Welcome To Korean Street Fare

 One of the most tastiest and trendiest food is Korean street fare. It's big in the Koprea Towns that dot this country. There is also Yopokki which has the food and flavor in a cup/

A good freind  who is Korean gave me them for the Lunar New Year. This excited me because I do love Korean food from bulgoki to galbi. This was something different and easier to make.

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It's sort of similar to remane, with rice "cakes(which resemble penne) anda liquid  flavoring. (there's also a humectitant to kepe the rice cakes moist).Its' filling the cups with water then the seasoning packet. Like any instant cup food it only takes a few minutes to cook.The flavoring were done in the tteokbokki .I also received jajang flavor or black bean. 

The flavors were intense and spicy.This is true Korean street fare

It's an interesting mix, especially the tteokbokki . This reminded me of General Tso's chickn , a powerful sweet flavor cooked with chili crisp.

Try Yokkipokki if you want the inreresting Asian fare that is a breeze to make. It's a great introduction  to Korean street fare. Try it and discover the delight.

Giving Up For Lent

 This is the first Friday of Lent <Mpst Christians,, specifically Catholics give up all meat products for this day. However Lent is about giving up so many  things , form favorite foods to time to cook and shop for others.

Mostly everyone gives up sweets for the oirty day Lenten period. It's a good start .Breaking a sugar dependency helps the body t detox . The same goes for those giving up snack and junk foods. These few weeks allow the body to recalibrate and crave healthy products. Instead of cany ther are grapes and pineapple chunks. Instead of chips, there are tomatoes or broccoli and cauliflwoer florets. Salads replace hamburgers and fries. It is a good idea to give these up.Doing so may lead to keeping these dietary rules for a cleaner and healthier lifestyle. Another idea is giving up all meats , seafood and dairy.There'sa pretty solid theory going around that Jesus HImself was a vegan. He could not stand to see any living thing suffer so He went for plants . Luckily the climate - as with other Mediterreneam countries was abundant in olives and their leaves as well as in eggplants There also may have been chickpeas (nott the  kind that we know of  today. The ancient ones were bigger - sort of like cannellini beans) added in  to  provide protein.Now it's easy to forgo meat and fish . Check out the vegan aisles of your grocery and find any kind of plant based meat , egg and dairy substitute.

The best thing you can give up is your time. Why spend an afternoon at Starbucks when you can take a elderly neighbor or family member. They'd enjoy some time out , sipping coffee and chatting.Bring in coffee and doughnuts if they're housebound. Stay.Again there's nothing like company. This is also a good time to check their fridges and make sure that they have plenty of staples. Also check to make sure that they don;t have expired food in teh fridge ro pantry. Help them clean out and replenish with fresh food. Another giving up is time for your own shopping. Shop for them too. They'd appreciate it and it sets thei minds at ease about running out . Make sure they have milk, fruit, veggies and even easily microwaved meals. Buy the appropriate foods if they're on certain diets. You can also give up your time to work in a food pantry or soup kitchen. People forget that hunger is a year round thing and not just there at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Spend a Sautrday , helping to cook, clean and serve. Even bake brownies or cookies of you want.

Lwnt is the time to forgo.It could be your favorite candy.It could be your time. It's up to you to deicde which will be more beneficial.

If Food Be Love

everyone is emerging from either a good or bad Valentine's Day. There were probably excellent stories of lobster and engagement rings .However there could be bad ones dealing with fights and a quick stop at McDonald's. Whichever way  you look at it food  and relationships are tied together.

Regular contributors Becky Hughes and Ella Quittner arranged a compiliation of stories for yesterday's New York Times wednesday Food section. There are all sorts of tales .Two involved cooking a dinner at home. On was a first date which could be kind of romantic if you know the person. The second involved a couple with the guy cooking mapo tofu with bok choy to impress the girl. She thought the meal was slightly too hot despite the effort he put into it. The best bet for that is head to a place with a cuisine both will like. As for the first date, head to a coffee shop and just get to know each over over lattes.Other stories involve couples cooking. There can be fights as seen in a couple from New Hampshire. One does the most elaborate things to prepare a dish like individually boil lasagna noodles.Other couples fight over one's love of chicken or if they use the KitchAid too much. According to therapist Dr. Orna Goralush food fights are just the tip of the iceberg. There are bigger issues at stake here.

