Go Crazy with Kimchi

Lake shot of the day

I woke up pretty sore from these last few days of running. I looked out the window, realized that I really didn't feel like going outside today (good thing I didn't, because it turned out to be really windy), so I went down to the weight room and did my usual 40 minutes on the elliptical while looking at some stupid book on colleges... I need big books that will stay open. Boring, but at least I got to sweat some.
Breakfast was amazing, if I do say so myself. I plan on eating this amazing gingerbread until it's gone, so I need to get creative here.
Gingerbread Parfait with Caramelized Apple Chutney, Greek Yogurt, and Cashew Butter
Sounds gourmet, no?
Basically, I just layered the ingredients with a drizzle of Whole Foods raw fresh cashew butter, which I'd never had before. Very mild, but refined. Delicious, in fact, but a completely different creature from peanut butter, which is attention-seeking and hogs the spotlight.
I heated the gingerbread first. It went great with my chutney, which has proven to be versatile! My dad ate it with chicken for lunch, and, just as I predicted, it makes a nice accompaniment to meat.
Lunch: leftovers! We must clean out that fridge! More of that seitan pie (now that I think about it, it really isn't a pot pie, because the crust isn't puff pastry and there's a bottom crust), spinach and more vegetables.

And a pear.

I went to the bookstore and bought:
-A better edition of Anna Karenina
-TALES OF BEETLE THE BARD, which I've already read. And all the proceeds are going to charity! Go Rowling!
-There was a 20% off cook book sale, but I couldn't find anything I wanted! I have more than enough cookbooks, but what I really want are some good Japanese, Korean, and African (not just North African) cookbooks.

I was a little hungry later on and had a bowl of Amy's chocolate vanilla bunnies with a little GoLean Crunch, half a banana, blackberries, and soymilk.

Therefore, I wasn't too hungry for dinner, but my dad and I cooked, and I'm really glad we did. We were thinking of just having more leftovers, but we ended up incorporating leftovers into what I made, which was bibimbap! I've never made Korean food at home, but it really wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. The only difficulty was stir-frying EVERY single topping separately. (Check out the awesome peanut oil-pouring shot!)


Toppings we used:
-Carrots
-Burdock (also known as mountain yam... it looks like an extra thick, hairy, brown carrot)
-Cucumber (But only the skins, which is interesting)
-Watercress
-Instead of beef, I used some "soy chicken" from Chinatown, which is basically just tofu rolled up to look like chicken... no TVP here. I seasoned it with sesame oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds, ginger, garlic, and a little sugar.
-Leftover mung bean sprouts
-Leftover Korean zucchini seafood-pancake (literally a tiny piece)-- we used this instead of a sunny side up egg
-MUSHROOMS
-and of course, kimchi.
-AND some pear-- this really evened out the spiciness


(All mixed together)
We microwaved leftover brown rice and mixed it with chili paste and sesame oil, then topped it with the vegetables... and more chili paste.
I ate the entire bowl, minus some of the soy chicken. The carrots and burdock were the best part-- they were a little burned, almost like shoestring potatoes or something!
Mm, this is one of those meals where I just don't want a dessert because I want to remember it. To get rid of that garlicky kimchi taste, I had a tangerine.

I finished Interview with the Vampire. How come nobody told me it was so philosophical and depressing? Any slightly more cheerful vampire stories? Or just good books in general?

Neighborhood eats again

Hyde Park really is improving (and if Obama is elected, who knows what changes will take place?)!
They've even opened a new gourmet foods store on 47th, Zeleski and Horvath. My mom also let me know that Experimental Station on 61st has an organic foods cafe! Who knew?
We still mainly eat dinner at home, but on those nights, especially after swim meets, where it makes more sense to drop by a cheap restaurant and get home by 7:30, my dad and I go out to eat.
We've agreed that Hyde Park's best food is found at the incredibly underrated and decently authentic Seoul Korea, or Cafe Corea... the name of the restaurant is still unclear, since the menu and neon sign tend to say different things...
It had been a while since we had actually eaten at the restaurant as opposed to just getting takeout, and I realized what a cute, family-run restaurant it is. It's run by a Korean couple, and the kitchen and fridge are out in the open. The menu shows that the variety of ingredients is somewhat limited, and yet they are able to turn out three or four pages of different dishes. Of course, a true Korean would turn up their nose at this restaurant compared to the BBQ places on Lawrence Ave, but who am I to complain?
We asked for the small plates of pickles, which are one of my favorite parts of Korean food: soy bean sprouts, spicy potatoes, kimchi, and daikon.
I was tempted by the seafood pancake, which I'd had before, but since we ended up ordering both noodle and rice dishes (CARB LOAD), I opted for my favorite appetizer: blanched spinach with an almost decadently sugary sesame sauce.
We ordered perfectly: we decided to order three dishes, despite there being two of us, and eat them family style. The three dishes were sufficiently different to keep the tastes interesting-- my dad ordered bibimbap (with meat), but i managed to steal some of the vegetables before everything got mixed together.
The other two dishes were a noodle soup with egg, seafood, and vegetables (carrots, onion, scallions). The noodles and octopus provided great chew, and the broth was mild and warming. I would have added hot sauce if the second dish hadn't been so incredibly spicy.
My dad was most impressed by the tofu, vegetable, egg, and kimchi stew (see what I mean about repetitive ingredients?), and I definitely understood why he would say so-- there was something extremely complex in the flavor of the broth and the intermingling of different textures. The spice was more complex than just being hot, and the kimchi was crunchy, while the dofu was tender (nen, as we say in Chinese). The stew had to be eaten with their sticky, short-grain white rice, which I love.
We managed to eat almost everything. Even as I write this I'm getting a craving for some more kimchi...