Won't you take me to

ddokbeokki town? (to be sung in the manner of lipps inc, sorry)

Sindang-dong ddokkboekki town

Sindang station (line 2), exit 6

Shrimp Trucks -- Oahu, HI

What is the most scrumptious way to eat jumbo shrimp? Sauteed in butter, garlic, and lemon, of course. Giovanni's Shrimp Truck on the North Shore, Oahu, Hawaii.

Asia, food so convenient

Tropical smoothies in plastic bags made by little Asian women every day for cheap. With extra condensed milk.

Korean Royal Court Cuisine

Korean royal court cuisine traces back to the Silla kingdom (57 BC – 935 AD) and was most famously done in the Joseon dynasty. Recently a friend of mine invited a group of us to his aunt's restaurant, Yongsusan (Hanja for "Dragon Water Mountain") in Seoul.

Here is what we ate, in order.

Jeonbok jook (abalone porridge)

Medley of salad piles

• Translucent mung bean noodles, pickled cucumber, threads of marinated beef and mushroom julienne, sprinkled with black-green seaweed
• Kaesung style mixed vegetable salad of bean-sprouts, radish, spinach and slices of dried persimmon
• Gold strands of jelly fish with Asian pear and cucumber in a mustard dressing served with thousand year old egg
  

Salad with indiscriminate creamy sauce

Bossam: steamed pork belly with cabbage and radish marinated in red chili pepper

Bossam (from previous pic) piled on cabbage; ready to be folded with chopsticks and eaten

Bindaeduk (mung bean pancake) -- served so crispy and paper-thin!

More fried things
Right: Some sort of seafood buchim (fried pancake)
Left: Unassuming deep-fried green pepper, a common sight at street cart vendors, but...

Surprise! It was stuffed with minced pork and its own seeds. Yum.

Dragon pots of soup

From the dragon pot: clear consomme with buckwheat dumpling and rice-ball pasta from Kaesong

Ddukgalbi: rib meat that is minced, marinated, and reassembled into patties, sitting on cylindrical dduk (rice cakes)

Neobiani (royal bulgogi): marinated barbecue sirloin or rib-eye. Neobiani is cut thicker than bulgogi, no stock poured into it; traditionally no vegetables are supposed to be cooked with the beef. Delicious; didn't taste as candy-sweet as modern bulgogi.

For shiksa (literally "meal," but referring to the starch at the end of the meal that fills you up after you've eaten all the meat) the choices were nengmyun, bibimbap, or nooloongji.
I chose nooloongji (burnt rice with water), which was served with a pungent dwenjang (soybean paste)

Dessert: thawed persimmon, dubbed "nature's chocolate" by Austrian dining companion


Watermelon, yakgwa (traditional cookie), and dduk (rice cake) served with maesil cha (plum tea)

Fried Dough (The South cont'd)

Yes, the illusive and infamous French doughnuts I like to refer to as fried dough, aka beignets, at the well-known establishment, Cafe Du Monde. I'm sure you all know the drill here: sit down at a small table under the terrace, put in an order of beignets (comes in 3), and receive fresh, piping-hot beignets in a matter of minutes. How do they do it so well and so effortlessly - serving soft, chewy, and perfectly deep fried pieces of dough 24 hours a day?

I was hoping to find someone back there in Cafe Du Monde's kitchen who had been making beignets since they were 5 years old, carrying on the tradition, and knowing exactly how to prepare the yeasted dough without even thinking about it. Today, it is more reminiscent of a fast-food joint-- various ethnic minority workers (sorry) hustling to take orders for numerous groups of tourists. For all I know, there might be someone hiding in back holding all of Cafe Du Monde's secrets, but I think what Cafe Du Monde has done rather successfully is carry on their technique of making delicious beignets into a life-long establishment that would otherwise be a shell of its former self (not that I have any idea as to what Cafe Du Monde looked like in 1862). My point is that although there isn't the charm of some mom and pop smiling, graciously receiving my presence and artfully preparing my beignets from their own hands, the beignets are still fucking good -- so good in fact that we went back 3 times that day.

Behold: beignet factory

Brings tears to my eyes thinking about these delicious morsels in my mouth

Southern Exposure Continued: Mosca's, Heavenly Since 1946

On the road from Austin to New Orleans, we stopped for dinner at a very special place in Avondale, LA, called Mosca's. Since 1946, Mosca's has been serving classic, unpretentious Italian fare. In what probably used to be a small roadside house, Mosca's had an atmosphere that spoke pure Americana: warm yellow lighting, jukeboxes, and separate dining rooms.

We started with a classy Italian salad of iceberg, pickled carrots and cauliflower, and red wine vinaigrette. A large party of locals sat down next to us for what seemed to be a birthday party, but everything that came to our table following managed to drown the noise coming from their side of the room. Yes, everything that normally might annoy a diner trying to concentrate on his/her eating was mitigated by the ensuing deliciousness.

Oysters Mosca: Local LA oysters (read: Large), gratin style

Jesus Christ. Wish we ordered two. I would eat this for breakfast every morning if I could.

Chicken a la Grande: Sauteed chicken with rosemary, garlic, and white wine
Succulent, salty, aromatic.

The best spaghetti and meatballs I've ever had, and probably will ever have, in my life.

Everything was amazing. But the real standout was the spaghetti and meatballs, and only for the following reason- It's easy to assume that a dish so simple and widely cooked by amateurs in homes throughout America would be hard to mess up, but every spaghetti and meatballs I've had since has truly paled in comparison. Mosca's version uses a fine (angel hair) pasta, has a deep, rich marinara sauce that was indubitably simmered for hours. The meatballs were fall-apart tender, the way meatballs should be. I have no idea how to make spaghetti and meatballs like this.

Delivery, it's what's for dinner!

On average, most Korean singles eat dinner alone. Purchasing ingredients and cooking for one's self is actually more expensive and time-consuming than eating out, and people in Seoul are too busy to be bothered. I'm still getting used to eating alone at restaurants, so delivery has become an increasingly attractive option for most dinner meals. Many places in Korea deliver single-serving meals to your door, no tip necessary.

I had this doshilahk (bento box) for dinner the other night. Fish, rice, various side dishes, salad, and soup (not pictured) delivered to my door -- all for 6,000 won (about $4.77). Jealous?