The container of kimchi Mrs. Jeong gave to me last winter ran out weeks ago! Ack! But I finally got some more from 할머니 Halmoni (Grandmother). For certain, if you are Korean, you never have a meal without rice, and so it follows, you can't have rice without kimchi! Yum! I must be Korean, because I eat rice daily, always miss it at any meals where I don't have some, and always want more kimchi!!! Well, at least Jeong says I'm Korean! :-) 김치 주세요 Kimchi Jusayo!!! (Please give me kimchi!) Koreans make massive batches of kimchi once a year, using 200+ heads of cabbage. The whole family is involved in this process (well, at least all the women. (Hehe, Just like Thanksgiving in the States!) Then it's stored to continue fermentation and eaten all year! Yum!
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I was surprised on the ride home by Ms. Jeong and her family, who insisted I join them for dinner. I think they were shocked and appalled to see me riding along the highway for a portion of my ride home (not many big "risk takers" here, and climbing and biking along in traffic are definitely seen as risky!). That 1 mile highway portion is an avoidance of the 20% grade I have to climb on the alternate route! After over 2000 ft. of elevation gain over the previous 19 km., avoiding that last hill home is a relief! I rode directly to the restaurant, declining the offer to put my bike in their trunk for a ride home. I arrived sweaty and exhausted. I admit to drinking some of that Coke, because I needed fluid so badly! The "meat restaurants" so popular here serve pork or beef, which you grill at the table, along with other veggies, and the multitudinous side dishes: kimchi, cabbage, soup, shrimp, stingray, salad, and about 5 more! Yum! The server brings the hot coals to the table, and an exhaust on a swinging arm is kept over the roaster, so the restaurants are never smoky or smelly! You grill the meat and garlic, place a piece in a sesame leaf or lettuce, with or without rice, but with the red sauce or kimchi. It really is so delicious!! The only time I eat meat is when I'm out with others, but I enjoy it occasionally. This restaurant happens to be owned by the uncle of one of my students. No, it's not a prize winner or even out of the ordinary. Sweet zucchini squash is normally this big! I've said it before, living in Korea offers the benefit of fresh produce from farmer's markets, and they are not a weekend occurrence. Farming is alive and well in Korea: all the veggies, fruits, and rice come from all around and all over. On my bike rides, I pedal past fields of rice, spinach, cabbage, corn, etc. etc. I am so lucky to have fresh food, uncontaminated, unmodified; grown by grannies and grampas and other farmers. I don't have to go to a specialty food store like Whole Paycheck and pay outrageous prices for wholesome, healthy food. In fact, sometimes it comes to my door... there's the melon man, selling his sweet Korean cantaloupe-like melons out of the back of his truck, driving down the road. Gotta go!
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iGallivant......can't get enough Korean Food!!! :-)) Archives
March 2022
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