Park Ji Min

I don't have much time to create a great post, but I wanted to share something with you ^_^ Before that, I want to apologize for any slowness in updating this blog over the next few months. School starts today and I have a full course load this semester.

But on the other hand, I finally found myself another job! No more nights, weekends, or getting up at 4am for this girl!

I want to have a dance party with Gwang Soo~

Not to mention the fact that I'll be in a jjimjilbang a week from Saturday! And I'll be back home in Disney World in 22 days ^_^

Anyways, I'm sure most of you have already heard of Park Ji Min, the fabulous contestant from K-Pop Star Audition. If you haven't heard of her, watch this immediately. I came across her next masterpiece today, how can you not love this cover?!

The other girls aren't that bad either ^_~ I can't wait to see more from Park Ji Min!

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Sujebi

Hello everyone~

Are you ready for another cooking post? A few days ago I made sujebi for the second time and I am in love with how easy and delicious it is! Sujebi is hand torn noodles in soup. Here is how to make it!

I started by making the dough for the noodles. I used 2 cups of flour, 3/4 cup water, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 tbsp of vegetable oil (thank you maangchi!). Knead it until it becomes doughy and soft. You may have to add some additional water.

Then you can set the dough aside and begin preparing your other ingredients. I think I ended up using about 9 cups of water, but you can adjust this depending on how much soup you want. I also added a bit of concentrated chicken stock. You could also add some ramen season ala Family Outing. I put the pot over medium-high heat.

Then I cut up two small potatoes into small chunks and added them to the pot. Your potatoes should always go in first because they take the longest to cook all the way through.

Now it's time for the kimchi. I added about 1/2 a cup of chopped kimchi. My sujebi wasn't really spicy, so you may want to add more if you like things spicy ^_~

So now your pot should look something like this.

Next up is the onion. I used about 1/4 cup of chopped onion. You can add more if you like onion.

Then I added some leftover mushrooms that we had. Really you can put in whatever you want. Vegetables are always good, and I've also added in left over ham.

Once all of your ingredients are in the pot, it's time to go back to the noodle dough. You can roll it out (or be a lazy girl like me and just flatten it with your hands).

Most of the time when it comes to sujebi, the noodles are torn by hand. However, I'm not confident that I can tear them properly so I decided to follow what I saw Park Ye Jin do on Family Outing and cut the noodles. I folded the dough into thirds just to make it easier to cut evenly. You should try to cut the noodles as thinly as you can because they will expand once they are cooked. Add the noodles to the pot once you are done cutting them.

I add the tofu last because it doesn't need to cook for very long. I used an entire package of firm tofu.

So now your pot should be looking like this.

Then it's time for the last ingredient. A few drops of sesame oil.

Bring your sujebi to a boil. I think I ended up boiling mine for about 10-12 minutes. The best way to tell if it is done is to try a bite of one of your noodles to see if it is cooked all the way through.

Once it is done cooking, enjoy a bowl! Sujebi has such great flavor, and only gets better as a left over. It is the perfect food to enjoy on a cold winter day~ I hope you try making sujebi ^_^


I also want to wish everyone a happy new year! I already can tell that this is going to be a great year. For starters, it is the year of the dragon, which is the year I was born in (and also great for G-Dragon ^_~). I am also planning to apply for a summer program in Korea next month. Beast has also confirmed that they will be having a few concerts in America this year (my first K-Pop concert). And best of all, Big Bang is coming back! Let's all have a great 2012!

Oppa~ Oppa~

International Oppas Donghae & Eunhyuk

Donghae and Eunhyuk from Super Junior recently released a single "Oppa Has Risen (Oppa, Oppa)". I first heard this song a few days ago and immediately downloaded it. It has stuck in my head ever since!

Doesn't this make you want to shout "Oppa~ Oppa!"?


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Blood Types

In the past couple of days my Mom and I have been discussing how common it is in Korea for people to ask you what blood type you are. It's as common as asking someone what their sign is in America. Normally I only read my horoscope for fun and I don't pay much attention to it, but after looking into the different blood type personalities, I've found them to be very accurate! Can you guess what type I am?


