A Thousand Joys

dried radish leaves

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 23:26:00 +0000

Children, please buy dried radish leaves that are green, not brown. See this for the rationale. I am soaking radish leaves that were brown to start off and it's not good.

Whale Snow

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 16:24:00 +0000

Recently I read Whale Snow by Debby Dahl Edwardson illustrated by Annie Patterson. Here the book talks more about the spiritual connection the people have with whales hence "Whale Snow" but many natives in polar regions have a big vocabulary when it comes to snow. I am fascinated with the specialized vocabulary for snow, sea ice, and region specific animals for people in the arctic described in this article.

I also wonder about how religion plays a role in this culture. The book describes animism but I also found out that many Inupiat are Christians. As a Christian and as someone from Korean descent, I often think how important it is to show respect to a culture while sharing your faith gently. This delicate balance is not for the fainthearted and must be lead by the Holy Spirit. I choose to read many books that describe different cultures and religions to my kids so that they may be educated and have cultural sensitivity. Sometimes we pause to repent of the harm Christians have done to other people in the name of Christ and yet our hope is for all to be saved so we pray that God's Spirit may equip his people in those areas and bring many to have a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ through a living relationship with His Spirit.

Pandemic Cooking

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 18:37:00 +0000

Dear children,

During last spring's lockdown, you did a lot of baking of cookies, brownies, and I made....chicken wings.

Now it's winter so I like to make soups, guks, chigaes, and 계란찜 steamed eggs, chorizo tacos with caramelized red onions and mushrooms to cut the salt. Butter chicken was high in rotation. Caramelizing red onions definitely is worth the time to make this dish super special. Also, add coconut milk or cream. We like it so much that I started using two packets of Kitchens of India butter paste. I usually buy from www.vitocost.com

My mom's ginger and date tea (ginger and dates blended together) has been such a wonderful treat everyday. My dad's lemon tea has been nice but I don't enjoy it as much as my mom's tea.

I also tried the feta pasta which was super trendy and we thought it was just okay. But my tastebuds remembered Maggiano's Rigatoni and made something similar!

Thank you all for being such wonderful independent children and being able to make sandwiches and copious amounts of toast with butter and jam. Thank you my eldest for baking salmon so often. During the scary time that ahpa worked the Covid unit, my second daughter said, "I trust God that he will protect Dad. Look at how much he has protected us thus far. Even when there was a tornado, only our house was okay. God is faithful." And my super affectionate eldest who loves to hug has not hugged a friend for almost a year. Even though your friends sometimes gave you some difficulties that your mom is so strict about social distancing and no to playdates, you still obeyed your parents even through your tears. It means so much to me my daughter. And my little two youngest who are two peas in a pod and even dress up in the same outfits, you are still so cheerful and kind. Even though we have lost loved ones during this pandemic, some that we have not even grieved properly, God has given us the grace to walk together as a family. May God reveal himself to you in a deeper way to each one of you.

umma

2019 Winter Cooking Notes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 23:39:00 +0000

On rotation these days...

Instant pot hamburger soup

Lebanese chicken and potatoes

gyro meatballs

gluten free meatloaf (I sometimes sub gf rice cereal for the breadcrumbs)

easy chicken Tikka Masala

gf chicken pot pie

spaghetti with Jovial gf noodles and Victoria spaghetti sauce (I stock up when Costco has a sale) I also like to add roasted blended carrots to the sauce.

bibambap

japchae

gimbap

kimchee chigae

chili

me-uk guk

daengjang guk

ttuk guk (especially these days because of the new year)

soon dubu

fried rice

ddukbokki

Hangul Day

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 02:13:00 +0000

Hangul Day is celebrated annually in Korea on October 9 to commemorate King Sejong's invention of Hangul, Korean's written language. More info can be found here and here.

This is the first year of us learning about it and we watched this nice documentary here (vocabulary is a bit difficult and I did pause it several times) and this fun video by Akdong Musician (Fun Fact: these sibling duo were homeschooled by their missionary parents in Mongolia).

