Seoul Eats

Shabu Shabu in Hongdae at Jayeon Shabu Shabu The best mushroom shabu shabu place is at Jayeon Shabu Shabu. Look, even if you think that you've had shabu shabu and that it is not real Korean food; Korean shabu shabu is different. You get many more sides and a ton of veggies. It feels very clean and healthy. Jayeon Shabu Shabu is one of the best. You get copious amounts of mushrooms, the broth is delicious, and it was all about their special sesame, peanutty, sauce. You many varieties of mushrooms - some of which I never knew could be eaten. Apparently they are all good for health (and none of them are of the magic variety). Oh, and for vegetarians, the broth is not meat based so it is one of my top vegetarian picks in Korea. After you eat all the veggies and meat, you finish off the meal with some buckwheat noodles. Yum! Jayeon Shabu Shabu Mapo-gu Donggyo-ro 197 대관령메밀막국수자연샤브샤브샤브샤브  서울특별시 마포구 동교로 197  NAVER MAP LINK

Cooking for kids is an exercise in camouflage, patience and restraint. Now that my daughter has started to go to preschool, she has started to have all the foods that I didn't really want her to have such as pizza, fried chicken, candy, pastries, cookies, sausages, sugary drinks, and much more. When she was at home, her mother and I would make everything fresh and she used to eat more vegetables. Now, if I had packed her lunch everyday, she would have been envious of the other kids anyway. I understand the lunch lady's position as well. They have limited resources and time to make food for many kids. They want to limit waste and they want the kids to be happy. The problem with this is that it develops the child's idea of what is "delicious" and "good." I think they also develop a taste for salt, sugar and, sadly, MSG. I don't really know what I can do except that I need to make the food at home better and tastier than what she has at school.

Homemade Sourdough Bread in Korea Hey world,  I have just a few minutes before my children wake up and in that time I catch up on work, look over my investments and make sourdough bread. I am not a fan of sugary and soft breads from the Korean bakeries and with a bit of time and love, it can be made at home.  This is made from sourdough starter 5 or Evan 5 as I would like to call him. He is a rye based starter that has survived the harsh Korean winter and intermittent feedings (due to my schedule) and come out strong and tasty.  I have been using a banneton which adds a nice crust. When I move, I will try and get a proper oven to make more bread but for now, I am using a tabletop model. It really is nothing special. One day, I will get some fire bricks in order to add a nicer crust, but for now this works fine.  I feel like Betty Crocker these days since I am raising kids (2 daughters). Props to my mom and all moms for doing this. I can barely keep it all together.