Category: House

Practical Korean Cooking for Love!

For Valentine’s Day this year, I decided that I wanted to cook something really special for Ed: A proper Korean Feast! It seems like a no-brainer, but of course Ed absolutely LOVES Korean food, and in the three years we’ve been married, I really haven’t cooked it enough for him.

A few years ago, Ed’s mom bought us “Practical Korean Cooking“, a traditional Korean cookbook written by Noh Chin-hwa. It was translated to English with the intention of helping Westerners learn how to prepare Korean cuisine. The coolest part about this cookbook? There are step-by-step photos that guide you along, which was a BIG help (seeing as how I had no idea what some of the ingredients looked like or how these dishes are supposed to look)! So I guess in the spirit of “Julie & Julia“, this project turned out to be the Korean version. Instead of trying to tackle Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking“, I took on the challenge of Practical Korean Cooking! I decided on making a 4-Course meal. I knew it was ambitious, but I am proud to report that 4 hours later  it was a huge success!

1st Course: Saengseon Jeon
(Pan-Grilled Fish Cake with Egg)


These “fish & egg pancakes” (as I called them before looking up the proper name) are an Ed staple! He LOVES them so much, often times he can’t wait until they’re completely made – he has to cut off slices of the fish cake and eat them plain! Ed’s mom helped me with this recipe and she even gave me a cute idea of making them heart-shaped! They are super simple – beat some eggs, add a pinch of salt, dip the slices of fish cake in the egg and cook them like a pancake! I even found a heart shaped frame I could use at the Korean Market!

2nd Course: Komt’ang (Beef Stock Soup)


This soup got put on the list because a) I’ve never made my own soup stock from scratch before and b) Ed loves any kind of noodles!!! Basically, this recipe was a simple soup made with beef shank, garlic, korean radish and “chinese style” noodles. This was definitely the toughest to shop for – at Zion Market they had 2 whole aisles of just noodles! How’s a girl like me supposed to figure out the right one?!? I’m pretty sure I chose the wrong noodles, but Ed said it was delicious nonetheless.

3rd Course, part 1: Twaejigogi Kimch’ibokkum
(Stir-Fry Pork with Kimchi)


You’re definitely not eating a true Korean meal if there is no kimchi involved, so I knew this dish would hit the spot. No, I didn’t make my own kimchi from scratch, but there’s always next time! Thank goodness Ed’s mom told me which red pepper paste to look out for (whew!). This dish came out so spicy and bold and delicious – and Ed said everything about it was “just right”!

3rd Course, part 2: Nakchinokkum (Fried Octopus)


My goal from the start was to knock Ed’s socks off and completely surprise him by this meal – so I knew the sure-fire way to do just that was to include octopus on the menu. Octopus is a huge favorite for Ed, and there is no way he would ever expect that I would make that for him! Even though I am not a big fan of the octopus, I did give it a shot. Ed was completely shocked that I even attempted it and very happy about how it turned out!

I took this shot of him, mid-bite:

He liked it – he really, really liked it! :)

4th course: Strawberry Ice Cream and
Rice Cracker Treats


Pretty simple, but Strawberry Ice Cream is always a hit with Ed, and paired with Rice Crackers, I knew it would be a solid finish to the meal!

In total, I spent about 4 hours preparing everything tonight – and it was worth every minute of it to see Ed’s shock and amazement! Now I want to practice a bit more so I can impress my in-laws! :) A BIG thank you goes out to my awesome mom-in-law, Kay, who helped me out a lot by sharing some invaluable tips!

Here are a few more details of the evening:

Place setting + menu


Ed devours the octopus!


I did it!


My menu!

Click here to see all the pictures!
(Sorry for bad quality of some of them – technical difficulty had us using our iPhones for the majority of the evening!)

Happy Christmas!

I can’t think of anything but “happy” when I think of Christmas this year! I can honestly say I enjoyed every second of the holiday season – it seems like I got to do almost everything I wanted to do! I got to bake with my mom, decorate our house, make some handmade gifts and even drink loads of Starbucks holiday beverages. :) Plus, Ed and I also got to hit a few holiday parties, go to Charles Phoenix’s Retro Holiday Slideshow and check out a Cosmic Christmas at the Glendale Planetarium. But the high point was definitely our family combining efforts to adopt a family this Christmas! There was no stress, and at risk of sounding incredibly sappy – now that we’ve spent both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with both of our families, my heart is so full of love and blessings! It was truly a happy Christmas in every sense of the word.


As usual, we hosted Ed’s family at our house on Christmas Eve … and of course, we had an epic meal with Ed’s culinary masterpiece, the Chile-Brined Ham (make sure you check out the whole story on Day One and Day Two!)! Also on the menu was a balsamic roasted vegetable medley with zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, cauliflower & peppers along with wild rice. But this salad made by Ed’s mom was the tastiest salad I have ever eaten-and it was gorgeous, too!

