Bibimbap........a wonderful summer dish

Well in my previous post....... I am sure I have already expressed my excitement of finding a Korean market in Sparks.

So to continue that theme of making Korean food, I made one of my favourite Korean dish--- Bibimbap!

Bibimbap is a dish with loads of fun because you can basically put whatever you want on there and it is also a great fridge "cleaner". Whatever you found in your fridge that will go well with rice and spicy pepper sauce is good to go!!! It is also really healthy cause you put loads of vegetables on it.

For this time, I put in the following ingredients on top of steamy fluffy short grain rice:

Zucchini, Carrots, Spinach, Kimchi, the bean sprouts i made earlier that week, and tuna

For the sauce, it is also really easy to make:

Gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste), rice vinegar, sugar and water


To assemble:

- Top a wide bowl with hot rice

- Pour a splash of sesame oil over rice

- Arrange vegetable and meat on top of rice

- Place a fried egg in the centre (optional)

- Sprinkle sesame seed over top

To eat:

- Mix Bibimbap sauce with rice and all ingredients until well mixed

- Enjoy!!!





4th of July is coming.......and I think I am going to make some Korean BBQ to serve my friends!!! It will be fun.................Hopefully everyone will show up (fingers crossed :P)

Banchan-Sesame infused soy bean sprout

So I found Yim's Asian Market yesterday in Reno.............got like 40 dollars worth of groceries............

Now I am bored on a Sat..........is time to make something!!!

But I feel lazy so i don't want to make anything too complicated............so I think i am going to try to make some Banchan (Korean side dishes), which whoever had Korean food before knows that it is the best part of Korean cuisine.........the variety..........the choices................

Here is one of them:

Sesame oil infused soy bean sprout

Soy bean sprout is slightly different from the typical bean sprouts you see in general supermarket. The one that most people know is grown from green beans or mung beans. The one used in this recipe is grown from yellow soy bean.

I got the recipe from My Korean Kitchen which is an awesome blog for all Korean cooking. Too bad though cause it seems like the blogger had stopped posting new post. I hope she will come back :)

Hmm........What should I make tomorrow?

Yim's............changed my life!!!

I have always wondered how I am going to survive in the "food diversity desert" of North Lake Tahoe. The lake is pretty (the other day i drove by east shore and looked out...........the lake was so blue and beautiful..........i had to yell to myself "I love you Lake Tahoe!!!"..........It is that pretty :), but really there are not that many choice when it comes to food. I guess unless you are willing to pay top dollars which i don't have................

Well I love food........and I have to say one of my favorite food is Korean food, although i think i might have to say I just love all good food. OK, let just say I love to make Korean food a lot at home. It is easy, tasty and mostly healthy.

Two weeks ago, I went to the only Asian grocer that i know of in Reno. It is at Keystone and 5th.
I think is called Reno Asian Market to stock up my pantry. They have a good selection of Thai and Chinese product, but when it comes to Japanese and Korean products there wasn't much. I was really disappointed cause i could find Gochujang (hot pepper paste) which is used in pretty much every dish Korean. And as i was told by a local Korean, there is no Korean restaurant in Reno. OH no..................I guess I will have to give up Korean food unless I go to Sacramento (according to my reliable sources), until I found Yim's.....................

Yim's is everything Korean, own by Korean and sell mostly Korean product..............I was in Heaven!!! ..................I was so excited which then made me really chatty, so i basically told the owner my life story and how much i love Korean food and how I have come all the way from Lake Tahoe to Reno to visit them.........and on and on and on HAHA (that is me when it comes to food!!!)

Anywaz, I stock myself up the best I can.... i couldn't get everything cause it will just go bad..........so i guess next time :)

So......my next step is to show my "very few" friends what Korean food is all about.......as I think most of them has never had Korean food...................I am excited!!!

Oh forgot.......here is the address of Yim's, in case a curious Tahoeian wants to know where it is

Markleeville Creek camping trip

It has been about three weeks since i have moved to Tahoe....................i know it was not a long time but a lot of things had happened.....................a combination of work and life, i guess..................

My camping buddies: Jen and Marcy

so when Marcy suggested that we should go for a short camping trip, i was super excited cause I really needed to get out...... let me rephrase, I really need to do some "not for work" outing!!!

Since all of us were busy, we decided to do a spontanous camping trip............no planning, just picked a direction and drive away.........................and it turned out to be extremely fun :)

It was perfect camping weather so there was a lot of people in the area. We found this cute little campsite with only a total of 10 camp spot called Markleeville Creek campground. It was right by the creek so you can hear water flowing at your camp. The camp host John is extremely nice and very helpful!!!

We also did a really pretty hike which started at Grovers hot spring up to Burnside Lake. The hike was about 12 miles round trip. There was a fair bit of uphill hiking with a total elevation difference of about 2200 feet from start to finish. Therefore you can imagine there was quite a bit of change in scenery during the hike. The day we went on the hike was pretty cool, some sun but not too too hot (although i still did get a slight sunburn on my back). It took us about 5 hours to finish the hike including lunch and water break :)

View from the midway lookout

Burnside Lake @ ~8000 feet

Anywaz, I can wait to go out again!!!

I just wish i can order a climbing or camping buddy online HAHA.......................I need more friends!!!

Patience...................

I won't give up................not now...............

I will prove it..............that I am a special kind!!!