I'm grateful for...

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, full of yummy food and time with family. :D It was so wondeful to have Joe home for several days in a row, and the kids loved having daddy around.

On Thursday, we went over to Joe's dad's house for Thanksgiving Dinner. Joe's grandparents were there too, and Faye made wonderful Turkey. There was mashed potato (it was like the best I've had), green bean casserole, corn, rolls, etc. Joe and I kept eating and munching even after our plates were done.

Grandma adores the baby. :D

After dinner, we hung out, and Tom and Laura and the kids and Jamie and Laura came to visit. The kids, of course, ran downstairs to watch Phineas and Ferb and the men helped dad move his newly refinished cast iron tub into his bathroom.

Grandpa's favorite.

 

Kids watching TV

Discussing how to best transport the tub.

Kids playing

That night, we decided to go over to Walmart. We wanted to check out the $2 movies. Joe stayed home with the kids, and Tom, Laura, Jamie, Sam, and I went over to Walmart. We walked in 10 minutes before 8, and just as we walked in, the people standing next to the pellets started to rip them open. We walked past the crowd of people to look for the DVDs. We all got separated, and I picked up some pajamas for the kids. I couldn't find the $2 DVDs, and I found Sam and Jamie. They said they couldn't find the DVDs either, and we waited for Tom and Laura who had found the DVDs and were digging through the movies. They got really good deals on very nice movies.

Later that night, I was supposed to go shopping with my sister at Walmart, then at the mall. Since I already went to Walmart, they decided not to go shopping. I took my cousin, Dan, to the new outlet mall. We got back home around 2:30am.

On Friday, we had dinner with Yeagi and Jonathan. Since we already had turkey Thursday, I wanted to make Korean food. I made pork neck bone stew, and Yeagi and Jonathan brought all the traditional Thanksgiving food. Her turkey was actually really, really good. She just bought some turkey breast, stuffed it, and it tasted really juicy.

 

After dinner, we put the kids to sleep. Joe and Jonathan played video games (finally finishing up Chrono Trigger), and Yeagi and I took Dan to IKEA, Macy's, then home. After we got home, they played Zelda for a while longer. It was Jonathan's first time playing the game, and he kept yelling out, "I LOVE this game!"

Saturday, Joe took the kids out to the backyard, raked the leaves up, and let them play in them. They had so much fun.

Joe's dad needed help with the tub a little more, so we drove back up to Bountiful. On our way, we drove up to Ogden to pick up my Dyson vacuum. :D After helping dad with his tub, we went up to Joe's grandparents. We helped them set up their Christmas tree, and the kids had so much fun helping grandma putting up ornaments on the tree.

 

That day was also Small Business Saturday (by AmEx). They reimburse $25 if we spend more than $25 at a qualifying small business. We decided to eat at Rib City in American Fork. The ribs tastes so good and tender (they cook it for more than 24 hours). The kids enjoyed the BBQ chicken and fries.

Sunday was another relaxing day, and we had a lot fun. We can't wait for Christmas break, so we can have another fun, relaxing days with Joe at home. :D

Kimchi~~~ (What Koreans say instead of "Cheese~")

So.. I've finally decided to write down the recipe for my Kimchi. Anyway... I may have to go through a lot of revisions to make the recipe understandable, so if you have any suggestions, let me know! :)

Kimchi 김치 - Pickled cabbage

Ingredients
- 4 heads of napa cabbage (배추)
- 6 cups of salt

To get the cabbage ready to make Kimchi, cut each of the napa cabbage into a fourth. Run water over the cabbage so it'll be throughly wet. Fill a large size salt shaker with salt, and salt the cabbage "generously" between each leaf. (My mom just makes a really, really saturated salt water and dips the cabbage in the solution, but I've found my method saves time in the longer run, even though it may initially take longer.)

*Koreans usually have a large size tub, just to make kimchi, but I just use the sink. I just scrub it down before and after, and it makes it easy to prep and rinse the cabbage later.

After all the cabbage quarters have been salted, sprinkle more salt over all the cabbages (be very, very generous - I used about 6 cups of salt total for 4 heads of cabbage). Then fill the tub (or the sink) with water so that the cabbage will be submerged under salt water.

* Here, I used a plate and a bowl full of water to make the cabbage stay under the water.

Leave the cabbage in the salt for 3-4 hours, rotating the top and bottom layer half way. When you think the cabbage is ready, pick out a small size leaf (3-4 inch long) and test it (make sure to throughly rinse it under running water). When the leaf bends easily and you can taste a little bit of salt (you don't want it too salty), it is ready. Rinse the cabbage a couple times and squeeze most of the water out.

Kakdugi (깍두기) - Pickled radish

Ingredients
- 4 Korean radishes (무)
- 1/2 cup salt

To get the radish ready for Kakdugi, peel and wash the radish and dice it into bite size.

 

The easiest way is to cut it into 1-inch disks.

Cut the disk into 1-inch chunks, then slice it (1/4 inch thick).

Sprinkle the radish bits with salt and mix.

After half an hour (30 minutes - radish doesn't take long at all. Be careful not to leave it too long), rince it a couple times under cold running water.


Kimchi Sauce

Ingredients
- 2 cups of chopped Korean radish (half a head)
- 1 medium or 1/2 large onion
- 1/4 cup of minced garlic (or 12-15 cloves)
- 1 cup of fish sauce
- 1/4 cup of sweet rice flour
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 1 1/2 cup of chopped green onions
- 4-5 cups of hot pepper powder (고추가루)

Prepare the radish by chopping it very thinly or using a slicer.

 

 

 

Blend the onion (add the garlic if you are using the garlic cloves).

 

In a small pot, mix 1/4 cup of sweet rice flour with 1 1/2 cup cold water.

Heat up the mixture over medium heat, strring occasionally.

*As the mixture heats up, you will start to see little chunks. When this starts to happen, keep mixing, until the whole thing turns into a glob of glue...

In a big metal bowl (or any bowl you don't mind getting stained), mix the radish, onion juice, garlic, sweet rice glue, chopped green onions, fish sauce, sugar, and the hot pepper powder.

 

 

 

* My mom says this is the best tasting fish sauce that she could find in Utah (and one of the most expensive). I haven't tested any other brands, but I'm sure they'll work too.

 

 

 

* If the sauce looks too dry or too thick, you can add 1/2 cup of water.

 

 

* The sauce is ready!

 

Final Steps

For Kakdugi, mix the sauce with the pickled radish.

 

For Kimchi, apply the sauce to the pickled napa cabbage, and make sure to get each and every single leaf (this is why it takes forever to make kimchi, but it's well worth it).

Enjoy! and let me know how it went if you do try my recipe. :)

* Make sure to wear gloves when handling the sauce. It will stain your skin and clothes.