SheenaGreena

Spring: lots of "mountain" spring vegetables that are turned into namul (korean seasoned vegetables that are used as banchan) and seasoned very simply. Summer: naeng myun done mul naeng myun style or bi bim naeng myun style or the naeng myun done with the radish kimchee juice and tops (oh my god heaven) sam gye tang - chicken stuffed with jujubes, chestnut, gingko, and some sweet glutionous rice. Most people think its should be eaten during winter cause it's a hot dish but it's actually supposed to be served in the summer time. BLUE CRABS - served raw and seasoned with soy sauce or with gochugaru, ginger, garlic, and sugar. or my favorite - steamed with old bay and stuffed to the gills with eggs. fresh sashimi - every time I visit my parents for the summer, my mother, sister, and I go get a whole flounder. My mother takes off the flesh and cuts it up and serves it with some shiso leaves, chojang, and sliced up hot chiles. After we eat the sashimi, we take the bones of the fish and the leftover fish and make a really spicy fish stew out of it and drink shots of ice cold soju whoops, forgot to add corn. My family eats A LOT of corn in the summer. My mother will make my father and I buy about 4 dozen ears of corn when we find a farm that sells really sweet and tasty ones. Fall: fall reminds me of korean thanksgiving so I think of lots of rice cakes that my mother tends to make this time of year. THe one that she usually makes around this time is one made of sticky rice with lots of chesnuts, pinenuts, raisins, and brown sugar mixed in. I have no clue what it is called. Winter: lots of hearty stews and soups like kalgooksu, mandooguk, and tteok guk. I like the summer the best, cause thats when I see my parents the most (and get the best food).

easy salsa that tastes great everytime roast some tomatos, onions, jalapenos, and a clove of garlic. When the skin is blackened, throw it into a food processor with some lime juice, cilantro, and salt to taste. After the mixture has been pureed, I mix in some unroasted, chopped up tomatos. My boyfriend loves this and I make it for him a lot. other good options are to throw in some raw or roasted tomatillos, reconstitued ancho chile or guajillo chile and some chipotle peppers

soon she will be eating a cream cheese and tomato sandwich with some baby crabs in it! I wish my mom baked cookies when I was younger, but nope never did. I think I got some cut up fruit or kimbap, or dried squid with peanuts. delish! Now I go to college and after school I come home and like to have toast with butter and sea salt or maybe some yogurt.

There is nothing remotely "gross" about that; it's not like Saltines are seasoned with chicken boullion and garlic salt. They're just neutral flour squares liberally salted (and most people know salt goes well with sweet). Not much different than pie crust without the fat, or a crispier cone without the sugar. For a similar effect I used to cover ice cream with oyster crackers. It's funny how many innocuous flavor combinations or preparation methods elicit an "ewwww, gross" just because they differ from the norm. I always used to make grilled peanut butter sandwiches. Same as the regular one but it makes the PB gooey and melted inside of buttery, grilled bread. (Even better if you add Trader Joe's corn-chile tomatoless salsa, or a few mini-marshmallows before throwing in the panini press ...). But just the phrase "grilled peanut butter" used to draw so much gaggery from friends with timid palates. I bet mini ice cream sandwiches on Saltines, refrozen to harden, would be good. ← This reminded me of something I used to do. At McDonald's, I'd dip french fries into chocolate sundaes. ← or french fries into wendy's frostys. That used to be gross when I was younger, but now it seems like everyone loves it - including me

I was watching one of jacque pepin's "fast food my way" episodes for the 5th millionth time last night and he made a lovely dish of warm poached chicken with a tonnato sauce. Hopefully I am spelling tonntato right. It was basically a tuna sauce with some anchovies thrown in and some water and oil. It looked absolutely delicious

thanks for the awesome soondae pic, did you eat some? I love that you can get it so fresh in korea. In maryland we get it freshly steamed and it's sliced to order but here in boston it's sold presliced ....very very dry I love the yut man!!!!!!He always has those big metal scissors that he cuts the yut with and does little hand moves with. I bet your kids love yut, I wonder what it is made out of? That stuff is pure sugar. I've seen another similar candy sold at the korean folk village that is brown and clear. Does that ring any bells? I thought that stuff would rip out my fillings when I ate it as a kid. I love reading this blog, it brings back so many memories and makes me miss my mom especially my sister always pushes out her takuan too, she hates it. I love it though!

good to see that you eat ssam correctly. I notice that a few people like to eat it like a taco, but you are in fact supposed to put the entire package in your mouth at once.

I love that jai is giving the peace sign in the photo...very asian! Thanks for showing us another pic of him, very cute <3 I love when egulleters show us cute pics of their kids

I hate any milk that comes from any animal's teats so I will pass. (: how much different does it taste from cow's milk? sweeter? does it taste like goat cheese?

I'll answer everyone's questions about the raw crab, because I love it so much and well doddie doesn't. Its made with crabs that aren't soft, they are hard shelled regular crabs. The texture of the raw crab is very similar to mucous. It sounds disgusting, but oh my god the taste is so good...its incredibly sweet and goes really really well with hot rice. My mother makes them every summer with blue crabs that my father and I catch in the chesapeake bay. You can season them with gochujang, garlic, ginger, and some sugar or you can season them with just some soysauce, ginger, and garlic. Either way is really popular, I could never choose a favorite preparation. To eat the crabs you simply break off a leg or a claw, put it in your mouth, suck on it, and take the shell out of your mouth. Or you can dig out the claw with the metal chopsticks. Another popular way to eat them is to take off the body shell (with the seasonings and maybe roe still attached), put a spoonful of rice in it, mix it up, and then spoon it back out into your mouth. oh and by the way, your inchon meal looks delicious. I think that fish you ate was mackerel pike, I ate some for dinner last night. I also think that one of the spicy namul dishes you ate was toraji or bell flower root also, what happened to jai? I wanna see more pics of the other cute son! eta: good to finally see a pic of you!!!!!

speaking of fruit......do watermelons still cost like 35,000 won over there?

