.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

The Leaves Are Changing and The Stew Is On!

The cool fall weather is setting in and the leaves are slowly changing!  I love fall and sadly find myself loving Korea's falls as I love just about everything about Korea however I find myself missing things of home that go with fall.  I mostly miss my family, the dog, fall "comfort" foods like soup, pastas, pies, anything my mom makes, dad's chicken wings and ribs, camp fires, drives down 26 as the sun sets, pretty much anything that has to do with Thanksgiving or Halloween, and so much more. 

So I have checked all our stores and even Costco and come up empty handed on a lot of these things.  We can find huge cans of Clam Chowder, tasteless potato soups and all kinds of Ramon soups that are fine but not like home.  So  I have been looking online and going back and forth with my mom about what kinds of comfort foods, stew, or just any kinds of recipes I can make on the stove.  One of the things I hate about Korea is that the older apartments don't have ovens knocking off a lot of foods I know how to make or want to make. 

So with a few new stew recipes in mind we have been looking here and there to find the ingredients we need.  We have been able to find a few things, even some cool new soup blows and the things we couldn't find my mom has helped me substitute in.  She even brought me some spices and stuff from home when she came last month. She even brought us taco seasoning!

This past weekend we got the last few things needed and copied and pasted a few different beef stew recipes together to give it a try.  So as Ryan finished his last few classes last night I decided to take on the stew! So a few less hairs, a bunch of dirty dishes, and 2 hours later Ryan came in an announced that he could smell it down the hall.  So as I had him try some of the meat to see if the meat was tender as explained I had no clue what it should taste, look, or smell like because I just gave up on the recipes.  After deciding it needed 10 more minutes before adding the carrots, potatoes, and mixed vegetables. 

The next step was to figure out how much flower to water ratio to add. Sadly I have gotten quite use to just using a coffee cup and it does not have fourths or thirds on it, Ryan tried to explain.  Also having doubled the water already in the pot and then even adding more later left me lost as I just mixed one cup of flower and a cup and a half of cold water before stirring it.  Then it said I just have to stir it as it thickens, one I got bored stirring and couldn't contain my excitement any more I plopped some into a bowl and handed it to Ryan who liked it. He really liked it! With bowls in hand we settled in to watch the Pink Panther. 

On a side note my parents came in on September 19th and got to spend an amazing week in Korea with us.  I cannot wait to share some of the stories from that week and I have spent the past few days trying to figure out how to put it all into words and I am finally getting some where.  So hopefully soon I will be able to post some blogs and pictures from the week for you to enjoy!  I will be posting them backwards in hopes of it going in somewhat of an order from Monday to Friday.  So keep an eye out for those! 

4 comments:

Chas said...

Hi!! I was happy to see a post from you today. I can share in your frustrations with trying to cook living overseas. I am lucky to have an oven (even if it is small and the degrees are not written on the dials and the ones that are, are in C degrees not F degrees) So...that's nice that your mom was able to help you with cooking ideas, I'm glad your stew turned out good! :) That's sweet Ryan tried to help you. I love cooking with Jacob too. He takes the frustration out when I get something wrong.
Do you buy any change have a crock pot ? You could probably use one of those in your kitchen or is the Voltage different? I have a good taco soup recipe you can make on the stove if you want it, I could also send you some slow cooker recipes..I can't use mine..takes up too much power. ha ha. Well, I can't wait to here about your adventures with your parents. :) Have a wonderful day!

Anonymous said...

Dear Megan (and Chastity), I can't cook and I'm not overseas! I do know that drinking wine helps:) I'm glad fall is nice in Korea - we are having beautiful fall weather also. I look forward to hearing about your week with mom and dad. Take care.

Megan said...

Aunt Juily I think you should come see me! I have seen a few Amways over here maybe you could talk them in to it being a company thing! Sadly without mom here to cook home made meals for me I started to go crazy from take out every night, even more so because our town is full of fried chicken, pizza and as dad would say fish heads! So I finally just broke down and started messing around in the kitchen. And ahh poor Ryan, wine is amazing and it is possibly why Ryan gets some nice "crispy" things ever now and then....guess I should cook and then drink but really where is the fun in that.

Chasitity sadly never seen a crock pot in Korean and lord would I love to get my hands on one! I am open to any stove top recipes that you have!

Chas said...

Okay..I wanna meet your Aunt Julie, ha ha. It sounds like we would get along and plus her cat looks kind of like mine but different coloring.
I wish I could come visit you too Megan, hopefully, we can stumble across each other when we are all back in the states or sometimes Jacob and I think it would be cool to be stationed in Korea. Well, at least you guys can find some form of "American" food. Last weekend, we ate at a place called Flamkutchen Hutte. They have really flat brick oven pizzas. Probably, the best pizza I have had here. Its interesting the Germans don't use tomato sauce on their pizzas and its still good. They don't make it all about the crust and bread. I felt kind of healthy eating this big slab of pizza here. ha ha!
I'm still trying to find a wine I like. What do you guys like? I'm a sweet wine drinker and can't seem to find any that I like...any suggestions ?
I will try to think of recipes to send you. Gah, I made a good pasta yesterday but you gotta finish it off in the oven. sorry. I know you can make good mac and cheese on the stove! And I'm not talking the blue box. lol. Hope you are having a good week!