Type A~

People who are type A are normally creative, reserved, responsible, conservative, and patient. However, they can also be a bit stubborn and uptight. Type A people are most compatible with other A's, and AB's. Some famous Type A's are--

Leeteuk

Kim Jong Kook

Yong Hwa

Type B~

Type B people are active, passionate, flexible, and strong. Yet they are also selfish, unforgiving, forgetful, and irresponsible. B type people should date other B's and AB's. Some famous type B's are--

Yoo Jae Suk

Hyun Bin

Jang Wooyoung

Type AB~

AB type people are normally sociable, rational, introverted, empathetic, and controlled. They are also critical, forgetful, aloof, and indecisive. AB people match well with all other blood types. Some famous type AB are--

 Lee Hongki

Kim Heechul

Taecyeon

Type O~

People with type O blood are normally optimistic, self-confident, athletic, ambitious, and agreeable. Yet they are also jealous, vain, and arrogant. Type O people should date other O's or AB's. Here are some famous type O people--

 Daeseung

Lee Gwang Soo

Kim Bum

If you couldn't guess, I'm type O! Do you find this to be as accurate as I do?

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Haeundae

Guess who just finished with school for the semester?

G-Dragon and Taeyang are celebrating with me ^_^

Needless to say I am beyond excited and looking forward to some time off of school.

Anyways, a little while ago I mentioned how upset I was at the lack of Korean dramas on netflix. I think I ended up getting to the fourth or fifth episode of Miss Ripley before I decided there was no way I could continue on with that drama. While I enjoyed the supporting cast, the lead female irritated me far more than I could ever express to you.

So instead of watching dramas, I moved on to watching some of the Korean movies netflix offers. Once again, I'm not really too pleased with their selection. It's mainly "guy" movies, but there are a couple of cute movies available. One that I watched this past week was Haeundae (also known as Tidal Wave).

Can you guess what Tidal Wave is about? If you guessed that it is about a monster series of tidal waves hitting Busan, than you are correct! You can probably imagine what happens in the movie. It's a pretty basic natural disaster movie with a touch of romance thrown in for good measure.

The star of Haeundae is the gorgeous Ha Ji Won, who you probably know from Secret Garden. In the movie she is an orphan who is harboring a crush on Sol Kyung-Gu's character.

Sol Kyung-Gu's character was told to look after Ha Ji Won's character as her father's dying wish. He is also fighting his uncle to keep Haeundae a market area for people to sell their goods instead of developing it.

Lee Min-Ki is another one to look out for in Tidal Wave. He plays a lifeguard who develops feelings for a girl he rescues. He is also in the movie Romantic Island that I recently watched.


Overall Haeundae is a solid movie. I would recommend it if you are in the mood for a natural disaster movie (because I know that's a common type of movie to want to watch ^_~) or if you are a fan of Ha Ji Won. Let me know what you think of it ^_^



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Yiruma

I finally got around to getting some Yiruma on my computer this past week and I really love it! Who is Yiruma? He is this man....

Yiruma is a pianist from South Korea who is fairly popular worldwide. He grew up in Korea, and when he was eleven he moved to England to study music. His first album came out in 2001, and he has released six more since then. He had dual citizenship, but gave that up in order to serve in the Korean army a few years ago. And now he is back to creating beautiful music and touring across the world.

"River Flows in You" is probably his most popular song, and was close to being Bella's Lullaby in Twlight!

I hope you enjoy Yiruma as much as I do, I find his music very relaxing ^_^


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Hangul

As you already know, it's a goal of mine to become fluent in Korean. Since my dongsaeng Shaylah is also trying to start to learn, I thought I would create a post quickly reviewing the Hangul characters in case anyone else is trying to learn ^_^

ㅂ= b/p
ㅈ= j/ can sometimes be pronounced as ch
ㄷ= d/t
ㅅ= s/sh
ㅁ= m
ㄴ= n
ㄱ= g/k
ㄹ= r/l
ㅎ= h
ㅊ= ch

ㅃ= bb/pp
ㅉ= jj
ㄸ= dd/tt
ㅆ= ss
ㄲ= gg/kk

ㅋ= k
ㅌ= t
ㅍ= p

ㅐ= ae
ㅔ= e
ㅗ= o/wo
ㅓ= o
ㅏ= a
ㅣ= i/ee
ㅜ= oo/woo
ㅡ= u/eu

ㅕ= yo
ㅑ= ya
ㅠ= yoo
ㅛ= yo

ㅇ= ng/ when you need to have a vowel take the first sound, you use ㅇ, for example; 언= an

I recommend trying to memorize these first, and then start reading small words that you are already familiar with how they are pronounced. A fun way for me to do this was through the names of various idols and actors. Want to try?

텁

하하

용화

Hope this helps anyone who is wanting to learn!

