Oh, summer.

Summer is a rough season for me.  I can't take the heat, and I'm already quite lazy, so combine them and it's over.  I don't cook as much (because I can't take the heat), and motivation is hard to come by.  Chicago also really did a number on me, and every day I miss the city a little bit more and wonder what life would be like not living on a coast. Midwest could be best.

My mom and I went out for dinner a few Fridays ago to a Korean/Chinese noodle shop.  They hand pull the noodles in the kitchen, and there is a window right into the dining room. I used to love that when I was a kid, watching the guys throw the dough and pull the strands apart, but at this particular restaurant, it was actually really awkward.  Our table was directly in front of the window and the place was super small, and I made eye contact with the noodle man ten too many times.  No thanks, guy.

I got the combination jajangmyeon (The Chinese version) and fried mandu, and mama dukes got the kongguksu (see below).  I can't ever eat fried dumplings and not think of Old Boy.  That movie made me want dumplings as much as Super Size Me made me want McDonald's french fries.  And trust me, as soon as that movie was over, we hit up a McDonald's on the way back.

Borrowed from: Maangchi!

My brother and I took my cousin out to eat last weekend, and she ended up getting the same cold soymilky soup.  It tasted like noodles in nutty, thick, creamy soy milk, and I am not a fan.

Viva la eating out in the summer time though.

And viva la legit Korean restaurants in New Jersey and New York.

Buffalo Wings

I don't think I ever had Buffalo wings, at least not any memorable ones, until Adam suggested we go to Tido's in New Brunswick when we first started dating.  Maybe that's kind of weird, being in your early 20's, having gone to college and not having eaten Buffalo wings?  Should I preface it with the fact that I hated getting my hands messy when I ate?  The rules have changed since because sometimes you can't help it, but I still only eat popcorn with two fingers at a time.  Those people who stick their whole hand in the bag/tub?  That ain't me.

Adam got me a deep fryer one Christmas, and it's gotten pretty limited use since - mainly because of space in our kitchen and bad air circulation.  Our entire apartment smells like a grease trap for DAYS.  He suggested we make Buffalo wings earlier this week and onion rings, so I agreed.

That was the first test batch.  We made just over two pounds of wings, and I didn't count them, but it might have been about 20, and they were absolutely amazing.  I googled a bunch of Buffalo wings recipes and ended up just melting equal parts butter and mixing it with Frank's Hot Sauce and a few hits of Tabasco.  We deep fried the wings for about 10 minutes per batch and then just tossed in the sauce mixture and ate away.

I used this Crispy Onion Rings recipe from Food and Wine, and they came out alright.  I let the batter, which called for cold club soda, sit for a bit longer than they suggested, since I was preoccupied with the wings, and maybe that's why they ended up looking nothing like those fluffy crispy creations on the website.  Also, the baking powder expired very recently - and we all know that shit is SCIENCE.  Once baking soda and baking powder expire, call it a day.

They tasted good, but were severely lacking in the texture. I never have club soda in the fridge, and when I went grocery shopping the other day, I picked up a bottle and Adam asked what it was for.  I told him I thought there was a cocktail I wanted to make, but could not remember.  I realized my subconscious was thinking  about this scallion pancake recipe that I saw earlier this week.  The batter is very similar to the onion rings.

Back to the Buffalo wings for a second?  Really, delicious.

My (vegan) Bap Story

Bap is Korean for rice (and apparently meal).  Bap, not like nap, but like pop.  Bahp!

I think I found A Bap Story though Bon Appetempt, and both are really great food blogs.  Eating Korean has been sitting on my living room table for the past three months from my local library.  I liked it so much the first time I took it out, that I took it out again assuming I'd run through the whole book.  Negative.  What's funny is I made the Spicy Cucumber Salad and Soy Seasoned Tofu from A Bap Story and thumbed through the posts on my iPhone when I probably had the recipes in the book.   I also could have called my mom, but she always sounds so suspicious when I make Korean food using any kind of recipe.  We didn't even own measuring cups or spoons until I made her buy some when I started making garlic bread sticks in the sixth grade.

