Recycling 3 Side Dishes

It is a puzzle how to reuse leftover food so as to save some money and avoid throwing food out. I rose up to the challenge this time. Reduce. Reuse. Recylce.

Yes. I like the idea of recycling and reusing that even food has no escape from me. I hate throwing out food that is still perfectly edible except that it already reached its limits when it comes to how it should taste in the first place. Did I lose you on that? Well, let’s just say that I’ve made some food, it didn’t taste as well as it should be or I’ve made more than we can consume at one go. It should last in the fridge for about three days before everyone except me will refuse to eat it again.

In order not to waste a lot of food, I make sure that what I cook is something that I won’t mind eating for days. If it doesn’t fall under that, let the boys make it themselves. I won’t be responsible if they decide to throw it later. This is how I ended up with three dishes in the fridge this week that needed to be put on priority before someone else finds and throws them out.

First Dish. Beef Bulgogi.

I seldom buy meat for health reasons plus it can be pretty heavy on the budget. I first made it for my son and he ate it at least once with a little hesitation. The second or third time, I might have had to bribe him. So this pretty pricey meat dish stayed in the fridge for a while. I tried to put it in fried rice but it wasn’t that popular either. There was still a bit that needs to be “recycled.” In the end, I added it in the pocket pizza mixed with bell peppers, onion, garlic, and cheese. Not my best pizza but it was my first decent looking pocket pizza even if my son didn't like it that much.

Second Dish. Canned Fish in Can.

I was slightly craving for fish after the bulgogi mishap so I opened this can. I discovered that I actually have 2 cans of this and I don’t remember tasting it yet. This makes me wonder what I must have picked these cans up twice with the intention of trying it out. Well, this fish in can turned out to be spicy for my taste. I was able to eat half of it but had trouble finishing it before it goes bad. It has coconut milk after all that go bad quickly once opened. I needed to google how to neutralize the spiciness.

My solution? Add some water! I do like thin liquid with my fish in coconut. But not only that, to up the chances of it tasting good, I also added a tablespoon or two of spaghetti sauce just enough to lose its white color and spiciness. Just like my accidental mix with the chickpea before, I managed to finish the whole thing even to the point of having to wait for the rice cooker to finish so that I can have more rice with it.

Third Dish. Chicken Teriyaki.

Made this as a freeze and dump for the slow cooker so it was the freezer for a while.

By now, I was already in my air fryer experiment mode so it was my first chicken to land in the air fryer. Such a waste as I skipped the thawing-well part that I almost burned the outer part while it still remained frozen inside. Off it went to the oven to no avail. It was thawed all right but the burned part just got worse. What did I expect? Nothing! I wasn’t thinking and wasn’t keeping a close eye on it while it was in the oven grilling.

Nonetheless, I tossed it with a sauce I hastily made and it was just so salty. Talk about a series of failure in one night. Well, I just cannot throw that out and thought I can make into a soup. It is well marinated and it still tastes okay save for the charred part and the saltiness level.

What did I do with it? Soup didn’t happen. I found that it’s easier to eat it with lettuce and rice. It wasn’t so bad.

With all of those meat and fish out of the fridge, I can now go back to the non-meat options. Oh! I almost forgot that I still have two leftover pocket pizza that I am saving for Sunday at least. I may try to look in the fridge again to find if there are any food that needs to be thrown out --- uh..I mean, recycle.

DDM2

Three entries for this week and I've just realized that it's almost every day.

Do I really need to write something as often before I get my shit done for the day? Is it really that hard to focus on studying?

Anyway, my catalyst for today is the stir fry noodles that I made last night. I used a frozen leftover boiled chicken but it's my first time to actually taste this meat as stringy. Now I understand what other people are saying about chicken meat texture. Note to self: use this kind of chicken in fried rice next time where it will have to be minced just for taste.

I hardly cook meat, much less buy, but it sometimes makes it to my freezer. Currently, I still have a couple of beef cuts that are waiting to be used. There are a few shredded chicken leftover that is bound for fried rice in the future, uncooked frozen chicken breast that is marinaded with I-can't-remember-what and maybe some more chicken bones for stock.

