Can you believe we are already in the middle of September? You know, I missed the summer. I missed the quiet and relax mornings, no-driving-my-kids-around-everywhere, no homework. I have to say, it’s been so tough past couple of weeks trying to get the kids settled into new school year. Nathan started middle school and we had to go through the whole hoopla of being on a waitlist to get into school that we wanted (which we didn’t) and finding alternative school for him to be at. I’ve never felt so stressed out about school stuff. Anyways, I’m happy that we can put that behind us now and move forward. So here I’m finally getting around to write a recap about the private workshop I hosted back in July. I invited few of my friends around the theme of healthy Korean brunch. My good friend, Lisa was kind enough to open up her home for us. Every and each one of our workshops are special to me but if you ask me to pick my favorite, I think it will have to be this one. I mean who doesn’t like to be served with warm and healthy brunch!
It’s back-to-school time already! Ready or not, we will be back to busy mornings, after-school activities, homework and assignments. Boys will be going to separate schools for the first time this year and our morning scene will be somewhat of a war zone until we get used to the schedule and our routine. As you know, I’ve been sharing few lunchbox ideas with our friends at Ziraffe with our favorite lunch bags and snack packs! I decided to ask my boys what they wanted me to pack them and surprisingly enough, they said, “Can you pack everything in mini sizes?” They actually had a pretty good reasoning behind it. They said that there are just too many distractions during lunch, too busy chatting with their friends, anticipating to go out and play at recess..etc. My boys told me that having things in small bite sizes will actually help them during busy lunch hour. I realized that sometimes the best thing to do is listen to what my kids are saying. So I packed few of their favorites in mini sizes with easy grab-n-bite type of food. Check it out below.
Looks like Tyler (9) is excited to go back to school to see his friends and start 4th grade. I’m sharing an easy recipe to make mini rice balls along with other mini size food like mini pop-mandu (potstickers), mini fruit sticks and mini tofu cubes. They are so delicious! Make sure to follow me on Instagram (@selina.s.lee) and Ziraffe (@ziraffe_store) for the full story!
MULTIGRAIN MINI RICE BALLS (미니주먹밥) – 4 servings (yields about 16-18 mini rice balls)
INGREDIENT ½ cup white short grain rice ½ cup brown short grain rice ¼ cup mixed wild sweet rice 1 cup seasoned seaweed crisps
INSTRUCTION Mix all rice grains then wash and rinse up to 5 times. Make the rice either in the rice cooker or in a pot with 1 cup of water. Once the rice is fully cooked, let it cook down by mixing and fanning for few minutes. Add the seasoning and mix it for another few min until rice is well seasoned. Make each rice ball with your hand, using a sanity gloves or use little bit of sesame oil in your hand. NOTE: sweet rice will help form the shape and keep it in rice cake like texture. In a bowl, add seasoned seaweed crisp crumbs to dip the rice balls on one side before serving. Enjoy!
