Tokyo Seoul: Japanese-Korean Cuisine

Dolsot Bibimbap

Bulgogi

Some things have become traditions with our friends over time, such as Friday night dinners. Last week, we went to Tokyo Seoul on West Jefferson and Getz to introduce our friend Cameron to Korean food. He's going to teach English to the little ones there this summer, so we thought it would be nice for him to know the food and the customs ahead of time.

The waitress brought out five different kinds of condiments ranging from spicy zucchini to chili oil bean sprouts, but there wasn't any kimchi for him to try. I think it'll be much better in Korea anyway. I had the Dolsot Bibimbap: rice covered with beef, a fried egg, and heaps of vegetables, served in a stone bowl. My boyfriend, Joe, and Cameron had the Bulgogi. We left with full stomachs and grins on our faces. Good times.

Yukon Gold Potatoes

We're really bad at using up our fresh produce on time, so we try to buy the smallest amount that we can of carrots, celery, lettuce, potatoes, etc., when we go grocery shopping. I picked out a bag (2 lbs.?) of Yukon Gold potatoes because it was the smallest and cheapest available. It turned out to be a great choice, because they were so good for dinner tonight!

It was nothing fancy, just some Chicken Fettucini Alfredo, boiled potatoes (skin on), and green beans. I didn't leave the house to get anything too fresh, because, well, I needed my rest.

Tom Yum Ramen

Joe and I both worked about 12 hours each today, so we were too tired for any real cooking. I asked him to bake a frozen pizza, but he picked out the Supreme one and I didn't want to eat meat. Instead, I remembered that there was some leftover Tom Yum paste in the refrigerator. We had a bit of it left from the Thai hotpot this weekend. We also had a whole roll of Fried Fish Cake. I boiled the ramen, added some chopstickfuls of the paste, and threw in some thinly-sliced fish cake for a pretty tasty "dinner."

Hot & Spicy Tofu

I had some free time over Spring Break, so I tried out a Hot & Spicy Tofu recipe from AllRecipes.com. It turned out great, and the flavors made me think of Thai food, which is on my list for Top 5 Favorite Foods.

Browned tofu with pepper stir-fry mix

Addition of the delicious sauce

Simmering in sauce, soaking it all up

Arnold's Diner

At least once a year, we make sure to drive about 30 minutes south to eat at Arnold's Fabulous Fifties Drive-in. We love the great atmosphere (decorations floor to ceiling, waitress in roller skates and poodle skirts) and the abundance of food they put in our stomachs makes us grin with closed eyes. They also have the World's Smallest Ice Cream Cone and Flavor-Twist ice cream that everyone should give a try. My favorite flavor was always cotton candy.

We gathered our friends and make the short commute one day this summer. The service was terrible for the first time in years that we'd visited, but we got some good pictures out of it. Oh, and the food--it was good.







At one point during our dining experience, someone (I think it was Adam) bet Truc $5 that he couldn't finish his 12-ounce burger. Truc won, and he also had a sundae for dessert. What an eating machine!


If you get a chance to go to Arnold's, bring cash or a checkbook--they don't accept credit cards. If it wasn't for my preparedness, we would've been washing dishes.

Christmas Gift Exchange

We had dinner at Applebee's before our Christmas Gift Exchange. It was a pretty good experience and the raspberry iced tea was delightful as usual. Joe had something along the lines of "Roast Chicken with Spinach" and I had steak and shrimp just so I could have some mashed potatoes. I may be confused, but the place doesn't have side dishes. It's okay, I got my mashed potatoes and they were delicious. We had a lot of leftovers.


What did I get for Christmas? I got spoiled! Food-related items: Holly gave me a really neat Japanese-style set of dishes, a red ergonomic vegetable peeler (which is amazing) and a Hello Kitty Waffle Maker that makes waffles of four different characters! Four! Emily gave me a Hello Kitty Popcorn Popper that we use nearly every day. My friends are wonderful.


The next day, I made Hello Kitty waffles and eggs for Joe:

Here's a photo of the Hello Kitty Popcorn Maker in action:

Mmm...Baan Thai!

It's been a while, I know, and I'm sorry. Here are some photos from my birthday last month at Baan Thai:

Thai iced tea. Wonderful, and it cost the same amount as a soft drink! We took moderate sips so that our teas would last through the meal.

Thai iced coffee--equally wonderful.

My favorite, "Spicy Fried Rice": Chicken, green peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions in a special Thai sauce.

Holly's "3-Flavor Chicken"

Friends!

Laughter = good times

homemade meatballs

i've been doing a lot better with this whole "housewife" role lately. it's hard to designate dinner plans! i didn't know what to make for dinner the other night, so i thought i'd make something rather simple: spaghetti, only with homemade meatballs! so i set out to find a recipe for meatballs, went to the store to get the only ingredient i didn't have, breadcrumbs, and executed my plan. they turned out great! joe even said so and then proceeded to ask for more. huzzah!

on hiatus

my apologies, but this food blog will have to be on hiatus until i get my camera back from mom. she's having a grand time with my camera in australia right now.

semi-homemade taco salad and spanish rice

left over from our taco kit
and spanish rice-a-roni (with fresh tomatoes)

 

my black and white cupcakes

Made from scratch. Hershey's Cocoa cake and Dream Whip white chocolate mousse (filling and icing) recipe.We only had one muffin pan, so I had to improvise. I decided to put the rest of the cupcakes the batter would fill into a pizza baking tray. They turned out peculiar, but still cupcake-y!
Filled and piped with white chocolate mousse.
Cupcakes to bring to work... and they liked them a lot! Success!
 

breakfast, 07.13.06

My favorite cereal. Ever.