My clay slow cooker has been pretty busy lately as I try different things to cook in it. I baked bread, cooked rice, made some anchovy stock, softened chickpeas, and broiled (2) sweet potato on it since last Monday. It has been used more often than my other bigger Crock Pot. I also learned that coating the insides of the pot insert should be the standard. I didn't do that previously with the crockpot because that one has a smooth finish. I've read that clay pot inserts are hotter than the regular Crock Pot so I thought that I had to do it on my clay pot insert this time.  My bread came out well, along with the rice. The rice had a nicely browned bottom and it was delish! The bread, on the other hand, was left a bit too long on high setting that the bottom was tough to bite into. Regardless of that, it still disappeared. What I thought would be a candidate for bread pudding simply didn't happen.

For future references:

bread (3 C flour) : 3-4 hrs on low (too long) better do at around 2 hours on high or not more than 3 on low.

3 C+3 C h2o : 2 hours on high

5 medium-sized sweet potatoes: (washed, rinsed, no additional water) 4H on low.

2 C chickpeas + 6 C h2o: at least 4 hours, or more depending on softness level, There was a bit of leftover water just enough not to burn the bottom.

What's my next experiment? Not sure yet but I still have the leftover chicken stock which I can use for a soup soon. ^^

Skillet Pizza for d Holidays err..Coming Days

We tried making a quick pizza on the stove using my first cast iron skillet recently and my son is finally eating homemade pizza again.

It's his own style of toppings though...onion and cheese and nothing more. I try to squeeze in a bit of minced garlic if I can. We have this like once or twice a week especially when it's just us for dinner. So since I got my whole wheat flour delivery this week, I got into making dough mode. My oven is partly broken so I cannot bake a decent loaf for almost a few weeks now so I make pizza dough instead. I really like playing around with dough. Its like I never had enough playdough when I was younger so I am just enjoying it now. It used to intimidate me before but now..I'm on a roll when I'm in the mood.



And since the pizza sauce being sold in the local nearest mart is pretty small and pricey...I insisted on going back to making one from scratch again. It's all trial and error though. I only got oregano and basil for herbs so not sure about the consistency of the taste. I also try to add onion powder and garlic with olive oil plus pink salt and pepper now.


The 7 pieces of thin crust I made tonight will only last for like two meals. P eats at least 2 rounds and one for me. Let's see.

I still got a few doughs planned up my sleeve...the burrito wraps. I know I can buy tortilla at the store for a pretty price but I think I can save a bit if I make my own plus it's not gonna be all white flour. I can make a mixed one with more fiber tucked in it. Then I'll also freeze it so it will be handy when I have the fillings already.

Oh..I also tried my third attempt at gluten meat today..using room temp water instead of the hot water initially found in the recipe I got. It was way softer. I will have to marinade it soon as I wasn't able to do it today. A friend has inspired me to look more into it earlier today.

posted from Bloggeroid

Eats around Sun Moon Uni - Asan Campus

Here are just 2 of the many possible places to grab a bite in the area...not exactly Korean cuisine but meals that can be easily taken out and eaten outdoors for a picnic of sorts.

First one is Dos Mas for burittos -- Korean style. Drinks available are softdrinks so either that have your own water bottle. 

The space is a bit limited with only a few tables cramped inside. Not exactly a place to hang out for a big group unlike the one near Soon Chun Hyang Uni. The owner speaks a bit of English. 

The choices for these burittos are beef, pork, chicken and beans. Take note that the beans used are like the Hunts' pork and beans kind of thing -- not exactly my kind of beans personally speaking. 

The other one is the dosirak kind of place. They have a lot of things one can choose from that it would take a bit of time to pick one from their menu below.  I haven't tried any but I will if I happen to be in the area next time. 

