this will be my next kitchen project

Lucas's {my old room mate} Rosemary Shallot Bread [vegan and f***ing delicious!]

-- simmer nearly 1C soymilk, melting in 1Tbs margarine, 1 1/2 Tbs sugar, 3/4 tsp salt.
-- cool until lukewarm, then add 1Tbs baking yeast dissolved in 1/3 C 85 degree water.
-- stir and knead in about 2 1/2 C all-purpose flour to make a soft dough.
-- cover bowl with plastic or a damp cloth and let rise till doubled in volume (about an hour and a half or so? make sure it's in a warm place--you can turn on the oven to like 200 for a minute, then turn it OFF and let it rise in there if your kitchen is cold)
-- once doubled, place dough in fridge for a minimum of 20 minutes, until the dough is chilled.
-- pre-heat oven to 350
-- roll out dough on to a floured surface, brush with olive oil, sprinkle a few pinces of salt, and a good amount of rosemary or dill (fresh is better if you have it), and diced shallots or onion (shallots are better if you have them).
-- roll up the dough with all the goodies inside, and place on a baking sheet or in a bread pan. bake until the outside is golden brown and sounds kind of hollow when tapped.

I've been missing Eugene/Oregon a lot lately...Monticello {our old home on 13th and Jefferson}...my room mate Lucas's awesome cooking...so I'm going to give this a try, and hopefully it will turn out right. fingers crossed.

cooking and baking.

this weekend i made bulgogi {korean bbq, recipe below} for carolina and myself. I learned how to make this dish from Darryl and his family. Carolina and I went to an asian supermarket and got most of the ingredients. though even THEY dont have EVERYTHING that was necessary. it was surprising because in america the asian markets are very thorough. the bulgogi turned out GREAT. a bit too much soy sauce. ill put less next time. Carolina gave me umeshu (plum liquor, aka Aloo liquor) it was delicious, it reminded me of my childhood, because ive been eating aloos (plums) since i was little. and I could barely taste the alcohol. it was dangerous. actually im just kidding. i didnt even get buzzed.  then Carolina made a delicious salad with sesame dressing and pomegranates and mango and pear and endives. YUM. then today she made thai green curry. it . was. so. good. Ive been having a really good time exploring the kitchen with her. I would like to do some baking next.
we went to the reina sofia today when it was free in the morning. and now the prado is free, so we are going there. I love our dates.

oh we also went to the hare krishna place (once on wednesday and once on friday). Safe to say she's just as addicted as i am 

Bulgogi recipe:
sesame oil
toasted sesame seeds
pepper flakes
chili oil
black pepper
ginger
garlic
green onions
chives if you want
(normal) onions (we only had purple so we used those, but normally i use the yellow ones)
sugar (normally youre supposed to use brown sugar, but I use what I have at home which tends to be white. some people chose to use honey)
soy sauce (not too much, it can get too salty)
kiwi (for really tenderizing the meat)
chicken or beef (i prefer beef but carolina doesnt eat beef so we did it with chicken at it was great)
rice (or noodles if youre craving that, which i generally am)
kim chi

cut meat PAPER THIN. the thinner the better.
MIX ALL ingredients together (...i honestly just eyeballed everything. i have no sense of measurements when it comes to bulgogi. just whatever sounds like it´ll make a sauce to your liking. If this really makes you uncomfortable though, this is a good place to start.) Also it depends on how much meat youre working with. Generally though a teaspoonish of sugar, and for the soy sauce you just dont want the meat swimming around in it... im obsessed with sesame oil so i generally put more than what most recipes call for. and then with the spicy ingredients, get creative. add whatever you want and however much you want. as for the kiwi, i generally do  half a kiwi just mash it up with a fork and add it to everything else. let the meat marinate in this for 2 hours. honestly, i have made this before without letting it marinate, and ya it doesnt taste as awesome but i was starving. With carolina we let it marinate OVER NIGHT and it was amazing the next day.
start cooking your noodles or rice first since i think it normally takes longer to make that than the meat.
then in a pan just dump all the meat and cook it in the pan.
serve the rice with the meat on top. put some kimchi on the side and let your taste buds have the time of their lives!!