eG Foodblog: Domestic Goddess - Adobo & Fried Chicken in Korea

[Domestic Goddess]

More scenes of Korean life and culture.

There was a first full moon raffle held in the Hanaro Supermarket. The first price was a home entertainment system (complete with a huge plasma TV). The key difference with raffle draws in Korea, you HAVE TO BE physically present in the raffle to win your prize (should your name be called for one of the prizes).

The raffle was held in the backlot parking yard. There were singers and dancers performing before the actual drawing of winners.

Even furry friends came in to see the show.

Hanaro ladies man the coffee urn, handing out free coffee to everyone.

I didn't stay to watch the raffle, even though I had two qualifying tickets. They were calling out the raffle numbers in korean and I didn't have Jai to translate for me. So I headed home.

[Domestic Goddess]

Guess what I made today? Homemade Corned Beef.

That is one of the things we miss so much from the Philippines - corned beef. In my country, little cans of corned beef can be bought in the little mom & pop stores (called sari-sari stores, "sari-sari" means myriad in Tagalog). In the big grocery stores in Manila, we have lots of imported corned beef from the US and even from Europe.

Here in Korea, I have to ask my parents to send me some or if somebody was coming over to visit, to bring dozens of Argentina corned beef for us. Then hubby suggested I make some. So I called my mom (who use to make corned beef to sell to augment my Dad's income) and got the recipe from her. Here are my efforts.

I marinated the meat in salt and spices for 3 days. After that, I rinse the meat and boiled it in more spices and a potful of cider. The meat simmering away...

Take the meat out when the liquid is almost gone and let cool.

With two forks, shred all the meat. Billy took this picture for me.

2 kilos of beef yielded this (yeah, more stuff to cram into my freezer).

So for lunch, I fixed Filipino Corned Beef fry. In a pan with a little oil, saute minced garlic and chopped onions.

When the aromatics are cooked and golden, add the corned beef and mix thoroughly. Stir-fry for about 3 minutes and then serve.

You can serve it with rice or in a bun like this.

[Domestic Goddess]

Tonight's supper is courtesy of eGullet member Blether.

Here is his Pork Roast with Cabbage.

Plated with my eternal garlic fried rice.

Maraming salamat (thank you very much) Blether! This is definitely a keeper.

PS. I caught Jai licking his plate after.

[miladyinsanity]

Tonight's supper is courtesy of eGullet member Blether.

Here is his Pork Roast with Cabbage.

Plated with my eternal garlic fried rice.

Maraming salamat (thank you very much) Blether! This is definitely a keeper.

PS. I caught Jai licking his plate after. 

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Aww...Does that mean you didn't manage to snap a pic of that?

[Domestic Goddess]

LOL, no May, I didn't.

Well the Leche Flan experiment today ended in disaster. I did the light stiring (so that there are no bubbles), strained the mixture and covered with foil (so that it won't get waterlogged). Sigh, it was hard on top and watery and eggy in the bottom. Hubby didn't dare laugh because I was ready to throw the pan out of the window. Well Napoleon had his Waterloo, I have mine - Leche Flan.

And no, I didn't take pictures of the accursed dessert.

[Domestic Goddess]

Snack time for me and the boys. I think it should be fitting that I end my blog with Korea's favorite snack - Ramyeon Noodles.

Noodles cooking away in my pot. I put slices of mushrooms, beef and a whole egg to liven it up.

Billy plays with mommy while waiting for the noodles to cook.

For our drinks, I served this unique aloe vera drink. At first, I balked at tasting it since I assumed aloe vera tasted nasty. When I finally did get a taste, it was suprisingly good and had little chewy aloe vera bits in it.

See the aloe vera bits suspended in the liquid?

And thus ends my food blog. I would like to thank everyone who has read, shared and posted with me. Your kind words, encouragement and words of wisdom I shall treasure always. It has been a privilege and an honor to be one of the eG Foodbloggers. Maraming salamat po!

And if any of you are in my part of the world, drop me a line and I promise to take you on a food/culinary tour around Korea!

Doddie and her men (Bill, Jai and Little Billy)

[prasantrin]

LOL, no May, I didn't.

Well the Leche Flan experiment today ended in disaster. I did the light stiring (so that there are no bubbles), strained the mixture and covered with foil (so that it won't get waterlogged). Sigh, it was hard on top and watery and eggy in the bottom. Hubby didn't dare laugh because I was ready to throw the pan out of the window. Well Napoleon had his Waterloo, I have mine - Leche Flan.

And no, I didn't take pictures of the accursed dessert. 

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Did you use your Turbo Oven to bake it? If so, I think that would explain your hard on top, watery on the bottom thing.

Thanks so much for doing this blog. I really enjoyed it, and it's nice to see an honorary Visayan out there for a change!

[Domestic Goddess]

Rona - I'm glad you enjoyed it. It was a lot of work (and eating) but also a lot of fun. I was going to say I wasn't Visayan but Caviteña. Then I saw you wrote honorary Visayan and I understood. Thank you also once again.

