Awesome Marinade! (Bulgogi)

I was CRAVING Bulgogi the other day and decided to try and  make some myself. While doing our normal shopping in the commissary, I came across this sauce:

CJ's Korean BBQ Sauce (Bulgogi Marinade)

I've tried sauces before.. teriyaki... Hawaiian... you name it! Sometimes they're good.. and sometimes I end up very disappointed. Fortunately for us, this sauce was amazing! It was full of flavor and sweet! Just like the good stuff I've always eaten... and *I* made it! This will definitely become a treat in our kitchen! (Especially since Mike enjoyed it ;0)

The sauce features pear and apple which give it its natural sweetness when the meat juices and the marinade combine. MmmmmMMMmmm!

The strong, sweet aroma makes my mouth water.. I still can't get over how easy it was to make something I've always loved! Now if I could only tackle Kimchi! <3

Here is a pic of the finished product! I was going to add some stirfry veggies but found myself way too hungry and tired to get them out of the freezer. We don't have a rice cooker so I just made some Uncle Ben's quick rice, which worked just fine. :)

For the meat I just used some sliced up steak, marinaded it in the sauce for about 1-1 1/2 hours.. then tossed it in a HOT pan. It seemed a little watery at first, but just let the moisture cook down and the sauce will get nice and think and deliciously sticky!

So, now that I've found a fix for Bulgogi here in Baumholder, anyone have a good recipe for Kimchi?..

Ice Cube Making Bags (My Review!)

We don't have an ice maker in our housing issued fridge, so making tea or trying to drink anything cold can be such a pain! The other day I was browsing the commissary isles when I came across these!

They were only a little over a dollar so I threw a pack in my cart. 

Tonight I decided to give it a try. I pulled one of the bags out of the pack of ten.

The directions are stated:
1. Fill the bag by using the funnel shaped opening. (Like above :)
2. Turn bag upside down and put in freezer. (I did this and it was drizzling water... Not from the funnel part, but from the seams of the cube sections)
3. Pull the bag vertically and horizontally to loosen the cubes.
4. Use the bag to store extra cubes in the freezer.

Here is my two cents!
As soon as I turned my bag over is started to leak from the cube seams. The water continually trickled down... I place the bag in the freezer.. returned a while shortly and found a half empty bag and a puddle in my fridge. :( I figured maybe it was just that bag and tried again with no success.
Have any of you tried these bags before? I followed the instructions, but maybe I missed something?
Anywho! I won't be using them again.. guess I'll have to stick to my one ice cube tray lol

My sad bags.. :(

If you wanna give them a try they are-- Perfect Ice Cube Bags by Cadie. They make 240 cubes and are made from environmentally friendly polyethylene.

Let me know if you have any luck! :) I was really bummed they didn't work for me!
--Steens

Super Quick and DELICIOUS BBQ Chicken!

Ingredients:
Chicken (up to 3 lbs)
1 red onion (I used about 1/4 cup)
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1/2 light brown sugar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons orange juice (I put about 2 1/2)
1 tablespoon liquid smoke- Mesquite Flavor ( a little less if you don't want a smokey flavor... I liked the kick, Mike is not into the smoked bbq.. use 1 Tsp if you want less)

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 375 degrees. Coat pan with nonstick spray and place chicken in dish. I butterflied the chicken and placed the sliced onions on top. Usually I season my chicken, but skip it.. the sauce gives plenty flavor!
2. Mix the brown sugar, ketchup, orange juice, worcestershire sauce, and liquid smoke in a saucepan on medium high heat until the sugar dissolves.
3. Pour sauce over chicken and bake until juices run clear or for about an hour. The sauce should be thick and delicious!! mmm mmm  

Here is is ready to go in the oven.. Those onions sure did add a sweetness to this sauce!

Here's the final product! My hubby doesn't "do" onions, so these were quickly scraped off lol.. BUT he really DID enjoy this dish!

