Blog

McDonald's Korea Now Has Breakfast
I know of a few people who would be pleased to know that McDonald’s Korea has introduced a “Morning Menu.”
There are four food items on the menu: McMuffins, Sausage McMuffins, Sausage Egg and Cheese McMuffins, and Bacon Egg and Cheese McMuffins. The sets come with the same old McHashbrowns was all McKnow and McLove.
I had a Sausage McMuffin set this morning, and it warn’t too bad. I noticed that they do give my stomach more of a McBrick than they used to.
Update: We showed up again this morning for breakfast, and the Morning Menu was gone. The counter person said we couldn’t order any McMuffins because they were out of–the actual McMuffins. That’s okay. I’ve had my fill of Dirty Ron’s for a few months.
January 29, 2007
Dalk Doritang (닭도리탕)
Ah, the first official food porn entry.
The thing is, it just looks pretty. I don’t know anything about this food’s history or — anything. I just ordered it one day because it was something I hadn’t tried yet.
Dalk Doritang is basically a spicy chicken soup. Yet it pulls off a sort of creaminess without the use of any dairy products. This is a perfect warm-me-up for a chilly Korean Peninsula winter day.
The “dalk” means “chicken.” “Tang” means “soup.” Don’t know what the “dori” means. Eun Jeong’s watching Jumong right now. I don’t want to bother her.
Trust me. Don’t bother her during Jumong.
This creamy spicy soup is loaded with leeks, mushrooms, and big hunks o’ chicken. As with most Korean foods, white shirts are discouraged.
January 28, 2007
hOOters — I Really Came Here for the Wings

As far as I can tell, this is the first site to review the first Hooters in Korea. I know reviewing a restaurant within two weeks after opening is not an accurate account. Yet I’m sure that we’ll be back a few times for updates.
My history with the Hooters franchise has been mixed. It was cool to go there in high school for my best friend’s seventeenth birthday. Yet as an adult, I feel like a stupid male being duped through my most base instincts. The last time I had visited a Hooters was when I was working a Flash design contract in Jacksonville, Florida. There weren’t many restaurants near the hotel, and I chose to go to the Hooters by myself for a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich. There’s little worse than the look of pity on a Hooters Girlâ„¢ when you’re dining alone.
On a positive note, the Hooters method of frying their chicken has been a major influence on my constantly evolving fried chicken technique. And I really dig their wings.
I’ve mentioned before that I grew up on the northern Gulf Coast (Gulf of Mexico, that is), in the Mobile Bay area. The cuisine in the region is a mix of French New Orleans and Spanish Florida combined with West African rooted soul food.
I’m blessed.
Despite what people say about Hooters, it has been the closest I’ve come to having Floridian/Gulf Coast food in a Seoul restaurant thus far.

