Home cookin': Kimchi Beef with potatoes

Yuki decided to cook some japanese dinner for me tonight. Well mayhaps not entirely Japanese as she could find a few key ingredients, so she substituted. She made a Kimchi Beef with potatoes and Bonito soup. So I guess it's a Korean/Japanese fusion dish? Anyways, I really like the combination. I'm do not know what went into this, but it tasted great! And the soup was awesome too. She soaked bonito flakes in boiling water, then strained out the bonito flakes to extract the flavor into the soup. Then she added mochi balls and beef balls and some vegetables. No need to describe it any further, because you'll never be able to experience her cooking. Haha just kidding. If you make it over here to Taipei and meet me and Yuki, I'm sure we can work something out. Sorry, the photo did not come out so well.

Home cookin': Japchae

Tonight we decided to cook Korean in the tajine pot. Not the first time to cook korean, but bulgogi is real easy anyways. so...first complex korean dish? Actually this isn't that bad. Most of the ingredients are shared by the Taiwanese, so they weren't hard to find or expensive in cost. Clear cellophane noodles, seasons, meat, vegetables and it's done. Actually without some variations in spices, it about the same as a Taiwanese dish I know of. This dish is called Japchae in Korean pinyin. In the process of cooking it, I think we didn't add enough oil, so some of the noodles got burnt at the bottom. But it scraped off easily and actually adds a pleasant texture to it. It doesn't taste burnt, just some added crispyness. I'll probably keep burning a little next time we try this. Discovery by accident. And for the lubricant? Korean beer Hite! I figured we needed Korean beer for a Korean meal. It ended up complimenting the meal pretty well. It tastes light but with more spice and hoppy-ness at the end. The other beer is Orion, an Okinawa beer. Not Korean, but Japanese beer famous in it's southern most island bordering Taiwan. Orion tastes similar to Taiwan beer. Well enjoy the food photo, i'm off to get some ice cream from the grocery store.