1. What is your name and where do you live?
I’m Irene Tin, I live in Singapore

Iren says, ” this photo was  taken in Nami Island, I went to korea last year and liked a lot!
Especially korea Supermarket… I love to shop at supermarket even in Singapore. Ii often go to a Korean supermarket!”

2. What do you do and how many family members do you have ?
I work as a clerk for Hair products and there are 4 members in my family.

3. How often do you cook Korean food following my recipes?
When there’s a friends gathering, I cook Korean food to let them try…

4. What are your favorite Korean dishes? Choose 3, please!
Oh… I think more than 3 Korean dishes is my Favor… Ddukbokkie, Bibimbap, Jjajangmyun, Korean style grilled meat etc…

ddukbokkie (spicy rice cake)

Stir-fried kimchi and noodles. She used vermicelli instead of rice”

5. What’s your best Korean dish, the one that everybody compliments you on when you make it?
Jabchae… ^.^
japchae

Ever since I was nominated I’ve received many emails of congratulations and encouragement, also a lot of people seem to have discovered my blog through the contest, so I’m grateful for that.  Eventually I just registered on Saveur website today!
Whom did I vote for? shh! I voted for myself! As long as they put me in the list of contestants, I like to be the winner! : )

I checked out the contest – one thing that bothers me is that  it looks like only Americans and Canadians can vote. You can see a map of my site visitors at the bottom of the Korean food fans page, my site has always been an international one.
So, don’t waste of your time to vote for me if you are living in other than North America (USA, Canada). But the website is great to check if you are interested in Food!

It says, “Vote between March 1st and April 2nd. Winners will be announced on April 5th”

You always say to me before trying out my recipes like this: “Maangchi, wish me good luck with my dakkangjung making!” Now my turn! “Wish me good luck, baybees!” : )

1. What is your name and where do you live?
My name is Daryl Morgan and I live in Namhae, a beautiful island just off the coast of South Korea.  I’m originally from Cumbria in England – very similar to Namhae.

2. What do you do and how many family members do you have ?
I teach English at Namhae Middle School for boys – I’m in my second year now and I love it – the school, the island and the country.  I have two children, a 25 year old son, Arrian who lives in the Netherlands and a 19 year old daughter, Sara, who is at university in England.

Sukho village, Namhae

wolpo beach, Namhae

3. How often do you cook Korean food following my recipes?
Not as often as I should!  It’s far too easy (and often cheaper) to go to a local restaurant and eat excellent food.  But your site saved my life when I first moved here and knew no-one and nothing.  I would copy the names of ingredients from recipes and read everything in the store until I found what I needed then come home and cook.  I’ve rarely eaten ‘western’ food since I arrived in Korea and I try to cook whenever I can.
4. What are your favorite Korean dishes? Choose 3, please!
Bibimbab, especially dolsot bibimbap, maeuntang and raw fish, though really it would be easier to list the few things I don’t like. I loved the grilled eel here too.

Bibimbap (Mixed rice with vegetables)

ddeok (rice cake soup)

kimbap and yubu chobap

5. What’s your best Korean dish, the one that everybody compliments you on when you make it?
Well, to be honest I haven’t cooked for many people.  I went for my first return visit to England this Christmas with a suitcase full of ingredients, all set to make a special Korean meal for my family.  Unfortunately the airline lost my case and it didn’t arrive until after I left so no-one got to try my bibimbap, kongnamul guk, myulchi bokkeum and ddukbokkie that I was planning!  So, the only person I’ve cooked for is my boyfriend and as he is Korean I was very, very nervous.  He says my soon dubu jjigae is perfect, but he would say that, wouldn’t he?.  I love my maeun tang – better than some of the restaurants I’ve been to, even if I say so myself!

soondubujjigae (spicy soft tofu stew)

I wanted to tell you about a new contest put on by the Korean Presidential Council for Nation Branding and YouTube. The purpose of the contest is to promote Korean food around the world through video recipes on YouTube.

You can find the details here, but basically you need to make a video of your Korean recipe, upload it to YouTube and submit it to them as them as well. The deadline is March 31st.

Here’s a video introduction to the contest:

Click here to view the embedded video.

So many readers sent me great photos of Korean food, and even some great video responses. I met a lot of passionate cooks at my meetups. I know you are smart and dedicated cooks, and a lot of you can cook Korean food very well. So I really encourage you to make a video and enter this contest, and show everyone what delicious food you can make. I’m not going to enter the contest this time.

Hurry up and please let me know if you enter the contest. I will do my best to promote your videos!

Good luck!

One morning in Fortuna, Costa Rica, I asked my travel agent to find shuttle bus tickets for Quepos. He called a shuttle bus company and said all the tickets were sold out for the day. So I had to book tickets for the next day. Consequently I had a whole free day.