(Note: This post was written  a couple of years ago but got buried in drafts. I'm not sure if these are still as they are as they were back in 2016 or 2017)

Grad proj: Chocolate Bouquet

The idea came up to me last weekend to get something like a bouquet for my son's elementary graduation. I would generally skip stuff like this but I've asked him about such recently and I found out that he would also want to get something like that. So, even if I really don't subscribe to these kind of stuff, I had to consider. 

Instead of buying flowers, I thought about channeling my inner creativity and make it fun. I won't go for flowers, nor sweets like lollipop. I found the perfect match for what I want to give and my son will also love! The graduation themed chocolate pops! I got the perfect bouquet holder which P got on White Day last year, a dozen of Chupa Chups. That's a very good place to start creating my first chocolate bouquet. 

The initial plan was to find Flat Tops or Curly Tops coz I find Reese's way too sweet for my taste. Unfortunately, there wasn't any at the foreign mart. No choice but to settle for the Reese's. I got 6 pieces of BonBon instead. I also picked up a couple of chocolate bars, MnM's, chocopen, white straw and some plastic and paper for wrapping. 

On my second store run for some stuff I missed, I saw this lovely set of stickers perfect for people who likes to read like me and my son. 😊

It was very tricky to wrap the papers and plastic around red holder. I had to use a stronger tape not to let it slide down. I also had to staple the colored papers together. 

Jeju Chocolate and Dessert List Lately

Missing the peach mango pie from my homeland makes me want to splurge on this small packets currently available in Mc Donald's this month. 

They have the blueberry and apple pocket pies sold sold separately for 1K. It's not exactly the peach-mango one but hey, a pie is a pie for a pie-lover like me. I tasted the blueberry one but missed out the apple so I just had to come back there yesterday and buy 5. My initial idea was ten...I scaled it down a bit. I'll have the boys taste it and I'm coming back for more next time. I, myself, can finish 2 at least. There 3 frozen ones now but I am still thinking about them. *sigh I may have to satisfy my cravings for these soon and resolve to try to make ones myself. A lot of it! :D (That is --- if I can.)

On the note of desserts, here is another one on my list if ever I hear Jeju. One of my students went there last summer and brought home some for me. It was just sweet of her. Most of them actually brought home something which was sweetly funny. Bamboo towel from China, some special/fancy dark chocolate from Japan (which I forgot the name) and this one from Jeju. 

When in a Pinch in the Kitchen

So I've been craving to eat Pinoy beef soup this past week only to be disappointed a couple of times. The Pinoy resto didn't have it, I couldn't find the right amount of beef at the nearby mart and it just seem impossible to put it together. And then I found this solution out of desperation!

An already-opened one is waiting for me in the fridge so I just picked up a small Chinese cabbage at the grocery store. I still got some potato and dried ginger so I figured it might do. Anyway, it's just me who will eat it. And it's gone before I realized about taking a photo.

My next one is the carbonara-in-a-pinch using the cream soup powder packet. 

All I need are garlic, onion, frozen mushroom and broccoli. And maybe some cheese and seasonings like salt and pepper. It usually work as it is. But I did add some leftover baked eggplant and almond slivers as garnish this time. 

Food cravings can be tricky even if one is not pregnant. :) But with some imagination, I can always have my carbonara craving whenever I want it. 

And the beef soup as well now. I just have keep a few cabbage leaves frozen on hand for next time. 

On my grocery list it is!

Sweet Potato in a Crock Pot

Since my oven is still out for repair, the rice cooker is full of rice, and it's too late last night when I remembered that I planned on having some sweet potato for breakfast the next day, I was left in a bit of dilemma on how to have them cooked on the fly in the morning.

My solution? The slow cooker! 

Problem:
I want to wake up with food almost ready or me to eat without having to wait to boil on the stove or roast in the oven.

Situation: 

1. oven out for repairs anyway

2. boiling would also take a few minutes

3. I can't use the rice cooker and have a timer since it's full with rice 

Solution? slow cooker

How?

