Adventures in Food: Ddeokbokki, Ddeokgochi...

Happycake used to go on and on about something called "ddeokbokki" when we talked about Korean food, praising it to the high heavens. Before I took my leap into Korean culture I had no idea what she was talking about–until the day I tasted it myself at the Koreatown Plaza food court in Los Angeles. For those of you still utterly confused, "ddeokbokki" refers to Korean rice cakes smothered in the spiciest red sauce imaginable. It is often combined with fish cakes and is super comforting on cold days.

Conversely, "ddeokgochi" refers to the same rice cakes stuck on a skewer and fried till crisp on the outside, then doused in an equally spicy but slightly sweeter sauce. For a while we enjoyed both versions of the treat at the KTP, when inevitably today my mom decided that we should attempt making it ourselves. I'll admit, at first I was wary of the thought–what if we couldn't make it to the degree of deliciousness that existed at the food court? As it turns out, I was fearful of nothing–with a little help from the internet and the friendly ahjumma at our local Korean market, we ended up making something spectacular.

We started out at first with this toolkit for making ddeokbokki, which was first advertised to us by that same ahjumma. Intrigued, we took home a couple of the kits, which look like this inside:

Red is the color of SPICY.

A note about this particular package: you do need to boil the rice cakes in water first before combining them with the sauce (which also has instructions on diluting it first–they weren't kidding about the spice level). Being adventurous and unsure about what we were doing following our instincts, we also bought a package of already-soft rice cakes at the market and simply boiled those with the diluted sauce.

These rice cakes were freshly-made and wrapped in plastic...originally.

Rice cakes and sauce.

Another note: if you're worried about how thin the diluted sauce is, fear not! The starch from the rice cakes will thicken up the sauce once you let the mixture sit for a few minutes.

And that's pretty much how you make ddeokbokki from a package. But what about the fried version, ddeokgochi?

Frying these rice cakes is not the sticky disaster some might believe. As long as you keep your oil heat at around medium and watch carefully for the crispy crust that forms out the outside of the cakes when they're about finished, you'll be fine. It is also interesting to note that the cakes actually loosen from the bottom of the pan when they're ready to flip and/or be taken out.

Be sure to check out the sauce recipe at the link below!

Our thanks goes out to whoever this person with the fabulous ddeokgochi sauce recipe was, and props to maangchi.com for having such awesome people on their forums. Without this sauce recipe, our ddeokgochi would not have been as amazing as it was:

The best way to enjoy this crunchychewyspicysweet dish? Stab it with a chopstick straight out of the bowl. Seriously, just do it.

Just let this sink in a little.

Be warned–it's difficult to stop eating these once you get started. It's best to make extra and store it in an airtight container for that night in alone you're having with your favorite drama emergencies.

Happy eating!

~BeanSprout

A Bit of a Hiatus

Hey everyone!

As you can see, it has literally been MONTHS since we last posted something. I blame school. And life in general, actually. But we'll definitely be back to giggly fangirling posting reviews and new experiences shortly! Thank you so much to everyone who finds time to view this blog–you guys are the best!

See you around!

~BeanSprout

Adventures in Food: Koreatown Plaza, Los Angeles

Nothing's better than meeting your friend that you haven't seen in a reaaaaally long time. Well, actually, meeting your friend over a container of ddeokbokki is better. And that's exactly what Happycake and I did this past weekend. We met up at the Koreatown Plaza in the heart of Los Angeles–I'd actually been several times before, but this was Happycake's first time and I was especially excited to introduce her to this amazing place. ~BeanSprout

Neither of us had had breakfast...

Sprout: I was extremely excited to bring Happycake to this neat bakery in the Plaza called Bosco's Bakery, which is your standard Asian coffee shop with all sorts of delicious pastries and cakes. My mom also recommends their ground grain latte (also known as misugaru - I might put up a recipe someday). The crumbs above were supposed to be "mammoth bread", a pastry with butter and jam sandwiched between two golden slices of crisp oval-shaped bread, but our stomachs won out over our blogger hearts.

Heh heh heh ddeokbokki 

Sizzling Bibimbap mmm

Everything together, starring:
BeanSprout's fashionable bag and my random dot of sauce I dropped onto the table!

Sprout: We bought our lunch above from the Plaza food court, which has a broad range of cuisine, from Korean porridge to bibimbap to cold noodles and everything in between. It's a great place to recover from the Music Plaza store chill out after a day of shopping.

Boba from It's Boba Time!

Taro Milk Tea

Coconut Milk Tea

Sprout: It's Boba Time is (sadly) not in the Plaza but a short drive away on 6th Street. After living in Irvine for a few years I'd thought the boba places there were the height of awesomeness - and then I came to this place. I can't really express how amazing this place is - the coconut milk tea alone is rich and sweet and is my absolute favorite drink (I really should branch out and try something different but it's SO GOOD).

