Christmas Gingerbread Frappe | Starbucks Style

Christmas is almost upon us and it means that it is about time that we start getting excited for the holiday season. This means nice spicy smelling foods. But the problem is that Australia is starting to warm up for the summer so it's hard for us to have the traditional warm spicy food smells. Instead I've come up with a cold option and hopefully you will like it.

Gingerbread is something that we associate with Christmas, we make ginger bread cookies as a family and the smell of the cookies baking in the oven is enough to tell you that Christmas is around the corner.

So today we are going to mix the flavours of gingerbread and summer together to bring you the taste of a gingerbread frappe. You've probably tried this drink before at Starbucks if you are lucky enough to have one near you. I recently tried this drink, about a month ago to be exact and it is DELISH. It tasted like gingerbread a lot, and I'm happy to be able to present to you a pretty similar drink for the summer.

There isn't much to tell you about this drink other than that it is amazing everyone should try it and there is no reason why it should be restricted for drinking in the summer. And I'll also provide an easy way for you to make this drink, without all the hassle that goes on behind the Starbucks counter.

And with that, let's get started.

Ingredients
2 cups coffee flavoured milk frozen
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp mixed spice
whipped cream, to garnish
extra cinnamon, to garnish

Method
1. Put everything into a blender apart from garnish. Blend till smooth.
2. Pour into a serving glass, top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

And there you have it, Starbuck's seasonal drink at the comfort of your own home for next to nothing. This is the perfect summer drink for those of us with summery Christmas's but there is no reason for you to only drink this at Christmas, feel free to whip it out all year long.

I hope that you'll enjoy the gingerbread goodness, and I'll try and post more recipes soon seeing as I'm now on holidays for 3 months. Woooooooh. Remember to stay healthy, happy and safe over the holiday season!

Chai Tea Frappe

Hey everyone, I can't believe that tomorrow will be the last day of this blogging week. I can't believe that a week has gone by so quickly. WOW, I was planning to get so much done in this week but most of it just hasn't happened.

Anyways I've been getting this blogging week done which has been good :)

I hope that you like me putting more substantial food on the blog yesterday, although today I've converted back to posting about a drink. I only tried this drink out about 6 months ago, but I have been hooked and I will order it whenever I see it on the menu at a cafe. So I thought that it would only be right for me to share it with you guys as well, especially since it is snack week.

It's the chai tea frappe, or smoothie as it is also known. It's the refreshing hot drink that we all know and love transformed into a cool refreshing version for the summer months. It's got tea goodness, along with the hint of spices and the nice refreshing hit of ice to keep you cool, calm and collected through the heat.

Ingredients
2 cups of chai tea, brewed and cooled
1 cup of almond milk or full cream milk
1 scoop vanilla ice cream
4 cups of ice cubes
1 tbsp of honey or sweetener
1 tsp vanilla extract
whipped cream
cinnamon to garnish

Method 
1. Pour the milk, tea, ice, honey, ice cream and vanilla into a blender.
2. Blend until the mixture is smooth.
3. Pour the drink into serving glasses and top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon to garnish.

And you are DONE. A simple chai tea frappe at home.

I hope that you enjoyed today's recipe. It was more simple than all the others so far, but it is still as good and delicious because it is so simple. Stay tuned for the last installment of snack week tomorrow. 

Thai Iced Tea

Hey peoples. 

It is ridiculously hot today. Probably because it is currently 1pm, and I woke up about 11am.... It's still hot. I hope that yesterdays recipe was good. Because today I'm coming back with something that will be perfect to sip on today and it is just a skip over from the pond. 

Today I'm going to post up a recipe for Thai iced tea. This stuff is amazing, just as sweet and refreshing but no where near as huge of a caffeine hit. Which could be a good thing if you are worried about lying wide awake at 3am in the morning. 

The drink is similar to the Vietnamese coffee from yesterday because it is also chilled with lots of ice and sweetened with condensed milk, milk and coconut milk for extra flavour and depth. There isn't much to the recipe once again, but let's get started. 

