donuts masquerading as fried pies & a plan to fund Sam's college

This Friday, Sam and I got adventurous and decided to try a Korean dessert, specifically Chapssal Donuts.  They're made using a sweetened red bean paste as the stuffing.  (Fun fact:  red beans are found in quite a few Korean desserts. ) Now, I know what you're thinking, but trust me when I say that it was good!  Sam, who doesn't even like beans, ate them up.  You can't even tell that they're beans, and besides, we live in the South where anything put in dough and deep fried sells out at every State Fair below the Mason Dixon Line!  Hmmm...maybe Sam and I should perfect the recipe and try selling them at the State Fair...I think we could get some college fund money or at the very least gas money for his Crazy Coupe.

Notice there's no picture of these donuts because they looked terrible!  They were supposed to turn out as nice round balls with this delicious stuffing on the inside...well, when you're using a recipe that's in grams and trying to half it and convert it to cups, things sometimes go awry.  Our dough wasn't wanting to cooperate (read stay together to form that nice, round ball), so we went all Southern and made them like you would make a fried pie.  Looks aside, they were fun to make and to eat!

Along with this dessert, we had to eat "real food."  So, we made a trusty favorite--Korean Stir Fry using a wok that my dearest friend surprised Sam and me with.  After a long, blah work day coming home to a surprise delivery was just what my spirit needed.  And, the wok worked wonderfully!  Cooking Korean food in a wok made realize that I feel kind of...official.  Like the process and ingredients of this culture's food isn't as foreign to me anymore.  A good feeling indeed.