Let me know how it works out for you and how you make it your own! :)

<3

Steena

*Trier* (Pt 3)

Here is the last leg of our visit to Trier! Overall, I had a great time! My best advice is to give yourself plenty of time to look. There are so many churches, ancient ruins, and exhibits that you may not get to it all. We didn't and we were there most of a day.

This is where Constantine stayed. I was pretty excited about it because the history around him is intriguing to me. Too bad we didn't get to check out the inside. They had some sort of concert going on :( Maybe next time!

 One of the many art sculptures. I had fun with them.. hehehe

More ruins in the city on the way to the coliseum. Where's waldo?? lol

Well, the coliseum was closed. Luckily for us, we found more to see! This building and the garden out front were soooo pretty!

I hope you enjoyed my Trier posts! Any other sites to recommend PLEASE comment and let me know!

I'll be sure to do another post when we go back to visit the coliseum :)

--Steena

*Trier* (Pt deux) La Porta Nigra

La Porta Nigra!

This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time!
You're walking in the city and BAM! Big ol' Roman architecture right in front of you!

Porta Nigra is known as the "Black Gate" because of color of the sandstone used to build it. It is the North entrance to the city of Trier.  (I guess you can see the backwards route we took hehehe)

As you enter these are the stairs that take you into the inside of Porta Nigra. It was dimly lit and beautiful! I could picture myself as a Roman Goddess walking up to overlook the city lol

Here's a view down the center. I wish you could see just how massive and detailed this building was. It must have taken a lot of hard work to put this together.

Looking down at the gate entrance put me back thousands of years! I can imagine the Romans dumping hot things onto the people locked in this area.. and shooting arrows from wear I stood.

If you get lucky, you may see people dressed as Romans reenacting history. Too bad this guy was speaking French :(

There is soooo much more to see, but I'll leave you a reason to visit yourself!
I have a few more pics in Part 3 ... On the way to the colesium!

* Trier * The Oldest City in Germany. (Pt 1)

Ok, I know this is probably the most random thing... especially to post first, but the cars you see here are amazing! I can tell you that if I didn't post a VW here and there I'd have some very angry friends :0p  This bug was in the parking garage waiting to welcome us to Trier! I was in *love* lol

Alright.. On to the good stuff! (I KNOW that won't be the last car I post though hehehe)

As we made our way down to La Porta Nigra we took in all the small beauties. The cobblestone roads... plant covered walls, and the detailed doors to quaint little houses.

After about 5 minutes of walking we hit the center of downtown Trier. The colorful buildings, fountains, and sculptures suck you in to the history of the city. I felt like I was thrown back in time hundreds of years.

Ah! All of the wonderful churches! Here are a few pics to feed your curiousity..

The sanctuaries are HUGE and All the detail is mind blowing! It must having taking forever just to get every piece in its place. Each room led to another .. it was kind of like a giant labyrinth.After a while of walking around inside the church.. we decided to head out to the courtyard.

So many sculptures and carvings to look at! You need plenty of time to take it all in!... Which is why I'm sure we'll be back a few times while we are here.

We finished up our detour at the churches and set back on our walk to La Porta Nigra.

Stay Tuned.... 

Burg Lichtenberg

Here are a few pictures from our day outing to the Lichtenberg Castle a few weeks ago. It was quite a site, and only a few minutes down the road! 

View driving up..

I felt like I was caught up in a fairy tale as we walked through the castle ruins. Absolutely breath taking views from the castle towers!

The perfect place to browse with your SO :)

View from one of the towers... 

They have a restaurant that looks delicious and quite a few festivals throughout the year..

The website below gives more info-

www.burglichtenberg.de  to check it out :)

I'll be posting some pics from our other outings over the next day or two.

--Steens

Weekends...

....are for pasta salad!!! Hope you are all having a lovely weekend! :)

Here's a taste of mine so far! ;0)