1. Wash and dump 4-5 medium-size and 1 small-sized sweet potato in the pot
2. Add 3/4 C of water but I doubled mine for good measure since I don't want to risk cracking my Crockpot. Who knows what time I'll be able to turn it off and how many hours I will have it there the next day. 
3. Set to cook in LOW. As it turned out, 7 1/2 hours! 

Here's how much water was left. The sweet pots were still solid and didn't crumble but cooked. I don't know about the taste coz maybe it's not that sweet to start with but definitely good enough for our breakfast without a lot of hassle in the morning. 

I'll try to do an experiment later if I reduce the water or set it on HIGH when I can totally keep an eye on it just to be safe. Winter is almost here so slow cooker for soups and oven will be used more frequently.

Eating in Public

"Eating alone, going solo or eating on a bench alone is not the usual norm in Korea."
I've heard this one before and it was surprise that the fact that it matters matter. I'm like, really? I've never felt any stigma on it except that the restos wouldn't really be happy with me hugging a big space that can accommodate other patrons if that was the case. I do try to make myself occupy minimal space, or go in during non-rush hour time. If it was during that time, I try to eat and leave quickly. But other than that, I have no problem dining alone at all.

Another one is eating on benches or even on buses. Haha! I try to be discreet when I eat in the bus or trains of course. And try to clean up any crumbs if there is. One that I find myself doing more often is eating on the bus stops. One might ask why? My answer would be, why not? I am hungry!  (and more for these following reasons)

1. I am hungry and would rather have something on my tummy before I get in the bus than be hungry and feel carsick (just because those don't go together nicely, to say the least.)

2. Specially on a cold day, a warm burrito or sandwich on my hand is a better hand warmer for my hand and my tummy. And we go back to number one equation of Hungry + Bus ride = motion sickness, nausea

3. I am hungry, no time to eat elsewhere so I will eat anywhere, as long as I have something to eat.

One good thing of being a foreigner in Korea is that I don't have to fit in this kind of "silly" ideas. So far, no one has ever bothered me dining alone outside because I am obviously not a Korean. I wonder if there other country or culture that dining out alone is a problem except in their closely-related neighbor, Japan.

Bottom line, I will eat because I am hungry even if I am alone.

Tea Blogger

While searching for clues on which one I'll try out first, I've come across a tea lover's blog called "Laura's Tea Room" with a lot of tea reviews. It is interesting to find out what to expect from the other flavors in my set. I found a few that are similar to what I have now and a few more that I have to watch out for if I do get a chance to find one.

These has been pretty informative and helpful.

• Settling Ginger - I think the author got that punch because she used two bags while I only tried one.
• Winter Spice -  This entry made me decide to put off opening the box now and save it for the next winter. IF I can wait that long, that is. 
• Comforting Liquorice - It says sweet. Maybe my son will like it. More possibility. I have yet to try it myself although Laura's review wasn't that great.
• Orange and Lotus Flower Green Tea - The green tea part lack luster for me since it's pretty common where I currently live but after reading the review, I got interested a bit more since the main ingredient is orange and not the green tea.

As for the other entries about other flavors that interested me, I would like to try these:

• Intensely Tropical - pineapple, blood orange and lime (fruity tea) ---how tropical can you get!
• Summer Berries - black, rasp and straw (another fruity one)
• Blackcurrant Burst - "perfect for those icy cold days" quoting from her entry. That line made me want to try this. Plus, I liked a blackcurrant flavored candy back in high school.

Finally, not exactly a review of a specific flavor but Twinings in general. 

"Why I like Twinings" 

I might just try to write one of my own version one day. Is there any page that has something like along the lines of "Twinings Stories?"

Twinings Review: Cran and Rasp, Settling Ginger

The first pick from the set.

This is what my son picked to try out for the first time today. It was a good choice since it was the only fruity mix in the batch. It taste just as it should, berrylicious. Tangy enough for me but I still enjoyed it better with something to munch on as my son and I watched a movie. I would have chosen a different one, ginger for my throat or winter spice since it's still in season anyway, but this wasn't such a bad choice.

