SheenaGreena

How interesting. My parents call each other Kent's mom/dad, though this is not common in China. ← I wonder why they do that? I think they may do the same in japan, but I am not really sure I have no idea what that is? but I am sure I will like it

I like snacks, most notably savory snacks. My most favorite thing to snack on ever is probably dried squid. I like to run it over the electric burner to toast it or sometimes I'll boil it for a few minutes in a little water. My favorite way to eat it is to dip it in some mayo....and yes that's how people really eat it in korea. My mom bought me a very large (25 squid) packet back from korea, bc she knows I love it so much Here's the cooking process end product anyone prefer hellman's over kraft mayo? I tried kraft mayo for the first time yesterday and I gagged a little Today my sister, her friend, and I all went to this restaurant called "Noodles Corner" in Columbia, MD. It's an asian restaurant that specializes in noodles from all over asia. I had something called "Laksa noodles" and I have no idea where they came from. I just know that the broth was a spicy fish broth with lime juice, lots of noodles, shrimp, and yummy fish balls. Here's a pic Later for dinner, my mom and I ate together. My sister is at work till 9:30 and my father is attending a meeting till 11 pm tonight....the poor guy. We pretty much only ate snacks for dinner and leftovers. We finished off the leftover pigs feet, some left over dak dori tang (spicy chicken stew with potatos), and some golbangi, which are sea snails seasoned with chile flakes, rice vinegar, sesame seeds, little bit of sugar, and lots and lots of garlic chives. golbangi on the left and pigs feet on the right dakdoritang on a plate and in a pot and here's what my mother is going to work with tomorrow. Anyone guess what it is? tomorrow I'm going to my grandmother's house and I believe we are having half a bushel of crabs (thank you jesus), ice cold beer, and some other things.

awww, hooray for mommys How about dengaku for konnyaku and salad for shirataki? ← sounds great, thanks for the suggestion cholmonayo? is that correct?

]Finally, I'm not so lazy so I'm going to post some pics. Tonight for dinner I had steak, potato, mustard greens and some sausage so I didn't take a pic of that. However my sister and her boyfriend took me out to get some snowballs in the area. I got egg custard (my favorite) with three levels of marshmallow. I could only eat a third of it....and my sister ate a peach one with marshmallow. My sister is reading this right now and said "oh my god, how fat are you" pics of snowballs a lot of flavours I should be banned for my pic taking skills The other day I had some kalgooksu and my mom made it super fast with some chicken and water, garlic, and noodles. After the chicken is boiled and lends its flavor to the broth, my mom shreds the chicken into the soup and adds the noodles. My mom also makes a kind of spicy condiment that we like to stir into the soup. it's soy sauce with lots and lots of jalapenos added to it. You can see it on the top of the soup. I also ate some leftover spicy crab and some not so ready kimchi

whoops, I didn't know that you thought sesame leaves were from the same plant as sesame seeds. Don't feel bad, because I used to think the same thing when I was younger. I have no idea why they are called sesame leaves.....so it can be confusing.

your friend charles is cute! when are we going to see some of that yummy chinese food you are so famous for?

Take it easy, Sheena. That smiley was meant to be a joke. Besides, I was a little sleepy then. Thanks for the Korean word for yomogi. You were wanted on the Tempura Cook-Off thread. I'm looking forward to what you are going to do with your konnyaku and shirataki. ← hiroyuki, I was just kidding...sorry if I offended you . I wish I could've contributed to the tempura cook off thread. Now I really want some sweet potato tempura. do you have any suggestions for the konnyaku and shirataki? wow thanks for the compliment, very nice of you. Yeah there are way more koreans than japanese here. If I eat japanese food over here, its usually at a korean japanese restaurant that's run by koreans. I actually go to an all you can eat sushi lunch buffet over near college park that's pretty good and less than $10. My mom and I love it. I laughed to myself thinking of little kids trying to say that! Do Korean children generally eat the same fare as adults? Some of the food seems kind of intense for very young palates. ← they do eat the same fare as adults, but I'm sure they are like japanese children and would probably prefer things like tonkatsu, ramen, snacks, and curry. Kimchi can be too spicy for korean children so sometimes its rinsed off in a little water. My mother used to run mine under the faucet when I was in elementary school, because I couldn't handle the spice hey, its one of my favorite contributors to the korean home cooking thread! There are some good Japanese grocery stores in Maryland - one's on Rockville Pike near the Best Buy in Rockville, MD and another is in Bethesda called Daruma. Daruma used to be stellar with the sasadango (spelling) but they stopped making them! Those were the best ever. Matuba is a decent sushi place in Bethesda that's actually run by Japanese as is Kotobuki in Washington, D.C. Temari is a Japanese cafe that serves ramen and whatnots and is in the same shopping center as the Rockville Japanese grocery store. But nothing beats the ramen up in NYC...damn, someone needs to open a ramen shop and a yakatori shop in the DC area! ← hey, I work in rockville (thats where I am right now) and maybe I should hit up some of these shops with my mom and little sis! Thanks for the great info. Do you live around here? Yes I know, I haven't posted any pics in a long time. Yesterday after work I had to head down to the bar and have a few drinks. Things got out of hand and well I'm hungover and hungry (i didn't eat anything for dinner yesterday). I'll make it up to you by posting some pics later of food related things. Thanks for sticking with me

