Wheat Berry, Roasted Chicken and Brussel Sprouts (January 31, 2010)

Sundays are Janet's night to cook... I look forward all week to this night!

She started the cooking this afternoon by making Granola Muffins from the New York Times.

They're really yummy. And that above photo brings to mind a little known fact--I've been a hand model twice in print. Once for some band's CD album (it was a photo of me pouring Pepto-Bismo) and once for, jeez--I don't remember... A Magic the Gathering card?  A Dungeons & Dragons book illustration? For something, anyways.

Anyhoo, next Janet made a delicious wheat berry and dried tart cherry salad...

Spaghetti ala Carbonara (Jan 30, 2010)

I was craving Ethan's spaghetti carbonara dish tonight - this is by far my favorite dish!  It's kind of dangerous when Ethan makes this since my stomach doesn't seem to tell me when I'm full and he usually cooks this with a pound of pasta.  There's just something really special about the combination of the salty, creamy carbiness of this dish that is pure heaven!

We started the meal with the Lima Bean Dip with some flatbread.  There is something so refreshing and tasty about this dip, it's so incredibly good!

Lima Bean Dip

Sesame flat bread

Our very yummy spaghetti carbonara:

We usually use pancetta but Whole Food's was out of it today. So instead, Ethan used bacon. 

Bacon

Umm, umm good!

Banchan Day of Sweet Potato, Tofu, etc (January 23, 2010)

Tonight we had rice with lots of banchan: seaweed, kimchi, yams, seasoned potatoes (gamja jorim)...

seasoned zucchini (hobak namool)...

seasoned tofu (dubu ganjang jorim)...

The zucchini is sauteed with garlic for a few minutes in sesame oil, then green onions and a bit of salt is added and about another minute of cooking.

The tofu is sauteed in oil until brown and then garlic, a tablespoon of corn syrup, a tablespoon of soy sauce are added and cooked for about another 30 seconds (until the liquid evaporates). The dish is finished with a sprinkling of sesame seeds.

And as a sort of dessert we had a slice of the most amazing white bread that Janet picked up from a Japanese bakery...

Leftovers (January 28, 2010)

Janet was having a girls-night-out and I was pretty exhausted from the first day of the semester, so I just had a beer, spicy mixed nuts, and the leftover chicken from last night

Spicy Chicken Thighs with Onions and Cherry Tomatoes (January 27, 2010)

Janet is reading Alicia Silverstone's Kind Diet. It's having us try milk substitutes (we've bought a rice milk and an almond milk to experiment with), vow to buy organic eggs (and not just vegetarian-fed, free-range eggs), and redouble our efforts to eat organic meat.

So we had picked up organic chicken thighs while we were out. We got home late, so I quickly put it into a marinade of gochujong, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and black pepper. I sauteed the chicken, and tossed it together with sauteed onions, grape tomatoes, and scallions and put it into an oven for a bit of baking. It was pretty good for winging it, but I think I can make some improvements next time I make it.

I've been on a broccoli kick, so more steamed broccoli. Also, reheated brown rice & whole grain barley.

Crunchy Kimchi Fried Rice, Plus Banchan (January 26, 2010)

Tonight our banchan (small dishes) were kimchi...

and gaji namul (eggplant banchan)...

This was the first time I made this eggplant dish... the recipe comes from Maangchi's Korean food blog:

Our main dish was kimchi bokkeumbap (fried rice)...

I love kimchi fried rice... not only because it's tasty, but because it's a great way to use leftovers. This batch leftovers included white rice, pearled barley, brown rice, whole grain barley, broccoli, seasoned black beans, and lotus root.

To make it a bit like dolsot bibimbap, I brown the bottom of the rice get it a bit crunchy...

Extra Healthy Flounder, Broccoli, with Brown Rice and Whole Grain Barley (January 25, 2010)

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jicima

We had a health dinner tonight... Flounder simmered in dashi, mirin, & soy sauce with ginger and scallions; steamed broccoli, brown rice with whole grain barley; and jicima with rice wine vinegar and hot pepper.

Not horrible, but the flounder was bland. Next time (we have a bag of frozen flounder) I'm going to try marinating it in miso.

Kimchi Jigae (January 24, 2010 Dinner)

Sunday night is Janet's dinner night and she made one of my favorites:  kimchi jjigae!

Janet's kimchi jjigae takes a some spam...

A bunch of kimchi (the riper, the better)...

Some guchujong (Korean red pepper paste)...

Duk (rice cake)...

Mandoo (potstickers)...

Mix all together and voila!  Kimchi jjigae...

So yummy!

