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NEW WEBSITE!!! Ginny's Kitchen blog is moving to www.dragon-oma.com ("oma" = Mom in Korea). We will post new cooking entries and restaurant reviews on the "Dragon Mom" site. Please click on the link above to visit the new site. We will continue to blog family happenings on ian-pix.com. Thank you and Happy New Year! Ian & Ginny
Cheese, glorious cheese. The Christmas tradition of cheese and chocolate fondue continued this year with a very generous gift from Sophie and the in-laws. Le Creuset fondue pot I love you! For the cheese fondue I used Ma
So easy a monkey could make it.... Ian's family has a traditional Christmas breakfast that involves monkey bread. The only downside to their breakfast is that they ate it bef
Actual size=1" I bought a bag of dried shrimp at H-mart expressly for use
Taken on the shores of the Han River in Seoul ~January 2010. The sign says, "Please throw the life ring to the drowning person." Koreans are so polite even in crisis. I am glad the world didn't end today. I had a nice
With enough advance notice and proper ID, they will let just about anyone into the White House.... As promised, here are the snaps of our tour from Ian's iPhone. The White House model pictured above was constructed from gingerbread and white chocolate. They toss it after the holiday, a fact that made Sophie sad.
Fool-proof, made by a non-fool. Sophie and I finally made the gougeres from Dorie Greenspan's "Around My French Table."&
Current odometer reading: 10.38 miles Had my first trail run on my new shoes. Somebody told me I looked so light on my feet, maybe it was the shoes. They are light, but not as minimalist as Vi
This is the closest I will get to a juice fast. Remember K.C. and the Sunshine Band? I am listening to them now compliments of Spotify. We watched "Freaks and Geeks" last night. Specifically the episode where Sam wants to change his look--with disastrous results. Some things like feathered hair, jumpsuits and platform shoes for men shouldn't ever get another turn on the st
The holiday party was a success with a giant slab of roast pork and some last minute teriyaki chicken done in the pressure cooker. Last minute because I realized that somebody coming from a Hanukkah party probably wouldn't do roast pork. For once I didn't over prepare, everything was bite-sized, and we stomped a big carbon footprint by using disposable everything. It was
This was the last decent meal I cooked for my family 4 days ago. After getting my formal job offer the 28th of September, I finally started work this week. I had orientation on Monday---o.k. I did make steak for dinner that night. I had to call Sophie on my way home to
Rolled cookies typically do nothing for my holiday spirit. The dough is either too sticky to roll or so full of flour that the resultant cookies are as tough as roofing shingles. Thank you King Arthur Flour for giving me this perfect gingerbread recipe. Rolled about 1/8" thick on parchment and then left on parchment to bake after removing the dough in between--I
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you forgot a waffle in the waffle iron, only to discover it the next time you went to make waffles. After you preheated the waffle iron. I submit exhibit "A."
If I was any kind of good mother I would think nothing of baking 5 separate cakes and combining them into a multi-layer fever dream of a cake for my teenager. If you aren't that kind of mother either, or you just want to have an awesome sandwich you can get them both at the Parkway Deli. It's one of those little places you could stumble upon in some innocuous strip mall and then spen
I am hoping that persimmon picking will become a black Friday tradition for us. After convincing Ian that we did not need a 55" flat screen TV we were woefully un-American consumers. Maddy and I did get up early for the sale at the local yarn shop. If you got there prior to 8:00 all your yarn was 25% off. I bought some sock yarn to make these for Maddy for Christmas
Blogging your Thanksgiving menu is an excellent way to leave a trail back to your favorite recipes. From last year we repeated the DIY dry-aged prime rib and the mashed potatoes with goat cheese, sage and brown butter. My mother-in-law made her legendary apple pie, and I found some new recipes for sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts and green beans. Cranberry sauce was fro
I had the great pleasure of taking a Macaroon Workshop from Mark Ramsdell, former White House pastry chef, at L'Academie de Cuisine. We made coconut macaroons and almond macaroons which were deceptively easy and totally delicious. My ulterior motive for taking the class was to learn the secret behind making a great French macaron. Macaron, the little hamburgeresque cookies with thei
Breakfast Lunch Reality. Those smug Paleolithic folks never had to avoid Halloween candy. The husband would come home, throw a joint of meat on the fire and call it dinner. I don't eat fast food; I make my own yogurt; I butcher my own brussels sprouts; I do a lot of running, but if there is candy in the house I cannot leave it alone. I am going to ask Sophie to hid
More hot glue than Ru Paul's Drag Race episode. Having said goodbye to Halloween, and way too early for Christmas decor, Sophie and I decided to fashion a fall-themed wreath with glittery styrofoam balls, pumpkins, ribbon and at least 4 sticks of glue. Thanksgiving preparations have not begun in earnest yet, but I am picking up the prime rib this weekend in time for a few days of dry aging.