The worst stories Ms. Hughes and quittner collected are those break up ones, people do get dumped over dinner as rare as it might be.Taylor Swift has written songs about it. The scene was featured in "Legally Blonde". This is not the way to go. If there's an opposite of a meetcute this is it. One woman Kristen Mizzi was dumpd three times at Jaleo , Jose Andres famed restaurant in Washington Heights. The food may have been phenomnal . The histrionics were not. even fast food joints like Wendy's aren;t immune to such failings . Erin Harper could not return to her local one in Madison wisconin. worst yet it was akk about the chicken nuggets. She can;t returun to it because of the bad memories. Her advice? Don'tt break up in a place that you love. It's better to end a relationship in familiar territory such as the living room. It's quiet.It's relatively private and you can retreat to the bathroom for a good cry afterwards. Although tere are perks. Newly ex partners are left with exorbitant tabs and the tips are reallly high thanks to the waiters have to witness the drama.

Despite all this there was probably some romantic dinners last night. Stories of food and hate are few and far between. Love rules. Food rules. Together they are powerful.

Chocolate Covered Goodness

 A Valentines' treat is chocolate covered strawberries. yet they can be expensive thanks to the rising costs of fruit and sugar. However - you can save money  easily. How Create chocolate goodness yourself.

Regular contributor and Chef Eric Kim wrote about this treat in today's New York Times Food Wednesday section.even though these should be given up for Lent (today is also Ash Wednesday), this recipe can also be used on other fruit and treats for Easter. Its all in the tempering according to Chef Kim. Once home candymakers learn this then they can make all sorts of  dark, milk and white chocolate coated treats. The candy's make up can be mystifying according to Alice Medrich in her award winning cookbook, Cocolat:extraordinary Chocolate Desserts and other books about chocolate. Chocolate is made up of sugar, cocoa solids and butter. Sometimes flavorings like vanilla are added along with emulsiers like lecithin.It's the cocoa butter, the natural fat extracted from cooca beans  is what makes it liquid when melted and solid when cold. It has to be heated to the right temperature to get that crisp , crackly shell that candy store strawberries have. They were first made by Lorraine Lorusso in suburban Chicago.

In order to get that perfect coating the cocoa has to go through a crystallization process The cocoa butter has to melt competely whether in a microwave or on a kind of bain marie on the stove top. You ned to reform those crystals by stirring the newly melted candy.Use finely chopped or seeded chocolate.if it becomes too thick then gently reheat it.If it doesn't set thempop it into the fridge to harden.what chocolate should you use. Steer clear of the baking section and those bags of chocolate chip.  They and baking chocolate have stabilisers that make them harder to temper.Go directly to the candy section and pick out very good chocolate such as Lindt or Ghiradelli,.For more glossiness add a teaspoon of light olive oil. As for the strawberries, get the fresh and not the frozen ones. They should be thoroughly rinsed and air dried in the fridge. Air drying the berries makes the chocolate adhere better and contributes to the crackliness upon biting.

Happiness is a chocolate covered strawberry. Try this recipe to have a candy store quality bite. You'll never want anything else.

Pancakes Sweet And Savory

 Today is Shrove Tuesday ,a day for pancakes and to celebrate the last of lush eating before Lent begins. However pancakes can be eaten all year long .best of all they can be savory as well as sweet.