Ingredients

100g thai tea mix (OR 4 black tea bags)

60g sugar

1 L boiling water

A LOT of ice cubes 

100ml condensed milk

100ml coconut milk

100ml evaporated milk

Method

1. Boil water in a saucepan and place in the tea and sugar. 

2. Boil for 3 minutes before letting the tea steep for 40 minutes off the heat. 

3. Strain tea into a bowl and dispose of tea leaves. 

4. Fill your serving glasses with ice

5. Mix various milks together

6. Fill glasses 3/4 up with tea

7. Fill up the rest of the glasses with the milk mixture

Serve ice cold

And there you have it, another ice cold drink to sip on in this 30 degree weather. It is supposed to only be spring, what is this? 

This drink is delectable throughout the year but hits all the right spots in summer, so go for it and make a huge batch at home and leave it chilling in the fridge to enjoy at your own discretion.

I hope that you have liked the recipe because I'll be back with more tomorrow. I can't believe it's already been 3 days :/

Korean Honey Bread 허니브레드 | Tom n Toms Style |

It has been a while since I last posted a recipe again...woops. Sorry!!! I've kinda been busy packing to go on holidays :D:D:D I leave tomorrow and just procrastinating in general. I'm going to try and have all my posts for when I'm away all lined up, if not I'm going to try and write them while I'm busy travelling in cars, trains and buses.

Anyways, today's recipe is a Korean favourite. You may also love this dish if there is a Tom n Toms near where you live. There is the legend-wait for it-ary honey butter toast with ice-cream. It is absolutely AMAZING. And you know what? Today I'm going to show you how to make it at home.

It may not be exactly the same as what you can get in store, but it is a pretty good dupe and if you are like me, too lazy to actually go out and buy it you can enjoy it 24/7 at home. Honestly, for most of us it is too much of a hassle to go out to Tom n Toms unless it is literally right below where you live.

I don't know if you know about this dish much, but it is pretty much a thick slice of toast that is topped with various types of sweet things on top and it is absolutely delicious with the Tom n Toms blue lemonade.

Anyways, I'll tell you how to make it and then you can look at the pictures and just tell me whether or not you start salivating at the pictures.

Ingredients
5cm thick piece of white bread (white tastes best)
4 tbs butter
3 tbs honey
1 tsp cinnamon sugar
2 tbs caramel sauce
1 scoop vanilla ice cream or whipped cream (for a can is fine)

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180 C.
2. Spread butter on one side of the bread.
3. Cut the bread into 9 cubes and keep the shape of the bread.
4. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the buttered bread.
5. Put the bread into the oven for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Place scoop of ice cream on the centre, or a generous amount of whipped cream. Top with lashings of caramel sauce and honey. Serve immediately.

And there you have it, a delectable delight that will be sure to satisfy your taste buds and keep you cool this summer. A cinnamon-ey sweet treat that is amazing at Tom n Toms in the comfort of your own home. (I know the blue lemonade is amazing too, but I'm still in the process of figuring out how to make it)

It looks absolutely amazing doesn't it? It is a recipe that doesn't require anything too difficult to find so why aren't you going to the kitchen to make this right now? You're tastebuds will thank you. They seriously will.

I hope that you enjoyed this recipe a lot, I'm going to try and keep the blog posts rolling while I'm overseas, I might even do a blog post with just the photos of food that I've eaten. I hope that you have an awesome July and until next time remember to stay safe, healthy and happy!!! :D

육개장 YukGaeJang

Heyyyy dere sexy peoples.

It's been a really long time since I have posted a blog :/ I have been busy with finals for uni and completing assignments so there hasn't been any post for a really long time :( BUT I finished all of my exams yesterday, so I'm not back with a recipe. I'm going to be on break until August so I'll probably try and do a post a week, possible more sometimes.

I hope that you have all been well ~~~

Let's see how we are going in terms of seasons, it's now summer in Korea, so we probably want some summer food right? Even though it is not the hottest time of the year just yet, this dish can still be something that you can enjoy to help cool you down. And it is also great for the colder countries in the southern hemisphere where it is winter at the moment,

The dish for today is called yukgaejang (육개장). It is a spicy soup-like dish that is made with beef and scallions as well as other ingredients such as bean sprouts (kong namuel), bracken, taro stem, onion and dangmyeon (sweet potato noodles). It is usually served with rice and kimchi.