Relay Foods dropped a giant box of vegetables on my porch the other day, and I am determined to eat them all, even the ones I don't like. There was a dearth of turnip recipes in all of my cookbooks, and I didn't want to make mashed turnips with a bunch of butter and cream. So I thawed out some carrots that had been languishing in the garage refrigerator, frozen because I had turned t
The other morning I asked Sophie what she wanted for breakfast, and she said, "Starbucks pumpkin scones." You mean those dry, soul-less pastries whose density and convenient wedge shape make them excellent doorstops? I think Sophie associates Starbucks with stops at the airport kiosk and exciting travel opportunities or a reward for slogging through a shopping excursion. I foun
Pom Diggity rocking the custom raincoat. You can find anything on Google, including "small dog raincoat pattern." PEPCO set the bar high during Hurricane Sandy, and we only lost power from 2130-0330. I got rid of two frozen pizzas for dinner, and none of our food went bad. We didn't even need to dig into the emergency food supplies (AKA Halloween candy). I am sincere
The relative calm before the storm this morning...Ian went in to work to take care of the inpatients, Sophie is off school today and tomorrow, and I am frantically cooking whatever I can before we lose power. So far just a steady rain with high winds expected later this afternoon. Washington D.C. Metro bus and rail are closed, and hopefully PEPCO has its act together. We
If you will potentially be affected by Hurricane Sandy, hurry up and make a batch of these cookies before your power goes out! After realizing that PEPCO has trouble keeping the power on during a run of the mill summer thunderstorm I bought batteries, two LED lanterns and an AM/FM, hand crank radio. We contemplated buying a generator, but instead plan to try and eat most of our expens
Semi-willing Hiking Partner I got a lot accomplished yesterday: biked to Sur La Table looking for pressure cooker, turned around and biked to William & Sonoma and purchased Cuisinart Electric pressure c
The 28th running of the Army Ten Miler was this past Sunday. Ian, Dan and I had an amazingly uneventful trip down to the start on the Metro. The weather couldn't have been better, 50 F, cloudless skies and no wind. From the packet pick-up to the availability of porta-potties, the organization was nearly flawless. With ~30,000 runners on a ten-mile course, the crowd
Sophie had a random day off school Friday, and as a bribe to get her to go shoe shopping I made bagel bombs for breakfast. I know "bribe to go shoe shopping" sounds like an oxymoron, but it just isn't her thing. Sweet breakfast pastries are definitely her thing. Instead of the savory filling recommended by Momofuku Milk Bar I whipped together some cream cheese with
Just when I thought there wasn't anything else I needed for the kitchen.... While we were at the Dupont Circle Farmer's Market this weekend buying croissant and empanadas instead of fresh kale and stuffing our faces with free apple slices we stumbled upon a cool boutique that sold $125 kitchen mats and this awesome garlic press. I should just throw my old one away or use it for Playdou
I had a dream I was vacuuming, and when I looked down, the vacuum hose looked a lot like small bowel. There was even a stenotic area that was affecting the suction. Then the cat chewed on the hose and I lost all suction. I was yelling for Sophie to bring me some duct tape when I woke up. While awake I discovered a neat trick--if you are making something that requires melted butt
I checked out "From Curries to Kebabs" by Madhur Jaffrey from my local library, and based on the descriptions of the dishes alone, subsequently purchased the book and necessary spices. During a family trip to Malaysia and Singapore, we had experienced the influence of Indian spices first hand in a food-lovers paradise, and this book triggered some fond memories. My first attempt from
I double-checked, I have not posted a banana bread recipe yet. This is from Molly Wizenberg's "A Homemade Life." I made two batches so I could freeze a loaf. You know, for the Apocalypse. Banana Bread with Chocolate and Crystalized Ginger 6 TBS unsalted butter, melted 2 cups (250 gm) unbleached, all-purpose flour 3/4 cup (150 gm) sugar 3/4 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 3/
Mario Batali paneer It's been a busy week, and by busy, I mean I didn't sit around reading and/or wasting time on the internet as much. Ian and I started the week off with a hike on Billy Goat Trail. Columbus Day is one of the few federal holidays that are not also school holidays. They had an open house at Sophie's school the same day--my friend Barb who is a teacher says that schoo
You'de have to eat twenty pounds of broccoli to equal the fiber in one bowl of Colon Blow! Surely I am not the only one who gets that SNL reference: After the weekend indulgences of ramen, burratta and banana cake, I needed to tip the scales towards healthy (ish). I actually used two pounds of broccoli in this soup, but feel free to cut the recipe in half and your colon will still be squea
I always feel sorry for the guys selling roasted nuts at the farmer's market. There is always a dense cluster of folks scavenging the free samples, but nobody ever seems to buy them. Maybe because they are so simple to make--nuts, sugar, salt, spice of your choosing. The peanuts pictured above were a component for David Lebovitz's Banana Cake with Mocha Frosting and Salted Cand
1 Black and white and Halloween all over. After finding out that my teenager is too thin at her pediatrician appointment on Tuesday, I made her do a track workout Wednesday morning. Before you come confiscate all the wire hangers in my house, I will let you know that we had a post-run visit to The Original Pancake House where, according to the convenient calorie counts located on the menu,
Lots of things to celebrate this past week: I got a job offer, Sophie got invited to a friend's house for dinner, Maddy had an excellent GRE performance, and Ian got the iPhone 5. We had a nice dinner out on Friday night at Nest and a much nicer dinner at home Saturday night. Scallops and mushrooms got top billing as Soph was off having dinner with friend. Maddy's love of c
We were treated to a huge vegetarian southern Indian spread compliments of Mala and her mom last weekend. I am hoping to go back for multiple cooking lessons. The black-eyed peas were so good that even Sophie ate and enjoyed them. It's a cuisine I have always enjoyed eating myself, and I am looking forward to learning from these gracious ladies.
