This post was in draft for almost 2 weeks. There are some personal things i want to share after much procrastination.

This post gonna be longggg since it was in draft for 2 weeks !

Something light-hearted to start first…

#KBS

Last week , i finally met up with almost everyone in the #KBS group which i created almost a month ago. KBS stands for Korean Boyfriends and Spouses. The group is made up of Singapore ladies with Korean fiances and spouses.

We had tze char at Melben and after that , we all go to Koryo mart to do our Korean grocery shopping. It was really nice to meet everyone and we shared alot of our experiences. Good to have support in Sg and in Korea. Alot of information we can share and help each other like applying for long term passes in Korea, registering marriage or child’s birth in Korea and SG etc.

We are planning for another pot luck gathering soon and this time with our other Korean halves. If you have a Korean spouse or getting married soon (engaged already) and want to join this support group , you can send me an email at peonykissblog@gmail.com . Glad to hear that everyone is happy to have this support group and people who are in the same situation and marriages.

#SGahjumma

Hehe i tried new dishes over the weekend. This is the first time i made Korean Japchae and Spicy Pork Ribs (Yang Nyeom Galbi). I was quite surprised by my own cooking this time round. So delicious and i cannot believe i cooked it too.

 Alot of work for Japchae. Quite tiring to cook this. Alot of plates to wash too.

Here’s how you can cook Japchae : 

Ingredients :

Korean thin potato noodles , shitake mushrooms , black fungus, carrots, yellow/red capsicum, onions, eggs, spinach, salt, sesame oil, black pepper, soya sauce.

1) Soak and wash mushrooms and black fungus in water. Slice them into thin pieces and squeeze out the water . Fry in pan with olive oil , add pinch of salt and black pepper.
Put into a big bowl and leave it aside.

2) Cut and sliced carrots and capsicums into thin strips. Fry in pan with olive oil and add pinch of salt. Put all into the big bowl together with mushrooms and fungus. Leave it aside.

3) Crack and beat 3 eggs. Fry it into a large round omelette. Cut into thin strips and put in a separate bowl
Do not mix in with 1) and 2) ingredients. Leave it aside.

4) Boil spinach for a minute. Take out and squeeze all water out. Slice into 3 or 5 cm sizes. Put in a small bowl and season with sesame oil and soya sauce. Leave it aside for awhile.

5) Cut onions into thin slices and fry with olive oil in a pan. Add a pinch of salt. Once the onions become translucent, pour it into the big bowl with ingredients from 1) and 2).

6) Boil the Korean potato starch noodle in hot water and once cooked, take out and wash under cold water and drain away the water. Use scissors to cut the noodles cos they are very very long.

Put the noodles in a frying pan and fry with olive oil. Add 5 table spoons of Korean soya sauce and sesame oil. Add 2 tea spoons of black pepper. Fry and mix to change colour of noodle to brown. Add abit of water so frying will be easier. How much soya sauce and sesame oil to add depends on the noodle portion you are cooking.

After frying the noodles, put into the big bowl with ingredients 1) 2) 5). Wear plastic hand gloves and mix the ingredients with the noodles. Add in the seasoned spinach into the big bowl and mix them together. Add some more soya sauce and sesame oil and black pepper. Lastly add in the thinly sliced eggs and mix everything tog with hand. Add sesame seeds.

Ready to serve on plate and add the last drizzle of sesame seeds.

Now you know what i mean by alot of work and plates/bowls to wash for Japchae. Cut , fry , mix and you repeat for every single ingredient. The more ingredients you add , the more work to be done. I didn’t add in any thinly sliced pork belly or beef because i don’t want my Japchae to be too oily (oil from pork bellies). So you can choose to add in the meat or not it is up to you.

Super yummy.  Double work for me because Oppa said it is so nice and i cooked the other half packet of potato noodles. He ate the entire pack of noodles. haha 1 pack can serve about 4 pax.

Yang Nyeom Galbi (Korean Spicy Pork Ribs)

I cooked this too with the Japchae. Really multi tasking. One hand was mixing and the other hand was flipping the pork ribs in the pan.

How to cook Yang Nyeom Galbi (Korean Spicy Pork Ribs)

Ingredients : Prime Pork Ribs , Korean red pepper paste , Korean chilli powder , 1 green chilli , minced garlic , chopped onions , sesame oil , soya sauce , pepper , sugar (brown sugar/honey/white sugar …in my case i used brown sugar).

