Korean Sweet and Spicy Beef

Right now I'm watching The Office with Josh on Netflix, bloggin' on the couch :) Tonight I made another recipe I found on Pinterest; the original recipe is from here. This turned out fantastically yummy, and it was really easy. I don't know if it is actually Korean, though, that's just what it was called.

1 lb. lean ground beef

1/4 - 1/2 c. brown sugar (I used closer to 1/2 c.)

1/4 c. soy sauce

1 Tbsp. sesame oil

3 cloves minced garlic

1/2 tsp. fresh minced ginger

1/2 - 1 tsp. crushed red pepper

salt and pepper to taste

1 bunch green onions

Combine your ground beef, sesame oil, and minced garlic in a large skillet (I used a 10" frying pan and it worked fine) and brown your beef. Add your soy sauce, minced garlic, ginger, red pepper, salt and pepper. Let simmer a few minutes. Top with green onions (I didn't have any, so I didn't use any--besides, I often end up picking them out anyway, so...), and serve with white rice. You could probably make it spicier by cooking your ground beef in hot sesame oil instead of regular oil. I ended up forgetting to put salt and pepper in it, and it tasted fine without it, probably because I didn't use low-sodium soy sauce. 

Also, I learned a neat trick about ginger! Apparently you can go buy a big hunk of ginger, shave the icky outsides off, cut it into 1/2" chunks, put it in a ziploc freezer bag, and store it in the freezer! I don't regularly use ginger and when I do its never in large quantities, so I usually end up throwing it away or letting it rot before I need it again, so I did this with my letfover ginger (freeze it, I mean).  

Unfortunately I will be taking a brief blogging hiatus, as Josh and I are going to New York to visit his family tomorrow. I somehow managed to pack all of my clothes into this little tiny duffel bag! Which is amazing because I used to be virtually incapable of packing light, but I seemed to have grabbed everything I needed--also, I only needed three days of clothes, so that was probably it, too. The duffel is so small that I'm hoping it counts as a personal item that doesn't count as a carry-on. We're taking a train to Syracuse, and then Josh's grandparents are picking us up. I've never ridden a train, and I've never been to New York so I'm looking forward to seeing stuff. I need to remember to charge my camera battery tonight so its ready for tomorrow. Our train leaves at 11-ish a.m., which is often when I wake up (I'm unemployed, I can do these things!), so I hope to stay up late tonight, wake up "early" tomorrow, and sleep for a long time on the train. It's a 10 hour train ride, so I'm bringing a book and our Nintendo DS, and a notebook. We will get back home late-ish Monday night, and hopefully then my peppermint oil, almond oil, shea butter, and containers will be here so I can make lip balm on Tuesday! Until then :)