Heartbreaker

I know it's been a long time since I've posted. I've nearly got my new computer running. So in the mean time, you can watch G-Dragon from the huge k-pop boy band Big Bang, with his solo effort. This is as cool as it gets right now.

삼겹살

Ahhh, Samgyeopsal (삼겹살). Imagine huge slices of bacon. But without the curing and salts and all that. Now Imagine a little portable grill on your table. A lady comes up and takes a chunk of pork fat to grease up the grill, puts some kimchi and potatoes on the grill and hands you a plate of pork belly meat.

Yup, you get to cook it. You also get a bunch of side dishes, and sauces for your meat. Oh, and you don't get a knife, you get some scissors and some tongs. For the uninitiated this can be a bit tricky. But don't worry, like most things with Korea, so long as you try a Korean will come save you and cut up your food for you.

Check out the sides in this photo, oh, and can you read korean? Even if you can't, I bet you can guess what kind of pop that is!

Flowers

Three flowers I saw today.

비빔밥

Ahh, bibimbop. I hate it. But it's pretty popular here, and I have a photo of it so here we are.

According to wikipedia, bibimbop means, "mixed meal." And as you can see, it's got a bunch of stuff in it. This bibimbop was served in a warm bowl. On the bottom of the bowl is rice. And then their is a ton of stuff jammed in there. You've got some huge mushrooms, carrots, and all kinds of greens. Lots of roots and stuff like that. And on the top you've got some beef, and topped off by a raw egg with sesame seeds. Also, a key component to bibimbop is red chili paste. I can't stand the red chili paste. Thankfully most times you can add your own paste to your bibimbop, so I can make it more palatable.

팥빙수

I'm going to blog about a different Korean food every week or more. This time, I'd like to talk about Paht-bing-soo.

Paht-bing-soo is a very popular Korean dessert. Two things seem to always be in paht-bing-soo. Shaved ice and red bean paste.

Red bean paste is, according to wikipedia, "prepared by boiling and mashing azuki beans and then sweetening the paste with sugar or honey. The husk of the beans may be removed by sieving before sweetening, which leads to a smoother and more homogeneous paste."


After that, recipes vary. I like the paht-bing-soo from Cafe Chai. I know, big surprise right? Well Chai adds a bit of ice cream to their paht-bing-soo. And there is also some 떡 (tteok). Tteok is, again thanks to wikipedia, "Korean cake made with glutinous rice flour (also known as sweet rice or chapssal), by steaming."

You can take a look at the photo below and see the yummy fruits that are added to paht-bing-soo at Chai.



Ahhh... 맛있네 (yummy).

Kimbop

Kimbop is my new favorite food. It is always made with two things. Kim. And bop. Kim is dried and seasoned seaweed. Bop is the Korean word for rice.

This here is from my favorite kimbop joint. It's chamchi kimbop. Or tuna kimbop. If you take a look you can see all kinds of stuff. Tuna, carrots, egg, ham, mayo. All this stuff, for 2 bucks.