Sorry this is not a beautiful picture of a plated dish, but I made all of it myself (from your wonder ful recipes) and we enjoyed it at a beautiful picnic spot in Gongju, S. Korea. Thank you, Thank You Maangchi!
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My cookbooks
Which to get? Both are best sellers and either one is a good choice if you want to learn Korean home cooking. Maangchi's Real Korean Cooking has all the recipes for all the essential Korean pastes and sauces, but my second book Maangchi's Big Book of Korean Cooking has more recipes, more photos, and more variety.
Maangchi's recipes by category:
Kimchi
Essential Korean dish
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Banchan makes the meal
Rice
Our most important grain
Pancakes
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Long noodles = long life!
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Guk at every meal
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Consider these mains
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Anyone can make these!
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These could be first
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I love spicy food :)
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There are plenty!
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Some new dishes to try
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Our most delicious
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Good for your health!
Cold dishes
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Not Korean
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Wow, Nice view! this view reminds me of SBS Family outing couple years ago :)
Dear Maangchi,
I had the pleasure of spending almost a year in South Korea, living in both Seoul and Gongju. I learned to love Korean food when I lived in NYC, now I am living in Santa Fe, NM. When are you coming to visit? It is nice here!
On this summer day I was in Gongju and my friend Sunhee Kim said, “Let’s go have lunch as if we lived in Joseon times.” Gongju is a marvelous city that is proud of its contemporary and traditional arts and its history (it is the seat of the ancient Joseon Dynasty). The city has many amenities for its citizens including public wondumak (I’m happy to know the right word for them) that line the riverside, so anyone can enjoy them.
On that day I had prepared the soybean side dish (kongjang), an eggplant side dish (gaji namul), a dried anchovy side dish (myeolchibokkeum) and something kind of like Matang and maybe also boiled pumpkin (danhobak); from your great recipes. Sunhee taught me many recipes too, as well as a lot of other things.
The wondumak was very airy and comfortable. On another day we ordered fried chicken that was delivered right to the wondumak! Yumm!
In a small Korean village I saw a wondumak being used as a meeting place for senior citizens. The elderly were sitting in the cool shelter and were being attended by younger people. I need to get to work on my Korean because I want to retire there someday! It looked like a wonderful way to live.
Thank you for teaching me how to make Korean food. I have a long way to go but I have you to help me.
Amy
“Let’s go have lunch as if we lived in Joseon times.” haha! Thank you for sharing more beautiful stories about wondumak.
Happy cooking!
Oh thank you for sharing this awesome photo with us! This kind of pavilion is only seen in the Korean country side. It’s built in the middle of a vegetable patch, usually melons, and watermelons. We call it a wondumak (원두막) and it’s built to keep the vegetables and melons secure from thieves. The owner of the patch and his family spend time under in the pavilion because it’s nice and cool in the daytime. At nighttime young people hang out there.
You are living in Gongju? I think many of my readers (including me!) who see this photo will be curious about you. Let us know why you made Korean dishes and had a picnic there. At least you must be a friend of the pavilion owner. : )
One of the side dishes must be gajinamul (steamed and seasoned egg plant)!
Thank you again!