I didn't have a chance to show my kids this year, but this video also has great info on the holiday and it has English subtitles!

Snow days

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 05:38:00 +0000

These snowy winter days have brought itchy dry skin, colds, and the love of all soups bubbling and hot. I am trying to find balance between eldest child's packed ballet rehearsal schedule and classes and using the time I have with the younger ones wisely. It's so funny how quiet the house is when even one child is gone.

Our family dynamics has changed as the children are growing. Earlier this week, my five year old woke up and bellowed down the laundry shoot and every room in search for his dad so he could play soccer with him. And today, my little two year old who loves playing with her older siblings came looking for me for her last nursing session before sleeping while her older siblings were teaching chess to my husband totally past their bedtime. Our days include trying to make a conscious effort to not be too loud while daddy is sleeping (he works nights), the girls practicing their instruments, clearing the table and sweeping the floor only when I remind them, working on birthday productions (this week they're working on the older two's birthday party preparations), having and reluctantly resolving heated sibling squabbles, teaching their younger brother when they feel the whim, while I try to have a handle over the never-ending dishes and laundry and still guide some structured learning. (We're enjoying The Mystery of the Periodic Table and 초단비 예비 초등 these days.) But every night, when I see my sleeping children, I say to myself how blessed I am to have this life, and to have them near me. Every night, I surrender them to God and pray that he may have mercy on them. I wish I could protect them from everything evil and wrong in the world, but I can't. I can only attempt to nurture an environment for the Holy Spirit to move in their hearts. And pray that they may live, not for themselves, but for God's glory.

Summer in the mountains

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 04:57:00 +0000

This summer we spent two months in Korea. Just looking at these pictures makes my heart ache. There are aspects that are still very foreign to me, but I still have a special love and yearning for this beautiful country.

I felt so blessed to share this time with my children. Even the snakes didn't scare them!

Spring

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 13:46:00 +0000

This was a long winter. A week before Thanksgiving, I deeply cut my finger and ended up in the ER for five stitches. A day before Thanksgiving, my littlest one had laser surgery to release her lip-tie. And then it snowed and snowed and snowed. Sometimes there was no sunshine for over a week. My back went out. And baby had one rash after another, not reacting very well to food in general. I was depressed and weary.

But my husband was next to me when I cut my finger. I was at my friend's house and the hospital where he worked was less than five minutes away. And since all the nurses worked with him, they were very kind and friendly and made my first ER for myself almost pleasant. Though I did have to say, it made me laugh to see my husband sweating profusely. I guess it's different when the patient is your wife.

The dentist who did my daughter's surgery was one of the kindest souls. I had prayed to God that he would lead me to the right dentist and he did! She was taught by the leading tongue-tie specialist and corresponded with me via phone and e-mail until my daughter was fully healed. It meant the world to me that my husband was willing to drive three hours both ways to see her.

And even though this winter was terribly long, I had friends who were there for me. Sara almost single-handedly organized my baby's dol (traditional Korean birthday). She did all the decorations and made the most beautiful dairy-free and gluten-free cake. My other friend made these delicious homemade chocolate cupcakes. My cousin gave me his old smart phone and it has been so much fun to join instagram and even look up recipes wherever I am. I also made a friend who also has kids with allergies, but unlike me, has this wonderful relaxed approach to things that is refreshing and uplifting. And now, it's finally spring! Last week, two chipmunks gnawed their way into my house through the dryer exhaust and my oldest had to wake up to a chipmunk looking straight at her. But they are now gone and my kids will have memories that will last a lifetime though I do have to say we are all a little jittery when we go to to the basement just in case one of them makes a reappearance. My husband passed his orals and will graduate from seminary in a month! Hurray for spring!