Recipe adapted from Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee's Kimchi Hot Pot (Kimchi Jjigae):

1 can spam (lite spam works fine)
2 cups kimchi (and kimchi liquid)
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seed oil
1 tablespoon guchujong (Korean chili paste)
3 garlic cloves crushed, minced, or sliced
water
duk (rice cake)
mandoo (Korean dumplings)
2 scallions

Cut the spam and kimchi into bite-sized pieces.

In a pot saute the spam, sesame oil, guchujong, and garlic until the garlic is fragrent.

Add the kimchi, kimchi liquid, and 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil.

Add the duk, mandoo, and scallions. Lower heat to a simmer and cook about 6 minutes longer (or until the duk & mandoo are cooked through).

Birthday Brunch with Anpanman Cake (January 24, 2010)

We started the day celebrating a 2 year old birthday.  It's always a treat eating over at J&N and for a 2 year old birthday party, she certainly didn't hold back...she prepared all this food after just returning last night from a 3 week vacation in Tokyo.

Grapefruit watercress salad with steak

Anpanman - a very funny looking Japanese animated character, a red bean superhero and the 2 year old is obsessed with this thing. (The cheeks are made of peach halves)

Inside Anpanman

The "adult" cake, but I was perfectly happy with the kid cake

Leftovers (January 23, 2010)

Leftover night

Into the mouth...


Healthy steamed broccoli with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes

Dessert: Half of a Levain's chocolate walnut cookie and Haagen Dazs Dulce de Leche ice cream

I was actually looking forward to leftover night since I woke up this morning...is that weird?  When dinner was so good the night before, who wouldn't look forward to eating it all over again?

Spaghetti with Sicilian Meatballs (January 22, 2010)

 

We had a friend over for dinner and to finish off the last of a case of wine that my neighbor gave me for letting him use our wireless internet connection. 

I made Lima Bean Mash (lima beans, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt & pepper) with flat bread for an appetizer. It's better than it sounds.

Supper was Sauteed Broccoli with Olive Oil and Garlic from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking and Spaghetti with Sicilian Meatballs.

 Janet brought home dessert: Häagen-Dazs Dulce de Leche ice cream with Levain's cookies.

Piper's Kilt (January 21, 2010)

I was craving a burger tonight after my yoga class - probably not the typical craving after yoga, but it was just what I needed.

We went to Piper's Kilt, a pub near our house.
I had the bacon cheeseburger and Ethan had the Eastchester burger (bacon cheeseburger with fries and onion rings and a side of chili).

Eastchester Burger

Bacon Cheeseburger

Cheese Souffle (January 20, 2010)

Yummy, yummy!  Ethan made his super amazing cheese souffle - actually, the recipe is from Julia Child.

Light and fluffy!

• Cheese Souffle 
• Red Leaf Salad

Kimchi Stir Fry with Porkbelly and Tofu (January 19, 2010)

Banchan:

seasoned black beans, seasoned soy beans, kale & wakame, gim (salted seaweed sheets), gherkins

Porkbelly, tofu, & kimchi stirfry (pictured above)

Rice & barley

MLK Day: Banchan and Galbi Jjim (January 18, 2010)

Banchan

• kimchi
• seasoned black beans
• gim (seasoned seaweed sheets)
• Ojingeochae bokkeum (squidy treat)

Leftover dumplings
Leftover chinese broccoli

Rice with barley

Galbi Jjim (braised beef short ribs, jujubes, chestnuts, carrots, lotus root)

My galbi jjim combines the traditional dish with the red cooked beef dish I learned cooking in a Szechuan restaurant along with a bit from Flemish beer stew.

Banchan with Veggie Mandoo (January 17, 2010)

Sunday is generally the day when I cook, but considering the over abundance of food we've consumed this weekend I really wasn't up for cooking much tonight.  Let me start by saying we started the day off eating at Bon Chon (Korean fried chicken).  Since we both agreed that we get carried away when we go to the grocery store (mostly me) on an empty stomach, we now try to eat before we go.  Well, we ended up eating an abnormal amount of fried food before our grocery trip to Hmart.  I can't seem to find the balance between starving and being completely stuffed.

So needless to say, by the time dinner came along, both Ethan and I (mostly Ethan) were still a bit full.  Here's what we had tonight...some of it was pre-made:

• White rice with some added pearled barley
• Steamed chinese broccoli
• Marinaded black beans
• Lotus Root
• Toasted seaweed
• Kimchi
• Veggie Mandoo
• Barley tea

Lotus root, black beans, kimchi and Chinese broccoli

Veggie Mandoo