Let’s start with the star of the show. The wings.
You can order them breaded or naked. When I was in Jacksonville, it seemed that most wing places served them breaded. Is this Florida style? Don’t know, but I like them this way. We ordered the hottest flavor, the 911. They weren’t as hot as Korean bul dalk (fire chicken) or the Krazy Korean wings at Sh-wing, but they had a good spicy kick. Hooters uses a buttery hot sauce that adds an extra richness. And the method they use for breading the wings keeps them crispy.
Another plus is that they have blue cheese dressing. They have ranch too, but THEY HAVE BLUE CHEESE DRESSING!!
Our only complaint with the wings was that they didn’t come with celery or carrots. We don’t know if that’s a Hooters Korea thing or they just messed up our order. It wouldn’t be the last time.
Being the first few weeks of operation, you can expect a restaurant to have a few kinks, especially with service–especially especially with a service style that is almost alien to Korea. A lot of us have grown used to waitresses only coming to our tables when called for. We had forgotten about the Western style of having a waitress visit us every so often to check up on us.
Shia, our waitress (Korean name, Yu Jin ìœ ì§„), was trained well. I had seen that Hooters had flown in a whole staff of trainers from the States to get the Korean staff ready. No really, there’s a video of it. I must say she was trained very well, all the way down to the “lean over” to take our orders. The bartenders looked like they were trained by the same school of bartenders who trained me when I worked at Chili’s–they did the same tricks I learned.
Very photogenic, too.
Honestly, I have always been resistant to the Hooters Girlâ„¢ thing, but the Korean Hooters Girlsâ„¢ just do that little Korean agassi thing that gives it that special Koreanness. Cute Korean charm mixed with American sass. It’s all part of the show. They also treat the female guests like they’re old sorority pals.
Woo hoo! Got my picture!
Now back to the food.
I couldn’t resist ordering up a dozen oysters on the half shell (15,000 won). Shia couldn’t understand me at first. She hinted that the only English she knew was from training. So I said, “Seng gul ìƒ êµ´.”
That was enough. It took a while for the oysters to arrive. I myself used to be an oyster shucker at a redneck bar, and I had made tons of these platters. They involve some work, but they aren’t that hard to make.
The oysters come the way I remember them at Gulf Coast bars–served on a bed of ice with lemon wedges, a pack of crackers, and a simple cocktail sauce of ketchup and horseradish.
We indulged.
Next came a sampler platter with king crab, steamed shrimp, buffalo shrimp, and some more wings. The crab was good with the accompanying butter. The buffalo shrimp also were good, even though they seemed a bit cold and soggy.
After another round of wings, I ordered something more substantial–the Hooters Cheeseburger (12,000 won). It came on a nice roll with an ample amount of beef. The only sides were condiments and some baked beans.
It did the job, though. It was a good burger.
What’s that? Oh, a birthday. Hey, mine’s next month. What do I get?
Oh well, I’ll have to wait.
Next up was our order of beef nachos. Again, they’re still working out the kinks. Look closely at this picture. We looked closely too. Now, everyone together…
“Where’s the beef?”
A quick mention of this, and we were given a plate of beef on top of our nachos. That’s more like it. I’d say the nachos were ho-hum. Not as good as the wings and the burger.
Pie was much better. Key lime pie, in fact. I’m not a big fan of citrus pies, particularly lemon merengue. This key lime pie was a good balance of sweet and sour. It wasn’t too harsh on a stomach reeling from hot wings and beer.
A quick look behind revealed that a line was forming. We had shown up at 3:30 on a Saturday and were seated almost immediately. It was then almost 7:00, and the crowd was looking hungry and restless. At Sh-wing we’re not used to the crowds. We’re used to claiming a table for the whole night.
We decided to stop ordering, take one last picture with Shia, and call it a night.
There was even more of a crowd outside. One funny little anecdote, though. While I was taking pictures of this line, a nicely dressed woman with her date asked me if I wanted her to take my picture for me. I told her it was okay, but, you know, that was really nice.
Now, we usually go to Sh-wing in Apgujeong. During the summer, Sh-wing really let us down by cancelling their All-you-can-eat wing special, bumping up their prices, and being laughably stingy with their limp vegetables. Since then, Sh-wing has restored the All-you-can-eat special on Thursday nights, and their veggies are of better quality (they actually use cuts of celery from the stalk itself, not the leaves).
Nonetheless, Sh-wing has finally found some competition. I said in the title of this piece, I really came to Hooters for the wings. It’s because wing places are very rare in Seoul. We really only know of Sh-wing–and now Hooters. It’s hard to believe that a food culture that loves spicy chicken hasn’t embraced buffalo wings. Granted, grilled fire chicken and scorching chicken feet are great Korean contributions to the drinking food landscape–if only they served them with some blue cheese.
Until then, we’ll definitely make a return trip to Hooters.

