The Thing About Korean Food

I was browsing thru Real Asian Beauty's (or RAB for short) Youtube channel and saw some easy to do recipes that we also make at home. I noticed she makes a lot of Korean food.

I watched one video where she tried to make the now famous Jjapaguri from the award winning movie Parasite.

. . . photo from https://sea.mashable.com

I was entertained and amazed on how she was able to read Hangul.

Then I watched her DIY samgyupsal video. Damn, I am seriously craving samgyupsal right now.

I blame Itaewon Class for that. Not to mention, BEER.

I feel so stupid for not stocking up on beers. Tapioca, the wiser one was able to buy several bottles of his liquor of choice. Right on time before the liquor ban. Good for him.

I thought Coke and soft drinks were enough. Now the stress from all the anxieties makes me want to drink beer.

But again, I blame Itaewon Class. I should have not watched it. Lol!

. . . photo from https://news.abs-cbn.com

. . . photo from http://www.dramabeans.com

Check out those beer bottles in the background. I'm not sure what they are but I am salivating like crazy! Man, oh man. I am so gonna stock up on beer when the liquor ban is lifted.

I'm also dreaming of having something like this at home. . .

. . . beer vending machine!!! how cool is that?!? (photo from https://www.reddit.com)

Beer and samgyupsal. When this (quarantine)pandemic is over, I'm definitely lining up at Samgyupsalamat.

Going back to RAB's channel, I watched another video where she tried to create Japchae.

Unlike her Jjapaguri, I was having some doubts about her procedures. Questions like why does she have to separate the marination of the mushroom and meat? I mean, same marinade but why separate? Then I found out it's because she was gonna cook it separately. But the most cringe-y of them all was when they were putting all the ingredients together. It felt so wrong to be mixing everything in such a small shallow dish.

I felt violated. Err wrong word. Violated is such a strong word. I felt sorry for the person mixing it. And I felt bad because I cannot unsee what I've seen. Suddenly, I felt the need to watch how a freakin' Japchae is supposed to be made.

I went to Maangchi's channel and I'm so glad I did. By the way, Maangi is one of my favorite Korean bloggers/authors. I did not know if she was a blogger first or vlogger or an author first. All I know, as soon as I started reading her recipes and stories online, I can tell this girl knows what she's talking about.

So while I was watching Maangchi make her Japchae, I could not help but compare it to RAB.

I realized I can't really blame RAB for trying to make her own Japchae based on how she knew it was done and what she had in her kitchen.

I mean, I too had my shortcomings in making home cooked meals. As a homemaker, I should have known that everyone needs to improvise, come up with an alternative or substitute in order to whip up a meal.

So again, I should have known better.

By the way, I am so buying these metal mixing bowls. I need them in my life!!! I need them for baking, mixing sauces, marinades, and making my first japchae, just like Maanchi's.

. . . photo from https://www.amazon.com

While watching Maangchi, I realized some similarities between Koreans and the French on how they prepare their food. An example would be the way Maangchi cooked each and every ingredient for the Japchae separately to keep the colors of the vegetables. I have seen the same method from a French cook before. Both almost always used fresh and colorful ingredients.

Let's not forget, Koreans cannot live without banchan or side dishes.  It is like how the French must have 3 or 4 courses per meal. French and Koreans have high regards to their cuisine. Even when they are out of the country, they insist on having food that's familiar to them.

But I guess I can't say that in general. Koreans and French are now adapting or eating different types of cuisine due to globalization. Say for example, burgers are becoming a trend in France. The French people finally embrace fast food. Same thing with Koreans. They are now eating non traditional Korean food such as fried chicken and pizza.

So what is the sense of this post? Hmmm wala lang. I just find it amusing. That's all. Sorry for wasting your time. Hahaha.

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Beers Paradise

8-25-2010

This is one of those aging posts. Photos that were buried and now finding its way here in the blog. Before TBT (Throwback Thursday), I was making blog posts I called Retrospect, which you can see here and here.

I was thinking of doing the same thing for the aging blog posts. But then I realized most (if not all) of them are in the same category! Like every-single-freakin'-one-of-them! So I'm erasing the idea and I will just post as I like as I always do anyway.

This is one of the problems when posting backlogs. I can no longer recall every single detail. I am just relying solely on the photos for memories. Well, at least they are still existing. Timelines just don't care. Not on this blog. Not anymore. But I am hoping I can fix that soon. I know I said that a million times but I sure will. This blog is like my time capsule so it is important to me that it gets fixed.

Moving on, this post was about the time when me and Tapioca were still dating. We realized that we were too old to go clubbing and we found out that we both love Jazz Music. One weeknight, we went out for some Jazz Music. Due to lack of research, planning and timing it was a total failure. We went from North to South without any luck. So we just settled for whatever place we could get something to drink and some good conversation.

store front . . . 

 . . . beers paradise

 

 coaster . . .

 

 . . .  Hephaestion and Tapioca

Hephaestion came along to join us with our failed Jazz Bar hunting. LOL!
 

 beers on display . . .

This place boasts of their wide variety of beers from all over the world. However, I do not recall trying out any imported beers. Based on the photos we just had San Mig Light. So sad when we have so many to choose from. I wonder what we were thinking back then?

 . . . pizza

 shrimp kebabs . . .

Food was just okay. Based on the photos, pizza looked pitiful. The shrimps looked yummy. Honestly, we were not really focused on the food. It was just simply hanging out and enjoying each other's company.

  . . . Hephy playing with the pizza garnish

time for some desserts . . .

Told ya, this post is so old I still have my braces on. 

Right across Beers Paradise, we saw a Korean convenience store. We check out the fridge for some ice cream treats. Here we are posing with our picks.

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