Note to self: return the book this weekend and let others bask in the glory of Korean cooking.  Because not everyone has a nagging, but loveable Korean mother to call.

The smell of garlic, soy, scallions, sugar and sesame oil stirred together makes me think of my grandmother and my mother, being little and the smells of the kitchen.  It is nostalgic and magical.  Adam said our apartment smelled like hibachi when I was cooking.  Homeboy loves hibachi.

 This is so distinctly Korean to me, and so light and crisp and delicious.  I am eating some right now as I type this blog entry.  I thought I would save time and use the mandolin and I sliced my finger and nail even worse than I did with the knife did when I made those Zucchini Keftedes.  It's throbbing as I type.

Steam!

The tofu burned a little bit after the soy sauce mixture hit the pan.  It was too high, and I didn't have enough liquid.  Fine with me though, because I can eat almost everything burned.

I'd eat this entire meal again tomorrow.  If only my mom had brought me more rice the last time she visited.  I can never get it in a pot like the rice cooker, and the last thing my kitchen needs is another piece of equipment.

Gettin' my japchae on

My mom texted me the other day to see when I'd be home because she wanted to bring over Japchae.

Fun fact: I brought this dish in for multicultural day in the fifth grade, and a classmate said "it was weird" and refused to eat it.  I remember that more clearly than the first time I was ever called a chink.  Both of y'all are probably raving about your latest experience at the Korean BBQ.  Thanks, America!

Anyway, I ate some of the japchae last night with dumplings from Prosperity Dumplings (50 frozen for $9! Five for a BUCK fresh off that gigantic skillet), and tonight I went a little crazy and ate the rest of it, along with some Korean ramen.  Like, noodles with more noodles - what's wrong with me?  I'll pay the price when I'm at work tomorrow, wishing I was dead and/or at home on my own toilet.

p.s. Jane was not siked when she saw my Korean bodega/mini-grocery store kimchi in the fridge, especially when she brought her own.  Here is Jane in all her glory in 2008, at one of the worst botanical gardens ever - my Mother's Day gift.  She's so fly.  I love you, mommy, no matter what I say about you when we hang up the phone!

Cookbooks - WHY MUST YOU TEMPT ME SO?

So I hit up one of my local Borders after work, coupon in hand, hoping to peruse a Chicago travel book, as I am planning a summer vacation there, but like many other Borders, the store was closing!  It was a rundown madhouse!  Had I known this store in particular was closing, I would have hit it up much earlier.  You know what happens with "EVERYTHING MUST GO" sales?

People like bargains, and so do I.  50%-70% off?  CONSIDER ME SOLD!  Don't you know how much reading costs?!

I know, I know - another cookbook?  I can't help myself.   I would also be lying if I said I thumbed through more than four pages of this $10 discounted book before snatching it up.  Keywords:  food, blog, cookbook. Done.  And I totally judge a book by its cover - and it was so clean and crisp!  And GREEN!

UPDATE:  THUMBED THROUGH SOME MORE PAGES, NOT THAT IMPRESSED : |

I also picked up A Tiger in the Kitchen by Cheryl Lu-Lien.  The one line summary reads as follows: a book about the author's quest to recreate the dishes of her native Singapore during one Lunar Calendar year, as a way to connect food and family with her sense of home.

One of the things I dread the most when I think about losing my parents, other than the obvious, is the losing the sense of Korean culture I have through food.  Who is going to make me kkakdugi?  How will I be able to go home and know that a pot miyeok guk is sitting on the stove?

Han Nam Chain

So what do people do when they don't have easy access ethnic grocery stores?  Order everything online?  Search in your local store's ethnic isle?  Mitsuwa Marketplace is a few minutes away (and essentially has always been a few minutes away), and I swear a Korean grocery store is opening up somewhere within ten miles every few months or year. 

Do you want Dride Pink Shrimp?

In case you forgot this was an Asian grocery store...

Wait, did you forget about a toilet seat cover?

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.