Nonetheless, I can't resist to try the ginger after dinner. I am a big fan of ginger to start with, munching on fresh ginger occasionally for carsickness and throat problems, so I was ready for whatever punch it will give. There is nothing much on that level but I liked the added spices of cinnamon, cloves and liqourice. It gave the slight sweet taste that isn't really sugar. My son suggested that I add something sweet like honey but I think it is good as it is. But who knows, I might just try doing that later for experiment.

I've really fallen in love with Twinings teas ever since tasting it a few years back. I'm so happy with this set that I have a lot to choose from. With the other tea blends just waiting in those easy to open ziplocs, I can't wait to try out the others. I've finally found a caffeine-free drink that I can totally enjoy hot or cold without a lot of fuss of any leftover.

I might just not be able to resist to open those other flavors these following days. Wouldn't it be fun to be able to have a different one everyday of the week? :D

Twinings Tea Gift

My friend's overdue tea gift set has made it here before they expire this year, finally! I only asked for a couple of boxes but she sent ten boxes. It took a long time to get here but here they are and I am now confused which one to open first to taste.

I thought about trying out the ginger first since it's winter and I have an itchy throat. My son ended up choosing the Cranberry and Raspberry. Upon closer inspection, I also noticed that they all have different best before date. If I can't totally decide which flavors and blends, I'll have to factor this in.

So here is the break down according to BBD.
June - Purify; the box has the only one with a plastic seal
September 9 - Raspberry and Cranberry
October - (9)Settling Ginger, (8) Soothing Camomile, (6)Invigorating Peppermint, (7) Calming Camomile
November - (9)Green Tea Orange and Lotus Flower, (7) Comforting Liquorice, (7) Winter Spice

My plan is to consume this 2 or 3 different teas at a time.
So first on the list this end of winter and throughout spring are:
1. the berries
2. ginger
3. camomile and honey

Next will be:
4. peppermint
5. camomile
6. and maybe Purify or
7. green tea with orange and lotus flower

Around Fall/Winter (Oct.)
8. Liquorice
9. Winter Spice

That's the plan anyway. I'm checking how to store them to last at least until the next winter since this year's season is almost over. Boy! It does sound a bit complicated and I'm hoping that I'll be able to do it right so that no box will go to waste.

The original boxes were not in good condition anymore so I had to throw most of them. I moved the tea bags in separate ziploc bags and put them in an empty biscuit tin. 

IHerb Haul for the Year

Been running out of shampoo since the end of December last year but I held off ordering until this week.

I finalized my order last Monday (that means Sun in US) and the expected delivery was between 18-22 next week. Boy, I was surprised to find it waiting for me today, just about 4 days!

Toiletries and food stuff

my lot for the year...

whole wheat flour, taco seasoning,
onion powder, cilantro, and nutritional yeast

This lot costs just about 52K krw so free shipping. One of these days, I'll be able to figure out why I bought the nutritional yeast in the first place. I can't recall exactly what I wanted it for right now. As for the cilantro, I really like this one so even if it's waay different from the fresh one, it's still better to have one in handy. 

As for the shampoo, I will be using these for the whole year. A bottle has lasted me for 6 months last year. Hopefully, it will last for a year if I'll alternate the two bottles. I have just to see how it goes! 

Home Cooking on a Cloudy Day

We have a couple of corns in the freezer since we ordered them this week. I longed to cooked some fresh corn, not the corn in can, so I finally got around to it on this cloudy day.

This past few days had been pretty hot and sunny so I welcome this cloudy afternoon to be able to cook some porridge. I wasn't sure exactly how to go about it at first so I googled for some recipe to get an idea. I found a couple here, here and here which got me enough courage to take out my ingredients.

I already soaked about half-cup of regular Korean rice a few days ago so I had to use it. I should have used glutinous rice but that was what I had ready plus I think Korean rice is a bit sticky anyway. I have more faith for that. It turned out okay, although not as sticky as it should be if I had used glutinous rice. 

So for future reference, here is what I did today.