Pancakes have been around since ancient times The ancient Greeks made them as did the romans. An early recipe called for honey ,olive oil and wheat flour along with curdled milk. Toppings included sesame seeds, cheese and honey. Theyfirst came into the English language around the fifteen hundreds. Pancakes are one of the few foods that are completel international. There are versions from Oceania in the South Pacific to Scandinavia. What Americans and Canadians eat are similar to the Scottish dropped scone made with eggs ,flour milk and a leavening product. Thanks to IHOP, the International House of Pancakes and diners, pancakes have morphed into ones that have everything from fruit to chocolate chips in them. Of course many prefer the pancakes' thinner and more elegant cousin the crepe. This is France's version , cooked almost paper thin and filld with everything from savory to sweet. The Eastern European blini are also based on this, being thinner in texture.

Pancakes are one of the easiest recipes to make.It's just a basic cake recipe in a way with flour, mixed with butter eggs and milksugar and salt are added as is a leavening agent. This is baking powder which gives the texture a light ,fluffy lift. This creates an airy crumb ,perfect for capturing melted butter and maple syrup. Kids love  when a handful of chocolate chips are added but you can also add blueberries, strawberries or bananas  - or all allthree for a tasty breakfast. You could add bacon or ham bits for a different spin, especially if you;re making them for everyone's favorite - breakfast for dinner. if you want t make this world classic really fun there are pancake molds.You can buy anything from Christmas trees to teddy bears. If you want to elevate pancakes then try crepes. Are they difficult to make? They're the same batter as pancakes but with out the leavener. They have to be paper thin when they cook up .  You can buy a crepe pan (they're under ten dollars on Amazon) if you want authentic ones with  tnder interior and crispy outer edge. Also crepe batter , unlike pancake, has to be refrigerated for twenty four hours before cooking. what you put in them is up to you. Try a savory spinach and cheese or  fill them with icecreams chocolate sauce and strawberries.

Enjpy a Shrove Tuesday tack toni9ght. Pancakes are a fun good bye before we head on to Lent. Enjoy them savory or sweet.

A Half Priced Valentine's Day

 Prices have gone crazy and that may impact your Valentine's Day. What to do? Create a warm cozy meal for pennies.There's no fancy restaurant,s no dressing up. Just the two of you ,cozied up, with good food at a good price.

One fo these places is Lidl. I can't say enough about having a good meal - ones' that easy to make and easy t eat.I recently discovered their El Tequito  Avocado fritters. tehse are avocado fries that can be air fried in less than twenty minutes.

These were fin, little fries that were  crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside.

They paired well with Lidl's vegan chili which as pant based beef crunbles.

Again this is the same as their pizza (ano9ther yummy Valentine's Day choice).it has everythign under the sun in in from beans and corn.

This was perfect with the avocado fritters and would make a perfect dinner for two. Add Corona beef followed by a dessert of spicy Mexican hot cocoa spiked with Kahlua and topped with whipped cream. You can also go to Aldi and buy theri vegetables at a much lower price than the average grocery store Whip up a delicious ratatouille.serve with French bread and a good French red. Buy meringues from Lidl  Acme , Stop and Shopfor a sweet, Gallic ending along with homemade truffles if you have the time to make them.

Don't btreak the bank this Valentine's Day . Create a tasty and easy dinner for two.You can still have a romantic evning but for much less.

Happy Year Of The Dragon

 It's the Year of the Dragon. This fierce creature celebrates  a year full of prosperity, good fortune and strength. Many are celebrating the world over. best of this is that you can have othr roots and enjoy the day.

I felt like this, wanting to toast the New Year joy like my colleagues. What better than to have good food from my favorite restuarant East Wok in my town. Saddle Brook. Of course I got the Vietnamese Spring rolls , the symbols of prosperity along with fried dumplings and my  favorite scallion pancakes

They were all fried , crisp and tasty. Golden and fried means the prospect of wealth , although that's not the reason why I ordered them. East Wok has an excellent array of golden fried foods from their chicken to their dumplings.It's a tasty change of pace.

Celebrate this New Year with tasty golden foods.enjpy their wealth of flavor.it's a great way to user in the Year Of The Dragon🐉🐉🐉🐉

East wok is located at 518 Market Street in Saddle Brook, New Jersey