Computer down :(

My laptop charger dosn't work, so I'm unable to update at the moment.... but I will...soon!!

Coming Soon
Chocolate Cupcake w/Chocolate Ganache
Cream Cheese cookies
Korean Restaurant - Champong!!!!
Hanbok Part 2

:)

See you soon!

-Gisela V.

Friday I'm in love

I'm in love with...... Butter, Chocolate Ganache and Baking (again!!) , I'm glad I got some inspiration back and it's a great way to spend time with mom since she dosn't want to be out that much n_n , so back to the Original post.... Last week I had a great Bakend and in case you don’t know what a Bakend is…. It’s a Weekend of Baking… (duh!, I know), I just had a Bakend…. My 1^st time baking SO much ever!!

I made:

-Chocolate Cupcakes

-French Vanilla Cupcakes

-Japanese Cheese Cake

-Strawberry Cream Cheese Cake

-Chocolate Ganache

-Cream Cheese frosting

It might not seem to be THAT much,,, but for me it was, I usually make 1 thing and that’s it.. but 4?? It was a challenge and I’m glad I did it because it’s been a while since the last time I made so many pretty edible things.

I started with the Japanese Cheese Cake, if you don’t know the difference between a Cheese cake and a “Japanese” Cheese Cake it’s OK, I didn’t know the difference until I traveled to Seoul and tried it at “Paris Baguette” , it’s like a mousse/bread… it’s super fluffy, citric and yummy, I made this one because I wanted my mom and sis to try it and because it was something new (to cook).

INGREDIENTS:

- 7 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

- 1/4 cup whole milk

- 1/2 cup superfine sugar (icing sugar)

- 3 eggs, separated

- 1/4 cup cornstarch (don't use flour!!)

- 2 tablespoons lemon juice (Or 1 if you don’t want such a citric flavor)

- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

- 2  1/2 cups boiling water

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Beat cream cheese with milk to soften.

4. Add half of the sugar, all the egg yolks, all the cornstarch and all the lemon juice to the beaten cream cheese and Beat until smooth.

5. Beat egg whites separately in a medium sized bowl until foamy. Do NOT let any grease get in the eggs.

6. Gradually add the remaining sugar and all of the cream of tartar to the egg whites, beating on high speed until soft peaks form, about 8-10 minutes.

7.Fold beaten egg whites into the cream cheese mixture, stirring gently. DO NOT BEAT!

8. Pour into cake pan and smooth the surface (A 9inch cake tin) *I used small tins*

9. Place cake pan into a larger roasting pan and place in lower rack of oven.

10. Pour enough of the boiling water into the roasting pan to come half way up the side of the cake pan.

11. Bake 35-40 minutes or until a pick inserted in the middle of the center comes out clean.

12. If the surface becomes too dark while baking cover with a piece of tin foil, but be careful not to open the oven door until it has been in the oven for at least 20 minutes.

13. If you can, let the cheese cake gradually cool for one hour in the oven with the oven turned off.

Didn't follow step 13!

Followed Step 13!

I highly recommend to follow Step 13!!!, you can add some whipped cream and berries on top for decoration purposes :D  but I like it plain with a cup of coffee or a glass of cold milk

Recipes 2, 3 and 3 on the next posts, I didn’t want to make a HUGE POST to bore you, hope you like the Japanese Cheese Cake as much as I did!

-Gisela V.

O'Mandu

O’Mandu 

Jeong Hun O - Director General O'Mandu

Hola Todos!!!, hace mucho que no posteaba en Español, y esta vez quiero aprovechar para presentarles una nueva afinidad...es decir soy FANS, se trata de una Panaderia/Cafeteria ubicada en el Distrito Federal. Para los que no tienen idea de los que les estoy hablando es…. una Panaderia/Tienda de Pan al Vapor, empanadas y demás delicias Coreanas y otras no tan coreanas. 

El pan al vapor esun tipo de pan elaborado con harina de trigo, agua y levadura y esta relleno de diferentes tipos de ingredientes y es cocido al vapor de agua para que salga esponjado y delicioso. 

iPan

Mi 1er encuentro con esta panadería fue hace 2 años en la Feria de las Culturas (Recientemente estuvo en Reforma del 14 al 29 de Mayo), en el Stand de Corea compre 1 pan al Vapor con relleno de Pizza y me dieron un volante que por supuesto perdí (Han de saber que soy muy distraída), lo único que recordaba era que la tienda estaba cerca del Angel de la independencia y por más que “busqué” no la encontré, en 2 ocasiones vi su camioneta y pensé en correr tras ella (hahahaha) por supuesto no lo hice!, y un dia después de encontrar la Cafeteria/Panaderia “Historias de Panaderia” encontré sin querer O’Mandu!!, asi que tuve que regresar a probar algunas de las muchas variedades de Pan, los primeros que probé fueron: Fresa, Te Verde, Kimchi y el iPan (Relleno de Manzana).