2 C coconut powder mixed with 3-4 C of water

1 C soaked rice (should have been 1/2 cup before soaking, I guess)

1.5 C fresh corn kernels

1/2- 3/4 C sugar

a dash of salt

Soaked rice lessened the cooking time for the rice so this was ready in about 30 minutes. 

Next time, I will try to really use glutinous rice, a little less sugar and probably cook the corn along with the rice from the start. Why? If I like my corn really soft, I should do that specially if I'll be using fresh corn and not canned one. But I think it will take a while for me to do this again coz I was the only one who enjoyed this at home coz my boys are not a big fan of coconut. It's just funny that this coconut cream powder got from my Mom in PH is originally from Indonesia. 

My First Iherb Order is Here!

It's a day late but it wasn't a very long wait. It was supposed to arrive between June 26-29 but got here on the 30th.

I've been keeping track of this thru the email link when I got the receipt. It has been pretty slow to move from the international front to the Korean warehouse. The tracking details changed about early in the afternoon yesterday so I expected it to arrive today. Made it to town early this morning and was out for delivery in the afternoon. I was figured it will be delivered at around 4:30 but I only got a call instead. It took another hour before the delivery guy knocked on our door.
  

I've finally got a couple of EOs after years of finding reasonable sources. I got 2 bottles of tea tree oil, a bottle each of rosemary, eucalyptus, cedarwood, and witch hazel. I should have picked up some lavender and a couple of sweet smelling ones but there was a 6 bottle limit that I didn't expect. Maybe I can try on my next order.

And I finally got a liquid shampoo again. Thank you Iherb. Even though I miss my Human Heart Nature products, I'm crossing my fingers that this poo will work for my hair.

I've tried a bar shampoo early this year but it just wasn't working well with my hair. It somehow leaves my hair very oily after washing. I guess that wasn't really for me. Maybe I should keep it for winter when my hair is pretty dry.



The last of my loot were the two bags of oats which I added in my cart out of desperation for not being able to get a decently priced one locally. I found out later that there was a price drop on the item that I was eyeing before but that was after I've placed this Iherb order. Oh, well. I ended up with two brands of oats, Quaker Oats and Bob's Red Mill. That's about 4.5 kg + 2 kg of oats and muesli all together. This should last me until winter, I guess. :D

The next task on my list is making those concoctions using the EO's. The questions is when will I get to that? I still got a few other projects at hand. We'll see until the end month of July.  

Oats and Deliveries

(10:45 AM)

It's Friday and I am waiting for my oats to be delivered. I ordered one from iherb last week but it seems to be taking a long time (7-9 days) to get here. We didn't buy some cereal since last week so I found this weeks' breakfast to be stressful. I did get to cook and try some new things (like Pita bread) but still missed my own food. I just had to place my order for oats in gmarket specially when I found that the price has gone down a bit (from 36k to 30k) with a bag of Honey Butter Chips to boot.

I've been checking my iherb order but it just got to the Korean warehouse yesterday afternoon. I think it will have to move from that to the local courier warehouse before it gets to be delivered. It will also have to go through custom check today. So hopefully with the quick and efficient delivery system here in Korea, I might get that iherb parcel by tomorrow or Monday at the most. I'm just hoping that those EO bottles won't be broken coz I've heard that some people who order flour/oat had some problems. I'm crossing my fingers mine won't have any or else I'll have to deal with the Korean language again.

My local gmarket order, on the other hand, is out for delivery soon since it has already arrived in my local area. I just placed the payment yesterday and from what I've seen in the tracking link, payment was cleared right away yesterday. The goods were shipped out early evening and has been on the move while I was sleeping overnight. It got into the town at 8 this morning and already in my area just after an hour and a half. So if I really can't wait, I can just drop by at their office a few blocks from my place and pick it up. But of course, I will rather wait and write stuff here. :D I'm just keeping an ear open for a message or a call from the delivery guy or perhaps just the doorbell ring today.