New Year Tree (A very late post)

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 13:44:00 +0000

The plan was to buy a Christmas tree after my husband's final exams. But then everything shifted when we decided last minute to go out of town to be with family. The kids packed their Christmas stockings with them and my four-year-old instructed me to e-mail Santa on our change in location and if needed, send him a map. I thought the tree issue was over, but upon our return home several days past Christmas, they begged for a tree. I was wondering what to do when my friend casually asked if we might want a beautiful potted Christmas tree that she just happened to have in addition to her own Christmas tree. God listens to the prayer of babes. And so a few hours prior to a snow storm, our dear friend left the tree on our front lawn. Then it snowed and snowed while the children peered outside the windows, longing for daddy who had worked the night shift to wake up to bring their tree home. When we noticed that the snow had temporarily stopped, my husband rushed to bring it to the garage where the snow could melt a bit until finally, this morning we have the tree up and decorated. "It's a new year tree!" declared the eldest and so it is.

We are still celebrating Christmas in the new year. We finished the Jesse Tree last week but are finishing reading all the Christmas books that I never had a chance to read aloud to S and C. Among them, The Christmas Window was new to us and perfect addition to our ongoing medieval studies. Yesterday, I read books from the previous years including Gerda Marie Scheidll's The Little Donkey, Margaret Wise Brown's Christmas in the Barn, Cynthia Cotten's This is a Stable, Edith Hope Fine's Cricket at the Manger, and one new one, King of the Stable by Melody Carlson which brought tears to my eyes.

The next day Matthew gazed into Jesus' eyes. "You must know how I feel, Jesus," he said quietly. I was sad to leave my father's house and come to a strange place. But when I think of how you left your Father's House in heaven to come down to earth--"Matthew shook his head in wonder. "That must've been awfully hard."

May the wonder and grace of God's gift to us bring us joy and comfort in the new year.

article on food allergy research

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Mon, 20 May 2013 23:25:00 +0000

After months of suspecting that the baby had food allergies, the doctor finally confirmed that yes, she does. As far as I can tell, it seems to only be dairy, but I am being on the safe side and avoiding some other major allergens. The hardest one is soy because this Asian girl loves soy sauce. While surfing the net on food allergies, I came upon this uplifting article. It's amazing what caring doctors and parents can do.

What we're reading and watching

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:49:00 +0000

This year we bought a membership to the Shedd Aquarium. My husband used to take the two older girls there a lot during that lengthy time I had numerous dentist appointments for my implant, but they have no recollection of it because they were too young. So this time, we went as a whole family with a two -month -old baby on tow for almost eight hours straight. For several days afterwards, we watched BBC's Blue Planet: Seas of Life and seeing the animals and then learning about their natural habitats made it so much more fascinating.

Oldest is becoming a history buff and is still devouring Child's History of the World. For science, we are slowly plowing through the Magic School Bus series but the author/illustrator also penned another history series which we are loving. We're currently learning about the middle ages so Ms. Frizzle's Adventures Medieval Castle is a hit right now.

Other books we're reading on the middle age:

Knights in Shining Armour by Gail Gibbons

Castles (A First Discovery Book)

Chaucer's Canterbury Tales by Marcia Williams (warning: there are bare buns on display)

Days of the Knights by Christopher Maynard

Tales of King Arthur (I believe there's three books total) by Hudson Talbott (some mature themes in the Lancelot book)

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table by Benedict Flynn

Saint George and the Dragon and various other related books by Trinia Hyman

*Food and Feasts in the Middle Age by Lynne Elliot (this seems to be a series, too. More suitable for older kids)

A Feast by Aliki

*Good Masters! Sweet Voices! (For older kids, but so much fun! I enjoyed this one a lot.)

Puss in Boots (The setting is not technically in the middle ages, but I use it to explain a little about the feudal system.)

History-related, we're also reading The Story of Salt by Mark Kurlansky. The Tweets of America by Hudson Talbott is renewing interest in the US puzzle map.

Our Spring/Easter basket:

The Sun Egg by Elsa Beskow (in Korean)

Children of the Forest by Elsa Beskow (in Korean)

The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

Oh, What a Busy Day! Gyo Fujikawa (her poetry book is no longer available on Amazon)

The Tale of Three Trees by Angela Elwell Hunt

The Easter Story by Brian Wildsmith

Wonders of Nature by Jane Werner Watson

While We Were Out by Lee Ho-baek (in Korean)
Cheerful (new this year and so, so cute!)