What shall I do? Hmm, a few seconds later, an exciting idea came up in my mind. How about cooking some Korean food for my friends I made there? Ooh whoo, it made me very excited! Then what shall I make without using special Korean ingredients? The recipe should be very easy! Yes! I had some leftover rice in my backpack from making kimbap lunch box the other day. Dakjuk! Yes, yes! Yayee! Let’s go to the supermarket!

I picked up a whole chicken, garlic, watermelon, and some other fresh vegetables and seasoning sauce to make Korean style salad (geotjeori); chicken soup for main dish, geotjeori for side dish, and watermelon for dessert! Oh my! Fuji mama! Perfect!  : )

Do I have any memories about dakjuk? Are you joking to me? Lol yes, of course I do! I can’t forget watching my late grand mother (father side) killing a chicken. The chicken was running around her yard just before it got killed! My grand mother was kind of a tough woman. She picked one chicken among the dozens of her chickens running and playing in her yard.

I watched her twisting its neck and waiting until it died. Then she put the chicken in hot water to remove all its feathers, and cut its stomach with a knife and took out all guts! It sounds horrible, but I never felt scared or disgusted at the time. Even though I felt sorry for the chicken, I remember, we were going to have delicious dakjuk soon for dinner, that’s all I was dreaming. When the chicken was boiling with lots of garlic, the smell spread in the village!

Her chickens were her live food resources just like her vegetables grown in her patch! : )

In Korea, sons-in-law are treated very well by their mothers-in-law. So when a son-in-law visits his mother-in-law’s house, he will expect her to cook chicken to welcome him. These days the custom may be changing.

My dakjuk in Costa Rica turned out great! All of my friends enjoyed the soup. They liked my geotjeori, too.

When you have many unexpected visitors, make dakjuk. You can feed so many people! If you want to add more side dishes, I recommend vegetable pancake or green onion (or Asian chives) pancake. What else? Of course don’t forget to serve kimchi.

Yield: 8-10 servings

Cooking time: 2 hours

Ingredients:
A whole chicken (about 3 pounds), 1 ½ cups of garlic cloves, 1 ½ cups of rice, 2 eggs, 3 green onions, salt, water.

For 2 kinds of  dipping sauce:
Salt and pepper, soy sauce, vinegar, hot pepper flakes, green onion, sesame seeds, sugar.

Directions:

1. Soak 1½ cups of rice in cold water for 1 hour.
   *tip: if you like thinner soup style, use 1 cup of rice;  if you like thicker porridge style, use 1½ cups rice

   

2. Wash and drain the whole chicken.
   
3. Trim the fat from the chicken’s stomach area with scissors; cut off the tip of bum part. : )
4. Place the chicken in a large pot and add 12-13 cups of water.
5. Add 1½ cups of garlic cloves and bring to a boil over high heat for about 40 minutes.
6. Turn down the heat to low-medium and cook 20 more minutes.
7. Rinse and drain the rice, and add to the boiling chicken porridge.
   
8. Remove any fat floating on top of the soup with a spoon or ladle.
9. Keep boiling with the lid closed for another 30 minutes.
   *tip: lower the heat if it boils over
10. Chop 3 stalks of green onion and beat 2 eggs and set aside.
11. Check if the chicken is cooked tender or not by poking the meat with a fork or chopsticks. It’s usually tender after 1½ hour of cooking, but if it’s not tender enough, cook a little longer.
12. Add 1 tbs salt to the soup and mix it with your spoon. The amount of salt depends on your taste, so use more or less as you like.

Ok, now time to serve!

Take the chicken out of the pot, transfer to a large plate, and put it on the table to serve.

Make 2 kinds of dipping sauce:

1. Mix 1 tbs salt and ¼ ts black ground pepper in a small bowl
2. Mix these ingredients in a bowl (this is my father’s favorite dipping sauce whenever  he had this dish):
   • 2 tbs soy sauce, 1 tbs vinegar, 1 tbs chopped green onion, 1 ts sugar, 1 ts roasted sesame seeds, and 1 ts hot pepper flakes.

Now back to the chicken soup!

1. Add the chopped green onions (from #10).
2. Add the beaten eggs. Pour them in and wait for 10 seconds before stirring, to let them cook.
   
   

Your chicken soup (or porridge) is ready! Turn the heat off and serve.

“ooh heavy heavy!”

We did a day tour by boat of the Caño Negro wildlife refuge. Along the river toward lake Caño Negro, we saw so many kinds of birds, reptiles, and plants. Some locals were showing off the fish that they caught. The name of fish is “gar fish.” My tour guide said that the fish has no gills and its bladders take a role as lungs. The fish looked like half fish, half something like crocodile. Scary looking! I don’t think I can cook it because I don’t want to touch it. eww!

