Peanut butter choco chip banana muffins

Now say that 10 times fast ! Haha

A couple of my friends requested I start putting recipes up because I blow up instagram when I bake/cook. So tonight I threw together a random mix of ingredients and it turned out pretty delicious! 

Little back story here:

I love Pinterest no doubt about it! In Korea we are limited to the things we can find that are things that we easily take for granted in America. Example, sour cream. The base recipe is from Pinterest and I just rummage through my pantry/fridge to see what I had. 

Recipe:

• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 cup greek yogurt (my sour cream substitute)
• 1 cups white sugar 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups wheat flour (just what the normal flour is in Korea)
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs

This is where it gets creative

• 1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 2/4 cup reeses peanut butter chips
• about a handful of walnuts

Now this part right above you can change depending on taste. I had nuts and they were reaching their expiration date so I used them haha

1. Mix wet and dry ingredients together 
2. Pour them into cupcake liners
3. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes. Until they are nice and golden brown
4. This recipe makes around 12 it could be more. It's usually more... 

* side note: Sometimes when I'm feeling pretty lazy I throw this glorious mixture into a bread pan and bake it at 350 for about 45-60 minutes. I check it after 45 minutes and poke it with a chop stick to see if it's still gooey inside. 

I went a little heavy on some of them hahaa oops! 

I usually cut this recipe in half because it makes so much and food tends to go bad pretty quickly here. I make sure and keep them in air tight containers to maintain fresssshness. :) 

Here is the finished product!

mommmmm are they done yetttt (please drop one on the floor)

TA DA!!!

I hope you enjoyed this post! If you want any of my recipes of food I've posted in Instagram please let me know and I will make it again and take lots of pictures. 

(*sorry for lack of pictures*) 

This was a spontaneous post!

Any who !

Happy Eat's y'all!

xoxo

In da Kitchen

Find me on instagram! 

Instagram: xaznsensation

Facebook:

Julie the Eclectic Seoul

Guilt.

I've been feeling really depressed lately and I have been back and forth about wether or not to write this blog post. 

I am hoping this makes me feel slightly better.

Here it goes. 

(deep breath) 

Being an expat is not always rainbows and butterflies like I've mentioned previously. I find times when I crave being home more than anything else in world. 

I would give anything to be with my friends and family just for a moment. 

The most guilt I feel is over missing important events in my friends lives. No matter if it's a promotion, babies, comforting then or WEDDINGS.

When the opportunity arose to come to Korea I was faced with a heavy decision. 

My best friend from kindergarten named Amanda was getting married in July and she asked me to be her bridesmaid. I of course accepted the offer because she's like family to me. So in October when I got offered a job I jumped. Not thinking about others or anything. Just self satisfaction. 

To this day I feel guilt for missing her wedding. I sit here thinking I missed the single most important day in her life and I wont be able to get that back. My heart still aches from not being able to watch my friend walk down the aisle and marry her best friend. 

I also missed another good friend Roxanne's wedding in December. Seeing pictures and how happy and incredibly beautiful she was hurt me. I felt helpless. 

This year I will be attending my best friend and former room mate's wedding in Texas as a brides maid. Even though I've been keyed in on everything that was being planned from her bridal shower to her bachelorette festivities I feel pain. 

Who am I to waltz in and wear a dress as her best friend and brides maid when I didn't help. I didn't do anything to deserve it. All of the women in her bridal party worked tirelessly to make it all so special for her. Not being there for her physically makes me feel so useless. 

I know all of my friends understand the situation I am in but I don't feel like it's a valid excuse. Sure I live far away but you are my friend and your are my family I SHOULD BE THERE. 

To all of Sarah's bridal party I want to say sorry. 

I want to tell you that everything y'all have done for her has been spectacular and I wish I could have been there to help. I know I may have been unresponsive for mostly everything that went on but it was difficult to read everything and I felt like my opinion didn't really matter anyways. I want you all to know that what I feel is genuine and I appreciate everything you've done for her and put my name on. Seriously thank you.

I will most likely be missing another VERY important wedding in September. My best friend Tammy will get married and I wont be able to share those memories with her. 

I feel like this has literally been eating me from the inside out. 

Thank you all for listening to me. 

Without a doubt my friends are my family and I wouldn't have been able to get though all the hard times in my life without y'all. Even though I cannot physically be there for you I want you to always know that I love you and care about you more than you can imagine. 

I love you.

Julie.

Buy Rose Market - Central Park

Buy Rose 

Central Park Dongtan

Directions:

It's right across from Central Park at the first intersection

The store will be on the side not facing Central Park. It's a small shop so you could probably miss it pretty easily.

