Bibimbap-on right
Korean food is amazing!
Hwang Ho Nam and his wife Kyeng Suk lent me a rice cooker and gave me several typical Korean side dishes. Kyeng Suk is an excellent cook and she gathers a lot of the fruits, vegetables, nuts, leaves, fish, and other foods from this area to make her dishes. The round yellow vegetables is pickled radish (dan moo tchi); the leaf is from sesame plants, which is then soaked in a special sauce; sweet potato leaves are the thin green strips; kimchi is the red cabbage on the plate; and dried Sardines are the little fish. On the far left is a spicy/sweet red pepper sauce (Co tchoo tchang), which is used for dipping vegetables, fish, and other things. Black grapes are in season right now and they are absolutely delicious! Coffee comes at the end of every meal and everyone here seems to like it very sweet- it seems to take the place of desert. On our hike in the morning, we have been collecting chestnuts that have fallen from the trees. Kyeng Suk showed me how to steam them so that the shell is softened and it becomes easy to scoop the rich chalky nut out with a spoon (two chestnuts are shown on the bottom right).
Bibimbap has been my favorite dish thus far, although I have loved the sushi rolls, soups-"guk" (kimchi soup, clam soup, bean sprout soup, ...etc), and different types of fish.
Everyday, I learn about new dishes and it is very exciting! Bread and sweets aren't a huge part of the diet here so I will have to figure out where to satisfy those cravings, but overall, sampling more of the Korean Cuisine is going to be a new hobby for the year!
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