[insomniac]

Hey, Doddie, you can't kick me out now, my stuff's still spread all over the spare room

thanks for sharing your life with us, it really does feel like we've been living with you and your family.

back to reality, it's been a great trip,

namow from an honourary Igurot,

[CharlotteM]

Thanks for the window into your life, Doddie. It has been a great introduction to Korean and Filipino cooking!! I love arm chair travelling

[nakji]

Thanks so much for this peek back into the country that has affected my life in so many ways. Maybe someday I'll get back for a visit, and I'll insist we meet up for a sauna and some mul nangmyeon.

Until then, keep posting!

[Carrot Top]

Tonight's supper is courtesy of eGullet member Blether.

Here is his Pork Roast with Cabbage.

Plated with my eternal garlic fried rice.

Maraming salamat (thank you very much) Blether! This is definitely a keeper.

PS. I caught Jai licking his plate after. 

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It looks delicious. Another dish to be added to the Licking the Plate thread.

The people in the crowd at the outside function looked to be a different shape than people in similar crowds "here". It makes me wonder if it is due to diet in general, or maybe walking more in general? or it could be all that getting up and down to sit on the floor each day, really. Discomfiting as it may seem to those unused to it, that could be a good thing to do for the physique. (Might have to chop the legs off my dining table now for this excellent life-style idea . . .)

Thank you for sharing your poem - it was beautiful. I remember my one poem some teacher forced us to write around the same age, and it shows the difference between a natural poet (you) and a regular kid made to write a poem: "Kittens are big, kittens are small, some people don't have any at all. Kittens are cute, kittens are pretty, if you don't like them then move to a city."

Lacks a bit of lyricism, there, and yours sure did not. (Of course in later life I would have changed the last line of my poem to, "if you don't like them, then you are just sh*tty" but darn it all I didn't know that word at that age. )

Here in southwest Virginia, as someone leaves, those who speak the native dialect do say, (in a musical drawl with a smile while looking directly into the other's eyes "Y'all come on back to see us, now" and those are my sentiments exactly, Doddie, Most Excellent Domestic Goddess.

[MarketStEl]

Thanks, Doddie, for inviting us to be voyeurs as you went about your life this week. I certainly enjoyed the show!

Ramyeon noodles look an awful lot like Japanese ramen noodles, which have become ubiquitous in the US -- they're a staple of broke-graduate-student pantries everywhere because they're dirt cheap (a supermarket near me recently ran a 10-for-$1 special on two-serving packages) and versatile. I am fortunate enough to live down the street from a convenience store owned by a Korean fellow (there's a picture of it in my first foodblog), and that store stocks a decent selection of Korean products, including ramyun noodle soup in several flavors that the Japanese manufacturers don't make, including two or three hot and spicy varieties. I don't buy these that often because they're about 50% more expensive than the Japanese products at the supermarket, but I do love their flavors.

The store also stocks an aloe vera drink on occasion as well as plenty of ginseng products to boost alertness and mental performance, including one whose label says that ex-Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin drinks it. Or that it's used by the Russian space program. Or something like that. I've been having problems staying awake and alert in the middle of the afternoon lately; maybe I need to start drinking these.

According to a local discussion board I also frequent, the store is going to be replaced by a chain sandwich shop out of Chicago later this spring.

Good luck, and happy eating!

Edited March 11, 2007 by MarketStEl (log)

[Dejah]

Wonderful blog, Doddie. I enjoyed every picture and morsel.

One final question: Is Bill Senior of Asian descent? I will definitely make restaurant scrambled eggs from now on!

[insomniac]

Thanks, Doddie, for inviting us to be voyeurs as you went about your life this week.  I certainly enjoyed the show!

Ramyeon noodles look an awful lot like Japanese ramen noodles, which have become ubiquitous in the US -- they're a staple of broke-graduate-student pantries everywhere because they're dirt cheap (a supermarket near me recently ran a 10-for-$1 special on two-serving packages) and versatile.  I am fortunate enough to live down the street from a convenience store owned by a Korean fellow (there's a picture of it in my first foodblog), and that store stocks a decent selection of Korean products, including ramyun noodle soup in several flavors that the Japanese manufacturers don't make, including two or three hot and spicy    varieties.  I don't buy these that often because they're about 50% more expensive than the Japanese products at the supermarket, but I do love their flavors.

The store also stocks an aloe vera drink on occasion as well as plenty of ginseng products to boost alertness and mental performance, including one whose label says that ex-Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin drinks it.  Or that it's used by the Russian space program.  Or something like that.  I've been having problems staying awake and alert in the middle of the afternoon lately; maybe I need to start drinking these.

According to a local discussion board I also frequent, the store is going to be replaced by a chain sandwich shop out of Chicago later this spring. 

Good luck, and happy eating!

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hey hey Sandy, better be careful, Yuri Gagarin died in 1968

[Domestic Goddess]

One final question: Is Bill Senior of Asian descent? I will definitely make restaurant scrambled eggs from now on!

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Bill Sr. is a true blue American Kentucky boy (well man). He has some American Indian blood hence the exotic features.