I wish I had some more meaningful Easter books...any recommendations?

Ballet: We've watched a bunch of ballet performances on DVD this year and I wish I kept better track of them. My oldest has pretty much read ever book on ballet in the library. Recently, we watched the Birmingham Royal Ballet's Pokofiev Cinderella choreographed by David Bintley and designed by John Macfarlane and it was a visual treat. The costumes are gorgeous. James Mayhew's book Ella Bella Ballerina and Cinderella went perfectly with the movie. The Ella Bella series is perfect for preschool and up. I love how my eight year old still loves picture books.

For Korean study, I have reluctantly started showing them more videos on youtube. We are still watching Cloud Bread and I just started showing them EBS's 나도 요리사. MBC also has a new reality show with father celebrities going on outings with their children that I am interested in as well.

Finally, S and E's current favorites is 999 Tadpoles by Ken Kimura. E is also loving Rosemary Well's Mother Goose and is showing more interest in learning English. He's the first child I had access to so many Korean books. Even my three-month baby is showing interest in books. I started reading her from 보리's gentle nature series board books and she stares intently at the pictures. My babe is almost sleeping through the night and is sweet and adorable...I love her chubby thighs. Okay, I digress.

For science, aside from MSB books, oldest was really interested in constellations and starry stuff for a while. Now, it's the moon. Franklyn M. Bradley's The Moon Seems to Change is on high interest right now. S really wants to see real dinosaur bones. So a trip to the Field Museum seems to be in order. How I wallet misses being an Illinois resident! As an aside, I was never interested in museums during my pre-children days, but now it's so exciting. I am learning more now than I ever did as a kid. Thanks to my kids, I am becoming better educated :)

What have you been reading and watching?

diapers and books

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 11:00:00 +0000

It's funny--I've cloth diapered a newborn just three years ago and probably did some variation of elimination communication, but I can barely remember how I did it.

I'm learning again, tweaking things as I go, and am fretting over baby's diaper rash all the while thinking I've seen this rash before with all my other three children, but I am still worried all the same! And now that this is my fourth child, many of my diapers are worn-down and I am in need to buy some new ones. But wow, there is such a plethora of cloth diapers out there that I have a headache trying to figure out which ones to buy.

In the meantime, the children fight about whose turn it is to hold the baby and clamor that they must all come to the bedroom to watch the unceremonious baby bathing. And I'm reading to them. As much as they want and as much as I can handle, sleep-deprived as I am.

We started our daily Bible reading again after an unintended sabbatical during my pregnancy. I'm reading from Matthew and using, per request from S, The Big Picture Bible to supplement.

And my oldest, who is almost eight, is reading the following:

A Very Young Dancer
George Washington by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'aulaire (she loves all their biographies)
Child's History of the World
The Human Body

I am trying to carve out special reading time with my second, who is not as insistent as her siblings on begging me to read even though she enjoys it very much. Currently, I am reading Milly Molly Mandy and because she wants to, the Bob books. My cousin recently purchased three of the Angela Banner's Ant and Bee books (see review here) for her which are being reissued this year. I can't wait until she sees them! They are perfect for the budding reader.

As for my three year old, we're reading from his 물땅친구 and 한솔 북륨 collection as well as singing from our Korean song books. He was excited to see one of his old favorites, Barapapa (I have the Korean edition which is still in print) on his shelf this morning. And while we are on the topic of books, I will share our winter book collection:

Winter by Gerda Muller
Snow
The Mitten
눈사람 (new this year) by 송창일
The Snowman (new)
Frosty the Snowman
New Clothes for a New Year's Day by Hyunjoo Bae
설빔(male version; seems to be available only in Korean.)
Little Polar Bear and the Big Balloon
Angus Lost by Majorie Flack
Owl Moon
The Snowy Day
The Secret Staircase
Grandmother Winter
The Snowstorm Surprise
감기 걸린 날
White Snow, Bright Snow by Alvin Tresset (new)
손큰 할머니의만두만들기

Some library favorites:
The Story of Snow
The Bravest Dog Ever: The True Story of Balto
Snowflake Bentley

Thankful Thursday: Baby edition

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 03:52:00 +0000

Our baby girl was born last Wednesday! Her sisters adore her and her big brother has grown up overnight and has become a proud and protective oppa.(Korean word for older brother) My mom is here providing nourishing traditional seaweed soup, postpartum pumpkin tonic, darning our family's accumulated ripped and holey clothes and making many cups of tea. Most of all, she is loving my children as only a grandmother can. They've made mandu together and take long treks in the snow. I was surprised to hear that the boy who always needed to be carried walked a mile in the snow.

