Korean Wedding Dresses-Modern and Traditional

The beginning of spring has begun along with the wedding season. April and May are ideal months here for the bells to ring and the birds to sing. I love going to weddings. They're so beautiful........and I like to collect ideas to save for my future, future date. :P And you can't forget the food. (my favorite part....hehe)

It's weird seeing my friends getting married. It feels like yesterday we were just sitting in class giggling and writing notes to each other about our first boyfriend crush. Along with the marriage comes the baby. Baby??? I sometimes forget that we are now young adults ready to develop our own lives and family. It's just so weird.......We're growing up so fast. *tear*

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Nongak Dance

Oh, I forgot to post these pictures when I was doing my Strasbourg post.

My mom and I were going into town and this Korean group was just about to do a nongak performance. 'Nongak' or 'pungmul' (also known as a farmer's dance) is a traditional Korean type of  folk music. What was once used for harvest-praying purposes is now enjoyed and practiced for entertaiment. It was surprising to see this performance in the middle of France. It totally caught me off gaurd but I totally enjoyed every minute of it. I thought it was funny how once the performance started all these Koreans came out of nowhere!! Where were they hiding this whole time??

Happy Seolnal!! Cooking with Michelle 101-Bibimbap

Korean New Year

The Lunar New Year in Korea is celebrated today (Feb 3 in western time). The Seolnal  is the most important Korean holiday of the year. Similar to our New Year traditions, this is the time where family all gather around and prepare for a fresh and new start.  

Traditional bows are performed for the elders with kids hoping for money an exchange for their gesture. Dressing up in hanboks, eating dukguk for breakfast, and playing yutnori is what the majority of Korea will be doing today……..*sigh* Why can’t I be there too??? L

Anthony had to work today while I stayed home and did my math homework which consisted of 100+ problems! T_T Anthony's mom invited me over to the house to eat duk guk tonight, but I would be bored surrounded my ajimas babbling about who knows what while I sit on the couch watching who knows who.

I decided to make my own dinner tonight.........bibimbap and wanja jeon (beef panchan.) I hadn't made bibimbap in forever. This dish is so easy to make when you have spare vegetables lying around with leftover meat.

Bibimbap

cooked rice

vegetables of your choice ( I used carrots, cucumbers, grilled onions, and seasoned bean sprouts)

1 egg

1/4 lb beef ( I used Trader Joe's Bulgolgi)

red pepper sauce-

3 tbsp red pepper paste (gochujang)

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp water

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp sugar

Mix all the ingredients together for the red pepper paste. Set aside.

Add and assort the vegetables of your choice into the bowl of cooked rice.

Fry the egg sunnyside up. I cooked mine on medium heat for about 3 minutes under some olive oil so it wouldn't stick to the pan resulting in a broken yolk.

Once egg is done, place on top of the rice and vegetable mix. Add the red pepper paste and mix all together in the bowl.

Now you got yourself a bowl of happiness~! Yum!

 For those that don't know how much water to use when cooking rice, I have a tip for you. My mom showed me the finger trick. Add enough water where when you poke the rice with your finger the water is just at the first line.

It never looks pretty in the end.... :P

Now for the beef patties (wanja jeon)

1 lb lean ground beef

half an onion, chopped

2 tbsp grated carrots

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp pepper and sea salt

1 tbsp sesame oil

tofu (commonly added into the recipe, but I didn't have any.....)

2 eggs

1/4 cup flour

Mix the meat with all the ingredients except for the flour and eggs.

Whisk eggs in a separate bowl and place the flour on a separate plate.

Start rolling the meat mixture and flattening into little patties.

Cover the patties on both side with the flour, followed by coating of the eggs.

Using a non stick pan (or oil), cook the patties until both sides are cooked.

My patties weren't as small as I should have made them so I spent more time cooking the meat (5 minutes on each side total with it still not being done.) I then just added a little bit of water to the pan to add some steam, and then covered it with a lid for about 3 more minutes.

I don't have an end result picture for the patties because Anthony was running late for work, so I had to hurry and pack him some before he left. He doesn't like brown or grain rice so he had bibimbap without the bap.......??  That's how he wanted it-