Friday, June 29, 2007

kalguksu (knife noodles)

"Kal" means knife "guksu" means noodles. Kalguksu means hand made, knife cut noodles. My hubby and his co-worker went to the restaurant and hubby said that the kalguksu tastes good so he invited me to go there and have a taste of the noodles. I don't like kalguksu much because of the big noodles. But hubby said that the noodles is made of wheat and it's delicious so i will surely love it. And yes, i did! Since then when we are craving for kalguksu, we always go in that restaurant eventhough it's far from my place.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

jjukumi (small octopus)

Me and hubby like watching the program on tv wherein they show the food and restaurants that people enjoy. As usual, hubby saw jjukumi (small octopus) and said he wanted to eat some. The next day, i went to the market and couldn't find those small octopus that he wanted to eat so i went home with bigger ones. As soon as i arrived home, i told him that i bought jjukumi and said he wanted to eat them. While i was cooking he saw these big octopus and said that those are not what he wanted to eat. hehehehe... He said that those are not jjukumi (small octopus) but nakkji (octopus). What's the difference? Well, the size. hehehe... Anyway, he ate too much. The next weekend, he went to the market with me. He said he will find them but we came home carrying nothing. The people in the market said that there's no jjukumi in this season. hehehe...

I put jjukumi in boiling water for a few minutes and cut. Dip jjukumi with chokochujang. Just as easy as that.



kopchang (broiled beef intestine)

Kopchang (broiled beef intestine) is what i was eager to eat since i saw on tv. I've been to kopchang restaurants for many times but hubby always ordered different menu. Last night, we've decided to go to one of our favorite restaurants to eat daeji kogi (spicy korean pork barbecue). When we went there, the owner of the restaurants said that the meat is all sold out. That's quite true. The restaurants is always full whenever we go there.


That was already 10p.m. and we were hungry so when we saw this new kopchang restaurant just next to the daejikalbi restaurant, i just suggested hubby to try their kopchang. Hubby knows what kind of menu i really wanted to eat because i told him before so he ordered this.





Just wait for the intestine to turn brown then cut into bite pieces and dip in salt with sesame seeds.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

samgyetang (chicken porridge)

In summer, korean people eat samgyetang (chicken porridge). This is how to make my own samgyetang.

Put some glutinous rice inside the chicken with whole garlic, 2-3 pieces of jujubes and these different kinds of wood (tree barks) that my mother in law gave me. Add some green onions and boil for an hour. It's more delicious with chestnuts but i don't have available chestnuts at home.

My mom in law gave me much of this tree barks that i was talking about and told me to boil water and put some. I did before but i can't drink it. Oh, by the way, i believe it's medicine because i tried to cook some when my hubby had a stomachace and he felt better.

When i went to the restaurant and had samgyetang, i saw that they put this kind of wood and it makes the samgyetang tastes better. Instead of throwing away, i put some when i make samgyetang.



cherry tomatoes (mini tomatoes)

We called them mini tomatoes (cherry tomatoes). I think they are cute, don't you think so? I don't like tomatoes but i eat this mini tomatoes. It's not because they are cute but because they are delicious. We don't need to put sugar when we eat them unlike the big tomatoes.

Kochujang (chili pepper paste)

Kochujang is ground kochu (pepper) or it is a korean chili pepper paste. It is made from glutinous rice powder mixed with both powdered, fermented soybeans and red peppers. It is used in various korean soup, and also used in dipping vegetables such as cucumbers.
I bought this kochujang in the market. Although my mother in law gives us kochujang and dwenjang (bean paste), but hubby likes the kochujang that i buy in the market.