Those Parsons' genes are strong. My Aunt Pat was in town briefly on her way down to Florida, and we had a great visit reminiscing over a mutual favorite--scampi. I know I will never hold a candle to my mom's recipe, but it was a delicious vehicle for butter and garlic just the same. My least favorite part of making scampi is the peeling and deveining which was happily accomplishe
Too cool to be authentic. If I was truly Korean, I would have heated the soup in the oven until it was bubbling like a volcano awaiting a virgin sacrifice. It was still delicious. I never realized how easy it was to make sun dubu until I bought "Quick & Easy Korean Cooking" by Cecilia Hae-jin Lee at World Market. Combined with my proximity to H-mart, this slim volume has ins
One of the benefits of being unemployed is having a sit-down family dinner every night. Tonight we had "snacks" or "pupus" if you are from Hawaii. We clustered around the kitchen island shoveling homemade membrillo and eggplant dip into our mouths and hacking away at a Costco chunk of Manchego. Snack dinners necessarily include cheese, and can be good for a quick meal or an all
Maddy and I had a girls day out last week which involved some unsuccessful shopping for a "vegan moto jacket" and the discovery of the Williams Sonoma in Chevy Chase. I found a jar of vadouvan spice blend there and promptly purchased it with this macaroni cheese dish from "Make the Bread, Buy the Butter" in mind. Vadouvan is a blend of garlic, shallots, curry leaves, onion, cor
Long before there was Wikipedia, wiki meant "quickly" in Hawaiian. I remember moving to Guam in the mid 70's. My sister and I were fascinated by the new culture. The hotel where we stayed (for weeks if I remember correctly) had "wiki wiki" service. We were thrilled with the new foods--saimen bowls, our first non-Maruchan ramen experience, and the undeveloped jungle that su
If you are a starving college student like Maddy, or just cheap like me, sourcing the freeze-dried corn for Momofuku Milk Bar's crack pie is a source of frustration. Even if I was willing to pay $10 + for a bag of Just Corn it is difficult to find. The recipe for crack pie that you can find online omits the corn powder, but I am a Milk bar purist and feel like the pie that warrants it
Mmmmm, white chocolate! With the recent Republican and Democratic National Conventions and all the Ru Paul's Drag Race going on up in here, it got me thinking about how things are not always what they seem. Like the peaches I got at Whole Foods the other day, smelled great, just the right amount of softness, but dry and mealy inside. Or the D.C. Board of Nursing--cumbersome bure
Summer may be over, but don't tell the tomato plants. I spent the Tuesday after Labor Day successfully scrubbing some of the white trash off our camper. I don't think it had been washed since 2005, but that Simple Green stuff is miraculous. The only part I dislike about camping--coming home and having to unload everything, that and the low level griminess that is a result
Sashimi-grade salmon, $11.99/lb. at H-mart I grilled this salmon, and a team of Ninjas did not storm my house for cooking it. While I love a good plate of sashimi, I prefer to leave its preparation in the hands of a trained sushi chef. I wanted a simple preparation anticipating correctly that the fish would shine on its own. I brushed it with a little ssamjang and grilled gently
Back in the business of making bread for breaking, and loving the morning sun in my new kitchen window. Sophie started school, and Ian went back to work yesterday leaving me alone in the house. I had a nice 7-miler on the C&O canal, scooted to the hardware store, and made some killer pistachio ice cream. Sounds like a busy day, but it still left a lot of time to kill.
There is a story behind why I am slicing fennel with a small serrated knife. You know that saying, "Be careful what you wish for?" In our case, "I wish our household good shipment would arrive," translated into a week beneath mountains of cardboard boxes and packing material. Our "guest bedroom" has been transformed into a fantastic walk-in closet, you can actually move through our ga
Thanks, Eden Center! Even if I hadn't been convinced by the claims that Milo, with its "Actigen-E, and combination of B vitamins and Magnesium helps release energy," I would have bought this Olympic-themed can of chocolate malt beverage mix. Sophie's love affair with Milo began during our trip to Singapore where it definitely helped her release energy--likely related to the sugar content.&n
Look at that fine cutting board. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. When you are into the second week without furniture and your other household goods, you make do--and buy some aluminum cookie sheets. Maddy and her boyfriend Eddie came up from Charlottesville last weekend and helped us paint Sophie's room. Sophie had been anxiously awaiting Maddy's input on the colo