yes they are spelled phonetically and bibimbap is pronounced like this: bee bim bap, but say it kinda quickly

check my other thread......... I bet korean sesame leaves would be great with some booze. Also you should try wrapping them around raw slices of fish, which is how they are eaten in korea. You can dip the fish into a sweetened, vinegared, version of gochujang or just eat it as is with the fish. Also, try stirring in the leaves at the last moment of some hot and spicy soup

uhhhhh I have no idea how she grows them, but I know that they grow so freakin fast every summer and the leaves taste a BAJILLION times better than the kind you get at the grocery store. They are also way bigger...sometimes as big as my face, and I have a huge head. I'll ask her when I go home

I thought it was a wonderful travelogue until I noticed this. The product name is plain stupid: Ohmori (Large Portion) Kikaku (Plans). Very roughly, the second photo says: Plan 1: Appetizers for beer and sake. Joyfully with everybody, many times by yourself Plan 2: Snacks for kids. Something to nibble at when they are hungry. Plan 3: In a family, in a group, companions for a trip. The third photo is simply full of sales talk. Not worthy of translation! Edited to add: Do you happened to know how to call yomogi (mugwort) in Korean? ← hey, this travelogue/blog is the greatest thing to happen to egullet!!!!!!! just kidding all I have to say about those japanese snacks is that they cost way too much money (1000 yen) and that the ratio of peanuts to seafood is 10 to 1. I think yomogi in korean is "souk" I find it everywhere. There are always korean ladies picking that stuff here in maryland. My mom's friend got fined once for doing that. I think for hiroyuki I will do something with my konnyaku that I bought the other day. My sister has never had it and I'm thinking of a good preparation for her. Perhaps grill it and baste it with daengjang? I have no miso here, so chunky daengjang is a great substitute even with some kochujang. Im actually at work with my father right now. He's a financial director of a private school and I found out there is a garden on the grounds. he just picked me 2 really nice orange bell peppers and a zuchini. Does anyone have any good ideas for either? I was thinking of cutting the zuchinni into strips and grilling them or maybe I will ask my mom to pan fry them and make them into "jeon"

I eat them raw with nothing else once in a while. They have a really "refreshing" taste and are great rolled up in kimbap with seaweed.

my mom does make mandu and I don't know if there is a huge difference between korean dumplings vs. chinese and japanese ones. I just know that in korea you can eat them steamed, boiled in soup, or panfried in some oil. My mom makes fantastic ones around new years that are stuffed with really old winter kimchi and soft tofu. They go great in rice cake soup. I think that chinese style buns are popular in korea. I used to eat the frozen ones all the time when I was younger and pop them in the microwave for a few seconds. I would take the hot chinese bun and touch my cheeks with it because of the warmth....once in a while i'll do that nowadays Oh wow, I just saw this! I'm excited to read--I stopped right here to tell you I love learning about other cultures. What an honor, then, to be the first child! Do siblings get jealous? ← I don't think my little sister gets jealous. She's pretty close in age to me (only 3 years younger) and she is considered the baby of the family. In fact, we call her "baby T" or "Tiny T" or "Little T"...her name is Christina. Although she is 21, she likes to eat all of her meals with hello kitty chopsticks and spoons. how kind, thanks! oh and chufi, you should contribute more to that korean home cooking thread! That thing is always dead and needs to be revived some more tonight I'm eating korean food, but I have no clue what it is. Hopefully you will be as surprised as me. Last night for dinner I ate some grilled salmon with japanese "unagi sauce" drizzled on top. My mom also baked some shrimp and my sister made a really fattening and super delicious crab dip.

