Category: Food (Page 9 of 22)

Korean food and recipes

Kimchi Jjigae

2015/06/15 / Nic / 12 Comments

The thing is, he learned how to make kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew) from me, and I learned from Maangchi!

When we lived in Sydney there were times that we’d eat kimchi jjigae for a week because we were so obsessed with it. We’d get really good quality pork and add in extra stuff. I think the good memories we have for that time make us long for that type of kimchi jjigae too.

My mother in law (and so then my sister-in-law) make a simpler, thinner, healthier kimchi jjigae and cut all the fat off the pork and don’t add any sugar or much sesame oil. While it’s better for us health-wise, we do miss the way we make it. Hugh is going to make it sometime because he is longing for that taste.

Also, because he can make kimchi jjigae well, Hugh is convinced he is a “master chef”, although he can barely make anything else…

Big Chopsticks

2015/06/05 / Nic / 14 Comments

We were at a Japanese restaurant the other day so the chopsticks were bigger and rounder than Korean metal ones. I felt very clumsy using them. Korean ones can be a pain to get used to, because they are flat and small, but once you can use them well it feels more precise and it’s hard to switch back.

Motel TV

2015/05/08 / Nic / 5 Comments

So much watching people eat on Korean TV.

We’ve been in Seoul for another project and got home last night. Will be trying to catch up on videos and comics over the weekend. (Fingers crossed, still dealing with some health issues).

More Cookies

2015/04/20 / Nic / 16 Comments

Since there isn’t really a baking culture in Korea, for some Koreans (my husband in particular) tasting real home made cookies can be like a religious experience. In Korea, cookies (or biscuits in Australian/British English) are just store bought ones and even ones in cafes are not that good. Whenever we are in Australia Hugh demands more and more cookies. There are a lot of people living at my parents’ house so he was very concerned about other people eating the cookies. Several times I caught him trying to hide the container of cookies in our room.

It’s also interesting comparing childhood experiences with Koreans in regards to cooking. For example, baking is a relatively safe activity to do with children and my siblings and I were able to bake and make cakes and cookies from an early age. Since most homes in Korea don’t have ovens, it isn’t possible to get children baking at a young age and other types of cooking (stove top cooking) are more dangerous for young children. Not only are baking skills not learnt early on in Korea, but even buying simple baking items like measuring cups and wooden spoons can be difficult.

Did you learn how to bake when you were young?

Retro Korean Candy

2015/03/01 / Nic / 4 Comments

We try some old Korean candy:

What candy do you remember eating as a child?

Japchae Hotteok

2015/02/16 / Nic / 22 Comments

This was amusing to me because usually I’m the one that is horrified by weird food combinations in Korea, but this time he was annoyed by an unusual combination. To me the hotteok tasted really good, it was nice and savoury. But for him it was sacrilege. He insisted that hotteok is supposed to be sweet. There are definitely more unusual combinations of Korean food in Seoul, but the strange combinations of Western food has infiltrated all of Korea. Like the sugar on garlic bread, or corn and broccoli on pizza, and don’t even get me started on Italian food.

Also the mixing of Korean and foreign food can go horribly wrong. The word “fusion” used to seem exciting and promising to me, but these days it makes me shudder. I’ve had way too many bad experiences with fusion food.

He was so outraged by this hottoek. He even tasted it and said it tasted terrible, but to me it was pretty good! Hopefully there is a little bit more understanding between us about what it’s like seeing your culture’s food combined in a weird way.

This japchae hotteok is sold in Hongdae and we spent quite a lot of time in Hongdae on our recent trip to Seoul. Here is the first vlog from our trip:

Do Honey Butter Chips taste like bad butter?

2014/12/27 / Nic / 7 Comments

This is the latest craze in Korea.

While I’m sure lots of people genuinely like them, we found them to not live up to the hype.

There are always many crazes in Korea, much more than in Australia, which I think relates to them being a small country and the way society is here. Many things that are not actually that good, especially foods, become very popular for a while and then disappear again.

I’ve also heard that the way products come to being popular in Korea can be different to many other countries. For example in another country there may be snacks made by a very small company, a start up company, but their product is so good that word of mouth spreads and they get bigger. The snack or food becomes popular because it’s good and the creators of it believe in their product and are passionate about it. In Korea, there are very big companies that dominate all industries, so when they want to make a good snack they can just throw money at it and create something and sell it whether it’s good or not. Smaller businesses don’t stand a chance against them. So if someone out there has made an actual good version of honey butter chips, it’s too difficult to promote against these huge companies that control everything.

Have you tried these chips? What chips do you think are nice in your own country?