08. 16. LUNCH

쌀게무침: spicy crab and rice

We’ve never actually bought these before! I was kind of excited. They’re tiny crabs, sort of pickled in red pepper paste and other spicy things, but not in the same way that the soy sauce crabs are. You crunch the entire thing in your mouth so it is like a chitosan party. We were hunting for side dishes at E-Mart and we thought these looked interesting, so we decided to give them a go. Overall I’d say that they are really good once in a while, like maybe once a week or so, but they are a bit too much for regular consumption. But you can’t have side dishes sit in the fridge while you nibble at them once a week, especially since the parents are usually out for meals, so we will just have to make do with the muchness. Also you are going to have to bear with the halfhearted caption because I have no idea what kind of crab 쌀게 is in English and I can’t seem to find it even with my rad Information Technology Skills.

가자미식해: spicy fermented flatfish

When I was in middle school or high school — or was it elementary school — we went to this Japanese restaurant that gave us 가자미식해 as part of the course meal. It was distinctly unusual and I’ve never known any other place to do the same, in addition I can’t remember exactly what restaurant it was to begin with. But it was really good, that half a mouthful, and without even knowing precisely what it was that I’d eaten, I’ve been distantly craving it all along. It was a good thing I knew the name for it at least, we saw it where they were selling side dishes and we bought that too. We really went overboard with the side dishes, and they’re all seafood. (Haven’t touched the pollack roe yet.) My conclusion is that it’s illogical to expect the quality that you get from an actual restaurant, all carefully arranged and primped to impress. So yeah, it’s not fantastic or anything, but it’s very strangely appealing. It’s weirdly addictive. Kind of reminds me of fermented skate, though this doesn’t have that ammonia kick to it. Makes me feel grown-up.

08. 02. LUNCH

beef ribs (LA갈비), anchovies (멸치) and lettuce

Lateral Axis, not Los Angeles — I forgot to mention in the last post. It’s probably not Los Angeles. Just that the meat is cut perpendicular to the bone, not along it. But you can’t say LA without thinking of the city, which is probably the reason for all the apocryphal relocation epic tragedies concerning the origin of this cut of meat, involving small furtive Korean communities in Los Angeles getting blind drunk together and talking very loudly about home while, I guess, eating beef. Cut laterally. Unrelated to this, unless you’d like to use the word “cut” as a segue, I got my hair cut today. I strongly dislike how they insist on blow-drying it smooth after they do the cutting, though I do enjoy reassuring myself that things are not so awkwardly trim after I wash it again. In fact I think I’ll go wash it right now, it’s so enjoyable. I also need to straighten it sometime next month, it won’t dry flat and I keep pulling out stray frizzy strands. You know what they say, spare the toxic chemicals, spoil the hair.

07. 03. LUNCH

rice, stuffballs (동그랑땡) and picked octopus (낙지젓)

It took me all my remaining energy to pry the jar of octopus open. Not that it was particularly stuck, but I was particularly enervated. But I was dedicated enough to finish The Long Goodbye while I ate. That’s four books already, if you count The Salmon of Doubt, which I doubt I would, but I had readings for class so it amounts to about that much. Philip Marlowe, I am wide open to receive you. Of course in my head he looks like Timothy Gibbs now and that just makes everything that much better. Mostly just funnier, but funnier is better. I’ve got to get more Raymond Chandler. But before that, I should finish the books I borrowed today, which is — a Jack London collection and A Tale of Two Cities. I never did finish Two Cities, or Oliver Twist for that matter. Or Little Dorrit. Or Nickleby. Or David Copperfield. Actually, Our Mutual Friend might be the only one that — no, that’s not true! I did finish Great Expectations. With great loathing. And A Christmas Carol, if that counts.

07. 01. LUNCH

sulfur smoked duck (유황오리), seasoned radish (무말랭이), microwavable rice and a cup of good old-fashioned water

And also Pride and Prejudice in the background. I got back starving as always, but to my credit, I had about twenty pages of the book left and I decided that I might as well finish it during lunch so that I could continue The Long Goodbye in the gym. So I had lunch in bed. I mean, really, it wasn’t like some super hot paramour brought it into the room, but at least I didn’t have to cook anything. I am getting so much reading done lately. So far I’ve reread Slaughterhouse-Five, read Pride and Prejudice, two-thirds of The Long Goodbye, and the endless packets that we have for the classes I’m auditing. So Darcy is supposed to be pretty much all that, yes? But with all the respect and all the love I have for Colin Firth, which is a remarkable amount, I assure you, I don’t really see how he — well, I mean, isn’t Darcy taller, darker, or am I just prejudiced because the first actor I saw playing Mr. Knightley was Jeremy Northam? Do I have an unreasonable stereotype in my mind of what Austen heroes should look like? Anyway, that is that, but with the novel finished, I am still on team Wickham. I can’t help it. I think I will like Willoughby tremendously. Of course, I liked Fred Vincy better when he was an idiot. I don’t care what Nabokov says — I will get through being an English major by hopping from one eligible male character to another. I will empathize. Unfortunately Eugene Wrayburn is still giving the Austen and Eliot men the old ultra-violence thrashing, and what is more, he is doing it with an air of careless detachment. That reminds me that I should reread Catch-22 sometime, because ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen is another of my great favorites. Yes, I read novels about the absurdity of imposed order and the futility of war in the face of human stupidity for the men.