Jeez, I just typed a huge message and my internet cut out. Anyways, Im sorry I haven't been on in a while. I haven't had any stellar meals as of lately, because I have two huge canker sores/fever blisters on the inside of my mouth. If that's too much info, my apologies, but thats why I haven't been eating. I tried eating some tomatoes yesterday and it KILLED. Oh and my mom hasn't cooked anything, because my parents are getting their kitchen remodeled. They replaced their countertops (white) with some dark granite and it looks awesome. However the new sink that was installed is leaking and a piece of the granite is cracked SO it won't be finished till this thursday. I will post some pics of kalgooksu (from 2 days ago) and try to respond to your posts throughout the week. ps: pray for me (:

good to see that another korean family makes "messy" bibimbap like my family. It's just pointless to pile stuff neatly in their own section...because to me it's like a "garbage" dish where you throw everything in the fridge into a bowl of rice with hot sauce and sesame oil. I don't know if this is easier, but I split my toraji with a sturdy toothpick. It's easy to handle, but breaks easily. Does your wife squeeze the salt into the toraji? I do that, but it never comes out as good as my mother...it always tastes really bitter.

the watercress grows in soil. It kinda does look like chinese celery, but you're right the stalks are very small. The sesame leaves are eaten raw or cooked. I like them cooked with fish in a spicy soup, because they lend a nice aroma to it. I would describe the taste as really green with a hint of mint. I have never tasted shiso, but I think they taste almost the same. My mom's sesame leaves taste fantastic. Sometimes I will go out to the backyard and eat a few leaves right off the plant. When they are eaten raw, usually they are used for wrapping around sashimi or meat. They can also be "kimchied" I think that gochujang tastes too sweet. However it does taste good as a dip for cucumbers. When I asked my mother what oksal meant, she said "jail." I thought that was pretty funny. Then I mentioned something about a yellow seed and she had no idea what I was talking about. Maybe they are mustard seeds? I think koreans put black mustard seeds in soondae guk.

whoops, realized I forgot to respond to some people. My apologies... no problem, thank you for enjoying it. Yes you can smell the jars from 5 feet away (they have no lids...only a cheesecloth on top. The other pots/kimchi jars that I posted upthread yesterday are actually empty. My favorite thing that my mom cooks is probably sam gyup sal. She buys a ton of meat and makes a lot of panchan to go with it. The other day she didn't make as much and well it tastes better and is more enjoyable eating it at home than at a restaurant. I also like pretty much everything else that my mom makes. hi hi! I love sauerkraut and so does my mother. It tastes a lot like really old kimchi, but without the chiles, ginger, and garlic. My father's mom (I call her granny) grew up with a lot of pennsylvaina dutch cuisine so she makes sauerkraut and pork a lot. Unfortunately the sauerkraut is purchased from the grocery store and isn't homemade. no problem, maybe I'll ask my mom to make some ddeokbokki for yoonhi. you better take it the next time you are offered!!!!!!!! Maybe you can make some fantastic chicken adobo with it? oh and by the way, I wanted my mom to make soy sauce crabs with the crabs we caught the other day, but I killed them by putting ice on them. My mom said they had to be alive in order to make it. I was soooo upset, because I knew you were dying to see that doddie I kid I kid!

So someone asked for photos of my mother's garden. She used to plant a lot of korean chiles, but I don't know what happened to them? Now she grows her own lettuce - a softer, smaller, korean variety, gaennip - sesame leaves, cucumbers, tomatos, chives, strawberries, and a ton of flowers. Her garden isn't in neat little rows. In fact, the veggies are randomly placed in the backyard in pots, around the pond (man made), and wherever there is space. Here are some pics of the pond (strawberries in the front). If you notice on the left side of the pic, you can see a small bit of the laundry rack. My mom likes to dry clothes outside when its nice out. sesame leaves and cucumber mixed together korean watercress? lettuce baby poo? jk daengjang that looks absolutely frightening but tastes fantastic tomato plants leftovers from yesterday. I couldn't take pics of it being prepared or anything, cause my camera died My mom took gochugaru, garlic, water, salt, and some crabs and cooked them up for a few minutes. Very very simple and eaten with rice for lunch. I'm going to eat the leftovers soon 2 pics of the fridges downstairs. I have no clue what is in 80% of these jars and a lot of them have been in that fridge since I was in highschool Yes they do stink up the entire basement when I open the doors. if you notice, my picture taking skills are getting much better. Today for lunch (in 10 mins) I'm planning on eating some kal gook su and who knows whats for dinner. Yesterday I went to an orioles whitesox game, but unfortunately my batteries to my camera died. I ate an uneventful pretzel smothered in "crab dip" and cheese at some bar outside of the stadium. The crab dip tasted like straight up mayo and the pretzel tasted chewy kinda like it had been heated up in the microwave. Oh well.....

