Domestic Goddess

Peter - those octopi heads that you were talking about - I think what you had were TAKOYAKI BALLS. The good ones usually come with bits of chopped octopus in the batter and come with a delicious sauce and topped with fish flakes. I'm sorry what you had was disgusting, if you do see them again or if you ever travel to Japan or Korea, try any takoyaki balls stand on the street and you'll be amazed at the delightful contrast of tastes and texture of the octopi balls.

The Philippines is a great place to visit if you are looking for seafood eateries. Right in Manila we have bamboohut restaurants lined by the sea wall where there are freshly caught seafood. Basically, they are called Turo-Turo (point-point). You point at what you want and they will cook it for you on the spot. No extra charge for the cooking. You have a dizzying choice of snappers, groupers, tuna, mahi-mahi, shrimp, crab, squid, curacha crab, crawfish, stc. A platter of shrimp will set you back about 4-5 dollars. That's about 30 pieces of shrimp. Gives you an idea how cheap it is. If you do come to the Philippines, I will have my family show you around. My youngest sister, a foodie like myself, knows the best food places in town. Philippines also abound in cheap lodging and travel fare. You only need to look out for petty thieves and purse snatchers. But it's a shopping galore place too. A decent shirt for 2-3 bucks and jeans for 5 dollars.

Like Cadbury, I also make it with ground pork, mixed with some chopped shrimp for that wonderful asian taste. Filipinos have a vegetable one that consists of 90% bean sprouts (we call it Lumpiang Toge). We lightly fry the bean sprouts with some oil thinly sliced onion, chopped garlic and salt/pepper. I mean very lighty stir-fry. The sprouts are then cooled, rolled into the wrappers like the rolls above, deep-fried and then eaten with a vinegar-garlic dip. My favorite!

This Haupia recipe is so remarkably similar to a Filipino dessert called Maja Blanca - Maja Blanca is a steamed pudding made with cornstarch and coconut cream. Sometimes, whole corn kernels or a can cream of corn is mixed in the cooking process and makes the dessert/puddding more tasty.

McAuliflower - Half and half pies? That's a great idea! I would have to go with the berry one though to pair with the apple. Pecans are not that accessible in my part of Korea. I do get a lot of almonds and walnuts at the local street market.

Gekkani - I was thinking of another flavor altogether. Any ideas? If if I go for a completely different item, any suggestions what to make?

Daniel, Suzy and sheetz, I've been taking notes and will be coming up with the final list of menu items for the Thanksgiving dinner. I have learned a lot from reading this thread and all your posts/suggestions. I am def. gonna try the chestnut stuffing (koreans love chestnuts!). I promise to post pics of the food later.

My hubby's boss and wife wants to throw an 'authentic' American Thanksgiving. They want to serve turkey, stuffing, trimmings... I mean the works. They asked my help with regards to fixing the turkey and the pumpkin pie. The pie I can handle, but I have never fixed/baked a turkey before. Any tips? Recipes? Do I brine it or not? Do you have a simple stuffin recipe that is good and tasty? What other side dishes can we prepare aside from the cranberry relish? I do appreciate all the help I can get in here. I promised to take a lot of pictures.

I have given silver chopsticks and ivory chopsticks to my mother (who promptly displayed them in her antique display case). I personally like the korean metal ones over the plastic chinese ones. I used to find it really hard to manipulate them, now I can even eat slippery noodles with them.

From Wiki - The majority of Korea's soondae can be categorized as blood sausage. The most common type of soondae is made of potato noodle (dangmyon), barley, and pig's blood but some variants contain sesame leaves, green onion, fermented soy paste (dwen-jang), sweet rice, kimchi, bean sprouts, in addition to the common ingredients. The other meats steamed with the blood sausage are chitterlings (intestines), liver, spleen, tongue, heart, etc. The variation of the meat depends on the vendor and her generosity. I usually nod my head vigorously when asked if I wanted the other steamed offal meat.

I am debating whether to give homemade apple pies (which we did last year) again or go with a different baked treat this time.

Chryz, the last pic of the crab dwenjang jjige looks like the ones served here in Janghowon. Here's another tip for the pajeon, instead of whole leeks/green onions, try slicing it diagonally at an angle so that you get thin long slices. That way, when you mix it in the batter, the pancake will be nice and flat. It will also make it so easy to break apart with chopsticks when it's cooked.

