Kitchen Makeover Starts

We've officially been living in our house for one year and done woefully little since we've moved in.  One big project I'd like to tackle by summer time is the kitchen.  It came to use in its original form from the '50s - yellow and all.  When we purchased the house, we had planned on gutting the kitchen but finances ran short from the basement remodel and the kitchen had a retro charm that was definitely workable.  (Above are a couple of bad shots.  I didn't have the foresight to take pictures.) With all the holiday entertaining and Tuna's 2nd birthday, we finally got around to working on a couple of things.

Simple Bacon Kimchi Stir-Fry

As a lazy housewife, I would love to just order in food everyday.  Unfortunately, the cheap side of me holds me back from such a life.  Because we don't eat kimchi everyday, it always seems like we have overripe kimchi stinking up our fridge.  Thankfully, there are a multitude of ways to rectify the situation.  One of my favorites is a lazy version of Kimchi Jae-Yuk Bokkeum- a spicy pork stir fry.

Generally, pork belly is marinated in advance to make the dish but I usually take as many shortcuts as possible when cooking.  Instead of pork belly, I use my secret ingredient: bacon.  We're partial to Trader Joe's turkey bacon - to try to keep things "healthy."  (But let's face it.  It's bacon.)  I simply heat up some olive oil and throw in the bacon and chopped up kimchi at the same time.  Usually, I add in a little sugar.  (But I don't think it needs it.)  When I'm super ambitious, I add in onions, carrots, and scallions.  The veggies helps to keep things a little less spicy.  If you're super averse to spice, you can "wash" the kimchi a bit to mellow it out.  But you may need to add some soy sauce if it seems a bit bland.

Then it's served with some tofu.  I heated up the one in the picture but when I feel lazy or crazed, I just cut up some firm silken tofu right out of the box and put it on the plate.  If I remember, I sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.  Add a bowl of rice and it's a super easy 15 min meal!

New Shoes for Tuna

What does a cheap housewife do when needing a pair of fancy baby shoes?  Stick on a flower, of course!
After balking at $50 dress shoes for kids online, I decided to buy a $15 pair of shoes from Target for a fancy birthday party (seriously fancy - basically a wedding) that we were attending.  The pink patent shoes were fine on their own but I wanted to add a little pizzazz - in the form of a flower made out of an old shirt.