The dish can also be made using chicken, and in that case it could be called dak yukgaejang.

This is a hot spicy dish so you may be confused about why it would be eaten in the summer. Western cultures tend to eat cold foods to cool down in the summer, this cools you down from the inside. However in Korea, they also like to cool themselves down from the outside by eating hot spicy foods to sweat more and thus also be cooled that way.

Ingredients
600g beef brisket
1 small onion
100g bean sprouts
50g taro stem (found dried in Asian marts)
50g bracken (found dried in Asian marts)
3 green onions
1/2 korean radish
3 tbs chilli flakes (gochugaru)
2 tbs minced garlic
3tbs soy sauce
60ml sesame oil
60ml vegetable oil
3tbs salt
1tbs pepper
4L water

Method
1. Soak the taro stem and bracken in warm water for an hour.
2. In a large pot add beef, onion, green onions and all the water. Boil it for 30min on a medium heat with the lid on.
3. Blanch the soaked taro stems and bracken in water for about 10 minutes. Squeeze all the water out and then cut into 10cm pieces.
4. Cut the radish into 1cm pieces
5. Remove the cooked beef from the broth and let it cool for 30 min. After that, tear the beef into small strips.
6. In a bowl mix half the chilli flakes, with 3 tbs sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, 1tbs salt and the pepper. If you want you can add more chilli flakes.
7. Add the bracken, taro stem and meat in a bowl with half of the sauce and let it sit for 10 minutes.
8. Add the sauce mixture into the broth with the radish and boil it for 40min on a medium heat.
9. In a small pot add all the remaining oil and chilli flakes and stir fry for 2 minutes, constantly stirring to prevent burning.
10. Strain the chilli oil through a cheesecloth.
11. Add some more green onions, bean sprouts, rest of the spicy sauce and chilli oil to the broth and salt to season. Boil for another 10 minutes.
12. Serve with rice and kimchi.

And there you have it, a nutritious dish to eat in summer or winter to cool you down or to warm you up. Either way it is bound to satisfy you.

I hope that you like that dish because it is certainly what I'm going to have for dinner tonight as it is super-duper cold and rainy at the moment. Have a try of it when it is super hot or cold and you will feel the heat of the dish radiate throughout the rest of your body.

I'm going to post more in the coming days, and until then remember to keep warm, safe, healthy and happy!

Spicy Cold Noodles with Kimchi 김치 비빔국수 Kimchi Bibim Guksu

So today is the last day that I need to be posting for a whole week. I'm a bit sad that the time has flown by, but there are lots of things that I need to do, such as school, exams and think about a whole lot of other stuff as well.

Anyways to end the week I am going to introduce you to another summer favourite. It is very somilar to another dish that I have done before, but this is has some extra ingredients. Kimchi Bibim Guksu (김치 비빔국수) is a twist on the bibim guksu that I talked about last time. If you haven't read the recipe before you can click on the link to check it out.

To save time I'm not going to talk about the history of bibim guksu again, you can check it out on the other page. Instead I am going to go straight into the recipe for kimchi bibim guksu.

Ingredients
8 - 10 ounces somyeon (somen) noodles
1 cup thinly sliced kimchi (fully fermented)
1/4 cup juice from kimchi (use a little more soy sauce and vinegar if unavailable)
1 tablespoon Korean red chili pepper paste, gochujang (adjust to taste)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon corn syrup (use honey or more sugar if unavailable)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons rice or apple vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Optional garnish
4 perilla leaves, kkaennip, thinly sliced
(or cucumber or lettuce, thinly sliced)

Method
1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil while preparing the kimchi sauce.
2. Thinly slice the kimchi and place it in a medium size bowl. Add the remaining sauce ingredients and mix well.
3. Add the noodles to the pot of boiling water. Cook the noodles according to the package instructions (3 - 4 minutes). Drain quickly and shock in cold water to stop cooking. Drain and rinse in cold water again. Repeat until the noodles become cold. Drain well.
4. Combine the noodles with the kimchi sauce, and toss everything until the noodles are evenly coated with the sauce.
5. Taste and adjust the seasoning to taste, if necessary.
6. Garnish with your choice of the optional vegetables and serve cold.

