Marinated vs Non marinated BBQ

February 10, 2010 By Anna 2 Comments

Did you know that Koreans prefer Non-marinated BBQ over Marinated? (and seems to be vice versa for non-Koreans)

Koreans like non-marinated ones better usually because you need to bbq with better quality meat for those kinds, even restaurants...so usually non-marinated beef are more expensive than anything else! Exception will be pork since pork...is cheaper...

Marinated ones may have more strong (and sweet)flavor, but they can go by without using good quality meat. Marinated BBQ include Jaeyookbokkeum (spicy pork), Galbi/Kalbi (marinated ribs), Bulgogi...etc. [Read more...]

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Ramyun-Instant Noodles

January 30, 2010 By Anna Leave a Comment

One of 'single' easy meal (but can't say it's healthy) is ramyun.
So many kinds to choose from and all different variations to cook it too. What's your favorite?

These days you can basically find ramyun everywhere...grocery store...convenient stores...wow...
Not all ramyuns/ramen are spicy so you get to choose from non-spicy, mild, and very spicy!

When you want something really spicy Shin Ramyun is the way to go, but I personally think Shin Ramyun is TOO spicy. But many Koreans like Shin Ramyun.

[Read more...]

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Mandu/Dumpling Molds

January 29, 2010 By Anna Leave a Comment

My goodness...I didn't know there were dumpling molds...I'm so behind.
I found some. If you can't get the form right, try it and let me know.
Other wise...do old-fashioned way ^^ and use our Mandu Recipe.

Dumpling/Mandu Molds on eBay

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Instant Fresh Cooked Rice-HatBan

October 5, 2009 By Anna Leave a Comment

Instant Cooked Rice

If you don't want to cook your own steamed rice or just don't have time to, there's a solution for you over at Asian Markets. [Read more...]

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Korean Binggrae’s Banana Flavored Milk

April 26, 2009 By Anna 19 Comments

Korean Banana Flavored Milk
This is Binggrae's the Banana Flavored Milk! This is Korean version packaging of the milk. I'm not sure how many non-Korean would have tried this, but this is one of the 'traditional' Korean drink and its popularity has been going strong even after 35 years. A lot of Koreans have nostalgic childhood memory of this milk since most Koreans went to public bathhouse/sauna regularly and right after the nice hot bath I'm sure many people made it a ritual to drink this Banana Milk.
As you can see the packaging is itself is very interesting and easy to remember.

I visited Binggrae's site and they say that the original bottle design was inspired by Korean traditional jar called Hanggari like below.

[Read more...]

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Miyuk Gook- Seaweed Soup- The Birthday Soup Background Story

March 24, 2009 By Anna 1 Comment

Whew, with hectic work schedule, daylight savings time starting, and desire (and only desire) to start working out again...whew..hope everyone still remembers our blog...sigh...I promise...I'll be better!

Miyuk Gook, Seaweed Soup, is known as the Birthday soup. Just like birthday cakes, it's a ritual most Koreans would follow. One would ask the birthday person if he/she ate Miyuk Gook that day.

Miyuk SoupSome actually skip a birthday cake, but still eat Miyuk Gook and the other way around...OR BOTH!

Recently it was my friend's, Gwen (Hi, Gwen!), Birthday. We happened to talk about Miyuk Gook and started to wonder about why Koreans actually eat Miyuk Gook. Why Miyuk Good for birthdays???

I guess I was very ignorant about it till now. So thanks to Gwen, I researched and is as follows:

Miyuk Gook is a birthday soup but also given to post-partum mothers who just had a child.  This is where it was all connected. So let me explain about the new moms first.

[Read more...]

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Korean New Year’s Day Traditional Meal Part II

January 4, 2009 By Anna 1 Comment

So here's part II of our New Year's Day Brunch. We'll introduce rest of our New Year's day Brunch Menu.

Galbi jjim
Korean braised/steamed short ribs or Galbi Jjim. This is one of our favorite Korean dishes. Agree?
With Daikon or Korean Radish you steam for quite some time to get it tender and all the sauce soaked into the meat. Yummm...and the next...
[Read more...]

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Korean New Year’s Day Traditional Meal Part I

January 1, 2009 By Anna Leave a Comment

Happy New Year!! Hope everyone's wishes and goals have come true for the year of 2008.
I can't believe it's already 2009... and I thought year of 2000 sounded so weird back then.

Usually Koreans celebrate the same day as Chinese New Year. We count lunar calendar also. However, since most Korean in the States get their time off during the New Year's day and not the Chinese/Korean New Year, we just started to celebrate according to American Calendar (But, we still celebrate our own little Chinese/Korean New year too.)

So back to food! First of all, this was our New Year's Day Brunch...little heavy huh?? Hah Hah.
New Year's Day Brunch
Let me explain little bit more about each dish now. After the introduction we will post each recipe in the very near future. Alright here we go!
[Read more...]

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Our 2008 Thanksgiving Dinner

November 29, 2008 By Anna Leave a Comment

My mom (Young) used to cook all turkey and ham...etc but she got smart.
We ordered from The Boston Market since last year (or was it couple years ago?), so less hassle for the elders who used to prepare our Thanksgiving dinners... or so it may seem.

These days it's very convenient that you can order turkey or ham and just reheat it for couple hours. We ordered both Turkey and 2 chunks of ham from The Boston Market along with cornbread. It cost us little over $100. Our dinner was for a family size of about 20 people. Everything was good!

Other markets offer holiday dinners too. I personally like Giant's Thanksgiving Dinner. For about $40 you get a Turkey, dinner rolls, mashed potato, gravy, cranberry sauce, and stuffing! They say it's good for about 8 people but I think it's way more food than 8 servings. Plus their cranberry sauce was really good! Yum.

Well back to our own Thanksgiving Dinner...

Turkey
Young garnished the Turkey and prepared all other sides.
[Read more...]

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Korean Cuisine vs Korean Economy

October 21, 2008 By Anna Leave a Comment

KimchiKimchi is affecting Korea Economy. According to Straitstimes.com, Korea's Kimchi trading has dramatically gone down and hurting Korea. These days economy is very unstable everywhere and Korea is not an exception. So, Korea is trying to tell the world that Kimchi is not the only thing that represents Korean cuisine. But I'm sure anyone who is reading this should (or will) know that there's more to Korean food. Some very unfamiliar and some very familiar. Meats, veggies, mixture, seafood, noodles, soups, etc....So many to explore!
Namul-Veggie salad
Unlike other cuisines, Korean food cannot be categorized into only one kind. Spices are used differently for different dishes to have a VERY different tasting dishes. Many might think Korean food is all spicy. But that's just a part of Korean Cuisine. You need to know that not every Korean loves spicy, spicy, and spicy. Also, some Koreans CAN'T EAT Kimchi!!!! Moreover, if there's one spicy dish, Koreans usually get something not so spicy to balance out.

JunsSpicy food certainly defines Korean cuisine but there's more to Korean food than all spicy. For example, Jap Chae is a stir fried noodle with lots of veggies, Namul is different veggie salads, Juns are fried mini pancakes(check out our posts of Hobak-Squash Jun and Donguranddaeng-meat Jun), various soups or Gook/Jjigae made with bean sprouts, radish, or beef broth and Kimbap, the rolls. There are so much more. We shall explore them one by one.

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