A Week of Food, Haircuts, and Community

reply 0 hit 303 date 25-08-16 15:10

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I went to the Gwacheon Elementary School food education class meeting and received a solo meal! We made *ttaengcho-jang* (spicy pepper paste) with the new members, and ate together afterwards. The older members prepared lunch, even taking care of my portion. The *ttaengcho-jang* was delicious, the rice was delicious, and the vegetable wraps were delicious too.

I received a jar of *ttaengcho-jang* and happily skipped home. In just two days, my *umeboshi* (Japanese pickled plums) produced enough *umesu* (plum vinegar) to cover them. I feel good because it seems to be going well, just as the teacher said.

With rice on hand, leftover stew, and the *ttaengcho-jang* I got, I quickly prepared dinner with the existing side dishes, lettuce salad, and steamed pumpkin leaves. It was so delicious that I overate, even having frozen *omija* (magnolia berry) punch afterwards.

I hadn't dyed my hair for several years after reading Moon-sook's article about the impact of dyeing on the ocean. However, my hair wasn't structured to withstand it (?). It was frizzy and thin with some curls. As an alternative, I decided to get a perm only once a year. This time, it had been about a year and three months, so I made a hair salon appointment. My hair requires the basic four hours, so I packed a cheap seasonal lunch, anticipating being hungry. I took potatoes I harvested and steamed *hansalim* (organic) sweet pumpkin, along with *omija* tea, to the salon. It's a local salon, and there was a reason it survived the COVID-19 pandemic. It's a one-person salon, but it's constantly busy, and the owner is meticulous, carefully handling every strand of my bangs. The price was also reasonable, so I was satisfied. It feels much lighter after changing to a shorter hairstyle after a long time.

Hearing that she often only had bread or bananas for meals since she runs the salon alone, I gave her my potatoes and sweet pumpkin, mentioning that they were heirloom varieties. Then, I came home and steamed some new potatoes for myself. I also had errands to run at City Hall and was running around since morning, so I passed out after eating the potatoes! For dinner, I made *tteokbokki* (spicy rice cakes).

I accidentally saw a picture of *tteokbokki* at lunchtime and kept talking about it, which made me want to eat it. More than half of our conversations as a couple revolve around what to eat! This *tteokbokki* has incredibly high costs because it contains organic *tteokbokki* rice cakes, *hansalim* fish cakes, organic red pepper paste, and organic sorghum syrup. It's best with plenty of green onions. The taste is also amazing, so we even fried rice with the leftovers.

There's a story behind the cucumber sandwich. I asked Bear to buy some mayonnaise, but he kept forgetting. When he finally bought the mayonnaise, we were out of bread. When I asked him to buy bread again, he bought olive cheese bread, so we couldn't eat it again, and the dill wilted. When I brought more dill from the garden, there were no cucumbers this time. How could the timing be so off? I wondered if I would ever get to eat that cucumber sandwich.

But then, So-young unnie (older sister/friend) shared some garden cucumbers, so I put plenty of dill and *bucchu* (garlic chives) on the delicious *campagne* bread I happened to have bought. It was touching.

The combination of dill and cucumber is excellent.

So-young unnie gifted me a round pumpkin, even packaging it, saying it was the second pumpkin from her garden. I made a stew with it, tofu, and my mother's *myeongranjeot* (pollock roe). It was a full day of garden-fresh food, a So-young unnie special.

It was incredibly delicious with pumpkin leaves and rice with tiger beans. It was a simple stew made with water, but it had a rich broth. I slurped it all up.

I had a meeting with the Hope Wings coordinator in the morning and went to Hye-min's place. I had another meeting in the afternoon, so we were planning to move together.

We planned to work at the cafe next door until it was time to go, but the cafe happened to be closed, so we worked on paperwork at Hye-min's store and even got a meal. I want to know the recipe for the fire-flavored bean sprout stir-fry!

Finally, that day arrived. Chef Kim Tae-hong's day.