Delivery system here is really cool compared to how it is in my hometown.  It takes a while for payment to be cleared, when they finally ship out, it sleeps in a warehouse for at least a night. It takes hours or sometime a day for a product to move from one part of the metro to the hangar where they will be shipped out to the provincial island. By the time it gets to the island, it may have to stay in the local office for a while before they finally get someone to deliver it coz there is only one office in the downtown to process all the incoming documents and parcels. Quickest time frame can be 3 days but worst case would 5 days or a week.

That is for the private courier service. It's totally different case via the post office. It is worse. Which reminds me about a couple of stuff I've sent through them a few months ago and I haven't heard if it already got there. Oh geez. One was a small packet of paper gift for my son's friends and another is a document for my mom. Gotta check that one out. To make it worse, I just sent it as regular mail forgetting how bad Philpost system is. I should've sent it with tracking no. at least, even if it won't be that quick. I don't mind the slower one as long as it gets there within the reasonable time.

As for my current location, I can finally have oats for breakfast/snack on Sunday when I head out to my all-day Korean class when those oats gets here. However, I just remembered that Team A food thing is happening this Sunday so lunch will be covered I think.

Waiting.

(3 PM Update)

And it got here just now! It came in a big box that for a minute I thought it was the international one. International packages I've opened before usually has tons of fillers and bubble wraps. This one got bigger because of the extra chips that came with it.

Inside the original quaker oat box are just two bags of oats, roughly 2 kilos each. I may have to move one of the boxes in my 1 kg containers and mix em up with my usual nut and dried fruits.

Happy as a bee now so I may have to stock up my nuts and fruits next.

I guess they will update the tracking info later when they get back to the office. It would be more fancy if it gets updated the minute they deliver. I've signed some electronic machines before for bank cards and I figured it might automatically update somewhere but not with the regular goods. 

Officially an Expat in Korea: iherb.com

I have finally completed my first order from iherb and I am now officially an expat. :D
Why? Almost every expat in Korea that I've come across the net would source their non-Korean supplies from iherb ranging from hard-to-find specialized food to supplements for human and even pets.

Sure, there are imported goods in the leading supermarkets but oftentimes they can be limited and would not include other specialized food items and supplements. Moreover, they can also be a little expensive with having to cover the brick-and-mortar store expenses. Shopping online electronically, on the other hand, can be a bit cheaper and actually more convenient as well. The delivery system is quite established with a flat rate of more or less 4USD or even free depending on the minimum order.

I've actually made an account months ago and made a few attempts early this year for my first order which I've never really completed at all. I bided my time, hoping to find some things locally. But alas, with the MERS thing going, people tend to venture out less nowadays. Plus hubby needed some herb spray for his rashes and I don't think any of us will actually see a doctor for that specially now.

What really drove me to making my first order were the essential oils and oats. I have ran out of my winter supply oats which I bought from gmarket sometime around December. It actually took me about four months to finish the 4.5 kg bulk order. I find it a bit expensive now after seeing more choices from coupang and iherb. I thought about trying out coupang but the language complexity of the site would take a bit more time to decipher for me. I ended up in iherb to try out other brands and score other products as well.

These other products are the essential oils. I am pretty keen on DIY sprays around the house for storing our winter stuffs, treating the pests from my small garden, getting rid of smell from shoes and even socks and many other things. I haven't found a decently-priced source here in this small town.

Iherb seems to be the answer. I can pay using my regular check/debit card from a local bank as long as it has the VISA logo. There were two options for the delivery company: CJ and the Korea Post. I chose the former this time. That company usually deliver around midday in our area, unlike Korean Post which usually show up late in the afternoon. (Yeah, I usually keep track of couriers' schedule.^^,) Now, I just have to double check if my order will have additional tax/duty when it gets here. I'm crossing my fingers I won't have to shell out extra bucks later on.

My first order was pretty modest with 10 items, 8 of which were EOs and only 2 were bags of oats. I'll be looking at other food items like herbs and condiments next time, along with more EOs. I just have to be careful not to go overboard on my following orders.

