I didn’t start out all that healthy today. I woke up and exercised on my bike in the morning. I did 10 kilometers, but it never feels as exhilarating as running outside. On the way to my office, I was feeling hungry. It was cold out this morning and I really wanted a bowl of kimchi stew, but I knew that would take too much time. Instead, I settled for Tuna Kimbap at Kimbap chungguk. (I guess this should teach me to wake up earlier).

Tuna Kimbap

I got it without mayonnaise because I hate the stuff and it guarantees that the food will be made to order.

What I noticed that most Korean people there were eating alone and that they were all facing away from the door.

I guess because I am American, I like to face the door ( I don’t want anyone to attack me from behind). I reasoned that Koreans do this is because they don’t want others to see they are eating alone. I guess I just don’t care.

Jjajang Rice

Lunch was Jjajang Rice. Hyejin made it and it had black bean sauce with pork, potatoes, carrots and corn starch. I saw that she put a few dried red chilies in there as well. The sauce was thick and flavorful and good over rice. Now that I think about it, I prefer this over rice than thick wheat noodles.

There was also a stir-fried mushroom side dish that had wild sesame seeds. This was delicious and I told myself I should get the recipe.

Later that day, I had some ginseng extract tea to wake me up.

Birthday Cake

In the afternoon, since it was recently both of our chefs’ birthday, I stopped over at Paris Croissant to pick up some birthday cake. My original intention was to get a whole cake(35,000), but getting 1 big cake that was only one flavor seemed boring. The slices looked better and I liked the variety they offered. The thing I really like about Korean cakes is that they look beautiful and the favors are enticing. The camembert cake looks like a wheel of camembert cheese and the tarts look like massive towers.

I settled on a slice of milk tea, a hazelnut tart and a carrot cake. Each cost like 6,000 won and they were the right amount for an afternoon snack.

After we did the birthday song, in Korean fashion, the beautiful cake was cut into many pieces- mutilating their beautiful appearance.

Mutilated Cake

The milk tea cake was creamy and had a hint of black and earl grey tea. The hazelnut was more cream than nut or tart. The carrot cake was my favorite for it was a much fluffier and lighter version of the carrot cake I remember.

Overall, a good food day.

Dan