That made Injoo happy.
Update: Michael Hurt at Scribblings of the Metropolitician has photos and a podcast interviewing a trainer and a waitress at Hooters Korea.
January 27, 2007
Korean Sloppy Joes
Growing up with the name Joe can have its pitfalls while growing up.
“Yo, Joe!”
“Joe Piscopo!”
“Joe-mamma!”
“Where’re you goin’ with that gun in your hand?”
It doesn’t help that a lot of words rhyme with Joe, so it almost seems like people are calling your name when they are not. Jo 조 is also an informal way in Korean to say, “Give me!”
I always knew when it was Sloppy Joe night at my house growing up when I came home and my parents were snickering.
“What’s so funny?”
“We’re having Sloppy You for dinner tonight.”
My dad never got tired of that joke, even though he himself was named Joe. He was immune because he chose to go by his middle name, Dan.
Two weeks ago, I made Sloppy Joes for the first time in Korea. Yeah, yeah, it was a jarred sauce that I found at Costco. I also used pork instead of beef because of Korea’s astronomically high beef prices. Nonetheless, they turned out pretty well. Eun Jeong loved her first taste of (what may be) Iowa’s greatest contribution to the culinary world. (<– That is one of the most fascinating links I have found recently.)
Eun Jeong loved the Sloppy Joes so much that she ate the leftovers for breakfast on top of rice.
The other night, we both came home from our jobs exhausted. Eun Jeong had already eaten at her place, but I was starving. I stopped by E-Mart to pick up some ingredients for myself. I told Eun Jeong, whom had offered, to not cook me anything.
Luckily, she chose to ignore me.
She created this dish off the top of her head. She knew I was going to cook dinner for myself, but she felt I needed another side dish.
She made a concoction made from ground pork, onions, carrots, peppers, and a spicy sauce. It tasted almost exactly like a Sloppy Joe! Yet the ingredients in the sauce were 100% Korean.
We made this again yesterday morning for breakfast. Basically, you need julienned onions and carrots. Also you need some garlic. Bell Peppers really add to the flavor, but you can exclude them. Really, any hearty veggies you have lying around in the fridge will work. Yesterday, we used up the leftover zucchini squash.
So basically, here are the steps:

1. Brown the pork in a pan with a heap of black pepper, along with onions, carrots, garlic, and whatever vegetables you have.
2. Add two tablespoons of gochujang 고추장 (the red pepper paste).

