Korean Cooking 101

Tom and I were in Houston recently; Tom was taking care of his annual VA requirement.

We also did some shopping, and eating, ok lots of eating,  AND we were staying with and catching up with friends Walter and Suk. 




 
Suk, being Korean, and an excellent cook had offered to teach me to make a few things. So one evening I had my Korean cooking lesson.  We decided to make bul go gi  for dinner, what with it being one of Tom's favorites.

In order to prepare the meal we had to go to the Korean market.  We had many oriental markets in Colorado Springs, but nothing like the market Suk took me to.  If I lived in Houston, it would have to be near this market.

Back to the cooking lesson - We started by making cucumber kimchi with those lovely crunchy fingerling cucumbers.

We made the marinade for the bul go gi, then coated each slice of paper thin beef with marinade, cover and let rest for several hours.

Thank goodness we were able to purchase already prepared so many of the side dishes that accompany Koren feasting.

Just look at all these tasty treats - it would take us days to make all this stuff....

Suk has a fabulous slow/rice cooker, so with rice  in the cooker,
lettuce cleaned and drained, table set with lots of side dishes and sauces,
table top grill waiting for the marinated meat,
we enjoyed a lovely La Crema pinot noir before dinner.

Just look at this fabulous table

the meat is cooking...

With dinner we had a Veuve Clicquot champagne -
champagne goes perfectly with Korean food -
who knew?, well Suk knew!

and then there was dessert, 
we had dark chocolate covered pomegranate candies
to accompany the after dinner 2007 Dow's vintage Port.

It was a fabulous evening!


Thank you Walter and Suk!!!!!

December's Birthday Girls

On December 23 myself and some friends (3 of the women folk that shared December birth dates) celebrated our birthdays together for a grand ole time.

One of the days events included lunch at a local restaurant that specializes in seafood, La Pigua. It's a lovely place, having had a major renovation in the last few years; all turquoisey and cream, lots of natural stone, turquoise glass, shells, etc. Oh and the food is fabulous. Additionally the service each time we've been in has been top notch. In fact on our birthday day, since there were 8 of us, we had our very own staff person, well I think he did have other tables but he or another seemed to be there always, checking, watching, refilling. We drank way too much wine, ate way too much food, were way too loud, and had way too much fun!

This was my lunch choice, unfortunately I didn't think to photo it until I was well into it!

This is a bouquinette fillet stuffed with huitlacoche and mushrooms, with thin sliced toasted guajillo chili strips and a buttery sesame sauce. DEEEELISH!

Here we are with our complimentary birthday cakes!

No Song, Thank You Very Much!!!!

Tom's Birthday

Well I think Tom had a pretty good birthday;

It started out with his favorite breakfast - bacon, ham steak, grits, red-eye gravy, eggs over easy, bisquits n gravy - all carefully desguised as a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries and almonds. Cuz I love ya hunny bunny!

Then he spent nearly the whole day in front of the computer in his undies, drinking coffee and reading e-cards, and answering birthday phone calls.

By 2:30 he/we HAD to be dressed because he was being taken out for a 'special' birthday lunch by friends Cherie and Greenwood - Here they are waiting for us to be ready

So off we went - to

I forgot to take photos of the meals, which were absolutely de-lish, and I forgot to take a pic of the birthday group, but here are the 2 desserts we ordered.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Tom

missing L y D

Friend Lida, who is a wild and crazy crafty type gal did a post on how she goes about making a craft project. The project in her post is about friends, and Tom and I are featured on the front of the project. You can see her blog here

I feel guilty, and sad because we seem to see them (Lida and SO) less and less. It's not that we want it that way, but they work and are busy, and have lots of obligations, and I am un poquito flojo (a little lazy), and don't call them often enough to arrange play dates. Maybe it's other stuff...

Maybe that will change - maybe I'll just pick up the phone right, now, maybe I'll finish this post first, then maybe I'll get some breakfast cause I'm really hungry, ... See that's what happens, then the next thing you know it's tomorrow and I think to myself, 'Oh NO! I meant to call L y D yesterday, well I'll do it later, after I know they are at work, but shhhhh, don't tell the boss!

sidenote to L y D - we love you guys, we miss you guys, we think of you ALOT! I'll call - soon - I promise - I will, really, right after I feed the cat...

The Pergola Saga continues!

OK you remember the story of the Pergola. How I made a layout of the back garden space, put in a rough design of how I wanted it, planted the large foundation pieces, outlined the pathways in stone, and then started filling in with all the smaller flowery, smelly, fruity stuff. Stuff to attract birds and butterflys, and if possible to provide little snacks for us as well.

After finally deciding on the location We put markers on the ground to decide on size to space, and then also had to choose the alignment. I wanted the sides to align with North, South, East, and West. Unfortunately Our property sits along the same lines. This would have lined the pergola along the same line as the fence, ugly. So we changed our markers so that the corner columns point to the compass cardinal points. I like the way it looks. We lived with the markers for a few months to be sure it was correct.

Then we hired the mason, Manuel. He and helper constructed the base and the installed the columns. He also did a few other projects while he was here.

Next we had to find the wood for the cover. Who knew the wood would be so expensive. After several months the wood was purchased, then delivered,

then it had to sit in the bodega to dry,

then after 5 weeks it finally went up.

We had help from lots of friends. Tom utilized Walter and George for wood pickup and delivery, and Greenwood and Richard for moving the wood to the top of the pergola. Nothing we can say can express our appreciation to these fine friends for their assistance.

Now the Pergola is complete, well almost - it still needs to be decorated!

Chimes, plants, small table and 2 chairs, etc. We received a really cute strand lighted bluebird lights, so now need to run electric.

You can see all the Pergola pictures here!