Domestic Goddess

Ling, I love mooncakes! The last mooncakes I've had was mailed to me from Singapore. A dear close friend found out that I love the ones with pumpkin seeds and salted cuck eggyolk in them. They're heaven and perfect with hot tea. The mooncakes I am used to are usually brown with chinese motifs and characters on top of it. Your mooncakes look absolutely delectable!

I'm glad I've helped made you feel better, Soup. I found out that you can buy Bundagee in cans. Want me to send you some?

Never forget the favorite - pigs in a blanket. Sausages wrapped in phyllo dough or biscuit dough.

In the Philippines, the usual party/office fare would include: pork skewer barbeque bihon noodles (stir-fry rice noodles with meat & veggies) fried chicken (but cut up in little pieces to make it look more) hotdogs on skewers topped with mini marshmallows on the end (Usually stuck around a pineapple) a type of sandwich usually club sandwiches or pimiento-cheese a filipino dessert like maja blanca, bibingka, puto, etc.

Hanaro Mart Restaurant - the local grocery stores has a fairly-sized restaurant inside it's store. My kids ate donkatsu (breaded pork chops) with udon noodles while I had gukbab (boiled beef blood stew). Jangsujeon Restaurant - the restaurant only serves two things - whole chicken rice porridge and spicy buckwheat noodle salad. The chicken sliced open and is cooked with dates, ginseng and whole garlic. This is covered with rice and cooked for a long time. The chicken is then served flat on a platter while the rice soup (now similar to a congee consistency) is served beside it in a large clay pot. Side dishes include picked radish and radish kimchee slices. Pizza Hut Restaurant - we ordered our favorite thin crust pepperoni pizza (making sure they put the pepperoni on top not under the cheese -> korean way). We also had their appetizer sampler platter that had chicken quesadillas, beef ribs, baked potato skins and buffalo wings.

That is so cute Hiroyuki!

Thanks for the welcome torakris! I promise to post our weird korean pizzas when I get the chance. I do envy you for living in the land where I have dreamed of dining (I love japanese cuisine!).

Zenkimchi, you are so right. There are a couple of restaurants that me and my hubby are okay with - The Outback Restaurant and Marche Restaurant. It is laughable when you tell them that pizza is never served with pickles in the USA. Then they ask why? LOL

After reading all these comments, I OFFICIALLY WANT ONE NOW. Of course, if I find one here in Korea, that will be a miracle.

Last weekend was the Janghowon Peach Festival held by the Cheongmicheon riverside. There were a lot of traditional korean performances, kiddie rides, fair parlor games and lots of food to eat. Here are some of the goodies (and gulp! weird food being served there). One of the many restaurants who had their tents there. Grilling fish (the kind I have absolutely no idea) Various offal, meat, seafood for stir-fry (usually with the wickedly hot pepper paste) Giant oysters (about a foot long each) steamed and ready to be served. Roasted pig that is served sliced over a bed of shredded cabbage with lots of red pepper dip, slices of raw garlic and onions on the side. Gukbab - beef blood stew with lots of cabbage, soybean sprouts and hot pepper. They say it is a good tonic to cure hangovers. Steamed mussels and fish paste kebabs. A seafood grilling restaurant. You indicate the shellfish that you want and you get to grill them directly on your table with hot coals underneath it. Yummy! Steamed cuttlefish stuffed with chives and onions A truck selling steamed king crabs at the back. From right to left: steamed mussels, boiled silkworm larvae (bondegi) and chicken BBBQ marinated in hot pepper sauce (takotchi) This stall was actually on the roadside above the river and served veggie pancakes called "pajeon". Steamed ginko nuts and roasted chestnuts for snacks on the go. Various corndogs (one actually wrapped in fishpaste). Boiled ricefield snails (that you suck to get the juicy morsel inside) and more of those *shudder* silkworm bugs. Finally japanese cakes filled with red bean paste.

Pan - RE:Tamarind - In the Philippines we call this sampaloc. We use unripe tamarind fruit to flavor our sour soup called "Sinigang". It is a flavorful sour soup loaded with veggies like string beans, eggplant, radish slices, taro root, onions and tomatoes. The main meat of the soup can be pork, chicken, beef, shrimp or fish. My youngest son, Billy, is called sinigang boy because he can eat all kinds of sinigang every meal EVERY single day.