3. Add a dash of salt, some soy sauce, some corn syrup, and some mirim 미림 (also known as mirin, a cooking wine made of rice). Taste often to balance the flavors to your liking.
4. Serve on rice or toasted bread.
January 27, 2007
Kids Love Squid
The only thing I have ever had to ban in the classroom is dried squid, ojingeo오징어.
IT STINKS!!!
Actually, I occasionally enjoy dried squid. It matches well with beer. It tastes better than it smells, but OMG–it can truly reek. You can almost smell it in this instructional video.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wll-VJfv_Q]
It comes in different flavors. My favorites are barbecue and butter. If you go to see a movie, you can even get peanut butter flavored dried squid.This leads to one of my more surprising observations: in Korea, kids love squid.
They frequently snack on this, and it is marketed to kids next to the candies.
When I taught kindergarten, the schools had birthday parties each month for the students whose birthdays fell on that month. There were kids each month who would not touch cake. They couldn’t stand it. But all of the kids attacked an opened bag of dried squid.
Observe.
Like velociraptors on a holstein.
So the conclusion of my unscientific survey: kids love squid more than chocolate cake.
January 20, 2007
The TV Audition
The new year and things are already changing a lot.
Eun Jeong went away for five days to train for her new job as an English teacher. She was exhausted. They had her going from 7 AM to midnight every day. Yet she was pumped and ready to go.
She spent her first two days on the job this week observing classes. Her confidence got higher. She felt that she would be a good teacher. And I think she will be. She has the right mind for it. She’s not the usual passive doormat type that I have frustratingly seen in many Korean English teachers. She won’t let students, parents, nor management walk all over her.
Yesterday was her first full day of teaching. She came home all drained. She’s still excited about her job, but she said that they don’t give her enough time to do everything they want her to do in class. She stayed up late and reviewed phonics lessons to teach the next day, occasionally waking me up to ask me what something meant.
As for myself, I’ve had an exciting few weeks. I apologize to my family and everyone I emailed about the “opportunity” I talked about. It, like many things here, was not quite a done deal, even though we were given the impression it was.
Nonetheless, we all had auditions yesterday for a new TV show teaching English to elementary students. A couple of us went to a photographer to get our pictures taken. I didn’t like my pic, so I did it up in Photoshop to make it look like a professional head shot. I then sent it off in an email to the director with a resume and sample lesson plan.
We each got emails on Tuesday giving us different times on Wednesday to audition. The rough part was trying to find ways to cover classes while we were gone. We were able to get someone to do it–for a fee.
I was the first one on the schedule. At the bottom of the email was a cryptic line about doing a 2-3 lecture on a short sentence.
Don’t ask me what that means.
The night before, I was trying to think of something I could do. I then decided to do a piece on how “is”, “am”, and “are” love “ing.” In other words, whenever you see “ing,” you have to have “is”, “am,” or “are.”
I know this is not always the case, but for beginning learners, it helps clear up some confusion. And it stops them from saying, “I am go to the park.”
But I had a hard time thinking of how to explain why these three words love this one word. Sounds a bit polygamic to me. I lay in bed and looked on the shelf. I saw Eun Jeong’s little plush dog I bought for her in Osaka.
YES!
Three brothers, “is”, “am,” and “are” have their dog “ing,” who always follows them around.
Wednesday morning, I printed, laminated, and cut out some signs to illustrate this, including an “ing” name tag I fit around the puppy’s neck.
I left a little early for the 1:30 audition, knowing from past experience that I need to have some extra time for getting lost. The night before, Eun Jeong had found the station on a Daum map (like MapQuest), and I figured the most direct route would be to take the subway to Seonbawi and get a taxi from there.
I did that and got off at Seonbawi. The trouble was that it was in the middle of nowhere, next to Seoul Grand Park but not close enough. There were no taxis–no cars at all.
I walked to the busy highway, which was the main artery between Seoul and Gwacheon. I finally hailed a taxi there. Luckily, the driver knew exactly where to go.
I got to the building and was disheartened that it didn’t have an obvious entrance. I looked for an entrance and ended up in the headquarters for Korean education–something like that. Wrong place.
I went back outside and scoped around. I found a small sign that said the station’s name with an arrow pointing upstairs. So the entrance to the TV station was upstairs.
At the information desk, I asked where Studio 3 was (in Korean). He said (in Korean), “It’s down the hall and to the right.”
