Japchae

This takes a while as everything is individually prepared and cooked, but it's worth it.

3.5 oz. rib eye fillet
3.5 oz. shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
water, for boiling
3.9 oz. baby spinach, rinsed
8.8 oz. Korean sweet potato noodles

Prepping

1 egg, egg white and yolk separated
Cooking oil
1/2 large yellow onion, sliced thinly
pinch of salt
4.2 oz. carrots, peeled and julienned
1/4 of a red bell pepper, deveined and julienned

Beef Marinade:
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. rice wine (mirin)
1/2 tsp. garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. sesame oil

Noodles & Mushroom Marinade:
4 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. brown sugar

Spinach

1 Tbsp. sesame oil
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

Spinach Seasoning:
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. garlic, minced
1 tsp. sesame oil

Finishing Touch:
1 Tbsp. sesame seeds
1 Tbsp. sesame oil

Prepare the rib eye and beef marinade: Remove the blood from the rib eye with a paper towel. Thinly slice the beef. Put the beef in a bowl. Add all the ingredients for the beef marinade. Stir gently to coat the beef. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Set aside.

Prepare the noodles & mushroom marinade: In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients.

Egg cooked and sliced

Put the sliced mushrooms in a medium bowl. Add 1 Tbsp. of the noodles and mushroom marinade. Stir well. Set aside.

In a medium pot, boil some water. Once it starts to boil, add the spinach for about 10 seconds, then scoop it out with a strainer (or drain the water out). Run cold water over the spinach to cool it down. Squeeze the spinach to remove excess water. It will just be a little ball of spinach. Put it into a small mixing bowl and add the spinach seasoning ingredients. Mix lightly, then remove everything to a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

Boil more water in a large pot.When the water starts to boil, add the noodles, and boil for 7 minutes. Drain the water, then rinse the noodles in cold water for 1-2 minutes. Cut the noodles with kitchen shears; the length should be about 6-8 inches. Put the noodles in a mixing bowl, and add the remainder of the noodles and mushroom marinade. Set aside.

Veg

Beat the egg white in a small bowl. Add a bit of cooking oil. Spread it well. Add the egg white to a large skillet, cook both sides on low heat. Remove to a clean cutting board.

Beat the yolk, add in a bit of cooking oil. Spread it well. Pour into the skillet, cook both sides on low heat. Remove to a clean cutting board.

Add some cooking oil to the skillet. Add in the onion and a pinch of salt. Cook over medium heat 2-3 minutes. Remove to the large mixing bowl the spinach is in.

Veg and Beef

In the same skillet, add in the carrots, a bit of oil, and a pinch of salt. Cook over medium heat 1-2 minutes. Remove to the large mixing bowl.

Over medium heat, cook the bell pepper, a bit of oil, and a pinch of salt for about 2 minutes. Remove to the large mixing bowl.

In the same skillet, add some cooking oil, the mushrooms with the marinade, and stir fry until cooked. About 2-3 minutes. Remove to the large mixing bowl.

Add some cooking oil, pour in the meat and marinade. Stir fry until cooked. About 2-3 minutes. Remove to the large mixing bowl.

In the same skillet, add some cooking oil and the marinated noodles. Stir fry until cooked, about 3 minutes. Remove to the large mixing bowl.

Dinner is ready!

Thinly slice the egg white and egg yolk like match sticks. Add them to the mixing bowl.

Add the finishing touch ingredients to the mixing bowl. Mix everything with large tongs or your hands, but be careful as some things could still be hot.

Serve and enjoy.

Here's a link to the recipe I used. It also includes a video, which I found extremely helpful: https://mykoreankitchen.com/korean-glass-noodle-stir-fry-japchae/.

Lemon Curd Cookies

2 1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. confectioners sugar, plus extra for decorating
1/2 c. canola oil
1 egg
1/2 tsp. lemon extract
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 c. lemon curd, store bought or homemade

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

Beat in the oil, egg, and extracts.

Add flour mixture to creamed mixture. Stir until combined.

Drop one tablespoon of dough (I used a tartlet scoop) on a greased baking sheet (or two). Bake for 8 minutes.

Remove from the oven and, using the end of a wooden spoon handle, make an indentation in the center of each cookie. Fill with about a teaspoon of lemon curd. Return to the oven and bake for an additional 4-5 minutes, or until cookies are firm and lightly browning on the sides.

Remove to wire racks to cool.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar if you want.

Here's a link to the recipe I used: http://www.barbarabakes.com/lemon-bar-cookie-cups/

Poop Emoji Meringues

2 Tbsp. meringue powder
pinch of salt
1/4 c. water
2/3 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 drops brown food coloring (optional)
1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
candy eyeballs
white frosting (I used canned)

Take either a #2A pastry tip or bottle cap (I used a lid from my bottle of Baileys), and on a sheet of parchment paper that is cut to fit whatever baking sheet you are using, draw circles using the tip or cap all over the paper. Leave about 1/2 an inch or so between the circles. The meringues don't expand much during baking, but they should have a bit of room. Then place the parchment paper pen or pencil side down on the baking sheet. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 200 F.

In a large metal or glass bowl (not plastic), mix together the meringue powder, salt, and water until foamy.

While you're still mixing, slowly add in the vanilla. Then slowly add in the sugar. Beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.

Add the drops of food coloring (if you want it), then add in the cocoa powder. Mix together on the slowest speed until mixed completely.

Using a pastry bag, add the #12 pastry tip. A helpful way to fill the bag is after the tip is ready, put the bag in a tall glass and fold over the top of the bag. Fill the bag with the meringue mixture. Tie off the top of the bag. Pipe right away as meringues are sensitive to heat.

Using the prepared baking sheet, put a tiny dot of meringue mixture on the bottom corners of the parchment paper to hold it down to the baking sheet while you're piping.

Starting in the middle of each circle, pipe to the outside edge, go around the circle once, then go up a layer, then one more layer before letting go. Continue until you've made poops on all the drawn circles.

Put the meringues in the oven and bake for 1 hour. At the end of the hour, turn the oven off, but leave the meringues in the oven another 30 minutes. Let the meringues come to room temperature before decorating.

They may crackle a little after you've taken them out of the oven.

To prepare the faces for the poops, you will need a #1 tip in a pastry bag filled with frosting, and you will need to separate out eyeballs for each poop. If you don't care if the pupils are similar in size, then you can skip the sorting.

I tried being efficient, so I took 4 poops, drew the smiles on like the emoji, then made two dots of frosting above the smile. Then I took the eyeballs and secured them to the dots of frosting on each poop. And this process continued for quite a while until the poops were all done.

Store in an airtight container.

These meringues take quite a while from start to finish, but it was so fun. We loved eating the poops!

Here's a link to the video recipe I used: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0iv1YFaoxQ.