One of My Favorite Korean Dishes: tteokbokki

I had a breakthrough this week with beginning to guesstimate calories!  One of my favorite meals in Korea is something called tteokbokki (떡뽁이).  I did look online once to try to find the calorie count, and it seemed pretty high.  That was a little disappointing!  However, this week I learned how to make it in a healthier way.

My co-teacher invited me to her apartment for dinner.  I asked if I could be there while she made the meal, so that I can begin to learn how to cook Korean food.  She was all for it.  Naturally, I requested that we make ttoekbokki.  I was thrilled to learn that, for the most part, it’s healthy: stock, scallions, carrots, cabbage, fish cakes (it’s a Korean thing), red pepper paste, red pepper powder, and a little bit of sugar.  Now, the calorie killer is the rice cake (not at all what we think of when we talk about rice cakes in the US).  But all in all, I was glad to see that one of my favorite meals isn’t as bad as I thought calorie wise.

As an added bonus, the homemade version tasted “fresher” and lighter than what you get in the restaurants.  Of course, I shouldn’t have been surprised at that because that’s true everywhere, isn’t it.  Restaurants have a way of ruining even low-calorie meals…like salads.  Such a challenge for our weight loss goals!

Korean rice cake, aka tteok.

If you're curious about trying this fantastic dish, check out this link for a recipe:  http://aeriskitchen.com/2008/10/ddeok-bok-ki-%EB%96%A1%EB%B3%B6%EC%9D%B4/.  

Ode to Tteokbokki

Tteokbokki, tteokbokki!

Our delicious meal: tteokbokki,
kimbap and beer.

I want to make you mine!

So yummy and tasty.

I  can eat you all the time.

I love all your spice,

And the texture of your cake.

You sure do taste nice.

It’s you I will make.

I have you in a dish.

Gotta grab me a beer.

You're the answer to my wish.

I’m addicted…it’s clear!

My fabulous host and cooking
instructor, Kil Na Yeon.

Produce...Good for Health, Hard on the Budget!

Red is for vitamin C

As you’ve read in previous posts, there is never a shortage of food in Korea…they are definitely an eating culture.  So, my plan of attack has been to eat mainly salads for dinner when I cook at home.  Well, I’ve run into a little problem with that plan…produce is so darn expensive!!!

I haven’t been saving as much money as I had hoped, so I took a look at my finances to see where it’s all going.  I was a little shocked to learn that a huge chunk is groceries.  This has caused me to change my eating habits.  I’m going to stick to my omelet for breakfast (one egg and one egg white with lots of peppers and onions).  My school lunches will remain my biggest meal of the day.  Dinner…instead of tuna salad and fruit…is now a green smoothie.  Spinach is pretty cheap, and I can usually get a good deal on browning bananas.  When you freeze them for smoothies, the browning doesn’t matter.  And I’m thrilled to say…I found PB2!!!!  There’s on online store called iHerb that ships to Korea pretty inexpensively.  Add that to my smoothies, and it’s great tasting with some added protein!

Hopefully the plan B will help me maintain my wait AND ease my pocket book! : )  I will admit, though, I’m going to miss eating an abundance of produce.  Produce is just so powerful!!

Produce Rainbow

Can’t wait for that tasty strawberry.

Orange is for vitamin C as well as good ol’ A

Baby carrots are the way.

Yellow adds potassium

Bananas…I’m excited when I see ‘em.

Green throws in some folic acid

Spinach I ate it all, I did!

Blue provides some antioxidant power

I should eat blueberries every hour!

Indigo…ummm…I’m stuck…uh-oh

At least the poem keeps me in the know.

Violet has vitamins and a little manganese

Grapes...gotta get me some of these!

So many options, it’s hard to choose!

I’ll eat them all so I can lose!

Surviving the 4th...and the Rest of Summer

Fried chicken and kimbap...
my 4th of July picnic.

So how’d you survive the 4^th of July barbecues?  I did okay, mainly because portions were controlled…and because I created my own 4^th of July celebration with other foreigners.  My celebration of America’s Independence Day consisted of a picnic-style dinner by the Taewha River with two Americans and a Canadian, who we made an honorary American for the evening. Our menu consisted of fried chicken and beer, as well as kimbap.  Kimbap is traditional Korean picnic food: vegetables, rice, and protein wrapped in seaweed…yum!

 

Celebrating with two Americans
and a Canadian.

I veered a little off course for my holiday, but that’s easy to do during the summer.  Good news you can always use a few tips, tools, and strategies to re-set:

• Pick yourself up when you stumble…don’t throw yourself down the stairs just because you went overboard for a day.
• Think positively about the changes you’re going to make and take small steps to get back on track…slow and steady wins the race.
• Focus on a photograph of a thinner you.  You know what they say…a picture’s worth a thousand words.
• Remember that success isn’t always about the numbers on the scale.  It’s what you learn from the numbers that counts…change your perspective and you’ll change your world.
• Find a partner to be active with.  Get out together and make the most of a sunny day…two is more fun than one!
• Set small goals, so you’re not frustrated by the big pictures…just take it one day at a time.

As you can see…all kinds of sayings and idioms were coming to mind as I wrote this.  So, I’m going to do something a little different for this post’s poem:  inspirational weight loss sayings:

• When you feel like quitting, think about why you started.
• Take care of your body.  It’s the only place you have to live.
• Do not reward yourself with food.  You are not a dog.
• If you are going to doubt something, doubt your limits.
• No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everyone on the couch.
• Changing your diet is something we choose to do, not something we are forced to do.  Instead of dreading it, try saying, “Here’s another thing I get to do to help myself. Great!”

And my favorite one...

• Even if you can’t physically see the results in front of you, every single effort is changing your body from the inside.  Never get discouraged!