kimchi, beef, ramen, and small explosion

Suddenly out of nowhere,
I'm craving some Korean kimchi. It is strange because I don't usually like kimchi so this is strange. I taste a lot of different kimchi but I never fond of the taste.

Except one in some small restaurant in Jakarta (that i doubt if its still open today). It was 10 years ago maybe (now I feel old!). That was the first kimchi I ever like...ever. It is the only one that i can manage to eat.

Eating in Korean restaurant would be a luxury for me since they are quite expensive and they have *uncommon* type food so I rarely want to eat it. Couple times I went and i got really confused when I read the menu...they all look the same to me.

Have I mentioned that they all look RED for everything? (seems they love spicy things so much). It give me that eerie-creepy feel somehow seeing almost all the food in super-reddish color.

Anyway since in Finland it started to get autumny, coldy, windy and super darky (with additional cold and flu sickness also) plus I binge-watched this awesome Korean woman "Maangchi"

That kimchi-stew-soup seems so warm...spicy...and hot...
perfect for this time of the year!

I must make those!

But then again I was super-skeptical at first since kimchi sounds so fancy and hard to make. And I don't want to buy store-bought-kimchi, they usually horrible plus the Asian market is far from my home (I'm to lazy to go).

After couple googling and reading Maangchi blog again and again, I found a simple recipe to make in here.  I didn't use any raw squid or other raw seafood like the original recipe, It is scary just to think about putting them altogether...euuughyyy...

So let's start by chopping the most important part of the kimchi ; chinese cabbage! (kiinaankaali)

I love the cruchy-crunch sound they make when you cut these :D

I have a funny-stupid moment doing my *first* kimchi. 

I didn't realize that I should give more space in the glass jar that when I check it after 2 days there's some *fizzy-fishy* stuff happening. I was panicked and open the jar without thinking too much.

And then *sploorrrchh* the kimchi exploded bursting everywhere from the jar.

lesson learned here ; 
fermentation give you carbon dioxide reaction

*ouch*

*The culprit of the kimchi-explosion

After a painful kitchen cleaning, I split the kimchi in 2 jars afterwards to prevent more explosion. Fortunately its only the *kimchi sauce* that bursted out. All the vegetables are safe and really yummy to taste.

I am satisfied with the result and even make one more easy Korean dish "Yak-gochujang" (Fried gochujang). It consist beef, pine nuts, honey (mmmmm honeyyy) and Korean fermented chili paste "gochujang". This kimchi is really good when you mix it with other food, especially with ramen noodle soup.

I should try more Korean foods in the future after this ;)

organizing fever - accessories.

I hate cleaning. 

Whatever the type of cleaning i hate it. I have an allergy with dust, but it's not my main excuse why i hate it. For me its just wasting your time when you can do something else more nice. 

Let's face it anyway, you need to do cleaning in daily basis, except if you want to see your home or room fill with dust and spiders! ( yuck! ).

So i tried to find way to minimize cleaning. After sometime browsing internet, talking with friends, and family, i found the answer for it.

Organizing.

When you do organizing, it will help to minimize the time you spend for doing cleaning. 

For this time is my accessories that got the ooohh-rrr-ganized. I am a big fan of accessories. I think its more nicer than clothes and shoes. You can enhance your look just by wearing different accessories even if your clothes are simple or boring. And before i know it i have ( quite ) a lot stashes of it.

Pinterest is really helping me for finding some ideas of organizing. This is the outcome of it, i bought  a push-pin board and hanger rail.

Did i tell you that its more cheaper to DIY than buy some fancy-pancy-expensive accessories storing ?

To add more space without buying too much pushpins, i used thin wire to make some wire-line so i can

hang my dangle earrings. I connected it to each pushpins and twisting the wire so it looks more artsy :p

Its easier to take-and put it back also, plus its a neat decorations for my wall also! :D

For the other accessories, my husband helped me to installed a hanger-rail into the cupboard and bought some S-hooks that you can add more later. This is for storing and displaying my necklaces.

Then i got plastic cups from pudding that i turn for storing my bangles and bracelets. Plates for stud earrings, small boxes, foam board, and even clothespins. I used whatever at home that i can turn for storing accessories.

Lastly, i remembered i got some portable LED-lamp ( bought from LIDL ) so i installed inside. 

Now its easier to take and put back, no more mess and if i want to clean the cupboard i just need to take the boxes and cups out. 

Love it! :D

nailart addict.

Much of all my obsessions and addictions i got, this is so far one of the tricky addiction i have. 

It's always hard to do this for my right hand even though i'm quite used to it, i need to wear mask to prevent my nosey-allergy, need time to wait ( for them to dry ) and try not damaging them by touching and doing stuff, and most annoying part is you *accidentally* break them after all your hard work!

Having a cooking hobby are not a good idea pairing with nail art hobby. You tend to break them somehow, most of the time get a cut when chopping foods. House chores also break them even though you already try as careful as you can ( or is it just me :p ).

Thats why now i don't grow my fingernails too long anymore. Actually it's not that bad with short nails ( yes i'm comforting myself, lol ) they can be look sexy also depend on how you make the design.

Here's are some of my nail art that i made this past year, probably i won't have this longer nails again. 

This year christmas design, i love this China Glaze Red-Pumps look on the nail. Too bad my camera can't show too much of the sparkle. In the reality it have more glittery-sparkle looking. I bought this one and fell in love with it ; for my chinese-theme engagement party which suit my red-gold cheong-sam dress.

Kitty design! 

i'm using some gel paint pen for making this. It took some time and hard to apply. I think this was my first time painting something on my nails.

The polkadots design are the most easiest to make and it looks cute, i don't think you will be bored with this design. I'm using the dotting tools, although you can just use any tools you have currently. Just be creative with it :D

So far this is the most *complicated* time-consuming design. But the outcome are satisfying don't you think? 

Mostly, making the gradient effect are annoying, i need to use sponge for it and be patient. I'm trying to make a fresh-lemonade-lemon-ice effect for this one.

While most of the nail lacquer's bottle usually have normal design, this one i think is the most creative from most of all brand ; the Nfu-Oh. They transform the a boring bottle into a women's sexy-bust like :D

This brand have a lot of unique colors. Like the glittering effect for this one can make a *mermaid-scales* effect ( Nfu-Oh 52 ). One of my favorite also, although hard to apply if you didn't use any base color first because of the translucent liquid. Applying this into scale effect might take 4-5 layering for me.