Can I eat already?

Represented blogs: Fatman Seoul, Serious Eats, Seoul Eats, ZenKimchi

[from Roboseyo]

Sometimes I get carried away with the pornographic close ups.  Really great lunch special at the French restaurant Le St. Ex in Itaewon.  A few more pics here.

Eun Jeong’s out of town visiting her folks.  I just had one of the best evenings I’ve had in a long time.

John Kim, SeoulPodcast listener from South America, sent me some swag, among which was the smoothest Cuban cigar I ever tasted.  Jennifer, my co-host on the podcast, gave me a Johnnie Walker Black gift set, which included a couple of nice heavy rocks glasses.

I made some ice in my weird ice tray that makes ice balls.

I’ve only recently been learning to appreciate whiskey, Scotch specifically.  The JW Black is sweet and lip smaking.  It’s candy that’ll fuck you UP!  I sucked on that cigar until the cherry started burning my fingers.  All the while watching “Harold and Kumar Go to Guantanamo.”

Snow has covered the mountain outside my window.

What can improve on such a perfect evening?

Recently, I talked about the experience of bad service at this seafood restaurant. Nonetheless, I did take pictures of the dish that they told us was squid MulHui but obviously wasn’t. I was too busy taking pictures to pay attention to the fuming of Eun Jeong across the table. Then I realized, oh yeah, this isn’t squid.

Nonetheless, it was good. I didn’t take pics of the replacement MulHui because I didn’t want to piss off The Woman even more. So here is some food porn of the first dish they served us with flat fish instead of squid.

This post has been delayed because I haven’t been able to think of anything intelligent or snarky to say. So when I can’t think of anything, I guess it’s time for FOOD PORN!!

I was invited to my first official Chuseok ceremony a few weeks ago. I had been to eat great feasts at friends’ houses during Chuseok in the past, but this was my first time to experience the real ceremony with the ceremonial food.

Two tables were set up. On the left, with the message on the back for the ancestors, were light soups, whole grilled fish, jeon ì „ (savory pancakes and fried goodies), a really good tender octopus, fried tofu, slabs of beef and pork, a whole chicken, marinated bean sprouts, fiddlehead ferns, a type of root vegetable (I was told it wasn’t todok), jujubes and chestnuts, a Korean pear, apple, and persimmon. Here’s another view.

The table on the right was more on the same theme.

After the ceremony was over, and the ancestors had spiritually had their fill, it was time for us to eat the leftovers.

A really good fresh kimchi.

BEEF!! Marinated in soy sauce.

Lots of fried stuff. I particularly liked the batter fried fish. It’s in there somewhere.

The dipping sauce worked with everything. I ate so much that I forgot to get down much of my rice–especially with all the rice wine being poured.

Thank you, Kim family!

It’s that time of year again to dry the peppers and turn them into Gochugaru ê³ ì¶”ê°€ë£¨(Chile Powder) and Gochujang ê³ ì¶”ìž¥ (Chile Paste). The guys in the background are doing just that.

It’s been a year since I first did a piece on Patbingsu, the Korean summertime treat. I have since grown a fondness for it. It’s like a snow cone with lots of stuff thrown in and stirred together like bibimbap. It also seems to be more popular this year, with Patbingsu ice shavers, bowls and kits displayed in the entrances to supermarkets. I don’t remember them last year. Eun Jeong and I have been eating Patbingsu regularly. Our favorite one has been the giant SandPresso version, even though Eun Jeong said there was too much “Pat” (red beans) in the Patbingsu.

Here are some pics:

Here are some shots of Nakji Bokkeum. It’s baby octopus stir-fried with bean sprouts, onions, sesame seeds, and a spicy sauce. Great stuff that gives me cravings.

Only make sure that you have no plans the next morning. Your butt will be on fire.

Eun Jeong made some kimbap a while back, and the lighting was really good that day. The kimbap was good too.

She set up her mise en place on the floor (our floor is very clean since we don’t wear shoes in the house).

This included some blanched spinach,

strips of yellow pickled radish, cucumber, burdock root,

blanched carrot, scrambled egg, ham, and Eomook (fish cakes).

And the seaweed (gim ê¹€).

Similar to making maki rolls, she spread rice on the gim. Unlike make rolls, it doesn’t need to be seasoned with vinegar. The pickled radish takes care of that.

Next came the veggies

and the protein.

She carefully rolled it up.

She made quite a few.

She then rubbed them with a sheen of sesame oil.

Before she cut them, she rubbed some oil on the knife. Looks dangerous to me.

And there you go. The quintessential Korean snack. Even though she made a lot, they were all gone by the next day.

Here is some more beautiful kimbap footage.