(Flowers from Toowoomba Flower Festival)
Hello readers! It’s been a real long time. Thank you for your concerns about my well being and your patience with my blog. I’ve been intending to write a post for a long time but starting a new job and being denied access to my photo album (external hard drive) kept me staying away from the blogging.
I want you to know that this blog will be more active again from this point and the first recipe coming up is Noodles in Chicken Soup (Dak Kalguksu).
Are you starting to warm up? 
(Bulgogi on rice – I substituted Korean pear with kiwi and I want to encourage you to Not to do so. It is OK but I didn’t like the feeling of chewing black kiwi seeds with the meat. Next time I am going to try Japanese nashi pear.)
This is what I have been doing lately. Testing my new Kitchen and comforting my nostalgia.
Don’t worry readers! You are not missing out any new recipes yet. I’ve been busy trying to catch up with my massive nostalgic appetite. I am also trying to get used to the electric stove. I wish mine was gas. What kind of burner do you have in your kitchen?
Related Post
Bulgogi Wrapped in Rice Paper
I’ve been singing about the BEACH to Michael ever since we arrived in Australia. Not that I can surf or am even good at body surfing, I just wanted it so badly. We prayed for hot sunny weather last night and our prayer got through. Off we go!
We had a beautiful relaxing day, except that I had an overdose of sodium and non edible sand.
We also took a home made lunch box consisting of the popular Korean picnic food – Kimbap and Yubu chobap. These foods certainly taste nicer at a picnic.
Related Posts
Inarizushi (Yubu Chobap in Korean) – Instant Version
Tuna Rolls (Chamchi Kimbap in Korean)
Vegetable kimbab
I did some Korean ingredient hunting yesterday in the Sunnybank area, where lots of Asian immigrants live. It is not where I live nor close to where I live. I like to get ingredients there because I used to live close to Sunnybank in the past. I used to shop there most of the time and there are lots of free car parks available compared to the Valley area.
I only visited two Korean grocery shops, one is called Kim’s market and the other one is called Kimchi store.
Kim’s market is fairly big and well organized with a larger variety of Korean ingredients than Kimchi store. However some items such as Gochujang, Kimchi etc in Kimchi store are slightly cheaper than Kim’s market.
Here are some good things and some bad things I found about getting Korean ingredients:
Yay~!
- I found some fresh rice cakes, with which I can make yummy ddeokbokki. I believe fresh rice cakes make 10 times better ddeokbokki. Also even better! They are cheaper than in Korea.
Yay? or Nay?
- My Korean grocery shopping time is very shortened. I don’t need to hesitate anymore to choose a product. They only have one brand per item. If they have two, then I am lucky.
- Enoki mushrooms, Shiitake mushrooms, King oyster mushrooms are available but those are 4 to 9 times more expensive than Korea, depending on the species. Should I just be happy about that? At least I know that if I really want them I can get them.
Nay~!
- Both shops sell fish cakes and crab sticks but they were frozen. I’ve never bought frozen fish cakes nor crab sticks in Korea. Have you ever bought frozen crab sticks or fish cakes? I don’t think they are supposed to be frozen. What do you think? Whether they were frozen or not, there were no traces of expiry dates on either item. So I decided to not to buy them unless they show me the expiry date.
- I haven’t seen any perilla leaves (aka sesame leaves) yet. However Kimchi store even had a label “Precious perilla leaves available” in the fridge, but there weren’t any actual product in it. I asked a lady at Kim’s market if she sells them and she said it is hard to get nowadays because it is out of season. Whaaat? I got them all year around in Korea! I guess the farmer must grow them in an open field not a green house.
With a big disappointment, I came home and made this Dakgalbi. I didn’t have many ingredients so it was really simple but good enough to make me feel comforted.
Address
- Kim’s market – 158 Station Rd, Sunnybank, QLD 4109, (07) 3345 1400
- Kimchi store – 6 Zamiz St, Sunnybank, QLD, 4109, (07) 3423 8989
My best friend visited me from Seoul last night, which is about 5 hours journey each way for her. It has been nearly 2 years since we last saw each other.
She arrived around 10 pm and we caught up till 1 am ( I served her chamomile tea and some ginger cookies). I was ready to serve more, but she said she wasn’t hungry.
For breakfast I prepared french toast, fried bacon and orange juice for breakfast.
My lunch plan was taking her to one of (rumour has it) the finest restaurants in this town which I haven’t been to before. Yet it turned out that I fed us too much at breakfast, so she said she didn’t need to eat anymore before she left.
Time was too tight. Though, I thought she would get hungry by the time she got on the bus, so I served some light snacks, like cheese and crackers, a cup of chamomile tea, and some fruit. Now she has left and I am thinking. What kind of host was I? 
So all I gave her to eat was:
- 2 cups of chamomile tea
- 2 pieces of french toast
- 2 ginger cookies
- Some bacon
- 1 cup of orange juice
- A couple of apple and pear slices
- Some cheese and crackers
Oh no, am I a good host?
Maybe not.
What would you have served a guest who traveled so far yet was only able to visit for 12 hours?
