Nom Nom Nom

In honor of Sarah Willey's black belt test, I decided to make a deeelicious black belt pasta bake.  Sarah Willey was the one that actually taught me how to make this scrumptious (and super easy) meal. 

You only need:

• Penne noodles (uncooked)
• Your favorite pasta sauce
• Ground beef or ground sausage
• Cheese
• Oven (remember that they're hard to come by in Korea)

First.  Grab a dish/pan and poor in your uncooked noodles. 

Second. Brown your meat and add some seasoning.  I pretty much put in everything that we have in our pantry... which isn't a lot.  After your meat is brown, pour it on top of the noodles. 

Third.  Pour in your sauce- right on top.  You need equal parts of sauce and water.  Whatever amount of sauce you use, you should also poor in the same amount of water.  The water will help cook your noodles in the oven. 

Let them bake for about 25 minutes at 325.  Check to see if the noodles are cooked.  If they're about ready you can go ahead and put a layer of cheese on top.  Let bake for another 5-10 minute and TA-DA you're yummy pasta bake is ready!

A consumer holiday much?

Ahhhhh November 11th is finally upon us! November 11th aka 11/11 is PEPERO DAY here in Korea. What is Pepero you ask? Well, it's a delicious stick-like cookie that is dipped in various flavors of delicious chocolate. See mouthwatering picture below:

source

Now those are special gourmet peperos. Most of them are a tad bit more simple and they come perfectly packaged in the boxes below. There's the normal stick dipped in chocolate, there are some that have peanuts and almonds and others that are inside-out.

The start of Pepero Day is surrounded by mystery. Some say that it began when two Korean school girls exchanged peperos in hopes to one day become tall and lean like the cookie itself. They exchanged these cookies on 11/11 which coincidentally looks like pepero sticks standing side by side. Others (including myself) claim that it was a consumer holiday started by the Lotte brand in order to increase product sales. I mean seriously, we don't have Oreo Day back in the States (although I would not protest).

I thought that the boy and I were big enough pepero fans, but it turns out that Ares has got quite the sweet tooth. He grabbed the box and tried to gnaw his way to the cookie delights.

Can't. get. it. open!

riiing riiing. Oh HAI, I can haz help opening please?

Ughhh I iz on hold.

Youz come visit mai mouth pleaze?

Eff mai lyfe.

Someone was a wee bit pepero drunk after we finally got the box open.

Yup, that picture is of me combining a banana and chocolate pepero. Great flavor combo if I do say so myself. There you have it. One of my most favorite Korean consumer holidays.