she makes it all the time, but mostly for herself. My sister and her boyfriend usually go out to eat (I know, what a travesty) and well my father will eat what my sister cooks or leftovers...which can be korean or american food. My dad will eat anything my mother makes. He LOVES korean food. But yes, since I'm home my mother tends to cook more Korean food and usually makes all of my favorites. My mother does make panchan at home. I'm sure somebody mentioned this somewhere, but koreans make a lot of panchan at one time and save them in the fridge to be taken out a little at a time at meals. Our family also doesn't do a ton of dishes out on the table like a lot of korean families. Rather my mom just puts the whole tupperware container on the table, because we LOVE our veggies and panchan. Plus this way there is less dishes to use. However once in a while my mom will put small plates of panchan out on the table. My mother never buys panchan at the store. She makes all of them herself or gets them from her friends when they make something. In fact, my mother rarely makes her own kimchi nowadays because her friends give her so much. I think the tiny fish you start out with are baby anchovies. I have no idea how to prepare them. I will also try to take photos from start to finish of a korean dish. thanks everyone for all the nice comments. My mother thinks its funny that you all want to see her cooking. She actually got kinda excited and said "you should take a lot of pictures soon, because I'm having a korean association meeting at the house and I'm making lots of food." I will definitely take pics of that.

Hi SheenaGreena: This travelogue is a very enjoyable read, I love your "respectfully casual tone". Every one of your posts has words and/or pictures of food I have never seen before. I think I need more guk in my life, and it behooves me to mention that bucket of pigs feet - wow! Okay, I am no ichthyologist but I would bet dollars to donuts you have there in your sink three juvenile Largemouth bass and three Green or possibly Pumpkinseed sunfish. Plus an unusual scouring pad. Do your trout there go by any other names? ← "respectfully casual tone" must be a nice way to say that I don't type enough....which is very true. I notice that a lot of people on egullet can go on and on about food descriptions, but I'd rather just answer questions as they come along. Is that fish really a bass? I just thought it was a trout, because thats what my sister's boyfriend called it. I don't know if trout go by any other names, but I know that some bass are called "rockfish" down here. guk is a wonderful addition to one's diet. I love all guks, especially kal guk su...but I would rather eat that in the winter time. thought I should add that in the following weeks, you should all look forward to seeing some pics of: spicy crab soup with the crabs we caught yesterday, beef intestines in a spicy korean soup (forget its name), and some flounder sashimi that will be prepared and eaten at home korean style. Tomorrow i'm also going to an Oriole's game so I'll try to take some pics of the stuff that you can get there that you can't get anywhere else. Oh and if anyone wants my mother or me to cook a certain dish or korean meal, please feel free to suggest something, as long as it isn't hot soup or something like that. It's very hot here!

Can we see some pics from your mom's garden? I remember you had some questions about the greens growing in your mom's garden, so maybe some of the members can help with identification. ← of course I will post some pics, I realized that the only green I couldn't identify was what she called "korean or chinese watercress." I'll post some pics of those, tomato plants, and whatever else she has in the backyard. Maybe I'll be ballsy enough to open up one of the pots of daengjang outside. I can smell it from 5 feet away. I'll do those tomorrow though, because I'm winding down now

thanks kathyrn! Enjoy your trip as well

When we came back from crabbing at around 6 pm, we ate some delicious pigs feet with korean salted tiny shrimp, aka seojut. My mother boiled the pigs feet with some ginger and then threw them in the fridge to firm up and cool down. They make a great snack with beer and it's fun to stick feet in your mouth Then finally today for lunch we ate samgyupsal or pork belly outside in the backyard. It's hot outside, but since we ate under the shade it was really cool. We also cooked the samgyupsal with some sliced king oyster mushrooms, whole garlic cloves, and sliced onion. We used the same wrapping that we used with kalbi (lettuce, sesame leaves, watercress) and we also added some sliced jalapenos and fermented soy bean for dipping. here's my family eating: mom, dad, baby sis, and her boyfriend (you'll see a lot of him)

We went crabbing the next day and here are some random pics of what we caught, found, ate, and drank (nasty natty bo) oh and we went fishing a few days ago and this is what we caught: trout and "sunnies"

Their is a korean grocery store in the area that also has a food court in it. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera, but I ate a lot of korean blood sausage and blood sausage soup aka soondae and soondae guk. But here's what I brought home with me from the grocery store. Green tea latte mix, konnyaku, and some korean bakery items. whoops, I took a pic of some soondae guk that we took home to my father to eat