Cooking Korean: Bulgogi

By Emsu

Growing up, my mom would frequently make bulgogi (grilled marinated beef), one of the Korean dishes many of my American family members had the pleasure of eating at family functions. My dad is a picky eater and rarely eats rice, but if my mom whips up her bulgogi, my dad will happily eat it with a heaping side of the rice.

I LOVE my mom's bulgogi, and even though she gave me her recipe so that I could start making it at home, I do believe in the Korean concept of sone maht, or "taste of one's hands." Say wha?? When I first heard this I thought it was a bit strange too, but through experience I've definitely come to accept that this is a thing. Basically, sone maht refers to how one's dish will always taste uniquely from another's dish even if both make the exact same recipe, because of the "taste of one's hands." I know my explaining it won't make this sound any less strange to those out there who have never heard this before, but I'm not quite sure what else to say. Really though, it's a thing.

Okay, so what I'm trying to say is that no matter what I do, I won't be able to make my bulgogi taste like my mom's. Nevertheless, it still tasted pretty good, and it was simple to make too.

Ingredients
1.5 lbs. beef (rump roast)
1 bundle of green onions (chopped)
5 cloves of garlic (crushed)
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 T sesame seeds
2 T sugar
1/4 c soy sauce

Combine all the ingredients (excluding the beef) into a large bowl and mix well. Thinly slice the beef and put the sliced beed into the mixture, mixing the ingredients well with your hands (mmm...sohn maht!).

One of my favorite items in the kitchen - a ceramic garlic holder!

Put two tablespoons of oil into a skillet and allow it to heat up before pouring the beef mixture into the pan. Quickly fry the meat until it is cooked to your liking.

The dish is best served atop or next to steamed white rice. Enjoyee!

Oddball Comedy Fest

This Labour Day weekend me and Emsu were lucky enough to get tickets to the Oddball Comedy Festival at the DTE Theatre in Clarkson.

Our personel favorite highlights have to have been Kristen Schaal Taint Monologues  Hannibal Buress's rendition of Gibberish Rap with the help of a group of ballerina's and Dave Chappelle, because Chappelle is awesome.

You can watch Hannibal's gibberish rap here

Stationery Love - Rock Paper Scissors

By Emsu

Among other things, something that Raus and I (yep, Raus too) really miss from South Korea is the plethora of cute cute cute stationery stores. There are dozens peppered throughout Seoul, and whenever we went out we would inevitably end up spending a few minutes in a stationery store to pick up some cute cards, letters, or notebooks. While Ann Arbor doesn't offer the vast number of shops, it does have at least one shop filled with things both cute and cool - Rock Paper Scissors!

I went by there the other day to pick up some cards, and found these pretty things. Awesomely, Rock Paper Scissors now has an online store too, so we can all enjoy their collection of goodies :) You can also show them some love on their Facebook page here.

Cat of the Week: 6th August

This week's cat of the week is Snowbert, a beautiful female Exotic shorthair. We previously covered Snowbert as one of Belafontes favorite cat's on Tumblr, but Snowbert is just too precious not to share more of.

You can follow Snowbert here on Tumblr 

Deoksugung Palace Photo Shoot

While living in Seoul, we were lucky enough to be asked to model for our friend who was running a photography workshop. That we were a couple of months from actually getting engaged for real, it was a nice opportunity to get some nice photos for free!

Now revisiting the photos, over a year later, they offer a beautifully reminder into mine and Emsu's time in Korea. The photos were taken Deoksugung Palace in City Hall in Seoul, a little oasis tucked away from the hustle bustle of the city.

Check out Dustin Cole's portfolio, and if in Seoul he is available for hire here

The Great Escape

Belafonte and Lavender showed little interest in the door that leads out into the hallway until about a week ago. At first it was nervous little ventures down the stairs, but slowly Belafonte braved it, leading the way for Lavender to follow. 

Now every time the door is opened Belafonte is keen to go down the stairs, do a circuit of the hallways and then quickly return to the sofa, quite satisfied with his adventure. 

Hers: Four Things From My Week: 3rd August

By Emsu

Now it's my turn to highlight some things from my past week!

1. Birchbox

I recently signed up for Birchbox, and I'm so glad I did! I received my first box this month, and it really just felt nice to get a small package in the mail filled with goodies. Absolutely worth the $10 a month.

2. Jam and Tea

I've been enjoying (and nearly finishing) the spoils from my daytrips in August -  jam I bought at Germack in Detroit and tea I bought from Essence on Main in Clarkston. I feel like I'm especially savoring these things since I know I won't have the opportunity to do daytrips like those for a while, as school has just started up. Looking forward to fall break already!

3. Magazine

I'm not a regular reader of Scientific American Mind, but I bought the September issue while waiting on Raus to get out of work. This issue was "back to school" themed, with articles about self-esteem, learning methods, and the benefits of handwriting. The articles inspired me to rethink my law school study ways and ditch my laptop for classroom note taking, with a pencil (I know...I'm a revolutionary! We'll see how long this lasts). It's one of the few magazines I've purchased in which I read the majority of the articles, so a worthy mention. 

4. Garden Zucchini 

Holy moly, look at this thing! I don't think I can really get a good photo that shows the size of this, but it is HUGE. We picked it from our neighbor's garden (they gave us permission), and I've been gearing up to make some loaves of zucchini bread with it. I suppose I should make some other things with it too, but I don't know what else to do with a zucchini. Help me out fellow netizens!