Bulgogi Lettuce Wraps

1/3 Cup of soy sauce
2 1/2 tbs. Sugar
1 tbs. Sesame oil
3 Garlic cloves minced
2 tbs. Roasted sesame seeds
1/2 tsp. Crushed red pepper or more if you want it spicy
1/4 tsp. Pepper
1/2 tsp. Minced ginger
2 Green onions sliced
1.5 lbs. Sliced beef
Romaine lettuce leaves for wrapping

Combine all ingredients except the beef and lettuce in a bowl and stir. Add beef and massage marinade into it. Place meat and marinade in a sealed plastic bag and refrigerate over night. When you are ready to cook the beef heat a pan with a small amount of sesame oil. Make sure the pan is very hot before you put the meat in as you want to cook it quickly but get the meat to crisp up some. A wok works great for this but you will have to cook it in batches. Serve in lettuce leaves with some more sliced green onions and sesame seeds for garnish. I also put Sriracha on mine. YUM!

Yesterday my mom and I took Penelope to the Safari Park located in hot hot hot Escondido, CA. The park is mainly made up of plants and animals that are native to Africa with a few others in the mix. The created habitats for the animals are much more open then your typical zoo giving the animals room to roam and mingle with each other. Here are some photos I took to help you get an idea...

One of my favorite exhibits was the Wings of the World Aviary. You can find an array of beautiful and exotic birds flying above and around you. You can also find some unique birds scattered throughout the park and even an enclosed area where you are allowed to feed the birds nectar right out of your hand. 

Another fave was the Lemur Walk. These cuties are literally hanging out all around you. You are warned not to crouch down when you enter the exhibit as these little guys like to bounce around on things.

Penelope enjoyed the petting zoo where she got to chase around sheep. Just be careful though, some of these guys seem to have a bit of an attitude.


This guy taking in the shade from a tree is one of the parks biggest attractions. You can actually watch a cheetah run at top speed, about 70mph, in a partially open track. Did I mention the cat is not on a leash when this is happening! We didn't get a chance to witness this because I couldn't stand to be in the scorching sun any longer and we left before the show started. I know I'm a bog party pooper, but we have season passes!

You ever just crave tuna pasta salad? I do! Today was one of those days, so here it is...


Tuna Pasta Salad

1 13.5 oz box of Elbow Macaroni ( I used Dreamfields)
Half of a 10oz. can of black olives sliced
1 10oz. can of corn
2 7 oz. cans of tuna
About 3 green onions chopped
Mayonnaise
Mustard                  (TO TASTE)
Salt & pepper

Cook pasta, drain and then rinse under cold water. In a large bowl mix first 5 ingredients well. Add mayo and mustard to taste. S&P to taste. Refrigerate until cold. I always think pasta salads taste better the next day. This will make enough for a small get together or enough for leftovers. My mom adds diced jalapenos to this for a spicy kick.

Here is an easy and completely satisfying breakfast that I have been enjoying for years now. I actually don't remember the first time I had fried egg over rice, it might have been my late teens when I was living in San Francisco. I vaguely remember a Denny's in Japantown that might have had it on their menu. In any even I absolutely love it, yes it's simple but it is sooo tasty. Now if I could only convince Chris to try it, I know he would be hooked! You simply fry an egg and place on top of some cooked white rice and then pour on some soy sauce and enjoy.

Remember I told you about the goodies I picked up at Tokyo Japan Lifestyle? One of those goodies was a candy sushi making kit from Popin Cookin. Popin Cooking sells DIY candy kits from Japan.


These kits contain everything you need to make some homemade candy or "Ame" in Japanese. The particular kit we purchased makes candy's that resemble a sushi dinner. Tamago (egg), Maguro (tuna), Ikura (salmon roe), and Chirashi (which means scattered). Since the instructions included with the kit are entirely in Japanese and my Japanese is more then rusty we watched a You Tube video with step by step instructions on how to make our sushi candy.


Here we are getting all the components together. Each little packet contains some sort of powder that is sweet and when mixed with water creates a reaction and turns into gummy candy. Ta Da! Unfortunately Penelope added a little to much water to the maguro and tamago and they did not set as they were supposed to. The gohan (rice) and ikura however came out perfect.



Penelope thought it was super cool when we dropped one liquid into another and it became these tiny gelatinous balls that were identical to ikura minus the brine-y taste. Although two of the candy's we attempted were failures we still had fun creating these Japanese sweets.

Earlier this month Penelope had her dance recital after 4 months of dance class at Linda Larma's Academe of Dance. The class was a combo ballet, tap, and tumbling that she enjoyed very much. The dance recitals theme was Mardi Gras and Penelope performed to the tune of Alexander's Ragtime Band.