I went down the hall, past Studio 2. Past Studio 1. No Studio 3. I walked back and forth in confusion. I then just walked into a green room, where people were sitting there chatting. I asked if they knew where Studio 3 was. They didn’t, but they asked around for me. One girl spoke to me in English. She said it was past the big heavy forbidding white door at the end of the hallway.
So I went through the door to another hallway and found Studio 3.
When I entered, a young pretty Korean teacher was finishing her audition. When she finished, the young director behind the cameraman looked at me, looked at his clipboard, and said, “Joe Mc—Per–?”
“Yes.”
He pointed to the set.
I stood on the black “x” under the boom mike and went through my routine when he told me to start. I didn’t walk around because, having worked in TV for two years in America, I knew that I could mess up the cameraman’s focus. I heard one of the Korean teachers giggle during my routine, so maybe the little “ing” dog thing worked.
When I finished, the director said, “Singing? Dancing?”
“Um, yes, I can sing and dance.”
(Partial lie, if anyone has seen me dance.)
“Do you want me to sing a song?”
“Yes.”
YIKES!
This first song that came to mind was “True,” the ’80s ballad by Spandau Ballet, which I like to sing in the noraebangs because it’s well within my range and I can belt out certain bits. I did one verse and stopped. He then said, with one of the teachers translating, that he wanted me to sing a Nursery Rhyme. Oh–and more movement.
So I did an overly acted version of “Humpty Dumpty” because that was the only Nursery Rhyme I could think of at the moment that I could put to music. It’s funny how your mind goes blank during these things. I had totally forgotten that my schtick as a teacher is that I know tons of silly physical songs. Coulda done one of those, but that didn’t matter.
The director said, “Thank you,” and I walked off the set.
He then talked to one of the Korean teachers. I could understand a bit of what they were saying, notably “kachi.”
I muttered, “You want us to do it together?”
The Korean teacher was a bit horrified. “I hadn’t prepared to do anything with a foreigner.”
The director told her to improvise.
We both got back on the set. She was really nice and said that we were going to do a routine about New Year’s resolutions.
We started. She had conversations with me and then translated them into Korean for the camera.
“Joe, what do you do in your country on New Year’s?”
Okay, we’re talking about New Year’s resolutions. I’ll figure out a way to move onto that.
“Well, after eating a lot of food during Christmas and the holidays, many people have gotten a bit fat. So they go to the gym.”
“On New Year’s Day?”
Of course not on New Year’s Day. They’re nursing hangovers. But I don’t think that’s what she wants.
“Um, we promise to go to the gym.”
“In Korea, we go to the fortune teller on New Year’s. Do you know about fortune tellers?”
“I have seen them, but I have never been to one.”
“What do you ask when you go to the fortune teller?”
“Well, still, I haven’t been to one, but if I did, I guess I would ask about what would happen this year.”
“Like what?”
“Like… uh… will I be richer?”
She then translated and did a lesson in Korean. I found that I was starting to do the EBS Smile-and-Nod. I noticed when Eun Jeong watches English education shows, there’s a foreigner there next to a Korean teacher. When the Korean teacher starts giving her monologue in Korean, the foreigner looks at the teacher, looks at the camera, smiles, tilts his head, and nods. I mean, really, what else can you do?
She went back into English.
“Many people ask about their love lives. Joe, what would you like in a wife?”
:-O
Okay, I have this very pretty woman asking me what I would like in a wife. Was not prepared for that. Think. What do you like about Eun Jeong?
“Um, I would like her to be sweet.”
No, that’s not Eun Jeong. Oh yeah.
“Pretty. And, um, she has to love to eat.”
DOH!
So we finished that, and the other teacher came up to audition alongside me. This teacher had a book and finger puppets. We did a routine where I supposedly went to the zoo–it’s part of a song. I mimicked walking.
“I went walking.”
“What did you see?”
She held up one of the finger puppets and made an animal sound.
“I saw a frog looking at me!”
We went through five animals, including a snake. I got to act really scared because I have an abnormal fear of snakes.
Serious.
One of my psychology classes in college spent two of three hours analyzing my fear of snakes. I have trouble even looking at pictures of them. And, no, I ain’t watchin’ no motherf—ing movie with motherf—ing Samuel Jackson about motherf—ing snakes.
So that all finished. The director asked if I could stay a while. I had to rush back to school, but I found that it was only 1:35. I had gotten there early enough to finish my audition at my start time. I said I could stay a little while longer. The director tried to get someone on his cell phone.
I waited with the two other teachers. We talked about how much fun it was, and they had lots of questions for him.
He came back, and he couldn’t get this other person, so he said we could all go. We thanked him, and I told him (in Korean) that I had a lot of fun.
