How To Make Kale Chips

Hi everyone!  Now I know I'm literally years late on the kale-chip-bandwagon, but here's a very, very, very easy recipe (below) on how to make these delicious, irresistible, crunchy power greens.  There are tons of reasons why kale is awesome; according to MindBodyGreen, kale is low in calorie, high in calcium, fiber, iron, Vitamin A, K, and C, and has 0 fat!  It also has a ton of antioxidants and works like a "detox food" (aka regulates your digestive business), and also serves as an anti-inflammatory food and it's awesome when it comes to cardiovascular support.  Not to mention when massaged with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt, kale chips become the healthy (and equally addicting) version of our dear old buddy, Mr. Potato Chip.

Easy Kale Chips

1. Preheat your oven to 325°F.  Get out your kale! The easy way to go is to buy your kale already cut, chopped, and cleaned.

2. Line a baking sheet with foil - this helps with the clean up - and take out a small handful (roughly 1 C) of kale onto the foil.

3. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil over the kale.  You can also use coconut oil if you'd prefer.

4. Massage the oil into allllll those nooks and crannies in between the leaves of the kale to ensure even cooking.  (Yes your hands will get super oily, but olive/coconut oil are good moisturizers for your skin!)

5. Sprinkle sea salt sparingly onto your oiled up kale; seriously less is more.  You don't need to physically sea the salt piling up on the kale chips.

6. (Optional) I wanted to try out Mrs. Dash's Lemon Pepper seasoning on my kale chips today.  Yes, I realize Mrs. Dash is salt-free, so putting the sea salt first completely ruined the point of it being a healthy seasoning alternative - but I had it in my pantry and decided to try it.

7. Make sure your kale chips are in a single layer and not bunched up on top of each other.  Pop them into the oven for 12 minutes.  Yes, 12 - not 11 and not 13, but twelve minutes.

8. After 12 minutes, take your lovely baked kale chips out of the oven.  As you can see they do shrink down quite a bit!

9. Put the chips into a bowl, toss the foil out, and enjoy!  I dare you to just eat one and walk away (it's impossible!)

*Storage note: 1 cup of kale can easily fill up a small bowl (see the first pic) so I wouldn't really recommend making a lot of batches.  If you do make a lot of batches, don't be surprised if the kale gets soggy or wilted overnight, even if you keep it in a container, and it'll definitely depend on the humidity of where you live.  BUT on the bright side, just pop them back into the oven the following day again at 325°F for about 6 minutes and they'll be back to their fresh, crispy selves.

Oh and if you were wondering how the kale chips tasted with the lemon pepper seasoning, I would give it 3 out of 5 stars (boo!).  I think the other seasonings within the lemon pepper shaker actually burned in the cooking process so a lot of my kale chips ended up tasting charred and just plain gross.  I think I'll stick to plain old sea salt or garlic salt next time around.

If you try out this recipe please let me know!  I'd love to know if it worked for you or if you made your own little adjustments to it!  Don't forget you can follow me through bloglovin by clicking on the Eiffel Tower picture to the right!

Enjoy your kale chips!

Firsts: Godiva Rewards (read: FREE CHOCOLATE EVERY MONTH!)

Self-disclosure: I don't like chocolate.  I used to say that I hated chocolate due to a bad experience as a child; my parents didn't know they had to pick me up from an after school program which resulted in me staying at school until 7:00 PM.  Back then cell phones were still only used by adults, I didn't have money for the payphone, and my parents firm statement of, "Don't talk to strangers!" prevented me from asking other teachers to use their in-class phones.  Long story short, the only thing I had to keep me company was a bag of Easter candy.  So during my 4-hour wait, I devoured plastic eggs filled with m&ms, bite sized Twix and Milky Ways, and who knows what else.  I like chocolate cake, chocolate milk, and chocolate ice cream, but anything that was in a candy bar-esque form was immediately rejected by me.

15 or so years later, I am now able to ingest dark chocolate on occasion.  I especially crave it (as does any other young female) when I'm about to start that oh-so-wonderful time-of-the-month.  Enter in Godiva Rewards Program.  I actually read about the program through a Buzzfeed article called, "13 Free Things You Can Get For Free Right Now."  Number one on the list said, "A free Godiva truffle once a month."  Whaaaaat?  As much as I hate chocolate, if it's Godiva then I'll tolerate it.  And for free!?  I needed to investigate further.

According to Godiva's Reward Program's site, you receive the following as a member:

1. 1 free piece of chocolate every month
2. Spend $20 and receive a free gift the following month
3. Free standard shipping for one online order
4. Exclusive offers every month

Also, according to the chocolatier at the Godiva boutique in Washington Square Mall, on your birthday you receive $10 to use and buy whatever your chocolate-loving-self desires!

Wanting to get my free piece for the month of January, I went to Godiva today and asked the chocolatier which pieces were eligible for the free month gift.  She was extremely polite and helpful and another chocolatier offered me a Dark Chocolate Caramel Pear piece.  I don't like the combination of chocolate and caramel since it reminds me of my horrible experience stuffing my face with Twix bars for hours, but since it was dark chocolate I accepted.  I appreciated that this piece wasn't part of my Rewards Program piece, and it was actually the WHOLE chocolate, not just a small sample of it.