I look forward to the return of normalcy--being able to carry my big boy and make my children their favorite meals. But in the meantime, I am asking God to deal with habitual sin that I've coddled during my pregnancy (the unholy raised voice, for one) homeschooling during stolen and intentional moments, and gazing at my newborn who has already surpassed her birth weight.

Mandu making

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 10:20:00 +0000

We spent the last moments of Christmas preparing for mandu filling and spent the day after Christmas eating mandu for lunch and dinner. Last year, we started the tradition of making mandu for the Korean new year. But pregnant lady was craving mandu big time so all the elves in our family got to work, including husband for the first time. Turns out he's better in making mandu than I am! No mandu-making is complete without reading 손 큰 할머니의 만두 만들기 by In-Sun Chae and illustrated by Uk-bae Lee who wrote Sori's Harvest Moon Day which is very cheap on Amazon right now. It's an amusing story about a grandmother who makes mandu every new year with and for the forest animals. This year, she makes so much that it's bigger than a house and the animals and the grandma have to figure out a way to make mandu efficiently.

If you're in the mood for mandu, my mandu recipe is in the archives under "recipes." Can you believe that after having two voracious eaters, my youngest turned up his nose at the mandu? Even though I was an extremely picky child, I loved mandu. Oh well, more for me.

Christmas 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 12:44:00 +0000

The whole Advent season flew by much faster than I expected. The girls begged for us to to do the ddukbaegi again for the third(?) year. This time, though, we all participated. Cheeky wrote a get-well message for her older sister, Koko wrote an informing note notifying what the younger siblings should expect for that day, and my husband and I took turns writing little verses and prayers and stowing away Christmas books next to the ddukbaegi. And thanks to our Montessori equipment, we were able to get away without making anything this year. We used the math sandpaper letters and tiles from the hundreds board to show the date and several brown stairs were propped up the mantel to hold the stockings as well.

I listened to my children formulate their theories on Santa. Santa has his own evolving legacy around our home. I had told them that the original St. Nicholas was a Christian who did kind things for the poor and that as a mortal, he had died, but that many of his friends and family members became "Santa" for the modern generation. They wondered if there was a Santa for each continent or state and which ones had real beards versus fakes ones. Cheeky wanted to ask Santa for a sweet gum tree seed because she wanted to plant my favorite tree in our backyard. And she really wanted him to explain the logistics of how his reindeer fly. Santa delighted the children with his letters in Korean (Is our Santa Korean?) and explained to Cheeky that his reindeer flew in a similar way as flying squirrels.

So despite the fact that I am not personally fond of Christmas, watching my children's excitement over bringing cookies and maple walnuts to the neighbors, observing the oldest writing letters to Santa and taking down the second's dictations and making sure to leave Santa some Korean cookies; listening to my children ask me to make stockings for the adults in the family so they could fill them, witnessing the joy of siblings giving presents to each other even and seeing the youngest smile widely at the toy his sister wrapped that was already his in the first place..warmed my heart. For the very pregnant lady who didn't have enough energy to do the daily Advent devotions, hearing the oldest gather the younger ones to practice every day for their family Christmas worship program was pure grace. And when the children refused to eat the danish ring from Panera that their ahpa brought on Christmas Eve because that was going to be Jesus' birthday cake the next morning, that was grace, too, because that meant the pregnant lady didn't have to bake a cake that night!