Si amas el pan dulce el de Manzana, Fresa y Zarzamora con Queso son muy recomendables.

El de Te Verde es lo que yo llamo un “gusto adquirido” el sabor es realmente al del TE Verde y puede resultar un poco “fuerte” para algunas personas, en lo personal me gusta mucho este tipo de Te y el pan no fue la excepción.

El pan relleno de Kimchi es… SUPER  RICO…claro si te gusta el Kimchi, si no… no te recomendaría gastar en este pan, si lo que buscas es un pan salado con un sabor “diferente” o no tan tradicional el pan relleno de Curry es MUY rico! 

1 pan?? o 100?? Yumm!!

Y si no tienes ganas de Pan al Vapor o ya probaste sus 19 variantes, te recomiendo el CHOUX!! O un Eclair, esta por demás decir que estos no son en lo Absoluto Coreanos, pero absolutamente deliciosos!, Yo personalmente me hice fan del Choux y espero regresar pronto a probar el de Café con relleno de Queso, el de Chocolate con pan de Chocolate, de Atún y algunos de sus pasteles.

Recien horneados n_n

Delicioso pan de Curry!

         

No se les Antoja? (Zarzamora relleno de Queso Crema)

Obviamente tenia que probarlos!! (Choux!!)

Quieren??

           

Es mucho más recomendable ir en Fin de Semana pues estos días tienen más variedad de panes, pero lo seguro es…sin importar el dia que vayas, te atenderán de lo mejor y lo más probable es que te atienda el dueño, el Sr. Jeong Hun O quien te puede explicar y recomendar panes/empanadas!.

O pruebalos todos....

Aquí les dejo algunas de las preguntas que le hice a Jeong Hun (Creador de O’Mandu), quien lleva 13 años en México (El sr. Hun O vino a México hace 13 años y le gustó tanto que decidió quedarse y hacer su vida aquí!, que tal eh??...apoco no el DF es LA onda??)

¿Cuál es el significado de O’Mandu?

O es mi apellido, en realidad se escribe OH, pero después de una confusión en la Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores en Corea fue cambiado a O únicamente.

Mandu (만두) significa Empanada rellena de carne y es básicamente un Dumpling 

¿Cuánto tiempo tiene O’mandu en Mexico?

1 año 4 meses

¿Tienen pensado hacer algún pan con sabores mas “Mexicanos”?

El pan de Zarzamora con queso (a la venta actualmente) es lo mas mexicano actualmente y a futuro se prevé tener uno con relleno de Chile poblano y otro con Pollo y Chipotle.

¿Cuántas variedades de Pan Tienen y cuál es el más vendido?

19 Variedades de Pan al Vapor

Entre los Mexicanos los más vendidos son: Chocolate ($12 c/u) y Zarzamora con queso crema ($20 c/u)

Entre la comunidad Coreana los más vendidos son Frijol Dulce y Carne

También ofrecemos los siguientes productos:

Ramen $25

Camelia (Gelatina de Café con Helado de Vainilla) $20

Refrescos

Distintas variedades de Café

Sucursales

La principal sucursal se encuentra en la calle de Estocolmo #18-A

Colonia Juarez. Del. Cuauhtemoc 

En el Bazar de Computación (Plaza de la computación) en Eje Central

Y cuentan con un puesto ambulante en la ESCA Casco de Santo Tomas por el metro Normal.

Bueno, pues espero que tengan la oportunidad de visitar O'mandu y probar todos esos panecitos ricos....igual y nos vemos por ahi ;)

-Gisela V.

P.d. GRACIAS en especial a Diana Verdin por tomar estas excelentes fotos :D

Last Day in Seoul

Yup, I did cry a little…. This was a last relaxed but moved day, our 1^st stop was N Seoul Tower (wich I visited before) but this time it was Daytime!! So I got to take better pics and this time I did go to the Top of the Tower and the view was great!, after the tower we went to the Teddy Bear Museum and again was used to take better pics and get souvenirs for the Fam!!, this time I had a better idea of what the Bears were representing :D (yay!!).

