had planned to make jjajangmyeon for dinner  but i remembered last min. that i was out of the noodles so pivoted to jjajangbap.  i got partway toward prepping stuff only to find my chunjang was in bad shape , i hadn't used it since we moved and i thought it was unopened but well..it wasn't and it was all dried out ,  i ended up having to sub it out for some chinese jarred garlic black bean sauce  which thankfully isn't tooooo different but definitely not as good ,...  still came out ok tho

used 4 strips of chopped  fried in oil bacon, 1 potato , 1 zucchini , small bit of cabbage, and a couple cloves of garlic and a squeeze of ginger paste plus the sauce obviously    i tried to roughly follow what i recalled from parts of maangchi + arron and claire's recipes that i normally sorta mix and match minus the sauce parts considering.  it came out ok ,  i folded  the rice into it in the end instead of topping it since it was easier,  it came out ok but definately need to order the right stuff again since its definitely not the same and a far bit weaker being a prepared sauce instead of a paste.  still for a quickie oops it worked. topped it with a good pinch of gochugaru which definately helped lift it up some

@styx971

Sometimes we have to pivot and substitute.  The new dishes can often be pleasant surprises!

Homemade veggie/chicken risotto (meaning cabbage, leeks, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, zucchinis, red and green peppers, carrots, ginger, mushrooms, tomato juice, olive oil and sliced chicken breast) with my daughter. It was delicious!

Been busy with the holidays and family stuff.  Made a quick red lentil stew tonight with toasted bread.