Ludja - LOL, no, the recipe is not korean. It's Filipino! I'm a Filipina married to an American, residing here in Korea. Weird eh? I_call_the_duck - the shrimp paste is just plain salty fish paste. We get it here in korean food stores. Back in my country, the Philippines, we call it bagoong. It is slightly fermented but not as much as the chinese version one.

OMG! I just about fell over my chair laughing at these posts.

Grub, I have fixed Coq au Vin several times since I made it (the original version) last year. My eldest son has developed a taste for it that I would buy a bottle of red just to fix it for him. You're right, this thread is also giving me ideas for future meals. My youngest loves cheese and I think Cordon Bleu would just be right for him.

Please don't get me started on korean pizzas. Ever had pizza with pineapple, dates and maraschino cherries along with the meat and cheese? Not to mention, the ever present canned corn, chewy wood mushrooms, and pseudo-tomato sauce. *shudder* My kids like the korean potato pizza (not the sweet potato but the real spud) with bacon on top. I admit it is quite good but the makers always include corn (even though I tell them in my passable korean to NOT INCLUDE IT!). Sigh, at least we got Papa John's pizza here. Oh, in Korea, pizza is always served with slices of pickles. Eh?

bvmisa - my parents are from Cavite city and of spanish origin, hence they would eat any kind of fruit with the viand and rice. No kidding, my dad would eat bananas with adobo and rice / even mango with fried fish and rice. I found out later in my various surfing explorations that there are certain provinces in Spain where people would normally eat fruit with their meals (not after as a dessert).

Sheena, you can have all my marinated raw crabs (my korean friends still keep insist I try one). I agree with you on milk. I cannot drink it even if it chilled, warmed or spiced. I do however eat tons of cheese.

I see that the markets or palengkes from the Philippines. Since I am currently based now in Korea, the most interesting phenomenon here is the weekly street market. All cities and towns have this vast street market that happens every 5 days. Here in my town of Janghowon, the street market happens on dates that end at 4's and 9's. I have taken a lot of pictures of our street market. For those who would like to see the Janghowon street market pictures, pm me your addy and I'll send the Kodakgallery album link to you.

Kent - this type of roe is highly flavorful (I dunno if there is a slight fermentation involved), it is wicked with steamed rice. Aaaah the simplicity!

So ture avocado, so true. My mom makes it with crushed pineapple on the bottom, I make mine with whole pineapple slices. I wish I had maraschino cherries because it makes the cake so festive.

I have eaten pig snout and trotters, they're a delicacy in the Philippines, especially deepfried. I have eaten other weird and wonderful stuff like monitor lizard (taste like chicken), crickets (in adobo sauce), and cave mountain snake (I was actually pregnant and the bosses in China said it was good for he baby). Oh and also raw sea urchin roe fresh from the sea urchin (a fishermen showed me how to break the spines off, crack the shell open and scoop out the roe from the insides (tastes like salty omelet). I would however refuse to eat the following korean foods: 1. Raw octopus on a stick (I'm afraid it will get it's revenge by hanging onto my throat and I'll die a slow horrible death). 2. Raw crabs marinated in soy sauce or red chili pepper sauce 3. Silkworm larvae (looks like roaches to me... shudder)

In he Philippines, we just steam the crabs with very little or no water at all. My mother says that when you steam crabs, they exude water and that is sufficient enough to cook the crab. For dipping sauce we would take finely mince garlic and mix it with white vinegar, salt and pepper. We eat crab with steamed rice. I too, am crazy about crab's mustard. Though lately I've back off since it is high in cholesterol.

I'm not italian but Filipino. I just wanna add that in the Philippines, one of the baby's first food is rice porridge called "lugaw". It is rice simmered in chicken broth with chicken bits in it. The soup is infused with ginger, onions and toasted garlic. It's my favorite comfort food.

I usually bake something sweet for my boys (including hubby). This month, I've been hooked on pineapple. I have been making making pineapple pie and pineapple-upside down cake for dessert The latter got rave reviews and dozens of request for me to make again.

Cooked popcorn on my plastic dimsum steamer (with cover & steamer mat) in my microwave. Now there's a nice hole over the strainer mat. My dad came over to visit me from Manila and saw my steamer and started laughing. He did the exact same thing back home.