I found a special bunch of flowers at Fresh & Easy (my favorite!) and I was inspired to clip a few to use for place cards at the table  …


Ed’s mom loved her placecard …

Uncle loved hanging out with Ricki …

and Ed served the jus accompanying his ham like a pro!

And then today, we were off to The Facey’s! So much of my love for Christmas comes from my parents, and their house is the best at the holidays!!! They liked the picture frame we got for them:

Then the kids arrived, and it was on! Santa brought them Beatles Rock Band this year, so they were representin’ in their Beatles T-shirts:

We are really excited about our gift to them this year – we’re taking them to the Walt Disney Concert Hall for one of the Toyota Symphonies for Youth. Its a really cool thing where the kids can do arts and crafts beforehand, and then they get to see a kid-friendly orchestral performance about Beethoven. Ed and I haven’t ever seen anything there at the concert hall either, so we are totally looking forward to it!

They were so sweet and each of them picked out their own gifts for both Ed & I this year. We loved each and every one. They are so big now!

All in all – it was a beautiful holiday! We love our family and friends dearly and wish you all a very, very Happy New Year!

The Kims’ Christmas Ham…Part 2

Ok, so about a day and a half later, it was time to get back to the ham. During its long and salty bath, the leg had certainly changed color somewhat.

One thing for sure…it didn’t quite look appetizing yet!


Yup, still just a big hunk of leg.


Into the roasting pan it goes! See you in six and a half hours.


It had to keep roasting until the thickest part of the leg was 150 degrees inside, so after about four hours I had to periodically check the temp inside.

And drumroll…..


It’s finished and it’s coming out!


Yes, it looks a lot more appetizing now, wouldn’t you say?


It definitely looked the part.

So how was it? It was delicious. It actually didn’t taste like ham in the traditional sense; its consistency was almost like turkey, but way more juicy and flavorful than any turkey. Much softer too. In addition, I’d made a jus using the drippings in the pan, and that truly brought it to life. Mmm, salty goodness!

So I think it was a success. Everyone seemed to enjoy it – especially Dad and Uncle! As it was 22 pounds, it also looks like I’ll be eating ham sandwiches for the next month.

The Kims’ Christmas Ham…Part 1

As some of you know, Carrie and I have spent much of this past year learning to become better cooks. It’s been a very fun learning experience and the end result is that we now eat much healthier with much greater enjoyment than ever! Since we got married, we’ve always hosted Christmas Eve dinner for my side of the family, and this year is no different. However, there will be a very significant change to the menu now that we are much more ambitious cooks: no pre-cooked store-bought ham that you just merely heat up like in years past. No way, José – I’m brining my own fresh pork leg and making us a Christmas ham!

I didn’t – and still don’t to some degree – know what to expect as I’ve never done this before. But thanks to this recipe I found in Food & Wine magazine, I think I’m in good hands here. Chili-brined fresh ham, it says. Ok then – I’m going for it!

This will be a multi-part series as we’re still two days before Christmas Eve and making this ham from scratch is a two-day affair. Today’s part was making the brine and putting the giant 22 lb. hunk of pork leg into it! So how did it all go? Well, something like this.


Here are the doings for the brine: water, Kosher salt (for a swine dish, no less), sugar, serrano chilis, cloves, and peppercorns.


Pouring in the salt and sugar…


Chopping up the chilis…


After much boiling of the water/salt/sugar mixture, mixing the chilis, peppercorns, and cloves into the mix! Yes, given the massive size of the pork leg, I had to go out and buy a party drink bucket from Smart&Final to get it all to fit.


Why am I rolling up my sleeves?


So I can deal with this giant pork leg! It’s huge, heavy, and its skin feels really weird… I had to special order this bad boy as it’s not something grocery stores typically have in stock.


And here it is in the brine, where it will remain for the next day and a half!


As you can see, it really is huge – it takes up the entire bottom shelf of the fridge.

Pretty fun stuff! Stay tuned for more – hopefully culminating in a successful Christmas dinner!

The Day of Love

This year we decided to skip the crowded restaurants and just enjoy a home-cooked meal for Valentine’s Day. We were shopping at Sprouts on Friday night and discovered they were selling Lobster Tails for $4.99 each, and it inspired us to cook up a Seafood Feast!

We were pretty excited that we actually pulled this off! One of our favorite meals ever was a “Seafood Feast for Two” at an incredible restaurant in Seattle. We tried to replicate it in this meal. Basically, we got two mini-lobster tails, 4 crab legs, a dozen shrimp and a tilapia fillet to share. Add fresh asparagus and a baked potato and – voila! – that’s a serious seafood restaurant classic!

One thing that was kinda funny was that once we got the Lobster Tails home, we realized we didn’t know how to cook them. Thanks to the FoodNetwork.com, Ed grilled ’em up just like a pro.

And finally, it just wouldn’t be Valentine’s Day without a sweet ending. We got these Petits Fours from The Great Dane Baking Company, the same place we got our wedding cake. Awww!