Peter Green

Let me back up a bit, as I've been a bit abrupt in introducing this. I'd skirted about North Korean cuisine for some time, and had been teased with hints of Pyongyang for decades. Some of you will remember how I picked up the trail in Shanghai, dueling in absinthia with the North Koreans for the honor of Canada's wormwood quaffing reputation. http://forums.egullet.org/topic/100702-across-china-with-the-vermin/?p=1407233 Then there were the two old grannies in Seoul with their amazingly good mandoo, loaded with suk (and a fine steamed chicken, too). But the topper was the Pyongyang Cold Noodle Restaurant in Beijing. That was some of the finest Korean cuisine I've had. Definitely the prettiest. (A story in itself) So, when the 100th anniversary of the Eternal Leader, Kim Il Sung, came up on my automatic reminders, we just had to go. The year before we'd attended a talk by someone who'd been in the North, and then immediately raced back through China to the South so that he could talk with the guards he'd seen from the other side of the DMZ. He'd used a group called Koryo Tours ( http://www.koryogroup.com/ ), and the more I read about them, the more apparent it was that I should make my arrangements through their offices. And I'm always happy for an excuse to eat in Beijing.

Plus, I need to put up some pieces on the North Korean restaurants in Beijing and Phnom Penh.

We'll get to a certain amount of this in posts to come. Without giving anything away...no pheasant. However, I've seen a number of places doing pheasants on the route to seoraksan. Naengmyon we'll get to (Pyongyang is famous for this).

Okay, I'm open for help. I posted one item that carried the jpg, and the other is posting a link. How do I embed a photo on my machine into the post?

Approaching Pyongyang by air, you don't get the sense of urban sprawl and chaos that you get down south. Everything is sparse built, and organized to geometric patterns. Mind you, there aren't a lot of trees down there. Landing on the tarmac, it reminds me of Mongolia in the late 90's, or China or Laos in the late 80's http://www.wayn.com/photos/18756053/67536392

And the ham was better than any I've had on many of the carriers I use.

As kare rice goes, the meal on Air Koryo wasn't bad. Fairly industrial, but the rice was very good....okay, you have to like rice to understand this. As a flight, was it as good as travelling business class on Cathay or Singapore?...no. Was it better than Delta or United? Yes. Looking back on the pictures, that may be the best rice I've had on any carrier.

Okay, this may take me some time to figure out the new attachment options.....I am getting old.

Let's open this topic. I'll dredge through my photos from 2012, and we need to bear in mind that this was an organized tour, but there are interesting comments to be made on the public face of North Korean cuisine.

I'd weigh in on the positively negative side. I was at the Corn Exchange a couple of years back, and had a very good meal, and an extremely positive chat with Anthony's dad. I'm sorry to see them go, as I was hoping to return to Leeds next year, and do more time in his restaurants. As with most biases, my dislike of heading to Leeds was poorly founded. It was a good trip. However, the business is the business (as his dad would say), and if you're not making money at it, then you have to question why you're there. Still, I liked his food. I'll be interested in hearing what they do next.

My advice on the Benriner: Benriner blades + carburetor = bad

Red neck inarizushi tonight for Father's Day. Fried chicken skin wrapped around (good) rice.

There's a Japanese version you can often find in Korean stores. I think the brand is Benriner. A flat bed mandolin, with a selection of blades that slap in. Ours is pretty durable, although after 20 years it's losing the fight with our housekeeper.

I believe that the gear is part of the job. If looking good is important, then it may be better to invest in something more superficial, at a lower cost. If your concern is over protection then you pay more for it, but you have to live with the idea that it's going to take some damage over time. Generally, given the above conditions, if appearance is important, than you're better off to buy cheap and disposable, and give yourself that "just pressed look". If you want the battle-hardened look, then you invest in something to keep ( but it may not be cost effective). I've found that, over time. it's better not to get attached to equipment. It's cheaper that way. Cheap is good.

They're just whites. You get them. They get stuff on them. You get new ones. (Okay, I keep the signed ones).