Big Birthday Celebration – Help Please

Hi all,

Although I am an American, I love, love, love cooking Asian foods. I am finally working my way through Korean cuisine, and so far I think it’s my favorite! And that’s where I could use some help, if anybody is able.

Years ago, after his family abandoned him, I brought my son’s Korean friend John into our home. After all this time, John is still with me, and has become an important part of my family.

I have some fairly significant health issues, and without ever asking John for any thing, he has worked so hard to help me whenever I need assistance getting around. He always reminds me to take my medicines on time and to keep my doctors visits, etc. He will sit up and keep me company on nights when I am in too much pain to sleep. He did all of this even when he was in college, and he continues now even though he has a job and a life of his own. He has grown into such a sweet and humble young man!

This weekend is John’s 25th birthday, and I want to celebrate it in style. I know it’s a bit ambitious, but I am (humbly) pretty good in the kitchen. So I want to honor John with a proper 12-course feast of Korean dishes. Only I really don’t know which dishes to choose (there are so many yummy ones in Maangchi’s cookbook)!

I have some ideas. I know that John loves dak bulgogi, so I’ll include that. One of his favorite banchan is gamja jorim, so I plan to make that, too. I’ve made these for John many times, along with bibimbap, which he also loves.

There are some problems with my idea, though. John doesn’t like any fish dishes, and (don’t hit me, I’m just the messenger) he really dislikes kimchi. There are a couple of other dishes, but John doesn’t know their names.

The first one he describes as a dish made with red beans, which he says his mother only made on major holidays. The second is a beef dish, which John describes as “my favorite way to eat meat in all the world”. Only he doesn’t know what it’s called either. He describes it as “really tender beef cooked in a very spicy red sauce” (sounds like a galbi to me, but I’m not sure).

So after all of this background, what I could really use some help with would be some ideas for how to round out the 12-course feast, some possible substitutes for a kimchi (or even a kimchi that is different from the usual flavors?), and some help identifying the beef and the red bean dishes.

Hopefully I haven’t said anything disrespectful and even more importantly I hope my plans for celebrating John’s 25th birthday are appropriate for someone I value and love as I do John.

I appreciate very much any help any of you might provide.

Thanks!