So this Christmas was very simple but wonderful. My husband and I were married for four years before we had children and sometimes I look at him and ask, "Did we ever imagine how crazy and wonderful and full our life would be with children?"And yet, God chose to bring the Savior into the world as a pure and innocent baby because "the Kingdom of God belong to these."

Next month

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 01:53:00 +0000

It's been a while since I've posted anything. I write a bunch of mental posts in my head but this fourth pregnancy has left me with little energy. And seriously, the whole family has taken turns being sick from October to now. I joke that I now have a holistic pharmacy on premise. It's exciting finding out simple natural remedies. My current two favorites are the garlic syrup here and using onions as an air filter here (scroll down). It's wonderful how God has given us so much in nature to provide healing for us.

I can't believe that next month we will be welcoming our fourth baby. My husband knows the gender, but I wanted to be surprised so it's fun guessing. Every night I am amused feeling the baby jump and hiccup (but mostly jump or punch) while the jumping beans are popping away. May God bless you with good health and a meaningful time of Advent. I hope to be in this space a little bit more often this month.

Digging for Dinosaurs (Math Adventures)

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Tue, 22 May 2012 19:09:00 +0000

I chanced upon Digging for Dinosaurs (Math Adventures) while looking up math storybooks. Geared for second and third graders, it explores many mathematical concepts in a fun way. You get to pretend to be a dinosaur expert and find dinosaur eggs, footprints, bones, and more and use them to calculate fun things such as dinosaur strides and number of horns in a Triceratops' display. The pictures of dinosaurs and fossils are interesting, the scenarios are semi- realistic, and the range of mathematical concepts comprehensive. I appreciated that there were many exercises in reading charts and graphs all throughout the book, but it didn't have a textbook feel. Best of all, my daughter was engaged the entire time.

Other titles in the MATH ADVENTURES series include:

Firefighters to the Rescue
Ocean Giants
Rocket to the Moon
Treasure Hunt in the Jungle
Zookeeper for a Day

We're Going on a Bear Hunt--Korean version

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Wed, 16 May 2012 03:04:00 +0000

I love watching my children fall in love with books. My youngest child is having a slightly different experience because I've manage to have a lot more Korean books available for him.

I like to look at translations of some of our favorites. Here and here are two you tube videos of We're Going on a Bear Hunt.

I'm just loving

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 03:06:00 +0000

We've had summer weather in my part of town. Yesterday, the kids went slipping and sliding at a friend's house and tonight we ate dinner with another wonderful friend in my cold basement to escape the heat. (Another thank you to Husband for ridding us of that awful carpet so we can actually eat in the basement! Just to think of all the future parties!)

The dog who was throwing up ten times a day is now back to his perky self albeit not eating. Husband suspects he was spoiled by the chicken broth and rice. Now dog food seems to not be attractive. Hee!

And now I am in my living room, scattered with books, loving the cool breeze that is coming from the windows. Though I love love having central air for the first time in my life, I am so thrilled to have a cool breeze come inside the house. Last year Husband found the dusty window screens hidden in the basement by the previous owner and our lives are no longer the same. I have fresh air again. Yay! Thank you, Lord, for all the small and big blessings.

Birthday cherry pie

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:56:00 +0000

Today is Koko's seventh birthday! It's reading week at seminary and Husband is in the process of tearing up the basement's carpet and putting laminate on the floors. He also did a lot of painting. As for me, I was working on birthday pie. It's our family tradition to eat our birthday cake/pie for breakfast.

My eldest really likes Pioneer Women's blackberry (we do blueberry) cheesecake. I think I made it pretty regularly for one whole year. But after some deliberating whether to have another blueberry cheesecake (the cheesecake it that good) she decided on cherry pie. I couldn't find any cherries, not even sweet ones at our grocer's. But the freezer section had sour cherries and thankfully, they tasted delicious. I can't wait until cherry season this summer.

For the double pie crusts, I used the recipe from my new Cook's Illustrated Cook Book (worth the 23.99 from Costco!).

All-Butter Double-Crust Pie Dough for one 9-inch pie for hand mixing

1/3 ice water, plus extra as needed
3 T sour cream
2 1/2 all-purpose flour
1 T sugar
1 tsp salt
16 T unsalted butter, frozen solid

Whisk flour, sugar, salt.