[C. sapidus]

Doddie: Thank you for a delicious and delightful week, and for teaching us so much about your lives. You shared a diverse array of mouth-watering food, wonderful images, a talented husband, and cute-as-a-button kids, while providing a vivid slice of Korea and the Philippines. I need to try your “eternal” garlic fried rice, (probably with jasmine rice), but I’m still reeling from the array of banchan you showed at the restaurant.

Maraming salamat (which I hope means “thank you very much for a fascinating and highly enjoyable week”, or something like that).

[miladyinsanity]

LOL, no May, I didn't.

Well the Leche Flan experiment today ended in disaster. I did the light stiring (so that there are no bubbles), strained the mixture and covered with foil (so that it won't get waterlogged). Sigh, it was hard on top and watery and eggy in the bottom. Hubby didn't dare laugh because I was ready to throw the pan out of the window. Well Napoleon had his Waterloo, I have mine - Leche Flan.

And no, I didn't take pictures of the accursed dessert. 

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I'm sorry, Doddie. I honestly thought it would work.

You know, (and I know this is too late) but if Domestic Hubby can cook, then...why don't you give him the recipe and let him try?

I really enjoyed this blog, and I hope you do another! Or you could start your own blog!

[Kim Shook]

Doddie, what a fantastic journey you took us on! Thank you so much for your generosity! I loved 'meeting' your men and you and getting to see a bit of the world I never thought I would.

Kim

[Domestic Goddess]

Insomniac - if we had a spare room, you're welcome to crash in anytime. WE could play the eGullet games here together.

CharlotteM - you're welcome. It was my pleasure.

Nakji - sauna? Maybe (still have modesty issues *blush). Mul nangmyeon? You betcha!

Carrot Top - your quote "Y'all come on back to see us, now"made me giggle. It reminds me of the Ray Steven's song "Wildwood Weed".

"Wildwood Weed"

Wildwood flower grew wild on the farm

And we never knowed what it was called

Some said it was a flower and some said it was a weed

I didn't give it much thought

One day I was out there talkin' to my brother

And I reached down for a weed to chew on

Things got fuzzy and things got blurry

And then ev'rything was gone

Didn't know what happened but I knew it beat the hell

Out of sniffing burlap

I come to and my brother was there and he said,

"What's wrong with your eyes?"

I said "I don't know, I was chewin' on the weed"

He said, "Let me give it a try"

We spent the rest of that day and most of that night tryin'

To find my brother Bill

Caught up with him about six o'clock the next mornin'

Naked, singing on the windmill

He said he flew up there

I had to fly up and get him down

He was about half crazy

The very next day we picked a bunch of them weeds

And put 'em in the sun to dry

Then we mashed 'em up and we cleaned 'em off

Put 'em in the corn cob pot

Smokin' them wildwood flowers got to be a habit

We never seen no harm

We thought it was kind-a handy

Take a trip and never leave the farm

Big 'ole puff of that wildwood weed next thing you know

You're just wand'ring 'round behind the little animals

All good things got to come to an end

It's the same with the wildwood weeds

One day this feller from Washington come by

And spied one and turned white as a sheet

And they dug and they burned

And they burned and they dug and they killed

All our cute little weeds and then they drove away

We just smiled and waved sittin' ther on that sack o' seeds

"Y'all come back now, y'hear!"

MarketStEl aka Sandy - well, if that korean store ever does close on you, you just tell me. I'll send you several packs of korean ramyeon noodles. The hotter, the better right?

Bruce, a.k.a C. sapidus - If you ever fix the garlic fried rice,I want pictures! And the viand that goes along with it (you fix such delectable ones!). And my reply to your maraming salamat is "Walang anuman!" (don't mention it).

Miladyinsanity - nothing to be sorry about. I just think I am unlucky with leche flan. LOL But I am lucky with other Filipino food. Start a new blog? *faints*

Edited March 11, 2007 by Domestic Goddess (log)

[Domestic Goddess]

Doddie, what a fantastic journey you took us on!  Thank you so much for your generosity!  I loved 'meeting' your men and you and getting to see a bit of the world I never thought I would.

Kim

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Kim, thank you also for being with me all along the way.

[Domestic Goddess]

Since it is almost Easter and eggs are part of it... I'd like everyone to click on this Egg Link

[Carrot Top]

Since it is almost Easter and eggs are part of it... I'd like everyone to click on this Egg Link 

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Thank you, Domestic Goddess. Egg yolks are good for the face.

[amapola]

Thanks so much for taking us along this week, it almost feels like a very sad farewell, to see your blog ending.

One last question (you have been SO great and faithful in answering all questions!)- the minced garlic you use has such a yellow colour, almost more like minced ginger. The minced garlic I see in the shops here is much whiter, is there a difference between asian garlic and the stuff I know?

Thanks again- for everything. And maybe I'll try one of those aloe vera drinks one day, I always frown with disgust when I see them on sale, but if you say they're nice, who am I to argue

[Rebecca263]

Well. It's over, huh?

Esteemed Domestic Goddess, thank you very much for sharing your life in Korea with us, here on eGullet, this week. My Kiddle actually made something from a 'blog, for the first time! You've been so gracious with all of us, and your family and friends are so nice. Thank you, for letting us share your family and friends, and town. You are truly a Domestic Goddess!