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Jjajangmyeon (Noodles in Black Bean Sauce)

My desire to learn to cook Jjajangmyeon actually came from a K-drama I watched awhile ago. One of the characters owned a Chinese restaurant in Seoul that was famous for fast and delicious jjajangmyeon, and it looked so tasty. Prior to this experiment, I had never had this dish before; and when my fiance and I eat Korean food, it’s generally BBQ. I didn’t trust finding a restaurant that made it well, so I resorted to the internet, and my new favorite Korean blog, Maangchi.

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Beer Bratwurst

UPDATE: I posted new pictures to this post because a really great photographer friend of mine was visiting, and she helped me take a bunch of new pics. Also, I tried this with a darker beer, a brown ale called Leffe Braun, and it was delicious. The spiciness of the darker beer transferred really well to the bratwurst. Thank you to the reader who made this suggestion!

Beer Bratwurst are a serious favorite in my house. For starters, they are so easy my fiancee can make them. Also, they take only 15 minutes and are so tasty you don’t need any condiments to eat them. These brats are juicy, flavorful, sweet, and have the added bonus of making the most wonderful onion topping. Did I mention they are super simple? We are talking 3 ingredients and impossible to ruin. Anyways, I highly recommend this for those late work nights or days when you are just feeling lazy.

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Tonjiru – Pork Miso Soup

To all my faithful readers, I’m sorry I missed this past week.  I try my best, but sometimes I just can’t get something posted in time. The good news is, I don’t plan to skip posts for the holiday since I missed two already. Alright, back to the food…

Tonjiru is a Japanese classic comfort food. It’s that meal people make when camping or on cold winter nights to warm up while they sit under the kotatsu. It also happens to be a favorite food of mine and is super easy to make.

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Crock Pot Jambalaya

The next stop on my crock pot adventures was Jambalaya, again from the Cooking Light Slow Cooker to the Rescue edition.

This recipe, I must admit, I did not like nearly as much as the beef stew. To start, I didn’t add the hot sauce because I didn’t want my Jambalaya too spicy. Instead, I put in some cayenne pepper. It had a slight kick, but still seemed to lack something. I will have to experiment with this recipe and update you if I discover the missing ingredient. Regardless, it was tasty; and I do plan to make this again.

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Crock Pot Beef Stew

After returning from Cali, I discovered that the season had truly changed in Virginia. In reaction to this, or rather, over-reaction, I decided to do an entire week of crock pot cold weather meals. I picked up a new cooking magazine, the Cooking Light Slow Cooker to the Rescue edition, and had a field day. My first experiment? Slow Cooker beef stew, and it was nomilicious!

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Mochiko Chicken

My fiance is from Hawai’i, more specifically, the island of Oahu. As a result, he’s used to Hawaiian food. Sadly, you can’t get authentic Hawaiian food in the DC metro area; so I’ve been tasked with learning a cuisine I have minimal familiarity with. On top of this, my fiance has effectively no cooking ability himself, so I have to learn on my own.

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Versatile Red Pasta Sauce

So I’m calling this a red pasta sauce because it is most similar to marinara sauce, but I’ve spiced it up and made it my own. Please feel free to experiment with this; I don’t think the sauce ever comes out the same twice in my household. I always like to add new things, but this is the basic version.

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Tonkatsu

I love food, but Tonkatsu is probably my favorite food ever (although every food I cook is probably a “favorite”). Why do I love it so much? Well, it is both a Japanese AND German food, although I’m sure it was German first 🙂

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