I ♥ Korean

lunch today: store-bought vegetables and noodles wrapped in thin fish cakes, 

homemade rolled omelet, a bottle of soju

I've always loved Korean food; I cook it as often as I could. When my family and I lived in Hong Kong in the late 80s, we used to go to Korean restaurants on Sundays but haven't been to one that serves authentic Korean food for many years now because they are too far from our house. Yesterday, we drove to the nearest and had buffet lunch but I was only able to take a few blurry photos to be able to concentrate on the great food.

buffet lunch yesterday at Il Mee in Annandale VA

I'm also loving their movies and TV dramas too. A few years ago I started getting hooked on Korean movies and very recently Korean TV dramas AKA Kdramas. Although I've watched Korean, Chinese period series, and Japanese dramas more than 22 years ago, I barely understood what was going on because of the lack of English subtitles [but I still watched them].

When I saw the first episode of my first Kdrama, Boys Over Flowers, streamed from Netflix, I didn't know I was going to be addicted. Boys Over Flowers has 25 hour-long episodes which I finished in 3 days, that's over 8 hours a night of marathon viewing, but I can't seem to stop clicking on the next episode once the previous one ended. I have since watched 6 more Kdramas, plus the earlier Japanese Boys Over Flowers version and its full-length movie for a total of approximately 140 hours of TV and laptop viewing in 5 weeks, my eyeballs are hurting already.

All the Korean F4 boys are so cute, but I love the "leader", Gu Jun Pyo, croissant hair and all, played by Lee Min-ho.

Jun Pyo eating fish cake on a stick

Move over, Asano Tadanobu, Sakaguchi Tak, and Kaneshiro Takeshi, I have a new flavor of the year, Lee Minho.

in City Hunter 

in his tight pink pants (City Hunter)

a fan's drawing of Minho

Tod Mun Pla

These Thai fish cakes have been one of my favorite dishes since I first tasted them over 20 years ago at Flavours & Spices in Makati (which I learned from a friend had already ceased operation for several years now). When we try new Thai restaurants here and when we were living in Hong Kong, I check them out the moment the menu card is handed to us. If they're not on the menu, or if the server has never heard of them, then I consider the restaurant NOT authentic Thai. When we first came here in the US 15 years ago there were very few Thai restaurants, most of them didn't serve tod mun pla. We later learned almost all the Thai restaurants here in the Washington D. C. area at the time were owned by Chinese and their cooks were Chinese. There are several new Thai restaurants now that are owned by Thai people and some have these in their menu. I guess they are not popular with Americans because of their chewy texture which is precisely why I love them. The cakes are served as appetizer but I have them as main course, eaten with steamed rice and cucumbers with sweet and sour chili sauce.

Tod Mun Pla
1 pound fish paste
1 tablespoon Thai red chili paste
1 tablespoon fish extract
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 cup sliced green beans
3 fresh kaffir lime leaves, sliced thin (optional)
½ cup oil for frying

• Combine the first 4 ingredients in a food processor for 1 minute, add egg and process for another minute. Add green beans and lime leaves, pulse 5 times or until just combined.
• Heat oil in a skillet, fry about 2 tablespoons of fish mixture, flatten with spatula while frying. Flip and fry on other side until golden brown.

Cucumber Salad
2 mini cucumbers, sliced
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup sugar
1 red chili, finely minced
½ cup roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

• Combine vinegar, sugar and chili. Mix in the sliced cucumbers. Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle peanuts on top.