요리를 합니다. Cooking it up in Busan.

Cyndi and I went over to her aunt's (작은 고모) house to help prepare food for Chuseok. I was very pleased to find out that we were going to help her aunt prepare one of my favorite types of cuisine -- fried food. Ohhhhh yeah!

First, we fried some tofu and imitation crab.















Then, we fried some fish jun; fillets covered in flour, then egg, and fried to golden perfection.




























Our master fry cook and co-teacher was Cyndi's cousin, Yeong Jin.














Afterwards, we fried up some 동그랑땡, frozen mini patties of pork, tofu, veggies, and chicken. (Dredge the patties in flour, cover in egg, then fry it up!)
























































After we fried up the tofu, fish fillets, and patties, it was time to cook the smelliest of them all -- fresh fish.
























































As those smelly fish fried, we prepared the shrimp tempura (튀김). First, we dipped the (peeled) shrimp in the tempura batter. Then, we rolled the shrimp in bread crumbs. Finally, we dropped those babies in some hot corn oil. (Fry the shrimps twice for a nice golden brown color). A tip for all you novice cooks: Be sure to blot all the excess water from your shrimp before deep frying them.







































































After all the frying was said and done, we were able to take a break and sample some of the Chuseok songpyun, rice cakes filled with some sort of peanut paste. We tasted both regular- sized songpyun and 왕 (king-sized) songpyun. The king-sized songpyun was filled with a yellow bean paste.





























I learned that traditionally, women celebrate Chuseok with their husbands' family, and the wife of the eldest son prepares the Chuseok table. That's why Cyndi's aunt was cooking up a storm. In addition to all of the fried food, Cyndi's aunt prepared a multitude of other dishes, including a special soup, seasoned beef, and various side dishes. Unfortunately, we were not able to partake in the feast the following day, because we were scheduled to return to Seoul that afternoon. Cyndi's aunt did pack us a bento, and if I do say so myself, it was all quite tasty.

I will conclude with a photo of Henney''s cousin, Shuna.

"추석이야? 슈나의밥은어디야!?!"