the sunday slowdown

What to do on a cold and cloudy Sunday?

This morning we threw open the windows, pumped good psychedelic rock through our speakers and gave our little apartment a deep, hard clean.

It's such a good feeling to put your feet up at the end of a good soul-cleansing purge of dirt and dust bunnies!

Later at the hair salon I ended up cutting bangs on a whim.

Damn me and my whims, I always think bangs are a good idea at the time but I'm the worst at maintaining them and they inevitably end up being bobby-pinned to the side of my head.

This evening I blew the dust off my baking trays and made these sea salt chocolate chip cookies from Ambitious Kitchen.

Holy. Mama.

I want to track down whoever thought of pairing chocolate with sea salt and kiss them on the mouth and that's all I'm gonna say about that! 

I kind of got into my kitchen groove after that and decided to pull out the ginger and spice and everything nice and boil up a pot of spicy Indian Chai.

Right now the apartment is steeped in the rich smells of sweet and salty brown butter cookie dough and boiling cardamom.

Blissed.

I hope everyone had a warm, weird and wonderful weekend ^^

my first thanksgiving

Saturday night Dallas and I hosted our very first Thanksgiving Pot Luck Feast in our wee tiny apartment.

 It was my first Thanksgiving Feast period and  it suited me to a tee that it was a ram-shambled and Tupperware tabled, beer in mug cups kind of affair! I didn't take a single shot of these photos from the night; my camera ended up floating around the room and into the hands of anyone who cared to take a snap of what was going on around them. I kind of love that they are a little, soft-focused and blurry and skewed~ a fine representation of the party itself!

All our guests brought over a medley of delicious dishes and I fell in love with the Southern-style cooking our sweet friends from Tennessee brought to the table: corn bread and green bean casserole. Delightful!

There was also mac and cheese and bread rolls, roisterer chickens and stuffing and gravy, oh my!

And a random pineapple on the table. Because, why not?

Holiday dinner never looked or tasted better, proven by the quiet hush that descended over the group as everyone piled into their plates.

There was lots of "mmm" and "ahhhs" and "can I get the recipe's?", second and third helpings and re-filling of glasses.

We sipped delicious citrus and spiced mulled wine and were sedated by White Supremacist cocktails (a tongue in cheek concoction created by our friend Angelo), got dizzy with beer and spangled with white wine.

There was bundles of friendship and bonding and love going on under our roof that night that lasted until way after dawn and that was a happy and thankful thing.

Three cheers for Thanksgiving, my new adopted holiday! ^^

3 little things

This week was peppered with promises of yet another seasonal change. Where are you running to Autumn?

Your visit was short and so so sweet but now I smell Winter snapping at your heels.

Lately we've had quiet rainfall and clean white mists fogging our town and the warm whisper of a festive holiday is slowly coming into focus on the horizon.

Here are 3 cozy comforts I have enjoyed this week:

1. Overnight Oats

This breakfast I cannot get enough of. 

Even though it's clearly time to be heating my oats to warm myself on these chilly November mornings I am still stuck on this quick fix of oats soaked overnight in a jar in whatever you prefer~ you can add yoghurt, soy milk, chai milk tea~ they all work just fine!

Above are some of my favorite toppings I like to add before pouring over my milk and giving it a good shake.

2. Succulents so succulent

                                     

My Mother has been patiently watching my thumbs for the past 29 years.

Year after year she has been disappointed at their lack of greenness.

She is an avid gardner and I think she always hoped I would develop a love of gardening too.

Not until I successfully began my mini herb garden on our window ledge this year have I ever had the slightest inclination toward making things grow.

Now I'm hooked.

I scooped up these pretty little succulents and cute carrot top cactus at our local Homeplus recently and when my Mum asked what I want sent over for Christmas this year I asked for a packet of seeds for any kind of plant that will grow during the winter.

I can feel her smile all the way from Ireland.

3. Studio Ghibli

You know it's real love when your boyfriend indulges you in your fondness for watching Japanese Anime movies on a Sunday morning. It's an even truer love when he ends up loving them just as much as you do.

Last Sunday we bundled under the covers and watched Princess Mononoke but my absolute favorite of the Studio Ghibli back catalog is My Neighbor Totoro.

This movie is so beautiful, charming, magical and poetic, it leaves my heart so full every single time.

Happy November ^^

iHerb haul & a discount for you!!

One of my favorite days are days when big brown boxes arrive with my name on them ^^

I've been wanting to order from iHerb for the longest time since I learned they ship quickly (and cheaply) to Korea~ literally hundreds of healthy, organic and plant based products simply not easily available out here.

So less than a week after I ordered here are my spoils from my first (definately not to be the last) order from iHerb~

Lots of tea (Rooibos and Vanilla Caramel)

Coconut butter

Cacao Butter

Almond Butter

Dark Chocolate with sea Salt

Sun Dried Tomatos

Vanilla Almond Milk

Chia Seeds

Witch hazel Facial Toner

Coconut Skin Cream

Mint Julep Face Mask

The best part of ordering from iHerb is they give all their customers a discount code to pass on to their friends.