Here's a Pic of what they look like. They look a little bit like shiba inus, right? Their faces aren't as wide though. Pic of eating dogs just a warning, be careful when you scroll down to see the next set of pics....you might not like it

all this confusion!!! I'm making korean jook ....I guess it's korean cause I'm using korean rice. ANyways, I'm cooking it in a rice cooker and then I'm going to cook it over the stove after its done and add some chicken and green onion to it. Oh and I'm using white rice and about a tsp of black rice to make my jook purple oh and phage, hobak juk is the way to go! My mother used to buy packets of it from the tea section of the grocery store and it would taste good even then. It was more of a gruel, but it tasted like candy...so good!

thanks for the recipe, I think I'll give it a go this weekend. The combo of pineapple and cucumber sounds divine. What herbs would you throw on it? cilantro? mint? vietnamese basil?

in korea you eat dog, because it's supposed to be good for you. I think it's supposed to be a good food for men that makes them strong. You also only eat one dog in korea, it looks a little bit like a shibu inu. Hey, If I saw someone in this thread from my home town I'd be the same way, chit chat away

doddie, aren't those crabs used in the soy sauce preparation as well like the bigger ones? When they are that small you can put them in your mouth, chew on them, suck on them, and spit them back out

what a wonderful adventure!!!! I love that for a vacation you decided to visit other people's homes and share their traditions for lunar new year. Do you have a recipe for that pineapple and cucumber salad with the lime cilantro dressing? It sounds absolutely heavenly and I would love to make it

I'll answer for doddie, because I bet she is asleep. I think its 1:30 am over there now. Yes, banchan are all the little side dishes and they are served with every meal.

I am another person who uses cooked rice, that way it takes about 30 mins or until the kernals or rice split cream of wheat is a breakfast food....I have no idea what it tastes like

I am cooking a spanish-inspired dish called Chicken Afritada. I'll post pics and recipe later. The Filipino soup with the tamarind you are talking about is called Sinigang. I'll be featuring that tomorrow. It's Billy's favorite. Ice cream in a hamburger bun is available from any sidewalk ice cream vendor cart. My sisters and brother love it but I don't eat ice cream. I don't like sweets at all but I do bake a lot of cakes, muffins, cookies, etc. for my men. LOL My own family, a family of sweet tooth, calls me the black sheep of the family. When my dad buys a gallon of ice cream, he gets a small pizza for me. ← yes, sinigang!!! It looked so comforting and delicious in the photo, especially with a few head on shrimp floating on top. Im not a huge fan of sweets either, but I just finished half a pint of ice cream for breakfast - holy moly I think i'm going back to sleep. If that sinigang soup isn't hard then I think I will try it out (after seeing you make it). I have never cooked with tamarind before so this should be fun

eat them with korean chopsticks, because our chopsticks are skinnier and easier to stick down into claws and such.

that's because it's hot!!!!!!! ahahah, you can't slurp up noodles without being noisy, unless you are slurping up cold noodles like soba. I would never eat soba noodles loudly....spicy ramen on the other hand..... rebecca, at least he wears "indoor only" shoes. I wear house slippers and he wears house shoes. We both take our outdoor shoes off before we come into the apartment. Yes I have tons of shoes outside in the hallway There is just something about walking around in a public restroom and dragging those same shoes into your house that just irks me...ugh

so you are a filipina, but I'll just stick to calling you doddie instead (: so what are you cooking up for us now? I have never made filipino food, but I would love to give it a try. I am more interested in the traditional foods as opposed to the spanish-influenenced ones...even though those look delicious. There was a filipino recipe in saveur magazine during the holidays that looked delicious. I believe it was a soup where tamarind was one of the main ingredients. I don't know if you get this in korea, but did you see bizarre foods with andrew zimmeran (I forget how to spell his last name)? He went to the phillipines and sampled a lot of foods. Do you guys really eat ice cream in a hamburger bun?

anyone try Vosges haut chocolat? I checked this stuff out at a store in harvard square the other day and it looked awesome. I was trying to get my boyfriend to buy me a bar, but it was $7.49. I want these matcha curry powder goji berries I'll pass on this one: ummmmm eta: I'm not really a chocolate snob, I just eat what I like and I like: callebaut, el rey, valhrona, and cote d'or. I love the valhrona bar with the candied orange peel in it!

If you go to the organic/natural section or a health food store they have packets of "fake eggs" that come in cardboard boxes. Basically its a seasoning mix with some "yellow" powder that you dump onto stir fried and scrambled tofu. Tastes good to me, so that might be an option for you. My best friend is vegetarian so she likes to eat vegan stuff sometimes and she loved the fake scrambled eggs. If you want to eat fake crab meat, I would go to a chinese grocery store because they specialize in fake meats. I see fake chicken, fake abalone, fake sea cucumber, and thats not even the half of it. It'll probably just be wheat gluten with some spices added.