Agua Frescas + Cook's

I've been drinking a lot of agua frescas lately . . . they are just so dang good!  I had a really good cucumber and honeydew version and a cantaloupe version not too long ago.  The one pictured is pureed mango, strawberry, and orange that I ran through a sieve, mixed with maybe a tablespoon of sugar, and diluted with ice water.  I added some chia seeds later on for a health boost.

I also borrowed my friend's Cook's Illustrated magazine.  I kind of like this magazine . . . it's starting to grow on me.  I used to feel like their recipes (while awesome) seemed too scientific and precise, but I've learned so much just flipping through the pages already.  I'll have to try making something soon.

Artists who cook

I've been so inspired by illustrators lately (and am always inspired by food) so this web discovery was perfect: theydrawandcook.com

Artists from around the world submit an illustration of their favorite recipe.  Here are some of my favorites:

Via here by Caitlin B. Alexander (Austin)

Via here by Elena Goryatcheva (Israel)

Via here by Mine Oktay (Turkey)

I can get lost on this site for hours!

Home

I just wanted to share some pictures of my new home in L.A. 

A very nice surprise: My plants have been growing twice their size here in L.A.

I've also been enjoying our version of fall here in So Cal.
I found some magnolia leaves and created a small fall arrangement to complement the pumpkins.

My friend, L, an inspiring home chef who is both intuitive and practical in her approach to cooking posted a recipe on cooking with pumpkins here so I took the opportunity to experiment with my pumpkins before they went bad.

My pumpkin seeds are a honeyed curry version.

I also made this salad with roasted pumpkin, broccoli, walnuts, and pomegranate seeds with a light curry mayo dressing (gotta love my current hippie bent towards cooking) but if I were to do it again, I would roast the broccoli and maybe add bacon and shallots (and take out the walnuts and pomegranate seeds).  It was a pretty good salad though.

On another note, for my Korean readers--do your parents forage?  My parents seem to find things in the forest or at local parks that most Americans don't eat or use but are more common in Korea.  Their latest find was mistletoe (I think) for tea.  I think it's supposed to lower your blood pressure.  Hehe, it's nice to know where MY foraging tendencies come from.
 

Cooking Updates

I'm trying to cook seasonally, eat healthy, and incorporate more Korean influences into my cooking these days.  This talk helped me consider eating mostly vegetarian during the week so that weekends can be free-for-alls (ok, maybe not free-for-alls but having more freedom to indulge with friends and family at gatherings and dining out).  *Oh yeah--and also for social and environmental reasons as well.

Shared Meal, I think we should have a Korean cooking session and blog about it :)  You can cook, I can style the photos.

Speaking of taking advantage of seasonal foods, my friend C and I recently tested out her new canning equipment by making some late summer pluot jam.  It was a very fun process!  I can't wait to taste our jam.