SheenaGreena

in korea we eat them in dwaeng jang chigae (basically miso soup-stew) and they are good as a kimchi. My mother grows them in her garden and they make a nice addition to a lot of korean dishes

mmm yummy. everything looks good except for the "soupy bulgogi" it looks like every bulgogi served at korean buffets here in the us - yuck! I love that fresh lettuce salad. My mother makes a great version in the summer time with fresh lettuce, watercress, mugwort, and a few other greens that she grows in her garden. Its really refreshing and makes a good side salad with grilled kalbi, rice, and some macaroni salad. Thanks for the soondae shot - nothing is better than a steaming bowl of blood sausage covered in plastic wrap to keep it moist. I'm so jealous! about the corn....korean corn is horrible. It tastes like corn that you would throw to pigs and horses. It gets really sticky too and sticks to your teeth when you eat it. Also koreans eat corn one kernal at a time and they pick each one off with their fingers. There is nothing I dread more than seeing the corn man run up the highway to the side of the bus selling his stinky steamed corn. I'll take the dried squid man anyday

you're a vegetarian? I hope you enjoyed all the namul (veggies). I could eat a whole bowl of fernbracken and bellflower root - gosari and doraji. Now is a great time to go to korea because all the mountain veggies are coming in and taste fantastic.

thanks for the soy sauce crab pic. oh my god I want to put a bowlful of rice in that sucker and scoop all the innards out......DELICIOUS so did jason and hiromi enjoy the crab? hey is that boiled pork boiled in some sort of seasoning? I think it's done with some dwaengjang paste or maybe it's just boiled/steamed plain? all the food looks great, I love rice with grains and stuff added to it - its great winter food and really good for you. Apparently old people love to put grains, legumes, beans, etc in their rice

those are great when they are prepared as a banchan. I think they are sauteed in a little oil and salt....whichever way you do it, it should be done pretty simply and eaten with some rice

the movie is called "no reservations" (I think) and it's about catherine zeta jones falling in love with her sous chef - aaron eckhart.....BORING I won't pay to see it, but I will probably get it on netflix when it comes out

how about if I chop them up and braise them with some pork belly? does that sound kinda gross? I bet it would be good smeared on some sort of meat - chicken maybe. I'll take some SIMPLE sweet ideas if you have any...Im horrible at baking

my mother gave me way too many dried persimmons and I don't know what to do with them. I've been keeping them in the fridge (in a plastic bag) for about a month now and I've only eaten 2 so far. I need to do something with them, because well I don't like the way they taste now. They tasted way better a while ago. Do you have any suggestions on how to use them for cooking? Can I keep them in the freezer? Do you have any asian inspired recipes for using them?

sorry!!!!!! didn't know that it wasn't anywhere near the n. korean border....don't know where in the heck that came from I should've looked at a map/checked my facts before I made that post

are there any specific cuisines you want to try out? I can suggest restaurants around those if you'd like.

this is why I take my contacts out BEFORE I handle chiles of any kind (especially habaneros). I used to chop chiles and then take my contacts out afterwards (after washing my hands about 50 times) and my eyes would still sting. Now I play it safe and wear my regular eye glasses and wear latex gloves

so since you guys are in china and your wife is korean, are you going to go to korea? Also, since xi'an is near the north korean border, did you see any north korean restaurants? ps: reading this post on an empty stomach (or on a full stomach which is what i have now) is making me incredibly hungry. I don't think I have ever had real chinese food in my life and it's about time I do a little exploring in boston. I've only been exposed to ja jang myun and a few americanized chinese dishes. nowadays ja jang myun isn't that fancy, because you can get it delivered to your house for like $5 or less. It's also easy to make at home now because all you need is a packet of noodles and a packet of sauce and then you add some veggies or pork.

