Kale, almond, onion and garlic sauce!

When Aaron and I were in Seoul last weekend, Jess told us about a pasta sauce she's been making at home that she thought we'd like trying, and boy did we! We've made it twice since we've been home already.  Hey, you can never take a good homemade pasta sauce for granted, right?!  Forgive me for the lack of photos in this post, but I accidentally deleted them off my computer while I was editing them. ugh... 

 So, here's what you'll need: 

a handful of greens (We used Kale.) 

4 cloves of garlic 

1 onion 

1-2 tablespoons of olive oil 

1 handful of nuts (We used almonds.)

Boil the greens, garlic and onion for 3-5 minutes in a pot. Then drain the water and move the greens, garlic and onions into a blender or food processor.  Add the oil and almonds and blend until it's the consistency of sauce.  If it's too thick, add a little more oil.  Make your pasta, pour your delicious homemade sauce over it and you're ready to eat!  How easy is that?!  ***We added a small dollop of homemade ricotta cheese too, which made it really rich and flavorful! 

Homemade ricotta cheese!

Aaron and I just got home from a 3 day vacation to Seoul!  We stayed with Jess and Mayo, undoubtedly one of my favorite couples in the world, and ate the most delicious food, talked about life, love, relationships, traveling, the future, healthy food, crafting and blogging... We played games, took walks, watched a 4D  movie, drank wine, felt baby Perlaza jumping around inside Jess's belly and relaxed together... you know, all of my favorite things!  I left feeling refreshed, rejuvenated and blessed to have friends like them in my life!

*** Sorry there are no pictures of the weekend!  Sometimes memories are best held, well, in our memory! :)

So, this morning, NFL football has taken over the TV, Maverick is purring into the blanket next to me, I'm wearing my most comfy and cozy pajamas while lounging on my Thai lounge pillow on the floor and I have the next 8 days off of work!  Does it get any better than this?!  Well, yes, it can!  It can be better when homemade ricotta cheese is fermenting in my kitchen! :)

Making ricotta cheese is surprisingly easy and chances are, you already have everything you'll need in your kitchen (minus the cheese cloth)!  So, here's what you'll need:
1 carton of whole milk
1 spoon full of salt
2-3 spoon fulls of vinegar
a pot
a stove
a wooden spoon
a bowl
a strainer
a rubber band
a cheese cloth.

So, let's begin... Pour the milk into a pot, throw 1 spoon full of salt in, and turn the heat up to low/medium.  Then stir and stir and stir.  If you don't stir, the milk may burn on the bottom of the pot and that's never good!

You'll start to notice gooey stuff forming on the top layer of the milk.  Just take a wooden spoon and scoop it off and throw it away.

After a while, the milk will start to boil and rise.  Take it off the heat before it goes over the edge of the pot and drizzle 2-3 spoon fulls of vinegar over it. (I used brown rice vinegar, but regular, or apple cider vinegar work well too!)  With a wooden spoon, slowly drag the milk from one side of the pot to the other.  You'll notice that the milk's fat will begin to separate, and the liquid will become more clear colored.  If it doesn't., throw the pot back on low heat and continue to drag the liquid with the wooden spoon, adding a little bit of vinegar until the liquid is clear.

Then, let the mixture sit for 30 minutes (off the heat).
After 30 minutes, wet your cheese cloth and throw it over a strainer. I laid my strainer over a bowl to catch the liquid.  Then, pour the mixture into the strainer, ring it out and let the liquid drain through it. Tie it closed with a rubber band and hang it over your kitchen sink for no more than 6 hours.

Then, wala, you'll have your VERY OWN home made ricotta cheese!  So easy right?!
Recipe via by sweet food guru friend, Jess Perlaza!
Check out her food blog at www.greenteaandkimchi.com  

I say tomAto, he says tomato!

During the afternoons at work, Aaron or I will always message the other asking, "What should we make for dinner tonight?"  Just like clockwork, the same conversation happened this afternoon and Aaron asked what I thought of this recipe for roasted tomato soup!  I obviously had absolutely no hesitation, especially since I'd never had tomato soup!  Yay for firsts!

Aaron got right to work on the tomatoes when he got home (while I visited a car rental place to see if we could rent a car for Aaron's birthday weekend next weekend. Sadly, they said no to me because I'm not Korean. Boooo!)  When I got home, the tomatoes were roasting in the oven...

... and Aaron had 2 glasses of cabernet tempranillo wine poured for each of us to drink while we cooked dinner together!

