peanut butter cookie.

i know it’s happened to you.

well, the ‘yous’ out there that share my disability (friends’ words, not mine. although, i swear, sometimes it totally feels like that)

you know it. the reason the phrase ‘may contain peanuts or tree nuts’ has made it’s way into the ‘most famous quotes of 2008-2012.

the sneak peanut or nut or ground almond that finds its way into your curry, salad dressing or the like.

i think i do a pretty good job of avoiding said sneak peanut. i make most of my own meals. i kindly opted out of my school’s lunch ‘deal’ (only 50,000 won for a whole month of lunches!) for fear of that sneak peanut ground up in that days soup. i am sure to bring a baked good to any get together so i know i can actually eat it without being worried of the ‘sneak’.

i kindly say no to most cakes, snacks and the like during school time. birthday parties. brunches. buffets. EVERYWHERE. i don’t mind at all, because i know well enough what the follow day-ish feels like if i have a tiny bit of a sneak peanut.

i wanted to share a few sneak peanut scenarios that have seemingly happened all in the last week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

my good pal kate’s birthday. who know there would be hazelnut in the glaze of a dunken cake (!!!)

a divine indian/nepalese/tibetan restaurant in hongdae decided it was appropriate to put WHOLE PEANUTS in their samosas. who does that? even after asking, and being reassured they were no peanuts to be found, there they were. we became best friends later (don’t fret) sharing a love for his homeland of kathmandu, nepal. shockingly, the dal and palak had zero ground cashews to be found.

 

and the classy ‘market O’ restaurant (famous for brownies and cheese crackers sold at all the finest family marts around) decided to say their sesame dressing didn’t have peanuts. after a tiny nibble, i knew they were just lying to my face!

 

i do feel i must make sure all know that i am being quite sarcastic and light hearted about these issues. i have been brainwashed most of my life with the message that “YOU WILL DIE IF YOU EAT A PEANUT” and i can understand why this message is transmitted to young children with food allergies. but i hope with my words that i can shed light on allergies and that they aren’t as horrible as most people think.

 

so, don’t forget. watch out for that sneak attack!!

i’ve waited 25 years for this moment, and here it is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

last year, on the korean farmland slash beach that i called  home, there were few food options. most meals consisted of  rice, some green vegetable and kimchi. not complaining about the green vegetable, but the other two got old quick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

during my daily morning read of alien’s day out (link to follow!), written by the amazing mipa lee, she shared this website that forever changed my life:

www.iherb.com 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

it is an american (california i believe?) company that sells ‘Natural Products & More’ ! and they ship anywhere in the world!! i couldn’t believe it. costing only about $4 and the addition of a small shipping fee (for anything under 3 pounds) i had my first jar of sunflower butter to devour.

and devour it i did. pretty sure it was gone in less that a week. what did i make with it? with the help of my fellow foodie pal, we brewed up these  some sunbutter cups for a friend’s birthday. yum city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alien’s Day Out – an amazing food blog, based in Seoul, South Korea, written by Mipa Lee

www.aliensdayout.com 

most mornings i’m the laziest bum around.

i hit snooze too many times, shove all my blankets to the floor and begrudgingly get into the shower. 

there are, however, other mornings when life is great, where i jump out of bed, shower all kinds of fast, and have enough time to make a delicious treat like this. 

i don’t usually follow a recipe for pancakes anymore. or smoothies for that matter. i guess that’s what happens when you make both far too often. and i guess this breakfast is what happens when you make both for breakfast. 

the smoothie has: frozen bananas, frozen strawberries, spinach, vegan protein powder, sprinkle of cinnamon and enough milk to not break my blender. 

the pancakes are super easy too: flour, handful of oats, cinnamon, ginger, a little baking powder, milk of choice and sunflower seeds. 

and beautiful strawberries. duh. 

as my korean co-teacher told me today: 

TGIF

why the name?

well, it seems like a bit of a silly name for a blog by a girl that can’t even EAT peanut butter cookies right? or ANY nut for that matter…

my inspiration for the blog was to not only to do what many others do (of whom i admire greatly) and post my own recipes, links to favourite recipes and the like, but to also take traditionally ‘nutty’ treats and show how they can be made nut free!

i also have the added bonus of living in seoul, south korea for another year of my adventurous life (pft, ya right), where shopping and finding certain ingredients can be a bit of a challenge. i hope to also provide both real life and online resources for finding hard to find items in the SK.

sometimes all you want to do is make a tofu scramble and you have NO clue how to find nutritional yeast. (still working on this one..) or you want to make your own sunflower butter with a toaster oven and a half working blender, and you can’t find sunflower seeds for less that 10,000 won. don’t worry, i can help.

oh, AND guess what? i’ve also been traveling for the last 4 months.  i hope to share nutty disaster stories that will make you laugh and simultaneously think i’m the bravest person you’ve ever come in contact with.

language. barriers. suck.

final introduction disclaimer: please excuse the rotten photos you will surely be exposed to. who knows, i might fall victim to iphone overuse.

please forgive me.