3-5 huge pieces of green mangoes, peeled, sliced and dipped into sauteed fermented shrimp paste. I can finish everything in about 30 minutes. My mouth is watering at the thought of it.

Ok, here's baring my soul (well the shopping one... LOL) Do you go to several different grocery stores? Yes, I go to one store (Hanaro Mart) for canned goods, bottled drinks and veggies (and they deliver it to my doorstep for free!). Another store (New World Mart) I go for our meats (hubby is American and is a voracious carnivore - so are my 2 sons). We buy a lot of chicken, sliced & ground pork and our favorite lean beef (which is so inexpensive, I am surprised at the prices). Do you clip coupons? No, but I do appreciate some stores here who just attach the coupons on the items itself and there's no need to clip them anymore. What do you usually buy at the grocery store? Usually meat, veggies, canned goods, householde items like laundry soap, dishwashing liquid etc., bottled drinks, toiletries, etc. And oh, freshly baked bread (Hanaro Mart has an inhouse nakery). Do you tend to buy more meat or more produce? More meat, I'm afraid. Are you too ashamed to make purchases from the "reject bin?" Not at all, sometimes there are great buys in there and all you need to do is to cut away the soft mushy portion or none at all. Do you make a list? Yes, but sometimes I forget it or sometimes I see other things not in my list and my grocery cart is soon laden twice than what I intend to buy. How many refridgerators and pantries do you have for food storage? We got one fridge (came with the furnished apartment) and about 3 3-level cupboards for our pantry. Do you enjoy grocery shopping as much as I do? Yes, I def. do. I can go grocery shopping almost everyday.

I hear you Pat. I would save the best bits (for me the crispy skin of fried chicken or pork belly) for last and savor every crunch.

Reefpimp et al - I am LOL and ying with laughter with all of these posts. I would confess using my kitchen scissors to death too. When my mom came over to visit me from the Philippines, she was appalled at the way I would use my scissors to cut: noodles chicken pieces of seaweed wrapper meat into bite-size pieces for my 5 year old etc. etc... Then when she left Korea, she brought home 2 exact replicas of my kitchen scissors so she could do the same things that I have done.

You know you're Filipino when.... ← Almost perfect. Two things missing: the garlic and chilies in the vinegar, and the mountain of rice to go along with the crispy-fried package of bacon! ← You guys caught me... I almost forgot... Eating a slab of lechon (roasted whole pig) skin with almost an inch fat stuck to it... a bowl of crispy fried chicken skin... scooping up rendered fat/oil from a pan where you fried bacon or pork belly and drizzling over rice.... heaven!

A whole package of pork cracklings dipped in vinegar A whole package of bacon, fried to a crisp Cutting away the fat around my hubby's steak and eating it. Cutting away the fat from my son's pan-roasted crispy pork belly and eating it. I could go on and on but I can actually feel my blood pressure go up.

Comeundone - that is one cool cake. My youngest (who is 5) said that that was the coolest cake he's ever seen. Now he wants one for his birthday on Sunday. (smacks head).

Megan, I would just like to add that I am truly enjoying your travelogue with all it descriptive posts and absolutely heavenly food pictures. Thanks for taking us with you.

I love all the flavors of Nissen Ramen (shrimp, chicken, etc)... In Korea, I like the beef stock ramen and the mild mushroom ramen soup. In the Philippines, I love Maggie beef soup and Lucky Me Batchoy soup bowl.

I have just found this thread and found a lot of familiar fruits (guava, santol, rambutans, langka, durian, etc.) from my country - the Philippines. I'm really homesick now for some guavas, rambutan, fresh langka, oh I could go on. Then again, being here in Korea gives me a chance to try different fruits like persimmons, gingko nuts, succulent peaches and pears. My friends gave me some tiny wild strawberries called snake strawberries. Pem Talgi (which literally means snake = pem and strawberry = talgi in korean).

I'd like to cook for: Terry Pratchett Isaac Asimov Edgar Allen Poe I'd cook a full-course steak meal with apple pie with ice cream for dessert.

When I splurge... Godiva chocolates. When I just need a fix: Hersheys' kisses Krackel Herseys' dark chocolate Nestle crunch What I miss: Black Magic chocolates (deep black chocolates a relative brought home from his many travels when I was a little girl).

Apple Cobbler with Caramel Sauce