Well , you need a big round bowl to mix these sauces with the ribs. So get it ready !

1. In the big bowl , add 4 table spoons of red pepper paste , 1 table spoon chilli powder , 2 table spoon of minced garlic , half onion chopped into minced pieces , 2 table spoon of soya sauce , 2 table spoon of brown sugar, 2 table spoon of sesame oil and 1 tea spoon of black pepper. Mix all these sauces together.

2) Wash the pork ribs and squeeze out the water. Then put into the big bowl of sauces and mixed the pork ribs with the sauces in the bowl. Just keep mixing until the pork ribs are all red. Wear a plastic hand glove and mix it with your hand. It is easier and can mix better this way and so that the prime ribs can be well seasoned. Leave it aside for 20-30 minutes before you start cooking it.

3) Add olive oil in a pork of frying pan or pot. Pour the entire bowl of well marinated pork ribs and the sauces from the bowl into the pot. Fry on high heat before switching to medium heat. Add abit of water and leave it to cook and stir and flip the ribs so that it will not get burnt on one side.

Once done , serve on a plate or the Korean earthen ware. I heat up the earthen pot first before transferring the well cooked pork ribs from the frying pan/pot into the earthen pot. The pot keeps the sauce and the meat hot and warm. The meat can be abit tough and hard if it gets cold.

If you don’t have the earthen ware , you can just serve on a plate.

Cut the green chilli into thin slices and garnish the ribs together with sesame seeds. Some people add the green chilli when they mix the sauces in step 1) but i don’t really like to eat green chilli so i didnt add in from step 1.

The pork ribs looks difficult to cook but actually it is the easiest compared to Japchae ! Just mix all the sauces together with the pork ribs and cook.

Korean soya sauce and Korean sesame oil are commonly used so if you are interested in cooking your own Korean dishes, these are the must haves in your kitchen. They are not that expensive. about $3.60 for big bottle of soya sauce and $3.90 for a small sesame oil. I bought a tin of $14.90 sesame oil  (in medium size tin packaging) since i cook often.

 #Kbeauty

Here are 2 of new additions into my daily skin care routine which was mentioned in the previous post. I realized i have not reviewed them yet.

It actually took me awhile before i decided to try this brand. I read reviews online and to be honest i don’t trust alot of  beauty reviews or i just read their reviews with a pinch of salt because most beauty reviews are paid to do so. And it is hard to determine a product is good or not just by trying it on the back of your hand only for the first time and once. I actually went to try the tester bottles many times before i decided to buy and try. And at most if it didn’t work , just use and apply on my neck lor. CNP products are not that cheap even though they can be found in drugstores like Olive and Young (Korea), Guardians and Watsons ( in SG ). But im glad these 2 products works for me and worth the buy for me.

CNP Invisible Peeling Booster

It promises to remove dead skin cells and boost skin radiance/brightening within a week. It is to apply before toner. You don’t actually see “dead skin cells” coming off like using a peeling gel. So don’t expect to see “beads” or “rolled up” whitish stuff when you apply. Does it boost skin radiance ? The difference is not alot but i can see my skin is slightly more radiant after using it for a week.

I really like this alot. There is no need to rinse off after applying. This is the first thing i apply after my shower before i proceed with toner. It is very expensive in SG. But in Korea, Lotte mall is having 20% discount and this is only KRW 24,000 now.  It is about SGD49 if you were to buy in Guardian.

I also got the Propolis Energy Ampule. I usually apply this before my sheet masking. I alternate this with Hera hydration ampule.

I feel that CNP Laboratory is like Leaders Insolution brand. They are products from aesthetic doctors and dermatologists in Korea. I really like these products and so i actually carted out a peeling gel and the serum also from CNP from Lotte.com ! Can’t wait for my bro-in-law to bring them from Korea for me this Sept ! He is coming to SG yay ! I wonder where to bring him around and activities to do. He takes really good care of me and i want to be a good host when he comes too.

Will review the peeling gel and other serums once i started using them for at least 2 weeks and if it is good !

Gonna continue the #Smartlady draft . Some personal things and experiences to share and hope it helps girls out there. And new review on the lip tattoo i used.