Fighting~

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Sorry~

Sorry for not posting recently -_- School has proven to be a lot more work this past week than I thought it would. Luckily though, I'll finish one online final tomorrow, and after that the only day I have left of school is next Money ^_^

I can't really post a lot tonight since I have to wake up at 4am tomorrow for work, but I wanted to quickly share some new music that I recently discovered. Shaylah introduced me to him and I'm hooked! Sungha Jung does amazing covers with just his guitar (his version of "My Heart Will Go On" is a must listen). He covers everything, but his K-Pop covers are superb! Take a listen and let me know what you think ^_^

Korean Dramas On Netflix

So I've finally got Netflix streaming for my TV, and I was so excited because I distinctly remember watching an episode of City Hunter through Netflix streaming a few months ago. I knew that they had recently added some Korean Dramas to instant streaming, so I began my search last night and I was thoroughly disappointed, to the point of being crazy! 

This is exactly what I felt like doing

There are multiple lists online from August saying that dramas like City Hunter, My Princess, and Midas were available on instant streaming (and I was beyond excited to watch My Princess again). But searching (and searching, and searching) on Netflix now, I could only find two Korean dramas from the past couple of years; Boys Over Flowers and Miss Ripley.

Really?!

Why do you have multiple dramas on instant streaming and then take them down?

Needless to say I ended up watching the first two episodes of Miss Ripley last night and I plan on watching the rest of the series, but I am completely baffled and upset by this. Hopefully Netflix will add some more titles soon and redeem themselves!  


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YG Family Concert

I cannot believe how epic the YG Family Concert has been this year! Watching the early fancams yesterday morning made me want to scream out of excitement and cry out of pity for myself that I wasn't there.

Without a doubt the thing that made me the happiest was getting to see Big Bang perform together as five ^_^ It's been far too long!

It was also amazing to see Daesung smiling~ His voice is so incredible! Loved, loved, loved his cover of Hurt.


I already know that focusing on school the next couple of days is completely out of the question for me. Instead all I will be doing is stalking the internet for more fan cams and wishing that I could go to the next YG Family concert!

I will also be watching this video another 200 times in addition to the 200 times I have already watched it @_@ I Am The Best is already an amazing song, but seeing T.O.P. like this kills me~

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Bi Bim Bap Recipe

Coming home from my 6am shift at work today, I was wracking my brain to think of something, anything that I could have for my lunch. And then, a magical thought came to me;

"Why not make some Bi Bim Bap?"

So that's what I did!

First, I started with my bowl of rice. This is about 3/4 cup uncooked rice. It was just a little bit too much for me, which probably means that this is the right amount for a normal person hehe. Season it with 2 teaspoons or so of sesame oil.

Then, I chopped up all of my ingredients. I used what I had on hand, which ended up being bell pepper, carrots, and salmon. The goal is to chop your ingredients so they are about as thick as a matchstick, which is a skill I am still working on. A shredder would really work wonders ^_^

You can use whatever kind of meat you have, like beef, pork, or chicken. The salmon I used is super delicious and from Costco.

Once you have everything chopped, saute each ingredient separately in a pan with a bit of oil. This shouldn't take long, just a few minutes for each one.

 


I also had some spinach left over from some japchae I made last week, so I put that in my Bi Bim Bap also. Put about a handful in a pot of boiling water for about a minute. Rinse the spinach in cold water and then chop it.

Finally my ingredients came to look like this. You can really use any kind of vegetables that you would like in your Bi Bim Bap, but bean sprouts and mushrooms are both very popular ingredients that I didn't have at the time. If you want, you can season your vegetables with soy sauce and sesame oil. Also, if you have spicy chili sauce, that is often eaten with Bi Bim Bap, but once again it was something I didn't have.

Neatly arrange your ingredients on your rice and top it off with an egg. Volia! Bi Bim Bap! Mix it up and enjoy~

A Kim Bum Appreciation Post

Because we all could use some more Kim Bum in our lives, right?

A recent picture, that hair~

Kim Bum is a Korean actor who is most famous for his role as Soh Yi Jung in Boys Over Flowers. He has also been in the dramas East of Eden, Unstoppable High Kick, Dream, and The Woman Who Still Wants To Marry. 

Kim Bum actually has a new drama about to start! The first episode is set to air on December 5th, and it is called Padam Padam: The Sound of His and Her Heartbeats. It looks like it will be a decent drama so I will definitely give it a go ^_^ (It's going to be hard to keep up with all these drama, especially because I'm planning on watching What's Up for Daesung when that starts later this month also!) 

Here is a fun fact about Kim Bum; last year he was given an award proclaiming him to be the Korean real-life equivalent of a Ken doll!

Earlier this year Kim Bum and Lee Min Ho went bike riding along the Han river together. Yay for an F4 reunion! They should call me the next time they are going on a bike ride~ hehe

Even though I think I will have a hard time seeing him as anything other than Soh YiJung (the pottery, the amazing clothes, that saxophone~) I am really anticipating his new drama. Let's all support Kim Bum, I can't wait to see him progress as a actor ^_^


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