Over the last 4 years, I've developed a taste for Korean food. There are so many dishes that I just love now and often crave. The only problem has been that I don't know how to cook any of them myself. Lately I've been thinking, "Oh, if some nice Korean lady would just come to my home and teach me how to cook Korean dishes, I'd be so happy!"
Well, I can't believe my luck, but my dreams came true! There is an awesome sister in my ward who is a professional cook. She ran her own restaurant here in Seoul for 20 years and has been on cooking shows on T.V. here, teaching people how to cook traditional Korean foods. A few weeks ago at church, she told me (through a translator) that she wanted to come to my home and help me with my kids and housework because she could see that I had my hands full and she wondered how she might help. I was so surprised and thrilled!
I knew she was an awesome cook (she was the one who brought be myok-guk (seaweed soup) right after I gave birth). And so I asked her if she would come teach me how to make Korean food. She was so excited and I was too!
She has come three times so far and plans to keep coming and I am just having the time of my life! It is a bit crazy & hectic since I'm caring for Sarah and Caleb the whole time that I'm trying to pay attention to what she is doing, but it is still awesome! I'm loving it and learning so much.
So far, I've learned how to make myok-guk (seaweed soup), pa-jun (Korean seafood vegetable pancake, which is more similar to an omelet than a pancake), hobak-juk (pumpkin porridge), bibinbop (colorful vegetables & tossed together with egg in a bowl with rice), chop-chae (clear sweet potato noodles tossed with veggies & a little beef), dok-guk (rice cake soup), kimchi pa-jun (Korean pancake with kimchi - spicy pickled cabbage), and sam-gae-tang (chicken soup - a small chicken stuffed with rice, ginseng, chestnut, garlic, and Chinese date in a tasty broth). Is that incredible or what? And I'm still going to learn more!
Here she is, the fabulous Sister Kim, flipping pa-jun with an expert flip of the wrist:
Chop-chae:
4 comments:
That is so exciting!! I saw some dishes I love among your pictures and can only hope my dear DIL will someday share the secrets :) Korean, or even Asian, food is so complex and tasty and, I think, good for you, right?!
And I'm a little bit proud - I mean, pleased - to see the Tucson dishes over in Korea.
How cool is this?!? So awesome!
I love your blog Alisa, I think you should write a book someday. You're such a good writer.
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