So if you would like a brown box full of yummy treats for your face and tummy with a $10 discount on orders over $40 or $5 discount off orders less than $40 simply add this code at the iHerb checkout:  DPJ885

Happy shopping campers ^^

Iced & Spiced~ Indian Chai Tea Latte

This is a love story.

It's about a girl travelling in India all alone, carrying her world on her back, adventure in her spirit... and leaving a little piece of her heart there when she returned home.

At first it wasn't an easy love. India didn't always seem to love her back. She could be harsh and crushing and cruel. Her streets swarmed, her heat suffocated, her people seemed broken and unsmiling. There were times when she took and she took and she took until the girl felt she had nothing more to give. 

 But then.

A time came when India began to give. She spoke to the girls soul and opened her arms up to her, showed her stars that were bigger than she'd ever seen before, purple skies, bustling bazzars and crumbling temples, eventual smiles from her people, not all broken but beautifully spiritual and inspiring.

It was in these moments the girl knew she had lost that small part of her heart there forever. 

The backdrop to this love story is tea.

 

 I cannot think of  India without my mind conjuring the heady and intoxicating scent of hot bubbling chai that infused every street corner, every train journey, every chai wallah's canteen. 

Sweet and spicy, lip-burningly hot and buffalo-milky. It came in plastic cups, small glasses, clay pots and china. 

Instead of footprints I left discarded tea vessels in my map across India.

My heart squealed when this pin showed me how to make my own authentic chai tea. 

All of the ingredients can be found right here in Korea's Homeplus and the cardamom in Itaewon's International food mart,

1. Honey

2. sugar

3. Cinnamon stick

4. Cardamom pods

5. Ginger

6. Black tea bag

7. Black peppercorns

8. Cloves

Go ahead and give yourself a special treat this week and follow this recipe.

One sip of this delicious infusion of sweets and spices and it will transport you to India by proxy.

Thank you sweet chai for letting my Indian love story continue!

edit: I've been informed that adding a Bay Leaf in with the above ingredients which will add a little more dimension to the flavour. Thanks Darren for the tip!!

Recipe box~ Chocolate Chip Coconut Banana Bread

So here is my basic little apartment kitchen.

 It's more of an after-thought than a kitchen really ... like the builders finished up the rest of  the apartment, were left with a small nook they didn't know what to do with so they inserted a few cabinets and a hot plate and voila! Here is your kitchen!

Sometimes when I bake in this bite size corner I feel like a Barbie doll using one of those kiddo role-play kitchens!

But I digress. Last night I put my toy oven, whoops, toaster oven to good baking use and baked the banana bread I've been promising myself for weeks.

It turned out pretty good for my first time-even if it was a little dumpy and crispy looking.

 It still had a sweet, gooey, coconut-y inside that went down a dream with an ice-cold glass of milk.

Squint your eyes here or follow the link for this recipe. 

Here is my terrible attempt at food photography, however it was midnight and I couldn't turn the big light on because of a certain sleeping boyfriend ^^

Something about baking up sweet things in an oven is good for the soul- even if it turns out looking lumpy-dumpy and not something Martha Stewart would produce. If they're made with love..who cares, right??

Happy Friday loves!!

somewhere between the light time and the night time

Wednesday was Liberation Day here in Korea so we were gifted with a rare mid-week one-day vacation. We kick-started the day early and I made Dallas and I a batch of cinnamon french toast from this amazing recipe. A real sweet start to the day. 

Our daytime plans were then scuppered by a fantastic rainstorm that lasted well untill 6 o'clock that evening. We spent most of the day inside reading, listening to good music and claps of thunder and watched the raindrops jitterbuggin' down our windows.

By evening cabin fever had set in and we grabbed our umbrellas and headed out to Hongdae where we got twirly after a few long islands in a bag and wandered the streets taking pictures and buying nonsense trinkets such as a diy birdcage and paper model of Spike Lee :)

Yesterday back at school we were tired and not a little hungover but we both agreed it was totally worth it. 

I guess rainy Wednesday cocktails, street walking and hand holding just do it for me ^^

Summer food: Fancy Schmancy Chicken Salad

Getting home to an oven temperature apartment after work these past months has not left this gal very motivated to turn ten shades of pink and red preparing a hot dinner over a heated stove. 

Salads have been the order of the day around here and it's been fun coasting through the foodie blogs and finding new and unusual twists on the tried and true basic salad formula.

This recipe from Simply Scratch was an instant success when I presented it to Dallas one evening and I've found myself preparing it several times since with a side salad of couscous, sun dried tomatoes and avocado. It's kind of dangerously delicious, especially the honey and apple cider vinegar dressing, which I just want to smother all of my plates in now ^.^

Living in South Korea I was worried I wouldn't be able to get my hands on some of the more "fancy schmancy" ingredients but I found the pecans, apple cider vinegar and celery in my local Homeplus. The poppy seeds were a little trickier and involved a trip to the International Food Mart in Itaewon.

Anyway, this recipe is far too good not to share so if your sick of regular salad and ready to become addicted to some seriously delightful dressing then check this recipe out.