Pure Snow

Whee, check out the snowfall from yesterday! The first major snowfall of this winter. There's nothing quite like a blanket of fluffy snow to coverup some of the dank ugliness of the city. Although, pretty soon, it will all turn to grimy, sooty slush...



I went for a walk and I was going faster than all the cars that were crawling at snails pace~ So glad I wasn't stuck in traffic.

And this morning, Bunny went for a walk around the patio. See her footprints? Apparently she's not as afraid of snow as I anticipated.




She could almost blend in if it weren't for her little brown spots.



That's her "pet me~" face.

Stay warm, and be careful when walking outside! :)

Accidentally Vegan: Ivy Crackers

Snacked on some Korean Ivy crackers today, which are animal-free as well as sugar-free.


Don't you love finding packaged foods that are unintentionally vegan? I probably spend too much time at grocery stores scrutinizing nutrition labels. Even if I already know that something isn't vegan, sometimes I'll check the ingredients list again, just to see whether the company recently updated the recipe. Such optimism.....


Mmm, not bad. Not bad at all. I shall be enjoying the rest sprinkled over some veggie soup for dinner. :)

'Be My Valentine' Gift Box

Hi Friends in Korea!

With the first month of 2012 already coming to a close, that means that Valentine's Day is right around the corner. Unfortunately, most valentine sweets and cakes here are laced with dairy milk, butter and eggs, so us vegans in Korea might feel a little left out when everyone else around us gets boxes of chocolates from secret admirers.


To remedy this situation, I decided to get creative and put together a sexy, chocolatey gift box available for order on my bake shop site. If anyone is looking to express their love in the form of cruelty-free, handmade treats, this could be your answer. Even if you don't have a significant other, you can always get a box for your single gal pals, or even just for yourself~ Hey, sometimes we need to say 'I love you' to ourselves too. :)

Each gift box will include:

• 1 small vanilla-chocolate marble cake
• 4 vegan hazelnut truffles
  
• 4 raspberry choco pinwheel cookies
• 4 black forest cookies
• 6 snappy chocolate-dipped hearts

Marble cake; the perfect metaphor for two becoming one. :)


Soft, rich chocolate cookies with chewy, tart, dried cherries.


I'm especially excited about these melt-in-your-mouth hazelnut truffles, which are essentially a vegan (and gluten-free!) version of ferrero rochers. You can also order these separately by the dozen, however, please note that these will only be available during this Valentine's season.


Raspberry-flavored chocolate pinwheel cookies with chewy pieces of cranberry throughout.


A cookie-version of the iconic Valentine's conversation sweets. These are crunchy chocolate hearts, imprinted with a love message and dipped in more chocolate.

Please submit and complete your gift box order by the end of Thursday, Feb 7. Packages will begin shipping on Feb 9. Feel free to indicate whether you would prefer to receive your package before or after the weekend and I will try to accommodate your request. All items will be wrapped in cello bags for freshness, carefully packaged in a brown gift box, and then tied up in red ribbon. Personalized gift messages can also be included at no extra charge.

For prices, shipping info, and more photos, please check the bake shop site. Thank you for your interest!

Lunar New Year food recap

Here are some eats from my Lunar New Year hols in Cheonan.


Someone gifted us with a purdy box set of Korean traditional snacks. Korea's version of a box of chocolates. Thank goodness it wasn't a box of spam.


Toast for breakfast with fresh fruit, carrots, and avocado!


Avocado is so ridiculously expensive in Korea, these little morsels were indeed precious. I remember back in Ivory Coast, there were several avocado trees around my boarding school compound and we'd climb them and pluck fresh avocados! We'd just slice then open, sprinkle with some salt and pepper and spoon the creamy goodness it into our mouths. Yum.


My mom and I also got busy putting together homemade vegan mandu. Recipe here. Over several meals, the mandu got cooked in various dishes, using all sorts of methods, such as...


steaming....


... boiling in 두부전골 (type of tofu soup, except the tofu is hidden underneath all the veggies and mandu)...


... fried euuup...


... and last but not least, cooked in a big pot of vegan tteok-guk, which is absolutely essential on Lunar New Years. Mandu tteok-guk all the wayy!

And here are some pics of the banch' lineup, made by either my mom or aunt:

fresh sea vegetable salad


peanut jorim


spinach banchan


kimchi


sauteed white radish banchan and sea vegetable salad


bean sprout banchan


Finally, to add a little 'western' flair to the holiday, for one meal, we roasted up some veggies including pumpkin, potatoes, onions, red bell peppers, enoki mushrooms, and carrots. Everything got tossed together with olive oil, agave syrup, balsamic vinegar, minced garlic, dijon mustard, dried basil, oregano, parsley, and salt and pepper. The best part about roasting veggies is you can just leave it to cook in the oven while you focus on cooking the other dishes, and in the end, you have an amazingly flavorful, colorful dish. So good~

Aiights. That was a super speedy recap. Hope everyone had a good holiday~~ Ta ta!

Humble hodge podge dinner.