Cake: WAHHHHHH so it was sadly, yes sadly, my very first time discovering the Plaza. I seriously should have discovered it much earlier along with BeanSprout because wow did I die in there. BeanSprout even had to drag me into the Music-Plaza store because I was in utter shock and stuck in my fangirl state just looking at what was on display in the windows. We ended up spending probably a good 45 minutes in there, and it's not even that big of a store now! They have a lot of things. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot. Including gigantic hand-sized EXO pins and even hand creams with the members' faces on them omfg. Plus they sell albums and a bunch of posters and pillows and mouse pads too and shirts and bracelets and coffee mugs and wow Happycake look at you with your brilliant grammar skills. BUT. THERE. ARE. SO. MANY. THINGS.
You guys should go check it out if you're in the area. It's a little more on the pricey side, but I'd say it's definitely worth just stepping in there, or at least being rooted outside and staring dreamily into it like I ended doing for a minute or two. Plus the food at the food court afterwards is the bomb diggity. If you choose to go spend some time there with some friends or even by yourself, plan AT LEAST 3 hours because I guarantee you will be sucked into the merchandise stores plus the food court, and after that you can go explore the three floors worth of stores! And to top everything off, one of the stores had some magazines on display and I was flipping through some of them and look who pops up!

Omfg Jungkook on the very right

BUT WHY. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO KOOKIE'S HAIR. OHMYGAHDDD I could not help myself and laughed so hard when my eyes landed on that jumble of unnecessary curly hair pushed to the back LIKE PLEASE, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING TT TT

Sprout: Los Angeles is definitely a great place to get to the heart of this amazing culture, through both food and music. But don't take our word for it - check out these amazing places with your friends too!

Until the next adventure!

~BeanSprout and Happycake

Giriboy - Take Care Of You MV Review

Happycake here for another review!

HOLY CRAP

Okay so I was just scrolling through allkpop and I saw that Giriboy came out with a new video and I was like “Oh darn, I gotta watch this right now!!!!!!!!!”

So I pulled it up full screen and blasted the volume (don't worry I was home alone so no worries about bothering anyone. Well. maybe people passing by because the window was open)

But HOLY CRAP CAN I JUST SAY THAT THIS JUST TOOK MY BREATH AWAY?

This is a pretty dark song and might sound boring and slow to some people, but there’s so much emotion when he’s singing. Of course, I’m a sucker for his rapping too, but even when he’s only singing, I DIE. *places tombstone into the ground reading "R.I.P HAPPYCAKE"*

And I just found out that this is originally a song by Swings feat. BrotherSu, which I also listened to it right after. I like both versions of the song but I think I’m leaning more towards Giriboy’s version. DON’T HATE ME SWINGS FANS I’M SORRY TT.

The first notes being strung when the song opens are literally my heartstrings being played with holy mother of Time Lords. And I don’t know there’s just this really strange element to his voice that gives off that emotion and the lyrics of the song agh.

Okay I'm not THAT good at deciphering meanings, but going along with the lyrics in the video, it seems like the girl that he loves and wants to take care of is selling herself to other men to get by or it's because of family problems? I'm not fully clear on that part but he's trying his hardest to understand her on her level and is letting her know that he's there, that he's not going to leave her because of how much more fragile she is as a whole. That's pretty damn deep if you ask me.

There isn't much to the video other than the girl sort of just rolling around the whole time, I guess withering in pain and this one other guy that's shown twice LOL. So yeah, I'd say to watch the video for the lyrics first since it's just been released a few hours ago, then close your eyes and only listen to the music the second time. By now Happycake is rocking back in forth in a puddle of her own tears because of how beautiful this song is and sounds. GOODBYE WORLD

(all gifs and pictures via tumblr)

TBT MV Review: "Intuition" by CNBLUE

Contrary to Happycake's previous statement, I am most decidedly NOT over my Yong Hwa withdrawal period, so I thought I'd do a (really late) #ThrowbackThursday review of "Intuition", one of the very first CNBLUE MVs I died over watched. I won't get into too much detail now, so if you haven't already seen it or want to experience it again, here's the video below!

What I loved:

~ The song (duh).

These guys... (Image via Google)

This one is kind of a no-brainer for me. Cool rockin' guitar? Check. Amazing vocals? Double check (one for Yonghwa, one for Jonghyun). Awesome rap riff? Check. Yeah, we're good here.


~ The outfits.

Look at those beautiful jackets~~ (Image via Google)

Nothing says 100% total badass than all black with a leather jacket here and there. (Jungshin's coat though aaaaaahhhh X3)

Meh, could have been better:

~ The video

Oh, don't mind us, we're just casually breaking into a high-profile building. (Image via Google)

To clarify, I really do like this video. The song and the mood of the video really fit together well, and the boys are as fabulous as ever. Maybe I should re-title this section "Things I didn't get", an example of this being how in the world these four skinny Korean guys were able to overpower a guard, play on the roof of a private building for four minutes, and then mysteriously vanish as soon as the rest of the guards show up. #doesnotcompute

Great timing, guys. (Image via Google)

Did not like:

Nothing really, so have some cool photos!

