Fun way to host dinner in your tiny apartment

If I had a big house with a big kitchen, I would be hosting breakfasts, lunches, brunches, dinners, snacks, and midnight snacks for my friends. Unfortunately, that is not the case in Korea. Some apartments have kitchens that are smaller than a bathroom, while having no built-in oven is also common in most Korean homes.

With that said, I still make an effort to cook up something easy to feed my friends. As long as you have a big enough table to fit all your friends, this easy dish is sure to please everyone!

While being one of the healthiest, cheapest, and easiest dish to prepare, there's barely any cooking involved! ...I KNOW!

Spring rolls (this recipe feeds 4 people)

What you'll need:

-Rice paper

-Rice noodles (1/2 box)

-1 cucumber

-3 bell peppers (any color)

-1 carrot

-bean sprouts (1/2 bag)

-green onions

-lettuce

-cilantro**

-pork (going to a butcher is cheaper. ask for the donkatsu meat, cut japchae style, 5,000Won)

-shrimp (optional)

for the sauce:

-hoisin sauce

-peanut butter

-Sriracha sauce**

(Most of these items can be bought at any grocery store in Korea)
**(these items may be a bit difficult to find in Korea)**

How to prepare:
-Cut all the vegetables (except lettuce and cilantro) thinly to the length of your index finger and lay it out on a plate so it's easy for the guests to grab.
-Boil the pork until just light pink and drain. The meat will keep cooking and since it's cut so thin, it should really only take one minute. The longer you cook it, the tougher and drier the meat will be.
-Boil the noodles, drain, and rinse under cold water. Follow the instructions on the box. Some may tell you to soak the noodles beforehand.
-If you want to add shrimp, I suggest buying the already cut/peeled/cooked kind. Just dunk it in some boiling water for 30 seconds and drain.
Sauce:
-Mix one part peanut butter and one part hoisin sauce. That's it.

How to make:
-Have some empty plates filled with warm water big enough for the rice papers to fit. It really doesn't take long for the rice papers to get soft.
-The easiest way to make this is by laying out a piece of lettuce on top of the rice paper, spread some peanut sauce on it, lay all the veggies, noodles, and meat in the middle. I like to also put some Sriracha sauce on top. Grab one end of the rice paper and carefully and slowly roll the ingredients in as if making sushi.

A friend actually taught me how to make this and I have been making it literally WEEKLY for the past few months. And because it's so healthy, I really think it played a big part in my weight loss lately!

Country-hopping for the weekend

Although I still have an endless number of places I want to go to in Korea, I decided that I needed a change of scenery for the weekend. Since Japan and Korea are so close to each other, my friends and I were able to find round trip tickets for about $300US. I'd say that's a sweet deal considering that you're going to a different country and I remember paying more than that for my trip to NY from Georgia!

And so our destination to Tokyo began. We had no real plans and not much knowledge of the culture we were about to face. We were able to find a lot of similarities as well as differences of Japan and Korea.

 I'd say one of the best things about Japan was the food. Of course I had to eat the sushi and of course I had to have some original Japanese ramen. In order to save some money from getting a hostel, my friends and I ended up staying the night at the airport and then making our way to the world famous Tsukiji Fish Market. Although we missed the auction, we were able to try THE BEST sushi we have ever had. Fresh from the market, the raw fish just melted in my mouth. It was worth the hour and a half wait in line.

Although there are plenty of ramen places in Korea, it's just not the same. There's something about actually eating the food in its country of origin that makes it taste ten times better.

 Throughout the day and a half we were in Japan, I'd say we did an awesome job checking out what Japan has to offer. My friends and I were able to compare areas of Japan and Korea. Just like Itaewon, nightlife for foreigners, Japan has Roppongi. Just like Yongsan, electronic area, Japan has Akihabara. Harajuku reminded me of Myeongdong as a shopping destination. The main difference, however, is the currency. The Japanese YEN is very valuable. The one thing that made it hard for me to save money on this trip was the fact that the money was printed in 10000 and 1000 in bills and 500 and 100 in coins. Those numbers in Korean WON are not much at all. However, in Japanese YEN, 10000 is just over $100US. As far as 10000WON, that's just under $10US!

Overall, I had a great time visiting Tokyo for the weekend. It's awesome to know that I can hop from country to country in Asia for a low cost and be able to experience the different cultures.