After pulling the tomatoes out of the oven, we poured them into our lil blender and pureed them for the soup! 

After they were pureed, we poured them into a pan and added thyme and red pepper flakes and let it simmer for 20 minutes while we played with Maverick!

Can you believe this fat cat?  As we were cooking, I looked down and Maverick was laying with his arms literally wrapped around his food bowl waiting for us to fill it for dinner time!  Such a fatty!!

After the soup was finished pureeing, we scooped it into our bowls!  Look at that delicious tomato yuminess!

Tomato soup is never complete without a side of bread to dip it in, right?!  Well, Aaron took it to a whole other level and whipped up gouda and mild cheddar grilled cheese sandwiches to go with it!  

I couldn't have thought of a better meal to cook up for the first snow day of the year!  

***Yep, you heard it right... It snowed today! :)

Getting creative during the freeze!

Korea's winter freeze has definitely set in and the days of hanging out outside after work have quickly fled! With the change in weather has come a change in entertainment around the Osteen abode!  Our shopping in the markets, hiking in the mountains and photo walks around the neighborhood have been replaced by nightly games of Jin Rummy

(which, as you can see, I sometime dominate) ...

... and Christmas movies!  We've begun a new tradition in our first year of marriage, to...

So far, it's been really fun, and who doesn't love having a Christmas movie on while they sit and play cards 

on their heated floor!?

Aaron has an unhealthy obsession with peanut M&M's, probably because they're few and far between in Korea, so when he sees them, he practically squeels!  So, when I found a giant bag of fun size peanut M&M's at our grocery store, I quickly swooped them up, hid them away in my apartment and slip one into Aaron's Christmas stocking once in a while!  I always do it right after he's done something extra nice, like washed all the dishes or cuddled with me during our movie!  Then when he finds the M&M's in his stocking, I tell him, "Oh, Santa must have seen it when you...." :)  He loves it, and sometimes will ask me if Santa saw it when he did something.  LOL

A couple nights ago, the weather had warmed up enough to not have to completely bundle up in 5 layers, so we took a little walk around the neighborhood. I'm going to miss living this close to the harbor.

and then over to dinner at CHAM!  What's new, right?!

Last Sunday afternoon, I met up with Gill and Sam for "Tea for Three" and Gill whipped out this stamped leather pin that says, "I make stuff" and told me that her and Sam found it at a cute little boutique shop in Nampo and had to buy it for me, since "I make stuff" described me to a T!  hahaha.  Now, it sits proudly on my Christmas tree!

So, speaking of making stuff... Aaron and I have been busy in the kitchen, almost every night, cooking dinner together!  This was part of our taco salad that we made on Tuesday night!  We even made tostada bowls by wrapping flour tortillas over our cereal bowls, dusting them with a little oil and baking them for a couple minutes!  To. die. for!

Then, on Monday night, we decided that we're going to send out a Christmas card to family and friends to celebrate our last Christmas in Korea!  So, I decided to make a little banner to hold in our photo!  This is just a little glimpse, but the whole things says, "Merry Christmas" in Korean (메리 크리스마스)!  The best part is that I used an old brown and gold tweed dress that I was going to give away for the triangles, and a nice pair of dark blue jeans that were too big for me for the lettering!  Custom, fun, and free!  Be looking in your mailbox soon!

Last night, A and I met up at a yummy Vietnamese restaurant for dinner, then had coffee at Angel in-us coffee shop, did some shopping in Lotte, and then headed over to DAISO to pick up 2 coffee mugs for a little Christmas date night art project!  We each decided to decorate a Christmas mug for each other!  

As you can see, Maverick was curious as always!

After designing and coloring our mugs with the permanent markers I brought with me from America, we threw them in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, and wala!  Now we've got ourselves 2 custom Christmas mugs, from each other, that we can use and reuse every year!  Can you guess whose is whose?! 

Yep, you guessed right!  Mine is the one that is a bit over decorated!  Can you blame me?  I love this kind of stuff and I only had 1 cup, so I had to take advantage of every square inch!

I'm usually partial to my own designs, lol, but I personally LLLLUUUVVVV Aaron's cup for me!  Simple, classy, and sweet, just like him!

Today is TEST DAY for elementary school's in Busan, so I've got the morning off, but just when I thought it was going to be the best day ever, I was asked to grade the tests!  SAD!  This weekend we're heading to a traditional Korean dance performance with Jestine and Bobby, then over to a Christmas dinner with Gill, Sam and Salome!  Then, Sunday we've got a photo shoot scheduled with Meagan and Dave from Ulsan! Should be a fun weekend full of friends and entertainment, and maybe, just maybe, some snow!!