Happy Lunar New Year, everyone~ I'm in Cheonan right now with the family, busy eating too much holiday food, but I thought I'd take a time-out from the feasting and share some pics from this past weekend. Instead of going out and spending a bunch of money on restaurant food, some friends got together for a small dinner at my place.


I made these baked bean burgers using a 'mash-up' (no pun intended) of different recipes, and just winged it with what I could find in my pantry. I used dried beans that were soaked overnight and boiled with a pinch of baking soda for them to get suuuper soft, but you could ofcourse use canned.

Kidney Bean Burger Patties

3 cups cooked and drained kidney beans
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 carrot, shredded
1/4 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/4 tsp black pepper

1. preheat oven to 400F or 200C.
2. Mash beans with a fork (you could pulse them in a food processor). Add all other ingredients and mix.
3. Lightly oil a baking sheet. Form patties and place on sheet. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the patties are browned and firm.


I also made the curried carrot dip from Veganomicon. I've been eyeing this recipe for so many years and only just got around to trying it out. Yummy!! I used toasted walnuts instead of sunflower seeds, and only 1 tsp sesame oil instead of 2 tsp of grapeseed. It turned out really great. I especially liked the deep nutty flavor of the toasted walnuts.


Especially tasty when paired with the bean burger patties.


Chris brought vegan bread from Pain de Papa at Garosugil. Love that bakery!


Fresh salad of lettuce, cabbage, and carrots. Can you tell that I was trying to get rid of some carrots? haha.


Yunseo came and cooked some delicious fried rice with button mushrooms, onions, and bell peppers. This was so good, I had to have seconds.


Salad with apple-ginger dressing.


Some fresh kiwi to cleanse the palate. :)


Bunny getting her noms on.


Banana sorbet with dried fruit and chocolate chips for dessert...


more sorbet...


Oh, and we ended up baking some late-night brownies, jus coz. Thick, dense, and very chocolately. Can't think of a better way to end the night-- on a chocolate high.


The end.

Vegan Bake Sale Fundraiser for BTR-GSR

(photo credit)

Hello people in Korea!
My friend Raphaelle is organizing a vegan bake sale fundraiser to benefit the Born to Run Global Sighthound Rescue Organization. They are working hard to rescue these beautiful dogs (borzois, greyhounds, deerhounds, etc) from Korean shelters and find them forever-homes, usually overseas because it's harder to find homes for these larger breeds here. These dogs are simply stunning and it is so sad to see photos of them rejected and broken. Please browse through their website and read about their story and how the organization was founded.




If you would like to donate some vegan goodies, please contact the event planner through the FB page. I plan on contributing a few goodies too! Anyway, I will let you read the details below, copied from the FB event page. Hope you can make it~~



When: Sunday, Jan. 29th from 11 AM to 2:30 PM

Where: Camarata Music Studio in Haebangcheon. It is across from Jacoby's burgers, just next to the Family Mart. Subway station Noksapyeong, exit 2, or blue bus 143, 401 or 406. See detailed directions at the bottom of the post.

What you can do:
- donate some home made vegan baked goods. Gluten free option would be appreciated too! So far we expect to have cookies, muffins, cupcakes, bars cinnamon rolls, banana bread...

- come and enjoy some vegan baked goods! We will also have some light lunch options for sale, such as soup or curry. Just show up on Sun. 29th before 2:30 pm.

- advertise the event to your friends who might be interested: dog lovers, vegans, people with eggs or dairy allergies, people who enjoy cake...

Where the money goes: Born to Run Global Sighthound Rescue is a grassroots dog rescue network specializing in borzois, greyhounds, deerhounds and similar breeds all over Korea. These large dogs are particularly difficult to re-home here.

Born to Run typically needs funds for vet care, crates, collars and leashes, and quarantine/immigration requirements when the dogs are adopted outside of Korea. All the board members are volunteers, the money directly helps the dogs.

Here are their website and facebook page. Have a look at the pretty dog pictures!
http://www.globalsighthoundrescue.com/
https://www.facebook.com/GlobalSighthoundRescue

If you can bake for us, please message [Raphaelle] now with a list of what you plan on contributing. Thank you!

Directions
Subway: Take the #6 (brown) line to Noksapyeong. Take exit 2 and walk along the concrete wall of the army base. At the intersection keep following the wall until you get to Kimchi jars. Walk up this road on the left side past Phillies restaurant until you come to a Family Mart. Just before the Family mart is a big wooden door opening to a basement. Delicious cake and friendly folks should be found at the bottom.

Bus: Take blue bus 143, 401 or 406. Exit the bus at “Yongsan Hanshin Apartments”, the stop between "Haebangcheon" and "Namsan tunnel 3". Walk on the left side of the road when looking at Namsan. The walking path will get separated from the main road by a sound wall. The path will make a left turn, putting you on the main Haebangcheon street next to Indigo’s restaurant. Go right, up Haebangcheon street, until you see a Family Mart on the left side of the road. Just before the Family mart is a big wooden door opening to a basement. Delicious cake and friendly folks should be found at the bottom.

Facebook Event Page