This is the view from the Park side. So it's directly across from the park but still it's hidden from the front. So you just have to look closely. 

So I apologize I forgot to take a clear picture of the front of the shop! But this is what it looks like from the inside! ^^

As I said pretty small on the inside  but they have a decent assortment of cheeses! I bought some bacon here! The good American hickery smoked. YUM

They've got your chocolate needs covered as well. 

CAMPBELL'S SOUP! Needless to say I went to town on the tomato soup! Also they have a nice Japanese section. 

Here is the cracker/cookie section. Nice little variety good on.

CHEESE AND BUTTA ... and drinks

Beer!! The good kinds too! haaha blueee mooon~

Teas, jams, sauces oh my!

cookieeeess

Better view of the good stuff! Cheese, meats, sausage, butter! My mouth is watering!

This is what I bought! I spent so much he threw in some honey butter chips! haha He was super nice! 

Overall:

Not a bad place for foreign foods, even though you can find some of the things are home plus. This was a bit expensive but what foreign food isn't expensive here. It also sure beats going to Itaewon! 

I will definitely be back for other goodies! 

What's one thing you wish you could have at the foreign mart?

xoxo

J. Greene

Life After Korea

Life after Korea...

I was chatting with one of my girlfriends a couple weeks ago and we were talking about what life will be likes once we begin lives back home. She will be getting married soon to a wonderful Korean fellow and after they have kiddos they will head back to Canada. She brought up a lot of points about frustrations and worries about life back home.

It got me thinking... 

What the hell am I going to do?

By the time I head back to the States I will hopefully be at the tender age of 29. In my head it seems old in terms of getting my act together. Going home and technically starting over seems overwhelming and complicated. 

Life in Korea is easy. (relatively) 

Our housing is paid for, we work (a lot), explore far and near, and we don't have much to worry about. 

I love teaching in Korea but it's not like teaching in America. 

I also know I don't want to teach when I go back to America because I'm actually not qualified to be a teacher. I major in psychology. 

My friend said something that really struck a cord with me. 

"We need to have marketable skills that will enable us to have jobs in other fields and still be successful." 

I got to thinking. 

A. What are my skills?

B. What am I passionate about?

My first passion is make up and skin care and I have been doing that for sometime but have really slowed down since work takes up much of my time and honestly I am not going to contour my face and wear bright lip stick to teach. 

Lately I've been researching a lot about nail art. So after spending the week end at SETEC I am happy to announce my journey learning how to do nail art. 

Of course with anything I will need to practice and make sure I can do a mean manicure and gett fancy with colors and variations. Sure there's a lot to learn but that's what makes it so fun and exciting for me. 

To anyone that is abroad and wondering what life will be like after you return it's okay to be confused and a little worried. I think we all have to take it with stride. Plans aren't perfect but I'm going to work hard and try my best. 

To any of the expat who have gone home and started a new life outside of teaching, what did you do? And how did you get there? Was it difficult? 

I give you all massive kudos. 

So to all of my friends living and working abroad what do you think? What will you do? 

Best luck to everyone 

"When you do what you love you never work a day in your life"

xoxo

J. Greene

Edu farm!

EDU FARM!

 This was our first field trip of the school year! Since Dongtan is located outside of Seoul it's easier to do things a little more country. haha 

The inside was actually super pretty and there was a lot of things to see! 

They had all kinds of flowers and an assortment of things planted around and lots of photo ops! Because it's not a field trip without some quality photo's to show to the parents! ^^

After wandering around on the inside and taking LOTS of pictures we were led outside to plant potatoes!!! 

They each got 5 spuds and got to place them into each hole. After the planted them the farmer came around and covered them up with dirt and the kids got to pat it down. 

Time to wash up!

The view was country and it was silent all around!

After we washed it was time to get up close and personal with the farm animals. 

This frisky little bird was wandering around and getting really close to the kiddos. We kept the bird at bay as some of our babies freaked out. 

There was a turkey, two donkeys, and a mysterious looking dog. We didn't go near the dog. 

Overall the kids had fun looking and planting their potatoes! It would definitely be a great place to take your kiddos on the week end or just fun to check out! 

Here's all the info:

Edu FarmWebsite!

Happy exploring y'all~

xoxo

Julie 

Felice Piatto

행복한접시 Felice Piatto - Dongtan

So the first week end we moved here it was pretty hectic and there was a lot to do in a short amount of time.

