My Favorite Korean Dish:

The first time I had it I thought it smelled, and tasted, a bit like puke. It’s strong. It’s pungent. Tangy. Delicious.

Tonight we (well, Karen) made Dwen/Doenjang Jigae, my favorite Korean dish. From Wikipedia, Doenjang jjigae is a variety of jjigae or stew-like Korean traditional dish, made with doenjang (Korean soybean paste) and available ingredients such as vegetables, mushrooms, seafood, or dubu (tofu). It is regarded as one of the representative dishes of commoners’ food in Korea.

It’s strange to think I will probably make this soup for the rest of my life, remembering the times I had it here, thinking back to the first time I started to fall in love with it at a fancy Korean restaurant with our school’s principal and Karen’s parents. It will probably always be the thing I order when going out for Korean. I love this soup. Find it, try it.

If you’re interested, my other favorite dishes are:

Kimchi Bokumbap: Kimchi Stir-fry, but only from a little place near our apartment. It has this amazing smokey flavor I haven’t had elsewhere.

Dalk Galbi: Chicken, Cabbage, Sweet Potato, Rice Cakes, and more all in this amazing spicy sauce. It’s so much better than it sounds…

Seollungtang: I’m a soup guy. This one has a broth made of/with Ox-Bone.

Galbitang: Another amazing soup with short ribs…

In other food news, we bought a small toaster oven for 38,000 won ($35). Yes, we’ve made Kale Chips…