And there you have it, a simple dish to serve for lunch or dinner in the summer heat.




That is it from me for this week. It may be a while until I post again because things are starting to get hectic. I will try and keep on posting but don't expect too much yet. There are a number of recipe that you can try out on my site if you don't know what to cook for dinner, lunch or breakfast. So remember to stay happy, healthy and safe.

Watermelon Punch 수박 화채 Subak Hwachae

Day 5 of posts, I'm almost done with the week of posting.

It has been super humid and hot in Seoul for the last couple of days so I'm going to introduce you to a refreshing dessert drink that you guys caa make to help cool down the summer.

Watermelon Punch or 수박 화채 is a refreshing drink that will take you away from the heat of the Summer and help cool you down. Hwachae is commonly made with various fruits and sweet drinks and served as a dessert or snack. There are many variations, and some are even made with edible flower petals or grains such as barley or rice cakes. Traditionally, the base drink is water sweetened with honey, syrup, or sugar. In modern times, carbonated drinks and fruit juices are also commonly used. Hwachae made with watermelon (subak) is a summer favorite.

Today I'm going to add some ginger ale, but other soft drinks such as 7 Up and lemonade will also work. you can also substitute it with some fruit juice. You can also add some rice cake balls to complement the dish and to help give it some chewiness to cut through the crunch from the watermelon.

Ingredients
2 cups watermelon, balled or cubed
1-1/2 cups honeydew, balled or cubed
12 - 16 rice cake balls (gyeongdan) - optional (Recipe follows)
2 cups ginger ale
3 tablespoons Korean drinking vinegar (or pomegranate or cranberry juice)
pine nuts for garnish - optional

Method
1. Scoop out watermelon and honeydew with a melon-baller. (Or, cut into about 1-inch cubes.) Place them in a large bowl along with any juice from the fruits.
2. Add the ginger ale and the drinking vinegar (or pomegranate or cranberry juice) to the fruits. Stir gently. Taste the drink and adjust acidity and/or sweetness by adding more drinking vinegar (or juice) and/or sugar.

Simple rise cake balls:
1/2 cup glutinous rice powder/flour (sweet rice powder/flour)
2 teaspoons sugar
pinch of salt
4 tablespoons boiling hot water

1. Mix the rice powder, sugar and salt in a bowl. Mix in the boiling hot water with a spoon. When cool enough to handle, knead by hand until a dough is formed.
2. Shape the dough into a 3/4-inch thick cylinder. Cut into (or pinch off) 3/4-inch pieces. Roll each piece between the palms to make a small ball.
3. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the rice cake balls. Cook until all the balls float. Transfer to a large bowl with cold water to cool. Drain.

When you are ready to serve put everything together and add some ice cubes into the punch so that it keep cool in the heat.





And there you have it, a simple and fruity drink to keep you cool and refreshed in the summer. Tomorrow will be blog number 6, so don't forget to check back from more recipes.

Until tomorrow keep safe, happy and healthy. See you tomorrow!!

Black Sesame and Rice Porridge 흑임자죽 Heugimjajuk

Hey guys, so I am already up to day three of my week long blog post challenge. I hope that you have all enjoyed the recipe so far and the Olympics as well. ^^

Today I'm going to introduce you to a traditional Korean dessert called heugimjajuk 흑임자죽. It is made from black sesame and rice, and sweet in taste. According to Oriental medicine, heugimja (black sesame) promotes health, makes hair healthy, and keeps weight off. Perfect for summer when we want to go to the beach and show off a bit.

It is also great for winter because it can help you get better, especially since it has gotten colder where I am. It is a simple dessert to make, and you can impress your guests by whipping this out because we are all so used to the sachet;s of black sesame porridge.

