mix.

And perfection! :) We had these with a little sour cream and Tapatio!

Fancy turkey sandwich.

Let's see.. we've got some crispy romaine lettuce, sliced red onions, red bell pepper, tomato, avocado slices, some honey mustard dressing and two thin slices of turkey. Yummy.

Veggies and noodles in a light peanut sauce.

Mushrooms, broccoli, red and green bell pepper, garlic.

Noodles and a light peanut sauce.

All plated and looking quite yum if I do say so myself. :)

Oil and herb pasta sauce with vegetables and spicy sausage.

I made pasta sauce! I guess it's kind of sauce? I used all of the artichokes in one of those Costco huge jars, but they are marinated in oil and herbs. I used that as the base instead and then added jalapeno juice, garlic, lemon pepper, basil, onions, mushrooms, red bell peppers and spicy sausage. It turned out great.

And with some al dente spaghetti! Deee-lish.

Cornbread for Daddy.

My dad is obsessed with cornbread! This is an 8" x 8" pan and he ate it all in one day! Well, I guess he let my mom and I each have two pieces. ;)

Oatmeal, cranberry, raisin, chocolate chip, butterscotch chip cookies.

I emptied the contents of this into a big bowl. And then of course added the (mixed) wet ingredients. I also added cranberries at this stage. So right now we have: brown sugar, cinnamon, sugar, flour, baking soda, eggs, butter, vanilla.

Added: chocolate chips and butterscotch chips! Of course, of course. ;)

Yum yum yum..

Close-up beauty shot. ;)

All ready to be eaten! :)

The mix was great. They were a lot more moist and less doughy than other oatmeal cookies I've had. More like no-bake cookies! The cranberry, raisin, chocolate and butterscotch flavors work super well together, too--not too much of any one flavor. :)

My first jambalaya.

And a horrible photo! Sad! Haha.. This is through all of the steam.

Jambalaya takes awhile, but is yummy. I don't know why, but I've been craving it and I have the spices and had a lot of the ingredients, so I thought I'd make some. I used wild rice, lots of spices and threw in everything I could think of--sausage, red & green bell pepper, onion, tomato, tofu, asparagus, mushrooms, and broccoli.

It was yummy, yummy, which is good because I made way too much and will be eating it for days! :)

Korean New Years dinner party.

The one American dish: my salad. :) Romaine with slivered almonds, dried cranberries, red bell pepper and a light honey balsamic vin dressing.

Mom's spicy broccoli dish.

Mom's amazing buckwheat noodle salad.

Grandma's pot-stickers.

Mom's kimchi.

Mom's shrimp and veggies.

Dad's bulgogi.

Sooo amazing! I love when my parents have Korean dinner parties! Happy New Year!!! :)

Post-Christmas Italian dinner at NB's, Manito, Spokane.

I think this is the best Christmas tree I've ever seen. I love how perfectly delicate it is.

NB has the smallest microwave. Aw, it's very cute.

NB's mother's cioppino.

This was my first cioppino, in fact--I, know, I'm a bad San Franciscan! This is a holiday tradition for NB and it was absolutely delicious. A hearty soup with lots of beautiful seafood--perfect for NB, since he's a pesca-vegan. ;)

Vegan apple pie.

If they hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known it was vegan. I've had my share of vegan baked goods and I usually come out quite disappointed, but this blew me away. I would actually make this pie over normal apple pie! I've requested the recipe from NB's mother, so I'll be able to make my own soon!

Heart sprinkles, Downtown, Spokane.

While browsing around the Kitchen Engine, I found these amazing sprinkles! They will go on my Valentine's Day cupcakes, of course! I'm ecstatic about it because they're larger than most heart sprinkles I've seen. You can't really tell, but each heart is about 1/2" x 1/2". I'm really getting into unique sprinkles. ;)