Epic graffiti (Image via Google)

Epic graffiti pt. 2 (Image via Google)

Epic graffiti: the prequel. (Image via Google)

So cool! X3 (Image via Google)

Altogether, this was a great video that got me deeper into my obviously healthy relationship with Hallyu (heh), and I hope you had a great dance down memory lane!

(Image via Google)

Until the next song!

~BeanSprout

Reasons Why You Should Listen To BTS (Bangtan Boys)

Happycake here! So if you haven't gotten the hint from the title, I'm an A.R.M.Y along with BeanSprout! This post is just to list a few reasons why I listen to them and why you should too! Well, it's really up to you to make that choice but it's okay to let me take over your lives and make you listen to them what

So without further adieu, let's begin!

1. They're extremely strange. Especially Kim Taehyung, also known as BeanSprout's bias. Yup, you heard that right, Yonghwa. She's got another man. Or no, he's not even a man. He's a 4D Alien.
I know, basically every group is strange or derpy and consist of the dumbest people  but if you enjoy those feats in a group, BTS IS THE GROUP FOR YOU!

2. They have super catchy music that will be stuck in your head for the next weeks to come.

3. The group consists of a Golden Kookie (Jeon Jungkook)

 

(images via tumblr)



A Swag Tutle (Min Yoongi, aka Suga) (KCON Reference) (Sorry it's a really shaky one, I couldn't find the one I usually watch!)

  

Chocolate Abs that got no jams (Jimin)

 A 4D Alien (Kim Taehyung, Known as V)

Hope that starts with a J (Jung Hoseok, aka J-Hope)

 A Monster that Raps (Kim Namjoon, aka Rap Monster)

 

And a Princess that cooks (Kim Seokjin, aka Jin)

Wow, that variety!

4. Rap Monster is an Engrish speaker

5. THEIR MUSIC SOUNDS GOOD

6. Every single member makes you cry

7. Suga and Rap Monster were underground rappers before they debuted.
Okay okay, that's nothing new but come on (x

8. They are gorgeous people. The first time I actually listened to them, I never really bothered to see who they were or look them up or anything. I just really liked how their music sounded and downloaded their album. So to be able to get Happycake's attention without even seeing your looks first, THAT'S A BIGGY. LOL okay I'm not saying I like a group for their looks alone, but looks play a great part in bands and groups. You know I'm right because we totally buy their album to listen to their face.

9. The Golden Maknae aka Jeon Jungkook aka my bias list crusher. HE'S JUST THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PILE OF ATOMS TO EVER WALK THIS EARTH. HIS VOICE IS BEAUTIFUL. HIS GOLDEN LOOKS ARE BEAUTIFUL. HIS STUPID SMILE IS BEAUTIFUL. HIS DANCING IS BEAUTIFUL. UGH YES ESPECIALLY HIS DANCING
ahem sorry for that little moment

10. They're all amazing dancers in general. Especially together, they're really in sync and execute their choreography well. If you don't believe me, go check out any of their dance practices. But then some of them will expose how much of a derp each of them are so yeah early warning for the faint of heart.
Oh what the heck just check out the whole playlist

11. They definitely don't judge or attack each other

12. They have amazing chemistry, so they have no problem working together and if anything, they're closer to each other than anything else. That's an extremely important factor within a group to be able to be comfortable and know each other to work together!

13. Mad props goes out to Rap Monster because at the moment he is exploding with activities to do including being on the upcoming show 'Problematic Men', collaborating with Tiger JK and Yoon Mi Rae for their upcoming album AND not to mention he's releasing a solo song he worked on together with Warren G! I'm super excited both in general and for him because his skills are really being proven now, not that they haven't before through BTS, but to be able to have all of these opportunities at once, he's finally proving himself and becoming stronger.

14. They have abs

15. They have abs

16. They have abs

17. They have squares on their abdomens (Yes chingu, I think we've established that. ;) ~BeanSprout)

Don't mind us, just gonna make some fangirls faint... (Image via Google)

18. They're superdorks

19. Their rapping has such a nice flow to the songs and matches them well

20. The fandom comes up with the most interesting pictures

Reference

21. They have their own comic and webtoon. Come on, admit it. That's awesome.
You can find translations here and here!
22. They're gorgeous bare faced

23. They know how to have fun

24. Even with all of the criticism that has been thrown at them, they're even stronger now and work their butts off. They deserve a massive amount of credit.

25. They're such 'bad boys'

So please, enjoy being sucked into their presence and not getting out any time soon.
Annyeong!