The reason we created the gourmet club account was to go to Chef Kim Tae-hong's restaurant, but the chef took a sabbatical and turned into a pop-up restaurant in the middle, so we had to wait for two years and ten months. Our gourmet club account is even named after Chef Kim Tae-hong! We succeeded in making a reservation and achieved our goal. We started dinner at 6:30 PM and ate until 11 PM. When we told them that two people were pescatarian, they removed all meat from the menu. We discussed why they don't eat meat, tuna, or salmon, and talked about what constitutes good vegetarianism. The conversation expanded to the unethical nature of factory farming and animal rights. It was fun with the older members, and every dish was delicious. Three heavy dishes came out in a row, so it would have been better if the order had been changed, but it was a pleasant experience. I think we need to change our club name now!

We had a sustainable activity TFT meeting, and the new workshop method was interesting. The story didn't go off track, and it felt like time flew by. I hope we can have meaningful conversations in the remaining meetings and find at least a glimmer of a solution.

I had lunch at the dried pollack hangover soup restaurant after a long time. I wanted to eat dried pollack *sujebi* (hand-pulled noodles) and dried pollack hangover soup, so Hye-won unnie and I ordered both and shared them. I also drank *einspänner* at my favorite cafe and finished my paperwork in the cool office before meeting Bear, who was coming home from work.

I wasn't hungry, but it had been quite a while, so we decided to eat dinner before going home. I ate half a bowl of rice at the *kimchi jjigae* (kimchi stew) restaurant. Bear ate my half bowl + his own bowl + ramen noodles and was so full that he even refused ice cream.

For a leisurely weekend lunch, I prepared a taste of summer. I fried rice with tiger beans, potatoes, carrots, and onions, and covered it with an omelet blanket in the *omurice* style. Cucumber cold soup and heirloom tomato salad,

Tomato juice with a green chili pepper garnish! All the ingredients are in season right now, so they'll be packed with the power of the season. The taste is, of course, amazing.

It's the season when trumpet creepers are beautiful, and it usually rains, but it's sunny. The rainy season is already over... When did it rain that it's already over? I'm worried about how extreme this summer will be again. Bear had been singing about the Bear red bean shaved ice, and it became even more famous in the meantime, so we had to wait almost an hour to get it. It was even more delicious after not having it for a long time. The red bean and milk shaved ice are sincere, and the harmony of flavors, including the soybean powder, is excellent. But I hope it doesn't become more famous. It's hard to wait.

I felt cold inside from eating the red bean shaved ice, so I made a hot soup for dinner.

There used to be a dried pollack soup restaurant in front of Woljeongsa Temple in Odaesan, run by a hunched-over grandmother. It's all been renovated and gone now, but that grandmother's restaurant gave us a bowl full of dried pollack soup with plenty of shredded potatoes. It was quite a strange visual at first. I made dried pollack soup with plenty of shredded potatoes in that style, and it tasted amazing even though it was made with water. Luckily, Green Beans from the Small Light Farm arrived, so I stir-fried them with garlic and topped the soup with them, and the combination was amazing too. I ate very well.

It wasn't a good idea to start that late. I should have started today. I started watching Squid Game 3 at 10 PM and ended up binge-watching until dawn, losing sleep. It's strange that if I sleep in the early morning, I feel more tired even if I sleep the same amount of time. There were many conflicting reviews, and it's hard to say that the plot was coherent or that the director's intentions were well-expressed, but I can't agree that it wasn't fun. Once you start, it's so fun that you can't stop. The story may have been messed up because Netflix forcibly dragged it out, but I liked the stage and effects even more. It's definitely a work of art with beautiful *mise-en-scène*. There are many different opinions, but anyway, I'm in favor. I got up late and forced myself to get out of bed, not wanting to do anything, and prepared all the vegetables in the refrigerator. Bear did the rest, making *jjolmyeon* (chewy noodles) and *hansalim* dumplings, and we ate simply with kombucha. Ah, I'm tired!

Then, around sunset, I went to the garden and cut weeds to make a path, harvested carrots, finally made cucumber nets, and harvested a giant pumpkin and old cucumber from Hye-min's garden. Haha. The Hope Wings garden had cucumbers hanging in abundance, but they were all shaped like bats that were only big at the bottom. Why? This is the first time I've seen this.

On the way home, I bought detergent and ramen, and had dinner after grocery shopping. My whole body was soaked in sweat from the garden, so let's skip the hassle of cooking. Instead, I used that energy to organize the closet, balcony, and drawers, and did three loads of laundry, and it was 12 AM. Hahahaha, this is how the weekend ended.