After contemplating for some time, I decided on the Strawberry Creme Tarte truffle.  I gave the chocolatier my phone number so she could look up my Rewards Program information and I was happily on my way with adorable (read: FREE) truffle in hand.

My truffle all wrapped up in wax paper - a bit excessive for such a tiny truffle, but it was nicely twirled.

Tada!  Here's the Strawberry Creme Tarte Truffle!  Like I said, it was a lot of wax paper for such a tiny little thing.  I like strawberries and I like tarts, so I was hoping that this wouldn't be overly sweet...

After the first bite!  It was just the right amount of sweetness and tartness!  Godiva's website describes this truffle as "strawberry puree and vanilla mousse inside a white chocolate shell" which to me makes it sound like the puree and mousse would've been blended more together.  I had to mix the two substances in my mouth to get it to taste perfectly but nevertheless it was delicious!

I highly recommend joining the Godiva Rewards program for anyone because well, who can say no to free chocolate?

Firsts: Bella Luna Korean Spa & Sauna, a co-ed jjimjilbang.

From now on, every time I try something new - whether it's a new store, new food, or new experience - it's going to go under the title of "Firsts."

This Saturday marked my first experience going to a co-ed jjimjilbang.  A jjimjilbang is a traditional Korean sauna.  You might have seen one if you're a fan of k-dramas, or if you've seen Psy's Gangnam Style music video.

From kpopnews.org

A jjimjilbang typically has several dry sauna rooms, several wet sauna rooms, a bunch of pools and a bunch of pools you can go into.  I've always wanted to try going to a jjimjilbang but unfortunately Oregon only has one, and it's a bit out of my way.  My boyfriend however lives up in Washington near Lynnwood - a city that hosts a bunch of Korean eateries, supermarkets, and hair salons.  I figured if there was any place to look for a jjimjilbang in the Pacific Northwest, it would be Lynnwood.

Thanks to the power of Yelp, I learned of Bella Luna Korean Spa and Sauna.  Most jjimjilbang that I've seen are same-sex only, but surprisingly Bella Luna is co-ed!  Since my boyfriend is half-Korean I asked if he wanted to have a day or relaxation with me and he happily agreed.

*Note: Forgive my lack of pictures but I didn't like the idea of bringing my phone into 150 degree rooms just to snag a few photos.  Sorrrrrrry!

Bella Luna charges $25 for all-day use of their facilities.  If you want to get a massage or scrub, it's some additional $$.  Since I wasn't in the mood for a scrub and since my boyfriend and I planned on getting a couples massage later at a different location, we just wanted to use the sauna.  After paying, the girl at the front gave my boyfriend and I each a key to our locker, a pair of pants, a shirt, a body towel, and a face towel.  I also got a little bath cap.  We were instructed to take off our shoes and place them in a little cubby.  The floor is heated! We were then shown the gender-specific locker areas.  In the locker areas there are same-sex only sauna rooms, and a bunch of pools.

I met my boyfriend out in the co-ed lobby area and we set out to find the different rooms.  Each room has some mineral in it that's supposed to remove impurities from your skin and basically detoxify your whole body.  Our first stop was the clay room - which I didn't realize until after was the hottest room ever.  No wonder they had a note that said to only stay in it for 15 minutes!  After the clay room we found the salt room which is basically a room in which you can lie on a bed of salt.  That was at a much more comfier temperature thankfully!  Bella Luna also has a snow room which is a room with a bunch of freezer coils all along the walls, which allows you to cool off in between.  There are also ridiculously comfy couches in the lobby area complete with magazines and foot massagers!

After the snow room we went to the jade room which is probably my favorite.  This room is COVERED in jade and a bunch of other different rocks.  It was at a temperature in between the salt and clay room, so it was pretty warm but still comfy.  We migrated later to the charcoal room which was my boyfriend's favorite since it was only 108 degrees.  I think he fell asleep at some point!

We took a break to have some lunch at Cafe Robins, which is a restaurant inside Bella Luna that's run by an ahjussi and ahjumma.  We ordered the bulgogi plate, and some spicy ramyun alonside an ice coffe and green tea.  The ahjumma gave us little cookies on the side and lots of delicious banchan (side dishes).  I was debating about getting my phone to take a picture of everything but my boyfriend told me to relax and not worry about Instagraming everything.

After our meal we relaxed on the couch in the lobby before returning to the salt room.  I wanted to check out the Elvan stone room in the women's area so I bid my boyfriend goodbye for a bit.  The Elvan stone room was comfortable and set at a lower temperature.  Surprisingly there was a girl in there using her phone and eventually she fell asleep.  I don't know if her phone made it or not.  After the Elvan stone room I found my boyfriend sleeping in the jade room.  We basically cycled through all of the rooms again and finally near the end I said I wanted to go in the pools.  The boyfriend wanted to take a shower so he said he'd meet me back out in the lobby so we could grab some dessert from Cafe Robins before leaving.

Let me tell you about the pools.