This boy, the son of the hotel owner where I stayed, is playing with his pet bird. The poor bird’s wings were cut, so he could not fly away. He posed for me to show his profile: rooster comb hair style! : )

This man  seemed to hang around there all the time at the central park in San Jose. When he noticed my watching, he gestured me to join the game.

Danillo, he is a shuttle bus driver. He carries a basic English text book to learn English. “If my English is good, my salary will go up. I want to be a tour guide someday.” He tried to teach me Spanish words. I think he could become a good Spanish teacher. When I remember some words that he taught, he was so happy that he almost jumped out of his seat. : )

At the entrance of hot springs. I don’t know why I felt good sitting next to the plump woman sculpture. : )

Costa Rican payphones. The height of pay phones are different. I think the shorter one is for little children. Considerate!

My tour guide picked a stick from a tree and cut the tip with his knife. Once he cut and pulled it up, a beautiful flower came out!  The name of the flower is “pachira” and the flower smelled really good. “Anybody wants this flower?” he asked, I took it quietly but very excitedly. I brought home to make a frame but the color of the flower changed to darkish brown and shrunk! My treasure is gone! : )

I took this bus to go to Manuel Antonio National Park from Quepos where I stayed. The bus fare was only a quarter!

This shuttle bus is taking you from hotel to hotel. It was very convenient and comfortable.

This girl from Switzerland,  was traveling with her 2 other friends. Take a look at her tattoo! It says “love, happiness, friendship” in Chinese!  hmm, these 3 elements are the most important in her life? I have too many things important, so if I put on tattoo, my body will be full of tattoo! : )  I sometimes see some people’s tattoos with wrong spelling.

oh, I forgot his name. He was our  tour guide when we went snorkeling and sunset watching. He is teaching surfing at an institute in Quepos, Costa Rica. He represents Costa Rica in surfing competition! When I asked him if he has ever been to USA, he said yes. He entered the competition in California a couple of years ago. He said, “oh, the California water was so cold for me that I lost!”  haha, the temperature of Californian ocean is cold? What can I say? He is living in warm country. : )

One day before we left Quepos to San Jose to come home, we were browsing the small town to find a good place to eat. We found people lining up at a bar. I asked them, “what’s going on here?” they said, “oh, the owner of this bar is giving us free food tonight to celebrate Mardi Gras!” Free food! holy molly!

I saw lots of food on the table: jambalaya with sausage, pork, rice, beans…! Later I heard that the owner of the bar provides free food to their customers on American special occasions such as Thanksgiving Day, New Year’s Day, Mardi Gras, St. Patrick Day.
Who is the owner? Wanda in the middle of the photo! She is running the bar with her husband.
If you visit Quepos, be sure to find “Wacky Wanda!” It’s the name of the bar.  She will welcome you with huge smile!

I met this lady Tracey at a coffeshop. Her hometown is Calgary Alberta, Canada! She and her husband came to Costa Rica to travel 4 years ago for the first time and they fell in love with the country! They moved to Costa Rica 2 years ago and bought a fishing boat. They run their business with the fishing boat and help their customers catch fish!  She said, “We are going back home during low season in May and will come back  in November again.”

“Your name is Wanda?” I asked, and she said, “Yay, wacky Wanda!” We had to yell each other to communicate because the bar was very crowded and noisy. My daughter worried about me going hoarse, I talked so much.

We took this kind of boat for the Cano Negro day tour

2 toed sloth. Hey, lazy sloth! wake up!

I had never seen banana flower before! Beautiful!

aningha (snake bird)

sleeping bats

caiman

floating dead caiman

crocodiles

I forgot the name of the bird.

black vultures

howler monkey. They really howled loudly. It is known that their howling sound travels for three miles through dense forest.

Hey, turtle!, Where are you going alone!

cute spider monkeys!

I was the only person who was interested in these fruits. The guide cut it in half and took some seeds inside and said they are used as food coloring. I forgot the name and I brought these 2 fruits home secretly. : )

My hostel garden in Quepos

Iguana

ooh baby! Killer bees! Please hide your stingers in front of me!

red land crab : this edible gourmet delicacy crab is living in the mountain. I wish I could catch some and cook. : )

Central Park in Fortuna

beach in Manuel Antonio National Park

This small island attracts so many birds for some reason, so the island is full of bird poop. They call this island “poop island.”

Pineapples are ground dwelling fruit and they don’t grow on trees! I learned a new thing.

