Korean dinner and German dessert

My sisters are in town for the weekend, so I stocked up the kitchen to cook some yummy food for them.  A lot of our favorite dishes are Korean, so I made the ultimate Korean comfort food tonight- kimchi jjigae.

There are a lot of Korean recipes available in English online now, including the popular Maangchi.  This dish is similar to Maangchi's recipe, except I add a little more hot chili pepper paste, a pinch of salt, and throw in some glass noodles (당면) towards the end.   

김치찌개

Usually Koreans serve fruit after a hot spicy meal, but I wanted my sister to try homemade Maulwurftorte ("mole cake"), a German chocolate cake filled with bananas and cream.  Easy to make but so delicious!  Next time I'll substitute the bananas with strawberries or raspberries.

Maulwurftorte | Guten Appetit!

Tomorrow we'll probably head over to my favorite Korean BBQ place, Honey Pig in Virginia.  Love this place. :)  Have a wonderful President's Day weekend!

Winter in Europe Part 2

Here are a few more photos from the winter holiday.  :)

Also, thanks for your encouraging words in my previous post.  Our friends often ask us how we can survive being apart.  It's really hard. :( This week I was trying to find any possible way to maximize my frequent flyer points and be able to see my husband next month, but it looks like it might not work out.  :(   

Trying to just be thankful no matter what.  Anyways, onto the pics..

Champ Elysees was so pretty after Christmas.  The line for some of the stores was soo long though.  We wanted to stop in Louis Vuitton but didn't feel like waiting in the cold.  Btw, the picture in the bottom left is the line to.. Abercrombie & Fitch(?!)   The line was even longer than the LV line!  My friends told me that it's popular, even among young adults.  I was surprised, since I always associate the store with teenagers and high school students.

Champ Elysees

We didn't stay in Paris for long, but the food was good.  I was looking forward to eating hot crepes, both sweet and savory, off the street. :)  We didn't see the bakeries full of colorful macarons that I'm used to seeing on Pinterest and other blogs, but we had some yummy food nonetheless.

Clockwise from left: Hippopotamus Restaurant, "Floating Cloud" dessert, raw beef dish, creme brulee
I didn't try it, but there was a plate of raw ground beef that you could order.
Our friend said it was delicious, but I wasn't brave enough.

Interesting flavored Lays potato chips (we saw hamburger, bolognese and chicken soup)
and cute mugs, salt shakers, and egg holders

Berlin

 

Flowers from hubby to brighten up our hotel

My little sister got this for hubby for Christmas :)
It's a German duck, complete with lederhosen and beer.  Hubby said
he looks Bavarian

 I was surprised at how expensive certain items were.  Kitchenaid mixers were 609 Euro (~$809 USD!) UGGs were expensive too.  Although they're still popular, short UGGs were like 200 Euro (~$265) and tall UGGS were 300 Euro (~$398 USD!)  On the plus side, grocery items tend to be cheaper in Germany, as long as they're basic items (bread, milk, eggs, meat), but gourmet or international items are much more expensive.  I liked how sales tax is built into the price (hubby and sister-in-law didn't like how the prices were different than the price tag in America), but I still prefer American prices for most things.

Date night with hubby.  Since we won't be able to celebrate our first Valentine's Day as a married couple (*tear), we celebrated it a month early in Cologne.  Hubby said Valentine's Day isn't as big in Germany, but it was still a romantic time. :)

I love him <3

Cool toilet paper dispensers at the Cologne train station gift shop

LOVE the IKEA in Germany.  The food is so yummy! :)
Had lunch and coffee and goofed around in the cafe :)

Winter in Europe

As soon as I finished my semester, I flew back to Cologne to be with my husband this winter.  It was our first Christmas and New Year's as newlyweds, and we drove to Paris (~4.5 hours) after Christmas and flew to Berlin after New Year's for some short getaways.
The holidays in Europe is lovely.  My husband thinks that Christmas and New Year's are not as big a deal as in America, and that might be true, but I was gushing over the sparkling lights and decorations in downtown Cologne.  And Paris was another whole story.. so exquisite.  :)

I flew back to DC at the end of January, and once again, saying goodbye at the airport was heartbreaking.  I cried throughout the plane ride home; when I woke up from a long sleep and realized I wasn't with E, I started quietly sobbing again.  The next time we're planning to see each other is in May (~94 days from today..)  I have to say, being in a long-distance marriage is so hard.  I always feel sorry for us, that we're missing out on our first Valentine's Day, birthday, and wedding anniversary as a married couple.  We're both praying to be strong during this time, to cherish the time we have apart and to do what we can to maintain closeness and communication even while separated.

Anyways, here are some random photos from my iPhone:

Christmasmarkt near the Cologne Dom.  The lights were so lovely.
Reminded me of the movie Tangled :)

These are unedited photos straight from my iPhone.
The Eiffel Tower really is this stunning and beautiful.

CLASSY McDonald's in Paris

Montmartre

Avenue des Champs Élysées

Our apartment-style hotel in Berlin.
Small, modern, reasonably priced

Weather was gloomy, so we hit up the Berlin Aquarium

Mongolian BBQ, with all kinds of meat for grilling,
including kangaroo and shark

Christmas gift from my sister
Personalized heart mugs (notice my name is written in pink:)

New blog and Photo overload

New name, new blog!
I'm hoping I can use this blog to write and post pics and keep in touch with friends and family, especially since they're scattered all over the place now.. And it'll give me a good excuse to procrastinate in the middle of studying.  :)

I don't have much to say for now, so I'll just present a photo overload.
Some highlights from this year:

I got married!

One of our photobook pages.  Layout and photography by Jun Kyeung Photography

Lived in Germany for the summer.  I love how easy it is to country-hop in Europe.  The Netherlands is about a 2 hour drive from our home in Cologne, and Paris is about 5 hour drive!  It's like driving to Philadelphia or NYC from my home in Washington.. although gas is more than double the price in Europe.

Cologne and Kaub | Germany

Made a day trip to visit Amsterdam.

Went to Budapest, Hungary for E's work trip

Went to Alicante, Spain for our honeymoon. 
Alicante is a quiet beach town with beautiful beaches, warm and friendly people, and delicious food!