I walked with the teachers a bit until we could get them a taxi. They were going to Seoul. I was going the opposite way to Anyang. They said the director said that emails will be sent out in early February when they make their decisions. We said goodbye, and I was able to find a cab for myself with maybe the oldest taxi driver in Korea. He could barely understand what I was saying, but that was okay. He got lost when we got to Anyang, and when I said left, he just went straight. I just told him to drop me off somewhere and walked back.
I had to hurry back because Ben’s audition was at 2:00. He had already left. The two Chrisses had auditions at 3:30 and 4:00. Our substitute had to leave at 3:30. So I got to my class at 2:15.
Somehow we were able to pull it off. Everyone had a great time at his audition. It was definitely a memorable experience. Chris P. hung out and talked with the director for an hour after his audition to talk about what was going on and to mention that the previous foreigners all worked for his school. The director asked which ones. When Chris told him, he said, “Oh, Joe. He was very good.”
I think that’s a good sign. I hope this comes through. The trouble is that if it conflicts with school, I can’t do it.
January 18, 2007
New Year for Me, Same Old Crap from Unnamed Hagwon
A little update on the Unnamed Hagwon case, since I’m getting asked a lot.
I found out yesterday that Unnamed Hagwon’s key money, the deposit Unnamed Hagwon Owner paid for the school’s space, is now frozen by the government for our court case. The case still won’t happen for a while, maybe March. We didn’t freeze the school’s operating assets, but that hasn’t stopped Unnamed Hagwon Owner from using me as the scapegoat for her shady activities.
In case you haven’t been following this case, Unnamed Hagwon owes me around 6,000,000 won (~$6,000) in unpaid wages, severance, taxes, and expenses.
Back to real life.
We didn’t do much for New Year’s. We didn’t do anything. I had my week vacation, and we just relaxed at home. We didn’t go to Songtan for shopping because, really, we’re just that lazy. We did make a trip to Costco. I stocked up on cheese, bacon, sausage–oh man, our breakfasts were heavy that week.
On Saturday, I met Colin and Seong-ku for hockey in Anyang. We actually bought the Steff Hot Dog Party Zone tickets. We were the only ones who did, and we basically had our own private box seat at ground level behind the goal.
Afterwards, we made a quick stop at the apartment to pick up Eun Jeong. We then headed to downtown Anyang to meet Colin’s mother and her colleagues at the winter camp she’s working. Nice bunch o’ folks. We had a hearty belly-warming dinner of JjimDalk, which is chicken smothered in a smoky sauce with sweet potato noodles. Great winter food.
We then went out for drinks at a nice new bar which looked like a big hang out for the college crowd. Colin was challenged by this big ole hoss to an arm wrestling match. Colin knew he was going to lose, so he only agreed to arm wrestling if it was followed by a drinking match. He lost the first. Won the second. Eun Jeong and I called it a night after that.
The next day, Eun Jeong’s beloved house father from Toronto, Mario, was coming to Korea. He had been in Japan for a week, and he wanted to see all his former “house children.” Unfortunately, his flight was so delayed that it was too late in the evening for me to trek to Seoul and back. I had to be at work early the next morning for the start of winter school. Yet Eun Jeong went and had a great time.
We have indeed started winter school. The schedule’s longer, but it’s not that bad. The hardest part is getting up and out early. We have a lot of goings on behind the scenes that I really want to share here. But I’m not saying anything until everything’s written, approved, signed, and notarized.
In the meantime, my Little Kimchi leaves today for an intense five day training session for her new job. I’m so proud.
January 9, 2007
Korean Kitchen Hacking: Cheese Ravioli in Soju Sauce
This is the ideal entry for the ZenKimchi Food Journal. In fact, part of this dish was the inspiration for the journal itself. It’s about creating Western food using ingredients found in Korea (the ravioli). It’s about easily making from scratch something you used to just buy at home (the cheese). It’s about combining, dare a say, fusing, Korean and Western foods.
This started out from my first months in Korea where I was craving my brother’s (an up-and-coming Italian and Spanish chef in Atlanta) vodka sauce. I didn’t have vodka on hand at the time, but I did have lots of soju — 1,000 ($1) a bottle, may I add. I said, “Why not,” and made a dish that actually rivaled any vodka sauce I’ve ever had in the past.
This brings me to another tangent. It is traditional in so many cultures to cook with alcohol. I have yet to find this application used much in Korea. The only place I’ve seen soju used in cooking was at the chitlin’ restaurant in Ansan. I personally sneak a shot or two of soju in my kimchi jjigae when Eun Jeong’s not looking. If so many cultures successfully use alcohol in their cuisine, there have to be applications in Korean cuisine. Yet that’s another road I have hardly traveled.
If you live in Korea, I think this is the ultimate dish to impress your significant other–or someone whom you’d like to be your significant other. Maybe I should have waited until Valentine’s to post, but I’ve been waiting long enough. This gives you enough time to plan.
The Filling