Ingredients
180g non-glutinous rice and 1 cup water
95g black sesame seeds and 2 cups water
900ml water
6g salt

Method
1. Wash the rice and soak in water for 2 hours, drain water on a strainer for 10min
2. Wash the black sesame and drain water on a strainer for 10 min
3. Preheat the frying pan and stir-fry sesame seeds for 40 min. on low heat, make sure to not burn the sesame. (This step helps to make the sesame fragrant)
4. Grind sesame seeds with water in a mixer for 3 min. sieve finely
5. Put the rice and water in the mixer, grind it for 2 min. and sieve
6. Put the ground rice and water in the pot, boil it on high heat for 5 min. Stir to make sure it does not clump
7. When it boils, reduce the heat to medium, cover the lid on to be steamed. Boil it for 20 min. with stirring occasionally, add ground black sesame, boil it for 5 min. more.
8. When the porridge is well-done, season with salt. Bring it to a boil once more.



And there you have it, a quick and simple dish to try summer or winter.

That conclude day three of posting, but don't forget that I will be back tomorrow. Stay healthy, happy and safe until then. And keep watching the Olympics.

Bibim Guksu 비빔국수

Hey guys, so it has been a while since I have last posted hasn't it? Well the school term is almost over so there have been exams so I have been busy studying and haven't really had the opportunity to blog. But I do have some time today so I will be blogging again, finally.

Today I will be introducing you to the Korean dish "Bibim Guksu". Sounds sort of familiar right? Remember bibimbap? Kong Guksu? Well this dish is like a combination of the two. It is just mixed cold noodles really...simple and delicious. Perfect for a hot summers day when you don't want to do to much.

Bibim guksu is made with very thin wheat flour noodles called somyeon with added flavorings and is one of the most popular traditional noodle dishes in Korean cuisine. It is also called guksu bibim or goldong myeon, all of which literally mean "stirred noodles" or "mixed noodles". The dish is especially popular during summer, perfect for those of you in the Northern hemisphere now.

There are many kinds of cold noodle dishes in Korea however, spicy cold noodles have historically been appreciated by spice-loving people in Korea and recognized internationally. This dish is distinct from other cold noodle dishes from different cultures due to its strong spicy flavor produced from the combination of red pepper powder, gochujang, and minced garlic, along with a sweet-and-sour flavor created by vinegar and sugar. Most spicy cold noodles are prepared with a slight touch of sesame oil to enhance the richness of its flavor.

Typically the dish would be prepared by stir frying diced beef, julienned pickled cucumbers, and mushrooms in sesame oil, which is all mixed together with the cooked noodles, soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds and sugar. Garnishes placed on top and around the spicy noodles include hard-boiled eggs, pickled mu (radish), dried gim strips (laver), sliced cucumbers, and sometimes sliced Korean pear or tomato.

Now, that is enough background, it is about time that I shared the recipe for it....

Ingredients
200g somyeon noodles or soba noodles
1 tablespoon gochujang (adjust to taste)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon corn syrup (use honey or more sugar if unavailable)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons rice or apple vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Optional
Hard boil egg
Julienned cucumber
Julienned carrot
Julienned red cabbage
Julienned lettuce

Method
1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil.
2. Add the sauce ingredients and mix well.
3. Add the noodles to the pot of boiling water. Cook the noodles according to the package instructions (3 - 4 minutes). Drain quickly and shock in cold water to stop cooking. Drain and rinse in cold water again. Repeat until the noodles become cold. Drain well.
4. Combine the noodles with the sauce, and toss everything until the noodles are evenly coated with the sauce. Taste and adjust the seasoning to taste, if necessary. Garnish with your choice of the optional vegetables and serve cold.
NOTE: You can also try adding a bit of crushed ice to the noodles as you mix the sauce, this will make the dish extra refreshing and fun as as you also bite into ice.




And there you have it, a simple dish to serve up during the summer heat to keep you cool and refreshed.

This is it from me today, I will try and post more in the upcoming weeks, but I will have exams in about a month so I may not be able to post a frequently. I will try my best to keep on posting even though there will be major events going on such as uni entrance exams, but if I am missing it just means I am studying and I will be back sooner or later.

So until next time, remember to stay healthy, happy and warm if you are in the southern hemisphere and cool if you are in the northern hemisphere.