Kimchi and Soba

There is a Korean owned bodega across town that shouldn't even be called a bodega.  It is one of the few reasons I would want to live anywhere other than the same apartment Adam and I have been calling home for four years.  They sell amazing homemade kimchi for like $1.50!  I guess I'm supposed to say my mom's kimchi is the best, but I don't think it is.  My mom's kkakdugi, however, is the best.

Kkakdugi does not get the attention that kimchi gets, so don't feel bad if you are not cultured enough to know about it.  In fact, feel terrible about yourself.  I think the main difference between the two is that kimchi is made from cabbage, and kkakdugi is made from daikon.  The internet tells me the same thing, so that's all you need to know. The texture makes all the difference though.

Anyway, I was hungry and wanted kimchi.  Sometimes I just eat these Korean bowl noodles - yes, the kind that just require boiling water - just so I can have some.  I knew I had soba noodles, so I googled "kimchi, soba" and came up with a recipe for bibim guksu, from a Korean food blog whose last entry was in 2007.  I didn't actually follow the recipe because 1. the topping ingredients are not in my crisper and 2. any recipe that says 'thumbnail' of anything is not something that has to be followed.

I used (too much) gochujang, rice vinegar, sesame oil and brown sugar and some of the soba water as the sauce, left the kimchi on the side and then topped it with green onions.