First of all, you have to be comfortable getting naked in front of people.  There are signs all over the pool entrance that no swimsuits are allowed and your bath cap must be worn at all times.  There were lots of naked old ladies and women my age walking around not really caring at all.  It was slightly intimidating, but I found out you get over it really quickly.  The shower area also has shampoo, conditioner, and body wash so if you brought your own body loofa then I'm sure you could take a shower after you were done with everything.  Also within the pool area are scrubbing areas, and two additional wet saunas - an infrared room and a steamed jade room.  There are 3 different pools: 1 hot-tub like one, 1 mid-temperature large one, and 1 small freezing ice pool with a waterfall.  Surprisingly the ice pool felt amaaaazing to sink in to at the end of my time in all three pools.

I met my boyfriend in the lobby after changing and found out that there were no other men in his locker room so he got to test out the pools all by himself!  We went to Cafe Robins and ordered a yogurt berry patbingsu or shave/shaved ice.  This is the ONE picture that I took of the entire time at Bella Luna, but it was so delicious!

Nom, nom, nom!

Homemade ice cream atop a giant layer of red bean, followed by fresh raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries smothered in condensed milk, on top of a bed of freshly shaved ice and berry yogurt on the bottom!

Needless to say we gobbled it up in less than five minutes!

Overall my first time at a jjimjilbang was awesome!  I would definitely go again - especially if it's only $25 for the whole day and this place opens at 9 AM and closes at midnight (whaaaat??)!  I'd definitely recommend it to you if you're ever in the Lynnwood, WA area.

What about you?  Have you ever been to a jjimjilbang?  Comment below and don't forget to follow me on bloglovin by clicking the Eiffel Tower!

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Shopping - a pleasant surprise.

I've mentioned before that the 3 things in life I am willing to pay full price for are skin care, footwear, and books.  But if I can get an amazingly ridiculous deal on any of the aforementioned 3 categories, then it makes everything that much sweeter.

This Monday marked the official start of the new semester for me, but since I only have classes on Tuesdays I decided to hit up some of my favorite retail areas in hopes of finding a good deal.  Little did I know that virtually everywhere I went would have huge clearance sections because most stores are preparing for spring.

My first stop was Paper Source which is the cutest little stationary store.  Ever.  They not only have all the supplies for making stationary but they are well stocked with other little desk goodies and household decor.

Here are some of the calendars that were available. I ended up choosing a watercolor calendar that wound up being $25 (!!) which is a bit steep for a wall calendar but at least it was pretty. Unfortunately Barnes & Noble didn't have any calendars available, which was rather surprising since a month ago they had waaaay too many. 

My next stop was DSW where I literally found the best deal my entire life.  I was perusing to the clearance section when a Cole Haan box happened to catch my eye. I looked at the sales price and noticed that it was $109.94, marked down from $158.  What surprised me the most was that this box gold tag which meant that it was 80% on sale.  I whipped out my calculator and then realized that these adorable Cole Haan flats would be $21.98. I also realized that I had a $10 off coupon for DSW, meaning that I could get this pair of shoes for only $11.98 (!!!). Major score right?  There was also an adorable pair of mel shoes available in gold, which also happened to be 80% off of $29.94 (read: $5.98!). I made my way over to the checkout register, and noticed there was another bin full of things that were last chance clearance on sale for 80% off. Lo and behold but what do I discover? An adorable pair of Kate Spade tights originally $19.94, now available for $3.98! After applying my $10 reward, my total came out to $21.97.  I saved a total of $209.03!!

After finishing up at DSW I went over to Washington Square mall. I immediately went to Express where I had a $5.22 store credit. I guess it was a "shoe day" because Express also had a huge clearance on their flats. I found an adorable pair of black pointed toe flats with little tiny silver studs on sale for $11.99. I had to pay $6.77 in cash that was fine because the shoes were originally $19.94.  Select the end of the day I only spent $28.74 for 3 pairs of shoes and some cute tights. You can see my purchases below.

This was a very pleasant surprises normally I never find deals this good! Did you go shopping after the holidays for any sales? Feel free to share your deals below!

Cheers to 2014!

This year I resolve to:

1. Worry less. 

2. Remember that positivity breeds positivity. 

3. Be kinder. 

3 simple things that I am 99.9% sure are completely doable! I also should add that I resolve to read more books for fun! Here are 2 that I am dying to read:

 

Both are by David Mitchell who wrote Cloud Atlas, and I am dying to get my hands on them! What are your resolutions for 2014?

Weekend adventure: Maui, Day 4 & 5

To cap off my last two days on Maui:

I got my hands on a Zippy's Chili Plate! I haven't had Zippy's in forever so it was great to sink my teeth into some bean less goodness. 

On the 31st I had mochitsuki (もちつき) with my boyfriend and his family.  Mochitsuki is a New Year's tradition that involves the pounding of mochi by hand and forming it into bite sized mochi. My boyfriend's mom decided to put Trader Joe's Cookie Butter in them!  Here's my boyfriend hard at work!

All in all Maui involved a lot of food, sun, and relaxation. I can't wait to go back again next year!