Remember the easy mock ricotta you can make at home? Get a good bit of that in a bowl and blend it with an egg, some finely chopped parsley, and a little bit of salt and pepper.
The Wrappers

The wrappers are basic mandu wrappers. In this case, I used some dyed with green tea.

See? These little things are in the freezer section of any little mini ajossi mart.

Flour a surface. These buggers are sticky. Place a small–a small–dollop of cheese filling in the center of the wrapper.

Wet your index finger in a bowl of water and rub it around the edges of the wrapper.

Put another wrapper on top. Now it’s time to make it look more like ravioli.

What I did was cut off the rounded bits so that it looked more square like.

I then pressed down the sides with a fork to give them that ravioli cutter look. This also helped seal them.

It takes a while, but it’s worth the work. Remember–only a dollop of cheese filling. You can see a few of mine had spewed out.

A quick one minute bath in some lightly boiling salted water, and they’re ready. These guys get sticky, so rinse them in cold water immediately, put them in a sauce immediately, or place them separate from each other.
In the meantime, I had put together the sauce.
The Sauce

Vodka sauces are creamy, tomatoey and garlicky. I sweated a lot of garlic in some olive oil with some chopped onions.
Now, you can make your own homemade tomato sauce if you want to. Me? There are some times I just cut corners. I’m just that lazy. Besides, I’d already made homemade cheese and ravioli. If I can get any of those premade, I would do it quickly. But, hey, I can get spaghetti sauce at the store, so let’s save ourselves the trouble of having to make something else from scratch. I love food, but I’m not a monk.

To the onions and garlic, I added a jar of spaghetti sauce along with half a bottle of soju. I let this simmer for a while–until the soju had a bit of the bite cooked out of it and had time to mingle with the sauce.

I then stirred in some heavy cream until it had a bit of an orange color. I let it cook through on medium low heat for another five minutes.

After garnishing with some fresh Romano cheese, I had a classic dish. Of course, you can use the soju sauce on other pastas. Really, this one is worth it.
January 9, 2007
Food is Always Good Diplomacy, Especially BBQ
NPR recently aired a story about Bobby Egan of Hackensack, New Jersey, who owns Cubby’s BBQ Ribs. He’s become the leading go-between for the U.S. and North Korea over the years.
Egan, who has been cooking BBQ for twenty years and has been running the front of the house for five, has been the guy North Korea turns to when relations with the U.S. break down.
How did he get involved with North Korea?
During the 1980s, he got involved with Vietnam vet friends of his concerning MIA issues. He made good relations with the officials in Vietnam–so good that they recommended him to North Korea as a liaison.
He has since hosted the North Korean team during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and even answered calls from government officials from the register at Cubby’s.
I always said that food is the best diplomat. Click here to listen to the story. It’s fascinating.
January 4, 2007
Korean Pears Contribute to $110 Burger
I recently read on Slashfood that a $110 Kobe beef burger has been introduced at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia. It uses premium ingredients that are almost all imported, which accounts for the price. The hamburger is made from Kobe beef, Portobello mushrooms, foie gras, and Korean pears.
If you’ve never had a Korean pear, you gotta try one. You can also find them in the grocery store labeled as “Asian” pears. They’ve quickly become one of my top five favorite fruits. They’re sweet, extremely juicy, and have a firm solid texture that makes them unique. They are not at all like the familiar Anjou pears, which I always thought had a soapy taste, which makes me wonder why the Korean pear is called a pear. I’m not a botanist, so I’m sure there’s something I’m missing in the lucrative academic field of fruit classification.
I do feel that Korean pears are one of Korea’s great contributions to the world. I actually think it would work well on a Kobe beef foie gras burger. Then again, it’s Indonesia. What–did they run out of durian?
January 1, 2007