The town of Quepos where I stayed

1. What is your name and where do you live?
My name is Sarah (or Rara!) And I live in loma linda, CA.

2. What do you do and how many family members do you have?
I’m a nursing student and I live with my roommate.

3. How often do you cook Korean food following my recipes?
Last week was the first time I made something using one of your recipes. I made jja jang myun because I was watching a korean drama where they were eating it and it looked so good!! And I thought it would be fun to try and make it myself. I’m self-taught and my repertoire consists of kimchi dishes so this was way out of my comfort zone but it was surprisingly really easy. I used stew beef rather than pork and it was still tasty.

Jjajangmyun (black bean noodles)

4. What are your favorite Korean dish Choose 3, please!
My favorite dishes (there are so many!!) Are kimchi jjigae, chik mool nengmyun (must be arrowroot noodles!) And kimbap – tuna, cheese,  kkaetnip! Ooh with ddukbokki sauce for dipping.

5. What’s your best Korean dish, the one that everybody compliments you on when you make it?
My friends usually say my kimchi bokeumbap is good. :)

If you are  my long time reader, you will probably know who Reinier is!

He will be visiting New York next week! I’m so excited about meeting him now!

I am going to take him to my favorite Korean knife-cut noodle soup place.

If you like to join us, let me know by leaving your comment here: “I’m in!”

I need to reserve a table, because this restaurant is very busy and popular, so be sure to leave a comment if you want to come, so they can make room for all of us.

Where: Arirang
32 West 32nd Street, 3rd Floor,
New York NY 10001 (b/n 5th and 6th; map)
212-967-5088

When: 6:00 pm Thursday, March 4, 2010

If you want to know more about the restaurant, read this well-written review on Serious Eats New York.

Ice cream made with cactus flower. The beautiful purple color got my attention. I had this ice cream twice!

Tamale wrapped in banana leaves

casado: typical Costa Rican meal consisting of rice, black beans, meat, salad, and fried plantains

Costa Rican sweet coconut cookies

steamed plantains cooked with sugar and cinnamon

deliciious doughnuts with cream inside

I had to buy a plastic container in Costa Rica to make lunchbox (doshirak). Jumeokbap (similar to my samgak kimbap recipe) made with kimgaru (laver powder:roasted and crushed seaweed), roasted sesame seeds, shrimp, steamed rice, salt, sugar, vinegar, and salsa sauce. It was a fantastic taste! : )

Mango crepe plus ice coffee for brunch satisfied my empty stomach!  : )

casado with beef and steamed yuka

Whose beer? Their beer! Costa Rican beer! Imperial

a can of pulpo (octopus)! very delicious! I often had this for my snack!

plantain chips. They are not sweet and the taste is kinda bland

colorful  vegetable salads made with fresh and steamed vegetables. I like the warm steamed broccoli.

Vegetables and stir-fried rice! A huge fried crab is buried in the pile of stir-fried rice! : )

I had this seafood with salsa at a restaurant recommended by my travel book “Lonely Planet”. The restaurant is inside of a market in San Jose. They use very fresh seafood, as the travel book said.

Toasted bread, rice with black beans, scrambled eggs, sour cream, fried plantain, and a few strips of fried bacon! Do you think they go together? Yes, it was good to me! : ) I ordered this meal “to go” to eat on the shuttle bus to go to La Fortuna from San Jose.

Costa Rican sweet potatoes and corn! I steamed them with my steamer and made lunchbox when I moved from Fortuna to Quepos.

Pastry. The large circle shape cookie (Orelas) was sweet and cruchy!

Satisfied-looking coffee man! Why? I bought 3 kilos of coffee from him. Each bag of coffee was 500 grams and it $4.oo! Delicious, cheap, and good quality coffee!

People in Costa Rica are very genuine and friendly. Their food is good and most of all, so many people can speak English there. I had no communication problem during my trip.

It was a short trip, so I had to skip many other good places to visit, but I did my best to see and feel the country as much as I could.

I met interesting people, ate good food, saw so many exotic animals, birds, flowers, plants, volcanoes, and fruits!

And! And! Ooh whoo! I did an exciting event! : )
I cooked Korean chicken soup for my amigos there! They loved my chicken soup and enjoyed it a lot. I filmed it with my small digital camera, so it will be posted on my website and YouTube soon. I hope the quality of film is good. Let’s see.

I scheduled my itinerary as simple as I could because I wanted to relax instead of running everywhere. I wanted to reduce travel time, but it ended up being busy everyday. Yes, I can’t sit at the beach comfortably or sleep late in the hotel rooms. That’s my nature.

I woke up early morning and told my daughter, “sleep more..”, but she could not sleep enough because her mom was making noise to prepare to go out in the early morning. : )
Luckily she is very adventurous and curious about so many things about the country, which makes me feel really good!

I have received many emails and messages from my readers. They want to hear my travel story. So I’m going to post some photos of what I saw, what I ate, and whom I met.

Stay tuned!