oh and don't hate me for this one my fellow marylanders...but one summer all my dad and I could catch were those baby crabs. Of course they aren't worth eating steamed, but we did take them home anyways. My mom took half of the batch and marinated them in soysauce, ginger, and garlic and the other half was marinated in korean hot chile flakes, ginger, sugar, and garlic. The crabs are supposed to be eaten raw and were the perfect side to put the whole shell in your mouth, suck, and then spit back out. DELICIOUS. we also went fishing a few times and usually caught rockfish and croaker. These fishes were just scaled and lightly panfried and salted- which is a traditional easy korean way to eat them. Its also good to smear the fish with some gochujang and fry them or eat them in a spicy fish stew with lots of mugwort

absinthe in france and some frites deep fried in horse fat in belgium

I made this the other day and seeing as how I had no ground pork in the house, I just threw some pork belly in the food processor and used that. I also changed a few things like using ketchup, gochujang, dwaengjang, mirin, and some gochugaru. it turned out delicious and I will definitely try it again and maybe next time I'll stick with using more chinese ingredients

starfish? I wonder what that tastes like looks like the silkworm larva are way bigger in china than they are in korea and more "crunchy"- as I'm sure you know, korean silk worm larva is stewed until it is unrecognizable and can be smelled a mile away. stupid question, but is your wife korean? You seem to know a lot of korean and yoon hi sounds very korean. oh and does the original version of ja jang myun taste anything like the korean version?

that or you run the eggs under cold water (while in the pot) and then shake the pot from side to side so the eggs crack under water...makes the eggs easy to peel and works every time for me

oh and kimchee cream cheese sounds like the BEST thing ever

In korean it's called "nu run gee" or something like that. Its good boiled with some water or roasted barley tea and eaten after dinner (good after eating greasy foods). so jagarner53 (don't know your real name), how long have you lived in san fran? I used to live there when I was in elementary school in persidio and I loved it. I remember all the good food and that awful earthquake. Oh and your mochi might've been bad cause it was old. Mochi is only good when it's eaten the day it was made...after that it is pretty crappy. Since you are a baker, have you ever thought of making your own and pounding your own rice? Also it's nice to see that you like the green tea mousse pocky. I love the stuff and usually eat off the mousse part before I bite into the stick.

not fish, but I do crab in the summer with my family in maryland. Nothing is more simple than tying a chicken wing to a piece of string and than throwing that into the chesapeake bay. The problem is pulling up the chicken on a string up very gently so you can scoop it up with a really really long net. The most we ever catch is about 24 crabs after crabbing for 24 hours. No kidding..... When I lived in san francisco (a long time ago) we used to catch rock crabs with a cage and we could catch about 100 in less than 12 hours. sometimes when we go crabbing,we catch a few "baby" crabs. Last year I threw a few into a can of schaefer (after cutting it in half) and then threw the can into a fire and ate beer steamed baby crabs. Yes its illegal and don't worry I only ate like 5.

maybe banh beo? Then again, that is probably not it. I will do a google search for you, cause I'm so interested in finding out what it is. It sounds yummy nakji is better at this since she lives in vietnam.

was there little dried shrimps in it by any chance?

oooh, they have this totally legit 'raw ramen' snack called 'Mamee noodles' in Asia/Australia. You crush them into bits while they're still in the bag, open the bag, fish out the msg sachet, then toss it all in. good stuff. ← Oooh they do this a lot in Korea! My kids have taken the same route. In the supermarket, they actually have noodle snacks speicifally made for this (made to crush, and then add the seasoning packet). I'll post some pics later. ← Please please do! I havent seen these here in Chicago but I want! ← all you need to do is buy a packet of ramen, open it up, crush the noodles, add seasoning packet and shake. You don't need to buy a special bag or type of "snack ramen". I usually use shin ramen for this and I confess that I ate 2 bags of this last week

I don't celebrate easter, but I will be eating lots of cadbury cream eggs and I will also be making cochinita pibil.

I used to be able to buy those Korean buckwheat noodles at a now-closed oriental grocery in Edison, New Jersey. I've never seen them anywhere else - do you know where they are sold? thanks! ← I don't know why you couldn't find them at any korean grocery store. They are usually sold in the dry noodle aisle or the frozen section in packets with a frozen packet of stock. I like the frozen product better, because its way easier to use