A Vegetarian Meal at the Tofu Village

(apology for the bad photo quality...took them with my phone)

Before you decide to "un-bookmark" this food blog because it hasn't been updated for so long (by my obsessive blogging standard, that is), I would like to appeal to you by saying that I was stuck in Gapyeong for a week in the middle of nowhere with 80 high school students so I had no chance to eat out at a restaurant. I endured cafeteria-style food that served almost all pork entrees. As soon as the conference ended, we ventured out to Seoul and went to a restaurant that specializes in tofu. Yum!

The freshly sliced tofu with scallion kimchi and bean sprouts. The tofu tasted very fresh and it dispersed in my mouth. The scallion kimchi had too much red pepper flakes that I was afraid I would have flakes stuck in my teeth.

We also ordered a seafood scallion pancake. The pancake easily served four people. I think the restaurant made it with too much flour and egg though. When Mom makes it, she mostly uses scallion and other vegetables so it tastes more healthy. She also uses less oil, whereas this pancake was quite greasy.

The soy bean stew, called Chung Gook Jang, is slightly stronger in flavor than the traditional ddenjangjiggae. It's an acquired taste.

Kongbiji is the thickest soy bean stew. It has chunks of tofu/bean curd. Yum!

There were so many tofu-based side dishes and vegetables on the side.

Overall the food tasted fresh and healthy, except maybe for the scallion pancake that was cooked in too much oil.

Nothing Beats Home-Cooked Meals

Because we eat out so much in Korea (Dad doesn't want Mom to be too tired while prepping the food), I don't appreciate Mom's cooking enough. But mind you, she is a phenomenal cook. I only hope I have endowed at least some of her good cooking gene...haha.

For our last supper as a whole family this month, we decided to forego dining at a fancy steakhouse for a good, healthy home-cooked meal. Mom made so many different delicious banchans that I thought the dining table was going to break!

Her "Tofu jorim," or sliced tofu cooked in a pan with chili paste, garlic, scallions, onion, and beef, is to die for. It tastes similar to mapo tofu except without MSG, much less sodium, and not as liquidy. Also the tofu is sliced bigger rather than into tiny cubes that just disappears in your mouth. Mom lightly pan-fried the tofu beforehand for that crispy surface. The tofu is als sprinkled with chili powder, which added extra spice to the dish. The tofu was a bit too salty to eat by itself, but it made a stupendous banchan with rice. Nom nom nom. I must remember to ask her to cook this again before I leave!

This is sort of a "specialized" dish that only a few people (i.e. someone like me with odd diet/appetite) would enjoy. In fact, Mom modified the original recipe to cate to my taste. These are different vegetables marinated in soy sauce. Clockwise from top are onions, peppers, mushroom, garlic, and lotus root. Traditionally, Koreans add beef to the dish, called "Jangjorim," and put lots of sugar to the lotus root to make it sweeter. But I am not a fan of beef or sweet stuff. The lotus root is crunchy and I love that texture. The mushroom is chewy, while the onion and the garlic have been marinated in soy sauce so they lost their bitter/spicy flavors when eaten raw and instead has somewhat of a sweet taste.

Mom also oven-baked mackerel, which Dad said was too dry, kimchi, and other "red" dishes. Thanks Mom for the wonderful dinner!

Don's Bogam: Enjoying Korean Food in NYC

While visiting NYC, Audrey and I went to Don's Bogam, a Korean BBQ restaurant in K-town. Since it was only lunch, we didn't go full out with Korean bbq but had a relatively "light" lunch. I had the Seafood tofu soup and galbi combo, while Audrey ordered Nanmyun, a cold buckwheat noodle. Korean food is such a feast!

The first thing that came out were an array of "banchans," or small dishes to be eaten with your main meal. Noshing on banchans is a great way to satisfy your immediate pang of hunger as you wait for your meal. I love the variety in banchans so you get to pick and choose whatever you desire!

The appetizer we ordered was pajeon, Korean scallion pancake. I had to dab it with napkin to wipe off the grease, but the pajeon was thick enough that you could taste the flavors. Crunchy surface and soft inside!

This was a HUGE meal for a person: a full pot of soft tofu soup (without the spicy red chili sauce, thus the clear color of the broth) and a full serving of marinated beef ribs. The galbi was a bit fatty but I made sure to eat the meat around it. The tofu soup needed more tofu flavor. A bit of galbi and a spoonful of tofu soup = happy Jane!

Eat Till You Drop

When I tell my friends I have been in Korea all summer, the typical questions are as followed:



"What are you doing?"

"How are you liking it?"

"How's the food?"



The last question stumps me every time. How am I liking the food in Korea? A simple answer is: it's too great.



I love food, and I am a voracious eater. The only reason I am able to maintain my body is that I am a rather picky eater as well. There are many things I avoid, both for my health and my eccentric taste bud. For example, I don't eat pork (bacon, pork chop, sausage, etc.) because pigs scare me. I realize it's quite irrational, but this fear prevented me from consuming pork for so long that if I tried eating it now with a blind eye, I still can't do it because it upsets my stomach. I also dislike anything greasy (fried food), creamy (cream-based sauce), or chocolatey (I'm partially allergic to chocolate...).



Despite my picky taste, I still love trying new food. And today I got to eat food--albeit not new--until my stomach erupted in pain from overdose.



I crossed the Han River twice today instead of relying on public transportation; I foresaw that my day would involve lots of food consumption so I emptied my stomach in advance by exercising. I first met up with a guy from Harvard and had Chinese food. The two of us ordered mapa tofu (spicy tofu with minced meat), vegetable fried rice, noodle in clear broth with seafood and vegetables, and shrimp dimsum. The food was decent, but I realized I am not a huge fan of Chinese cuisine because it uses too much oil.


The small serving was mapo tofu was just the right sized because I didn't eat it much--too much chili oil floating on the top. The fried rice was likewise a bit too greasy for my liking.

I have had better shumai (shrimp dimsum). Nothing special with these ones, except for the oozing juice inside.

We then shared the famous Meal Top patbingsu, which, by the way, is a summer dessert I am absolutely sick of because of this article on patbinsgu that I wrote for Chosun Ilbo. I had to visit 15 cafes in 5 days, and my stomach was in pain for a long time afterward.



After this feast, I did my last day of tutoring with Belle, and her parents bought me dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant called Anna Bini. The tomato salad with fresh mozzarella was so delightful! I usually don't like cheese (that's actually one of the many food items I dislike), but I could eat this mozzarella every day! It was chewy and savory at the same time. Great texture!



The cream pasta with squid ink black noodle is the restaurant's signature dish, but since I don't like cream-based pasta, I only had a bite to be polite.



I ordered black olive oil pasta, which surprisingly wasn't as oily as I had expected! I liked the seafood in it, especially the lobster tail.



I am also not an omnivore, so I only had two pieces of steak. The only time I can tolerate steak is when it's cook to rare so that I can taste the tenderness of the meat, but this was cooked to medium. Bleh.



We ordered this chicken, broccoli, and bacon risotto at the end because the parents thought the food wasn't enough. The mom put a heaping spoonful on my plate to try, and I had such a difficult time finishing it because the chicken was fatty and the risotto had bacon in it :( I didn't want to seem wasteful so I ate the whole thing.



Anyways, my stomach is crying inside right now because it is full of food, but I am just eating as much as I can before I leave Korea because the food at Harvard doesn't even compare. And I need to get a little fatter, anyways.