Next on the itinerary it was  time to go to  the Jogyesa Temple wich is the center of Zen Buddhism in Korea, and is famous for being located in the city, when we got there a “service” was being offered so we only got to see the outside that was pretty crowded (maybe because it was Sunday…), I was taking a picture when I noticed an Ajosshi bowing outside the temple, it caught my eye because I saw him doing it like 30 times and I just couldn’t take my sight away from him… Onni (Our tour guide) explained there are people who Bow more than 100 times K …I can’t even do 3 full bows now imagine 100….. Insite the temple you can find The Gall of the Great Hero (Daeung-jeon) (See pic for better explanation ;) ) , we took some more pics and I found something that looked like an empty Pond… but there were candles on the inside and also there was a can full of incense, Oni gave each of us one stick of incense to light up and pray for something and we all gladly did… and so it was time to run again because we had lunch reservations @ Insadong.

We went straign to Ssamziegil (a couple of streets away from the Temple) and found a shop where you can make a mold of your lips, paint it and use it as a keychain… Weird? A lil bit hahahaha

Downstair was the Restaurant, it was very warm and nice-looking, we had a very traditional Korean Meal “Bibimbap”, soup, Kimchi, and a very good Tea at the end of the meal J after this we had a couple of hours to shop there, since it was my 2^nd time there I just wondered around Insadong and got my last gifts J … oh oh!! And saw the “show” of the Candy Guys there (See previous Video Post!)  …aww seen my pics (I have to see them to write lol) makes me wanna go back to Seoul so bad! And buy everything L …. OH!!! In Insadong I saw the first Starbucks Coffee with the name in Hangul !! I don’t know if others have the name in Hangul but it was the only one I spotted. I saw a few (well…LOTS) of make up shops but I didn’t want to go in since I knew I already had too much make up L (And guess what… I went to Missha @ the Airport and got some extra stuff lol) …. After our little shopping spree we went to  the Gyeongbokgung Palace where Oni told  about Korean History… She’s a very nice and warm guide, more than a guide was like a friend to us (tear hehe), it was a cloudy and rainy day so we were in sort of a hurry (again!), so we just took tons of pics  and it was time to go again… this time out destination was Myeongdong, one of the Main shopping districts in Seoul in here you can find anything and everything, from CD’s to shoes, clothes (International brands), glasses (if you go underground you’ll find the entrance to the subway and there… you will find 100000000 types of glasses/sunglasses ), also DVD’s, more clothes, restaurants, Missha stores (Yup I <3 Missha!) and a bunch of street food vendors… oh oh!! And let’s not forget… socks.. a bunch of them J … the place is cool and very fashionable (at least for me) but way to crowded L but I got to take some good night shots (I know!! It’s very weird for me to take good pics at night) and then we met up to have dinner, we went to a Korean Barbecue Restaurant  and of course we had a great meal but we were exhausted so after that it was time to go back to the Hotel and say goodbye to Oni and our driver… and this is where I cried a little (shame on me)… I stayed at the Lobby with K Jin and Melly for a bit and agreed to have breakfast together before we had to leave for the airport…. Before going to my Room I called Jeff (My 1^st CS) and agreed to meet that night, so I went  to my room and freshen up to go meet him, we met outside City Hall subway station and went to the Cheonggyecheon Stream, took a few pics together :D and then went for a coffee J after that it was almost 11pm so it was time for me to go back to the hotel and pack my stuff ..Jeff was very nice and took me to the Taxi to tell him where I was going to (yay! For Korean Friends!! Hehe… btw.. THANKS JEFF!!!), I found Melly at the Hotel Lobby and stayed there a while using the WiFi (yay!!) and then went up to my Room, packed my stuff, took a shower and went to bed… I woke up at 6am, got ready and went to eat… we had to meet the driver at 10 to go to the Airport and I had to be at the lobby at 9 to check out and exchange pics with K Jin and Melly.

We got to Incheon Airport around 11:30am and my flight was at 2:30pm so I had plenty of time to hang out… I lost Melly because she was using Korean Airlines and I was using KLM…so there was some confusion and couldn’t find her anymore….  Good thing is… I got my seat upgraded (yaaaaaay!!) and my luggage was sent all the way to Mexico! (I had to make a stop in Amsterdam, spend the night and take my next flight to Mexico City the next afternoon)… I wanted to see a bit of Amsterdam, but I got lost at the airport for about an hour and was out of there around 7pm, then took me ½ hour to find the shuttle and then wait another 45 mins for the bus L … when I got to the Hotel I checked in and was hungry!!! But didn’t have any Euros L only Dollars and Wons and the Hotel don’t do exchange rating (buuu for them!!) so ended up eating a piece of cheese cake I had from Paris Baguette I got at Incheon… the next day I woke up early but it was snowing and the Hotel was in the middle of NOTHING O_O … so I had a very quiet morning, went to have breakfast, used the internet for a bit and then waited…and waited and met a London/Japanese girl… she was pretty cool and had an outrageous outfit so we ended up going together to the Airport 

-Gisela V.