korean feast

i wen to the zion market with my korean friend, who admittedly knows nothing about food, but can read labels in korean *grin*

this was going to be dinner for two.. but somehow it ended up being dinner for 4 + leftovers. i think we got a little food crazy. lighting in the kitchen is always too dim. top- grilled salted mackerel, right- dukbukge, bottom- laver, left and counterclockwise- tofu pockets with seasoned rice, kimchee, spicy sweet fishcake, seasoned cucumbers, soybeans. plus the ubiquitous rice.

pear season!

actually, it's not pear season anymore. and if it was pear season, maybe it was in the beginning of october. i really don't know, but that's when massive amounts of pears started arriving in the markets. maybe getting an almanac would help... if i were a farmer. i think i bought one of every pear i could find that day, minus the really expensive ones (aka organics) of course.

seckels, bartlett, d'anjou, starkrimson, comice

taco rice

well, i made this a year and a half ago, and i don't think i posted anything about it.. remembered making this due to mmm-yoso's and others' reminiscences about taco rice. i didn't have any lettuce, cheese, or tomatoes... but tacomeat+onions+sauce on rice is close enough. it probably doesn't taste nearly as good when made by professionals... it tasted pretty bad, in fact. that's why there's some bbq sauce on the top in hopes that it could be salvaged--i mean, bbq sauce makes everything taste better.

rice bowl

bulgogi and kimchi on rice for late night snack.. some months ago.

the meat was but a fraction of several pounds i'd bought from DB marketworld and cooked with onions previously. even reheated.. it's ooooohhh soooo yummmyyyy.

sweets from someone sweet?

"...the candy man can because he mixes it with love and makes the world go 'round..."

that's what little Charlie Bucket would have you believe, but as the oompa loompas pointed out, they'll make your teeth rot out and get fat if you eat too much. however, i still have a fondness for novel candies (especially gum) despite the melodic warnings from little orange men. these are some of the edible souvenirs The Brain brought back from a trip to the far east.

the inserts from the xylish gums have some sort of cartoon printed on them and can be folded into a smaller sized box when your supply dwindles.

clockwise from top: xylish sugarfree fruity mint, lotte "bitter" yuzu and grapefruit flavor, whiteen sugerfree strawberry mint, haitai smoke-breath neutralizer(?) gum, glico "peach mint" watering kiss mint

not seen in the first is the xylish hypercool mint which is like chewing listerine. it's so strongly minty that it is almost bitter. the best tasting ones was were the peachmint and fruity mint.

stay tuned for the part 2 of the candy series! (probably in 2 months)

i spy

with my very own eyes:

12 motorcycle policemen

1 firetruck

3 police squad cars

1 FBI agent

1 building twinkling like a christmas tree

1 news van

2 news helicopters

1 jacque cousteau-esque exploder-chamber thingie

1 person trancing out and dancing to the beat of the evacuation alarms

... just kidding about the last one

starbuck's coffee

stinks. it's waaay too bitter (the mild) and leaves a sour aftertaste even when black. i really gotta ask my uncle what the name of the cafe near echo park with the 10 thousand dollar coffee maker is. mmm.. it was so smooth...

maybe i just like coffee less concentrated than most. i've taken to making my own coffee, but as i'm not at HQ and desperately crave caffiene... there is no other alternative. i love dark chocolate covered expresso beans, but that might not be a good breakfast. i mean, without bacon and fresh blackberries, it's just not a balanced meal.