It would take 2-7 days before it gets here via CJ Korea Express. I'll expect it around late next week or the week after. And as every first timer in iherb, I now post my Reward Code for anyone who might want to make use to get some discount on their orders. Just in case some happen to stumble on this blog post. Either type this code LWJ371 at the end of shopping or follow this iherb link.

I'll try to forget about this now until the parcel gets here...and maybe I'll be able to post another about it.

May Reflections: Subway Sandwich, Yoga Recovery Time: Shorter

There's finally a Subway Sandwich branch in this far off town! I don't have to go far to Cheonan to get my sandwiches. It seems they have just opened last week. I grabbed our dinner from there last night and the place is pretty cool to hang out in one of these days. They open from 8am to 11pm and it's very near my favorite bus stop. I have other alternatives now aside from Kimbap Nara, and Bongouse for my quick bites whenever I need some food downtown.

I might just be able to try out all the different sauces soon. I tried the red vinegar along with the sweet onion last and it wasn't bad. I've tried the honey mustard before and it was pretty hot for my taste. It didn't work well with my usual choice of tuna or vegies. Perhaps, I should try that with some chicken next time. I may have to try to find recommendations somewhere. I'm like doing this blindly tasting whatever name that fancies me. I would like to try the barbeque maybe.

Now to make things equal after the food subject, I move on to exercise. Ever since I started going to yoga classes, I've been doing my stretches more often than before. My recovery time after a class is now down to one day compared to the almost three days when I first started early this year.

This month had been a bit irregular for me then coz of other stuff I had to go to. I had no choice but to skip the Wednesday class. Let's see how I fare next week when I'm back to my regular twice-a-week schedule.

That's it for now. I still have some unfinished business to do for tomorrow.

Apple Waffle Recipe for Pancake

I felt really bad for not being able to print and bring the photos for my son today so I made an extra special pancake as snacks. Found it through the cooking group in fb with someone posting an interesting website with censored wordings but doable recipes.

Used the apple waffle recipe from thug kitchen and my starving son enjoyed it!

January 2015 in the Kitchen!

Christmas and New Year has come and gone but I wasn't able to really cook what I wanted for the season. Why? It was just so cold in the kitchen that I would only venture out there for quick survival cooking. Meaning, I just cook anything so we can eat something. Sometimes, my husband is the one who takes over and manages better than me. 

Pasta has been what I had been thinking of making. I was only thinking of Carbonara but I cooked more pasta than what I needed. I found some more other ingredients to be able to make chicken macaroni since we also had some leftover chicken meat. I found almost everything that I needed like apple, raisin, mayo, carrots, garlic, etc. Most of these were like the last ones so I basically finished up my supply. I just had to buy a can of pineapple but what I ended up buying a fruit cocktail can coz it was selling at the same prize as the other one. I figured that I can also get the pineapples from the fruit cocktail plus I can still have the other fruits. 

So I still have the macaroni salad and leftover fruit cocktail sitting in the fridge waiting for me. I already finished up the raisins originally for my oats, I will be using those fruit cocktail instead. I just hope I get to finish them before they spoil. 

Another one that I have waiting for me to make is the banana that we bought last week and has been sitting on the counter with its skin turning brown soon. I just had to make it into a bread because nobody seems to be interested in eating them anymore. It's a different brand from what we are used to (Del Monte, or Dole). The label has a sticker that says, "Manna." It doesn't taste that good I think, although it's a bit smaller which is just about the right serving for me. 

Well, I just had to chop them well, mix 'em up with other stuff and hopefully make a decent banana "BRAKE" again. (BRAKE= bread/cake) I'll use the rice cooker this time but once I get a decent microwavable dish to cook in the microwave which we got this week, I will definitely try a bread in there by adding a glass of water while nuking just like what I saw in another website making a whole wheat flour loaf. But then again, the 5-minute choc cup cake was a favorite when we had our old microwave and my favorite Luminarc mug which was broken just last month. ㅠㅠ 

Good days are still up ahead anyway. It's time to get started on that banana brake.