06. 23. DINNER

rice, side dishes and Spam

Or, as the Python boys might have it, Spam, Spam, rice, Spam, side dishes and Spam. Actually though, it’s not Spam. It’s technically “Luncheon Meat”, which is Spam without the name brand. Tastes a little different too, I think, but I couldn’t describe how without having them side by side. At any rate, I was craving Spam and I’d gotten a can a couple days ago, and it was useful today I got back too late from class to want to attempt anything edible for dinner. My brother looked at me with eyes of pity and told me to put herbs on it or something so that I could lie to myself that what I’m eating is truly edible. I didn’t even have the energy for our old friend, rosemary, so parsley from a shaker was what had to do. Honestly, Spam isn’t that evil. I mean, it is, but it’s like an evil dictator that gives monetary aid to the poor.

06. 21. DINNER

tofu, side dishes and cucumber kimchi

I’m not complaining, but this meal was so desperately thrown together it wasn’t even funny. Is it pretty much obvious from the picture? We didn’t get started until after eight because Mom was busy doing schoolwork and I was helping, and needless to say there was some resentment brought on by hunger. Somehow, actual crisis was averted. Anyway, that’s family matters, and this is food — the side dishes are all inexplicably arranged on a huge platter and the rice is nowhere to be seen (it was there, of course) but it’s a meal. Maybe tomorrow I’ll have enough time to work on a salad, those vegetables aren’t getting any fresher, hup hup.

06. 19. LUNCH

pickled meat with quail eggs (장조림), pickled octopus (낙지젓) and rice

To be fair, I was also in a hurry for lunch because I had to go to the supermarket for vegetables and whatnot and then look over two essays before having dinner out as well as getting in some exercise in the stuffy underground excuse for a gym. Also it seems a waste to try to make actual food when there are so many side dishes anyway. Which didn’t stop me from buying a can of Spam (or a cheaper version thereof, ironically enough) when I did go to the supermarket, just so that I can have it with rice and reminisce pathetically about what it was like to be a self-righteously downtrodden high school student. You always feel good thinking about the times when you knew the world was out to get you.

06. 18. LUNCH

rice, stir-fried anchovies (멸치볶음) and pickled meat with quail eggs (장조림)

If they aren’t called anchovies, I don’t know what other name I would give them, because apparently they belong to the anchovy family or something and I have no idea what I would call the big anchovies that sometimes go on pizza because I have never seen those before. Also, quail eggs are so vastly superior to quail meat that it makes me wonder why they bother to hatch at all. I think I am joking.

06. 16. LUNCH

pickled octopus (낙지젓) and rice with tuna

Purportedly, I had class at two, for which I had to leave at around one; so today’s lunch was a rushed affair, me trying to eat it as late as possible so that I wouldn’t be dying of starvation by the time I returned home. Little did I know that there was no class at two, or indeed any class at all today, but at least it wasn’t my mistake and I suppose I got a nice long sweltering walk out of it. That pickled octopus looks incredibly spicy, but really it isn’t. I feel a strong sense of duty whenever I open the dry and canned foods drawer and find multiple cans of tuna. Should I be finishing this? Should I try? Does every little bit help? How many meals with canned tuna can I possibly eat in a row? Should I try? (The answer is no.)

06. 14. DINNER

삼합: fermented skate, pork belly and old kimchi

Dinner was had at a nearby restaurant called “Barley Rice in April” or something along those lines. I’d been there once before last year and had the grilled mackerel, which was amazing, but this time we shared everyone’s food which was proportionally more excellent. The fermented skate today was even more laden with ammonia than usual, and as a consequence, the insides of my mouth are like a ravaged war-torn land. You can’t exactly say that it tastes good, but for some reason, you can’t stop eating it. The pork and kimchi are legitimately delicious, of course, but that skate, that skate. It’s like a war.

김치해물전: kimchi seafood pancake

More good times. I’m not entirely sure whether I ate this or not, because by that point we had four or five main dishes all crowded together on the table and I was just eating everything in reach, but I’m sure it was great.

고등어구이: grilled mackerel

And here is my old love. If I had to choose, I’d say that I would rather prefer mackerel as sushi, but grilled with wasabi soy sauce is a very close second. I’m still working on the magical removal of bones skill type thing.

보리밥: barley rice

The restaurant’s raison d’etre, barley rice. It’s funny how many dishes originated from not having anything else to eat. Barley rice is the vestige of autumn harvests, the hill of agony you had to climb in the spring when there was not much grain you could eat. I firmly insist that knodels are also a product of shortage, but I might be biased due to my horrific experience with them.