Let's get CRAFTY!

I met Jestine a couple weeks ago when she e-mailed me about doing engagement photos for her and her fiance. We hit it off immediately and spent our night chatting on facebook, getting to know each other! She e-mailed me the day after I posted this blog about re-designing our photography website and asked if I would ever be up for having a crafting night.  Ahhh, a girl after my own heart!  So, we planned it and made it happen last night... Even Bobby, her fiance and my friend Ashley came and got in on the action, too!  The more the merrier. It was a big huge - 4 hour long - comfy clothes wearing - cake eating - wine sipping - craft explosion in my apartment, and I loved every second f it!!

Here's what the 4 of us came up with!  The one with the light blue ornaments makes me laugh!  I made it and accidentally glued Merry Christmas backwards!  Aaron caught it later, after everyone left!  Guess that's what happens when you're talking while you craft!  Maybe I'll send that one to my mom, since she loves and appreciates everything I make. :) 

Merry early Christmas everyone!

Homemade Pepero!

"HAPPY NOVEMBER 11th - aka PEPERO DAY!"

There's nothing more generic and unoriginal than giving your friends, co-teachers, girlfriend, boyfriend or spouse, a box of store bought pepero on pepero day!  Don't get me wrong, store bought pepero is great, but homemade is BETTER, don't you agree?!

Last Friday, I picked up a package of nude pepero (1,800 won) and a package of white melting chocolate (2,500 won) - {not pictured,oops!} in Seomyeon.  Luckily I had lots of leftover stuff to decorate my pepero with from last Christmas when I made Christmas cookies, and last Wednesday when I decorated cupcakes!  

I grabbed the tallest and skinniest ceramic cup I had and filled it with the white chocolate, dropped it into a pot of warm water (medium low heat) and waited for the chocolate to melt, occasionally stirring it with a metal chopstick.

Then, I dipped my first pepero stick, laid it out on the wax paper and quickly decorated it to my heart's content before the chocolate hardened! 

Aaron decided to get in on the pepero decorating action! :)

And of course Maverick (AKA: Project Kitty) tried to get in on the action, too, before his little paw was swatted off the table by his mom!  

I could have done this all day if I had had more pepero and more chocolate!  I was definitely in my element.

No finished project is complete without an Instagram, right?!

All in all, I think I dipped and decorated about 50 pepero sticks!  Somehow though, when I was packaging them for my co-teachers, Aaron's co-teachers, and my friend Ashley who I'll see tomorrow, I ended up with 42.  I think there may be a pepero monster living with me!  

A's Custom Sweater Beanie!

Last weekend, Aaron and I sifted through our closets and got rid of some stuff we knew we wouldn't wear anymore.  As we were stacking the give-away clothes in piles, it dawned on me that a lot of them could be recycled and used as scrap fabric for other crafts I've been wanting to make!  For one, Aaron has been on a mission to find a comfy - saggy light gray beanie, so when I saw that he was getting rid of his light gray sweater, I snatched it from the pile, because I knew I could make a beanie out of it that he would love!  Luckily, he did! 

I forgot to take a picture of the sweater before I cut it up... but here's what it looked like... just your average Target Merona wool sweater!

I laid Aaron's dark gray beanie, that he LOVES and wears 24-7, on top of the band at the bottom of  the light gray sweater. (It's important to use the bottom of the sweater for the bottom of the beanie, to give it a more finished look).  Then, I cut a square out of the sweater material, about an inch larger than the beanie.

Then, I grabbed a sharpie marker and drew an outline a little bit bigger (maybe 1/4 inch bigger) than the beanie I was using as my example.

Then, I threw it onto the sewing machine and sewed along the marked line.  Then, I cut the excess fabric off.

In order to not have the beanie poke out on the top, you need to make a cross stich at the top. (basically make a + at the top).  In order to do this, fold the beanie in half, pinch the top and draw a line with a marker, making a + shape, then sew on that line.

Once you're done with that + stitch, turn it right side out and it's ready to go!  Aaron is a huge critic when it comes to beanies and how they fit him.  I'm happy to say, he was VERY pleased!  

He actually wore it ALL day! 

I grabbed the leftover scraps from the bottom of the sweater and quickly stitched up some baby mittens!    They're not perfect, but that's the point with any handmade thing, right?!  It's all about the character! 

    Hope this inspires you to re-think your clothing giveaways next time 

and to create something new and handmade out of them!