Sunday we ventured out of our Metapolis bubble and across the major road into a whole new world of delicious looking restaurants and boutiques. I don't know the exact name of the area but the map at the bottom can provide some help!~ 

Here's the intersection.. a blurry version the restaurant is behind the white sign in the background. So we walked around and the restaurant is next to Baby Guiness... if that helps at all haha

We walked in and the restaurant was pretty empty so we got our choice of where to sit! 

There interior is cute and very clean and well organized. We ordered a pasta dish each and a margherita pizza. 

This was my chicken carbonara ! I am very picky when it comes to cream sauces in Korea. It's always very runny and the consistency of soup, but this was perfect! It was thick and velvety and it left me wanting more! 

This is what my boyfriend got. He prefers red sauce and anything spicy enough to set your bowels on fire. His was called Arrabbiata and it was pretty delicious. I only tried a bite but he gave it rave reviews. He practically licked the plate. 

 

The pizza may not look like much but the crust was nice and thin. The sauce didn't over power the pizza and it was delightful! I highly recommend it! 

The presentation was nice and clean and we pretty much left the plates clean. haha I cleaned mine with the pizza crust. 

I thought the meal was over but all of a sudden FREE dessert came out! We got to choose between chocolate cake and cheese cake. The chocolate was pretty delicious! 

Since it was late I opted for the free orange juice and my boyfriend got tea. 

This is the entrance to restaurant, I am a sucker for a lemon painting. haha 

This is what it looks like from outside! Sorry it's so dark, we went spur of the moment Sunday night! 

Overall 

Atmosphere:

4/5

Quality of food:

4/5

Service

3/5

Value

4/5

Overall experience

5/5


Overall I can't wait to eat there again and try out some new dishes! The prices are moderately priced. Definitely not cheap, but it's about 10 bucks a plate, which isn't bad for the portion they give you. If your in the Central Park neighborhood check it out and let me know what you think. 

Here's a map of the location and the address in Korean. 

Friends

Friends.

As simple as the title may seem this word comes with a lot of complicated feelings and situations.

I am not stranger to home sickness even on the brightest of days. Being millions of miles away from your friends and family can take a huge toll on your heart. 

Last Sunday I went into full out fetal position because I was on facebook seeing all my beautiful friends getting married, buying houses, and having beautiful children. 

The thought that echoed through my mind was:

What if they forget about me... I'm so far away and they only see me once a year, it just seems like I will slip away from their new adult life. 

I went immediately into panic mode and just started bawling. 

Sometimes being here makes me feel lonely and lost in translation. When I see my friends doing well, I am absolutely over the moon for them, but secretly jealous and questioning my own life choices. 

I know before I came to Korea I had some critics saying, 

"What are you running from?"

"You can't live there forever."

"You should be an adult and start your life here"

Without a doubt it hurt hearing those things, but ultimately I got here and I'm actually pretty proud of myself and the life I have chosen. sometimes.

Let me get to the point:

The point is I've been personally struggling with friendships here (in Korea) and my friendships at home (in America). 

The way I see it is, in Korea there are different categories of friends; work friends, party friends, and actual friends. 

Sure the same applies no matter where you are from in the world BUT making friends in a foreign country isn't as easy and some people may think. 

It's absolutely true when people say,"Foreigners judge other foreigners." Hell I'm guilty of it. But here to find genuine relationships that will last forever is difficult. Different circles of friends, gossip, and constant 1-ups on people becomes childish and dull. 

Lately the pressure of putting a smile on and being tight lipped has really gotten me down. 

The point of having friends is to enjoy their company and to foreign together. 

Lately I've been keeping to myself and hanging out with my boyfriend and just trying to work on myself. 

I have to admit going home in July in always bitter sweet. Last year it felt great to see everyone and I realized I wasn't missing much... but this year I may feel different. 

Life abroad isn't always rainbows and butterflies and there are some personal hardships that come with it. 

I just the moral of the story is to stay true to yourself and have fun. Find people who uplift you, instead of tear you down. 

To all my friends I love you and miss you. I don't tell y'all enough but you guys mean to world to me. At some point I will come home for good....

For now I'm not done exploring. 

xoxo

Julie

New city New start

Hey y'all

It's me ! I have been away from here for a long time. My previous job was pretty demanding and it was really hard to have some personal blogging time. All I wanted to do was eat, sleep, and sleep some more. haha Now that I've moved to a new city and a new school I will have more time for hobbies and doing things I like to do. 

I have just moved to Dongtan which is outside of Suwon. I am working at a brand new school with some pretty amazing people. Overall I am super happy!!

I am going to start blogging about different restaurants and activities I do around here! I live in a pretty central location so I am stoked I don't really have to travel far for anything. 

So stay tuned and I will try to update as much as possible!!

Love y'all!

xoxo

Julie