Saturday, June 2, 2007

ice cream

Summer is here. What i like most in summer is because i can eat ice cream. And in summer, ice cream is always on sale in the mart. Those aloe vera flavor is $1 each and the rest are mostly 50-70 cents. Well, would believe that i bought all of them for only $3? Except the one in the cone. If i'm not mistaken, i bought that for $1 or 80cents.

strawberry juice

Me and hubby are night owls so it's hard for us to get up early in the morning. Everyday we are always running out of time. If hubby has a little time to have breakfast then i prepare cornflakes and milk but he usually doesn't have time so i prepare fruit juice. It depends on what fruits are available in the season. Now a days, strawberries are cheap so i always have them at home. I always buy a box of strawberries. In this picture, the strawberries are small. It doesn't matter coz i only make them for juice.



I just put 2 bottles of yoghurt (angpang) and blend. No need to put sugar because strawberries are sweet.

tomato juice

Tomatoes are cheap now a days so it's time for hubby to have tomato juice for breakfast. I bought these tomatoes for only $2. These tomatoes are good for making juice because they are sweeter and have less seeds.


I put 2 bottles of angpang (yoghurt) and a little sugar to make juice. Angpang makes the juice more delicious than any other yoghurt brand. And it gives more nutrition than any other yoghurt brand. Well, it's much expensive, of course. 5 bottles for $1. Other yoghurt cost $1 for every 25 or 20 bottles.




yujacha (citron tea)

Yujacha (citron tea) is one of my favorite drinks in winter. Just put 2-3 spoons of yujacha in a cup and pour boiled water. No need to put sugar because it's sweet. I buy mine with honey flavor not sugar. I heard that it's good for colds so i always have this yujacha at home in winter. I saw this in the refrigerator and because it's now summer, i don't think we'll crave for this drink so i use it when i cook meat specially steak.

cornflakes and milk

Hubby and I are night owls. He's always running out of time in the morning so he doesn't have time to eat breakfast. I just give him cornflakes and milk or sometimes fresh fruit juice. We love this almond flavor and because hubby doesn't drink milk so i buy this black soybeans milk.



sae woo (shrimps)

I bought this sae woo or shrimps in the mart. I like shrimps but i don't know how to cook them except fried so i don't buy. Since they are on sale and there is free sauce so i tried to buy worth $10. I just cooked them with garlic and put the sauce and voila we have now side dish for our dinner.



acorn jelly

My co-worker asked me one time if i eat acorn jelly. I know acorn but i've never heard of this acorn jelly that she was talking about. She said her mom made much acorn jelly and would like to give me some. The next day, her father came to pick her up and brought this acorn jelly for me.


chicken (red combo)

When i'm tired and lazy to cook dinner, i always asked hubby what he wanted to eat. That means, we have to order some food. We have this book of the restaurants in the neighborhood with the telephone numbers. These restaurants are mostly chicken or chinese restaurants. When we look at that book, we always come up choosing to order chicken. Now a days, the red combo from kyochon is our best choice. Red combo are chicken legs and wings. It tastes hot, sweet and tender. Koreans don't think that chicken is a side dish. They eat chicken first, and eat rice and soup after having the chicken. Hubby doesn't eat rice after eating chicken. See that chicken in the box? If i don't mistakes, maybe i only eat 2-3 pieces of legs. Hubby can eat all the rest so there's no more space for rice.

Oh! by the way, everytime we order chicken, it always comes with a can of cola and pickled radish.


green tea

Koreans never drink tap water. We have to boil some water and put something on it. I sometimes put dried corn and jujubes but usually, i put green tea. My mother in law sometimes put wheat or tree barks which sometimes she gives us some. She always says that it's good for our health.

My hubby's aunt gave this green tea when we visited her on her birthday. She said it's real and pure green tea from her farm. She sells them but gave us for free of course. You don't believe me if I say that I just sprinkle a little amount of it when i boil water in a big kettle but the water looks dark and tastes green tea.

Just imagine how much i spend for buying green tea, jujubes or dried corn if aunt didn't give us this tea. We drink much water a day. It's true that i boil water everyday in a big kettle.

Well, thanks to aunt.