What is cooler? A squid or a jedi?
Well probably not a squid when they look like this:
But what about when they look like this?
Category: Food (Page 20 of 22)
Korean food and recipes
I’ve mentioned before how my husband hates lamb. Koreans hate the smell and taste of lamb apparently. So when I see a restaurant that specialises in lamb I tease him.
Apparently Koreans eat chicken butts. Well he won. If I was going to force him to eat something that is eaten in my culture he could force me to eat something that is eaten in his culture.
Living in Sydney is pretty expensive. Australia is quite expensive in comparison to other countries but Sydney is probably the most expensive city. At the moment we live close to my husband’s work and in an area quite pricy but very close to the city area. Rent prices in Sydney are ridiculous so at the moment we share an apartment with another couple. Because of this I can’t do as much cooking as I would like. At my parent’s house I would often spend a lot of the weekend making Korean side dishes and stuff but until we get our own apartment I can’t really do that, so we stick with simple stuff for now. We also know the cheap places in the city to eat. And plan on showing them!
Yesterday we went for a walk to the city because we planned on showing you guys a cheap but good place to get Taiwanese food. We have to cross Darling Harbour to get to where we want to go. From where we live it’s a quick walk and then down a lift to Darling Harbour.
My husband often tries to push lift buttons with his knees.
Stupid.
Okay, walk through Darling Harbour.
The train for tourists behind me. And the damn wind. Ahhh, not a good idea to wear my hair out.
There is usually a carousel at Darling Harbour but I never paid attention to it before because that was before Gangnam Style. Stopped to have a quick dance in front of it. With a random kid.
What’s wrong with my face there?
Anyway, then past the trendy restaurants and lovely outside areas. My husband stops for a rest in the deck chairs.
Okay so, if you are in Sydney and don’t want to spend much money but want a decent meal here is where you can go. Find China Town.
Then find Sussex Centre.
Okay so we are going up to the food court on the top floor! Ew Food Court? Yeah a lot of food courts suck but this one is good. No Macdonalds or other crap, just Asian food.
Inside: What the hell is this? An employee moving a giant stuffed toy from one store to another.
Oh, Big Bang! Yay.
Unfortunately, the Taiwanese place we wanted to show wasn’t open at the time we went there (but of course it’s open every other time we go with no intention of making a blog post!). It’s okay though because we’ll just get other stuff.
My husband was quick to get Chinese seafood soup.
And I got some Japanese curry.
Most meals are $10 or under here and all types of Asian food. Yay. If you are coming into the city for shopping or whatever- no need to waste money on over priced sandwiches or other expensive food.
Hopefully another time we can show you the food we actually wanted to show.
Anyway. That’s what we did yesterday afternoon!
Koreans, in general, don’t like to eat lamb. In Australia lamb is quite a popular meat so Koreans are quite surprised that we eat it and enjoy it. They always say that the smell of it is really bad and they hate the taste. I’ve heard from Australian lamb farmers that lamb in Asia does smell different, that it isn’t as nice, possibly because they are grain fed? But lamb in Australia is pasture fed and doesn’t have the gross smell that it has in Korea. (But Koreans will still say it smells bad here).
My husband will eat lamb – if he does not know it’s lamb. He will eat it happily and enjoy it, but once I tell him that it was lamb he will say “I knew it tasted weird!” And yet he still ate it all?
I suspect it’s partly psychological, even though the taste of Australian lamb isn’t actually bad, there is enough underlying taste for Koreans to remember feeling repulsed at the taste and smell of lamb in Korea.
What food grosses you out?
This was early in our relationship. While I had eaten a lot of Korean food I didn’t realise those flat yellow strips side dishes were called ‘fish cakes’. I was so happy that my husband (then boyfriend) was going to cook something for me that I didn’t stop to ask what he meant by ‘fish cakes’. Stupidly, I envisioned lovely golden fish cakes full of fresh fish and mashed potato like my grandmother used to make. Or at least something like thai fish cakes. I was very wrong. I was so preoccupied with making a salad that I didn’t realise what he actually meant by fish cakes until he had finished.
This is what he meant:
Not these:
Oops… I thought he was making the main dish, not just a little side dish with a few strips of the flat fish stuff. It was okay in the end, because I quite like that side dish. But I know for the future to quiz him when he offers to cook something (which isn’t often).
Can someone explain to readers how those sheets of Korean fish cake sheets are made? And what is the correct name for this side dish? There seems to be a few different types so I’m unsure of the correct name.
I’m eating seaweed soup at the moment because traditionally Koreans eat this soup on their birthdays. You can read all about why on The Korea Blog HERE.
One of my Korean friends made it for me today. I really enjoy it these day but I didn’t always…
When my husband and I first met it was just before my birthday. He was very strongly wooing me and had arranged a birthday lunch for me. As well as cake and fruit platters there was seaweed soup… While I liked a lot of Korean food at that point I hadn’t really had this before and honestly looking down at the slimy seaweed in liquid- it didn’t seem that appetizing. My husband and his friend insisted that I must eat it because it was my birthday. Luckily after I forced down a few mouthfuls they didn’t make me eat anymore.
I only started enjoying seaweed soup when I started cooking it myself. Maybe by then I was used to the texture. I’m not sure what changed but now I really like it.
You can’t under estimate how important this is for Koreans on their birthdays. They have such a strong attachment to it. Earlier this year when the crazy naked guys (seen in other comics) were still living next door to my parent’s house I realised this. You can’t really buy Korean groceries in my hometown so Koreans must buy Korean food in Sydney. Because of this, it is hard to replenish supplies and Koreans here get used to going without. It was one of the guy’s birthday next door and they did not have the ingredients for seaweed soup. My husband was already next door at their party when I joined them.
My husband pulled me out of the room (yes the Korean drama arm grab thing) and asked for me to go back home and prepare seaweed soup for this guy. We did have the ingredients at home because we’d stocked up in Sydney recently. I knew it must be important because my husband had never requested for me to go home and cook before! If he was in the habit of telling me to go back to the kitchen I would be in the habit of punching him in the face. So I knew this must be important.
But oh the stress! I’d never prepared seaweed soup for any Koreans besides my husband before! All I had was my Korean cookbook. I studied the recipe again and again before starting to make sure I got everything right. My mother was amused, not only at my stress, but at why Koreans prefer soup for their birthday and not cake.
Eventually, after agonising over the taste I realised it was the best I could do. I took it next door and presented it to the birthday boy. He tasted it. Then the other guys tasted it. They declared it was delicious! At first I thought they were just being polite but my husband reassured me that it was very good. I was hesitant to believe my own success at first but then I watched them fight over it and finish every last drop. The birthday boy was so happy that he could have seaweed soup on his birthday. He told me had been wanting it so badly and had been upset because he thought it would be impossible to get. He then prostrated himself on the floor in a deep bow several times to thank me- he had been drinking though hehe!
Unfortunately my husband is not here with me at the moment because he just started a new job and we don’t have a new apartment in Sydney yet. We plan to celebrate together later.
Now, I don’t recommend that you mime vomiting when Koreans talk about eating intestines as it may cause offense. I was just with my husband and some friends though so I wasn’t too worried about displaying how grossed out I was. I wouldn’t do that in front of my husband’s parents or older Koreans though.
So yes, Koreans eat intestines. They like to barbeque them or have them in soup. The intestines in question were pig intestines and apparently are quite expensive. But, it’s not something I want to try. I don’t care how much my husband tells me that it tastes delicious.
Do you eat something in your culture that other people may find gross?
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