Grate the butter on the large holes of a box grater and mix into flour with two butter knifes or pastry cutter.

Mix ice water with sour cream. (Question: how to measure ice water? I just measured 1/3 cup water and added ice to it. )

Add sour cream water combo and mix with a stiff rubber spatula.

Divide into two balls and wrap with plastic wrap, flattening into two disks. Refrigerate for one hour. Before rolling dough, let it soften for ten minutes.

Use a rolling pin to flatten one disk and put that on a greased pie pan. I've used a cake pan as well. Add cooled cherry filling (recipe below) and top with other rolled out disk. Crimp edges.

Make a few slits on top of the pie. Whisk an egg with a little water and brush the egg wash on top of the pie. Place pie Cook on 400 for 30 minutes and 350 for 30 minutes, rotating the pan.

For the cherry filling (adapted from the cherry package)
3 cups of frozen cherries
1 cup sugar
juice of one lemon
3T corn starch
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract

Mix well and bring to a boil and cook for one minute.

Hand kneading is still tricky for me and I still think a combo or lard and butter would make it more flaky, but it still tasted good! It was birthday girl approved and that's all that counts!

Udon Noodle Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:18:00 +0000

Udong Noodle Salad (serves 6)

My recipe is based on a Korean recipe similar to this. This is not a traditional Korean recipe, but somehow every young Korean mom seems to know a version of this fusion recipe.

Ingredients:

cooked Udong noodles or brown rice noodles, rinsed and drained, a frozen six pack or one bag of dried udon.
one small package of Earthbarn Farm's salad herbal blends (I make a blend myself with baby greens and a few sprigs of dill and cilantro)
one small package of sliced mushrooms
24 cooked medium shrimp, rinsed in cold water, or however you want for each person
cucumbers/tomatoes optional, around the same amount as the mushrooms

Sauce:
12 T olive oil (or 8T olive oil)
4 T sesame oil (or 8T sesame oil)
juice of one lemon
4 T soy sauce
2 T oyster sauce
4 T balsamic vinegar
4 T sugar
2 T garlic powder (you could do minced raw garlic, but my kids prefer the powder)
4 T walsabi sauce (optional)

You can make the sauce in advance and keep in the fridge for up to a week. Right before serving, combine cold noodles with the sauce and greens, shrimp, and any other veggies. Yummy!

BBQ Beef Flank Steak with ssam

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:34:00 +0000

My friend Miriam and I decided to share some of our favorite meals so I thought it would be fun to share one meal every day here as well.

Week of Menus' Korean BBQ Beef Flank Steak

cooking note: I even omit the sugar when it's just for my family and it still tastes good. The 24 hour marinade soak is essential! A little chopped ginger is not bad either.

We eat this with rice, romaine lettuce cut in half or so, and ssam(recipe follows).

Saam Recipe:
3 T daengjang (soybean paste)
1 T gojujang (red pepper paste)
1T minced garlic
1T finely chopped onion
1T sesame oil
2 T orange juice or until you get the consistency you want

Mix it to together and put in a little bowl. Make lettuce wraps by taking a leaf of lettuce and putting meat, rice, and a little ssam, rolling it a bit before putting it in your mouth. I am so happy that my eldest is loving ssam so much. The orange juice helps to cut down on spiciness for kids.

Enjoy!

The easiest way to have your kids eat quinoa

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:09:00 +0000

My children will not eat straight up quinoa. But they will if it is mixed in their rice! Just add a cup or two of quinoa with your rice and cook it and serve it as it was rice! I usually do 3 cups brown, 2 cups rice, and one cup quinoa, but I plan to gradually add more quinoa. You can put it straight into your rice cooker!

Quinoa is wheat and gluten free and a good source of protein. I buy a four pound bag of Organic Nature's Earthly Choice quinoa at Costco.

Thank you, dear Sara for the tip. Our rice has never been the same!

