Kooking Kreativity in Korea

So, at the age of 23 I thought I invented pancakes. True story.

Living in this apartment in Korea, with my teeeeeny tiiiiiiny ill-equipped kitchen whose amenities and supplies I can count on my two hands, and with grocery stores full of items I either don't know how to cook with or don't want to cook with has definitely stretched the way I look at mealtimes. I mean, I regularly cook with a rotation of about 4 meals: stir fry, tuna, pasta, eggs, and the occasional korean food at home. SO EXCITING. (no it's not).

Allow me to share with you some of the more memorable cooking mishaps and successes I've had here.

Strawberry Cream Cheese "Pie"

Let's start with a massive success. So working off a really easy recipe I'd used back home for a no-bake fruit pie, Bess and I made this beauty for her birthday back in February. First we crushed up some sweet cracker/cookie things into a pulp (using one of our rare ziploc baggies and a water bottle), and mixed them with some melted better. Then we pressed them around the edge of a semi-shallow mixing bowl and added all the yummy cream cheese and strawberries. SO SO SO GOOD. We later recreated it with lemon sandwich cookies and berries. yummm :)

Shortly after this experience, we were feeling pretty good about ourselves and opted to make these corn fritters Bess' friend told her about. They were great! At the end we had some leftover batter (flour, milk, pretty simple), and we started thinking. "Hmmm... what if we added some cinnamon to this and fried it up like some kind of doughy patty? That could be really good, right? Oh yeah! That'll be awesome! Hey, these are kind of thick, should we add some more milk and make them a little bigger? Great idea!" Ten minutes later...."Ohmygod.... Do you know what these are? PANCAKES. WE THOUGHT WE INVENTED PANCAKES" Shameful guffaws of laughter ensue. 

Another early adventure was when we made a curry sauce/rice combo they eat a lot over here. Somehow, rice in a solid block doesn't sound so appetizing...

Yum...?

We WHIPPED that cream.

On to another success, small as it may be. Danielle was extremely lucky, and her apartment has an oven in it, (which, after some really burnt cookies, she now knows goes by Celsius temperatures....), and one Sunday the girls and I got together to make some cupcakes and watch a movie. Our idea for the icing was to do whipped cream. Turns out, this involved actually WHIPPING the cream. BY HAND. This was exhausting to say the least, even between 4 people (some of whom took it much more seriously than others). Anyway, it tasted good at least! :) I will never underestimate the value of an electric mixer again.

Speaking of appliances, have I mentioned what I have in my kitchen? A 2-burner gas range, a sink, a fridge, and the coffee pot I bought. My "counter" space? About 12" by 24" and it doubles as my sink's drying rack. I have a small frying pan, a pot whose handles melt if I turn the heat on too high, a half-melted spatula and a slotted spoon. Oh, and a corkscrew... I'll let you decide what you think sounds the most useful. :)

Today, a new level of ingenuity was reached, I believe. Planning a dinner of some kind of chili variety (a bunch of veggies, canned chicken, and taco seasoning from home) seemed like it was going to be an awesome success when we found a can of beans at my grocery store. YES! Upon arriving at home, we realized I did not have a can opener. The things you take for granted, I swear! Did you know you can beat a can open with a sturdy electrical adapter, and then pry it open using chopsticks? You can, and we did. When we finally beat the thing open enough to get some beans out, they were too big to just fall nicely out. Thus, this followed:

Ya, that's me picking the beans out of the tiny hole with chopsticks. I like to call it dedication and not desperation. 

I'm pretty proud of my meager meal efforts. Some of them have turned into moments Bess and I joke about all the time, and all of them make me look forward to having an oven, a microwave, a counter, a big knife, a mixer, more than 3 spoons, real plates, and familiar food items again. Sweet sweet reunion. I'm planning on being a cooking MACHINE when I get home, so stay tuned for dinner invites... (to my parents house...)  :)