Korean children's books on my radar

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:16:00 +0000

I thought I would share a few books of interest. First, a few free link from a very popular series from the Montessori Publishing Co. here. Another series I am looking at is 따뜻한 그림백과. I don't think I would buy the whole series, but there are definitely a few jewels out there. What's nice is that you can buy each of these books individually. I wish we had this option for all series. 따뜻한 그림백과 is a picture book first encyclopedia targeted towards the 2-6 year old crowd. Each book covers a particular theme and presents a little world history, some details of Korean history and culture, and its usage in contemporary society. There are also a couple science primers that give information in a clear and accessible way. The pictures are mostly hand-drawn and the language is just the right amount of challenge for advancing beginning readers and semi-fluent people like me.

I recently stumbled on the What series. This science series is targeted to first through sixth graders and not in comic form like the Why series. I like that the science is first presented in story form and then ends in a question and answer session. I noticed that they have several translated abridged versions of Ernest Thompson Seton's works who is supposed to be this super naturalist.

And finally, there are a few individual books that I am itching to check out in the near future.

한이네 동네 시장 이야기

Geared for ages 3 and up, this is a great visual introduction to the Korean open market. Wonderful hand-drawn details.

삐딱이를 찾아라

This is a funny story about a house who is dissatisfied with the growing family that lives within his walls and how he literally runs away. What a silly concept! The props for the photographed illustrations, especially the view of the ocean is amazing. I love that this is a story about a large family. Koreans usually only have one or two children in each household so this portrayal of a big family is unusual.

바가지 꽃

I like the idea of a child using the simple bagahgee (a Korean multipurpose bowl that was originally made from a gourd, but now made from plastic) imaginatively.

가족의 가족을 뭐라고 부르지

This is a good book to learn about family trees and all the complicated titles various family members have in Korean society.

어제 저녁
Here is another book penned by Baek Heena of Cloud Bread fame. It takes a brief span of time to pan over the various activity different residents of the same apartment have on one evening before Christmas to show the interconnectedness of their lives. The adorable photographs and seemingly plot-less story concept is intriguing.

For now, I am linking to aladinusa.com. It's easy to register for membership, has a great selection, and free shipping for $199. Aladinusa also offers previews for most books.

Preparing for the (Lunar) New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Becky) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

One of my homeschooling goals for this new year is to introduce all the national holidays from both the United States and Korea to the girls. Eventually, I would love to learn and celebrate more of the Jewish holidays because they have such symbolic significance to Christians. I am almost prepared for Sul lar, Korea's lunar new year celebration which will fall on January 23.

My friend and I are going to host a small Sul lar party complete with (dduk guk) or dumpling soup. We will wear our hanboks and we will teach our children the new year bows in advance so they can give us their new year greetings. But instead of following the tradition of giving them money after they give us their new year greetings, we will give them beautifully wrapped chocolates or at least chocolate coins.

Books I plan on using to teach them about the holiday are:

New Clothes for New Year's Day (There's another version of this about a little boy from the same author that I am ordering from Korea.) You can also watch the video here.

손 큰 할머니의 만두 만들기 Son kʻŭn halmŏni ŭi mandu mandŭlgi by Chʻae In-sŏn ; illustrated by Yi Ŏk-pae (I found this in the state library database! Search by last name; it's easier.) See pictures here.

The latter book is so much fun. It literally translates as The Big Hand Grandma's Making Mandu (Korean dumplings). In Korea, having a big hand usually means that a person is very generous. Here this adage takes a comic bent to show a grandma whose generosity causes her to make the biggest mandu in the world. All the animals in the forest participate in filling the mandu and then of course eating it! The pictures have a lot of detail and my children asked to read this book over and over again. There are a few verses of the grandma singing and I couldn't help but create a melody (really easy to do if you hear traditional Korean music enough; it all begins to sound the same) to sing along. We used our version of play silks to wrap each other as giant mandus! Here's my mandu recipe if anyone's interested.

Finally, what's Suh lar without yut nori! Here's a fun twist to this traditional and still popular Korean game. I noticed that there is a computer game version of this that the kids like to play in Korea.