My Korean Life #51: In which I mess up making cream pasta...but later redeem myself

Cream Pasta Redemption!

I have become more ambitious with my cooking lately and decided to tackle making a cream sauce from scratch. I failed miserably making the roux the first time but my second time practicing it turned out ok!

Practicing the sauce

Practice with spaghetti and peas

Finished pasta with parmesan and pepper

I had invited over friends for dinner to try out my new dish and it actually turned out quite well! I first cooked some chicken tenders, mushrooms, and peas. Next I made the pasta and then the sauce. After the sauce was complete I combined everything together for what you see below. I decided to use fusilli pasta since it seems to hang on to the sauce better than spaghetti. Here is a link to the pasta recipe if you'd like to try it for yourself! I decided to use an Italian spice blend instead of just parsley and I used a little less flour for the rue. Feel free to modify the recipe to your own tastes. What do you think? Does it look good to you?

Dinner party version: Chicken, mushrooms, peas, and the creamy garlic pasta

My Korean Life #49: BAS Burger!

Bas Burger!

I have loved burgers ever since I can remember. In one bite you can experience a variety of textures and flavors. So, ever since moving to Korea, I have been constantly on the search for great tasting burgers. There are plenty of burger joints here in Korea but not all are able to meet my high standards :) Today I want to introduce you to a place my friend and I discovered in downtown Seoul called BAS Burger (바스버거)!

It is a little challenging to find, but the nearest subway stop is Jonggak (종각역) Exit 1. Come out of the exit, continue straight until Jong-ro 5 gil (종로5길) and turn right. Walk about 150 meters and you should see it on the 2nd floor of the building on your left. The address in Korean is: 서울 종로구 종로3길 24-20 2층.

The restaurant is kept quite dark so we had to use our cell phone camera flashes to see better. Here is a picture of the menu:

Food 

Drinks

My friend and I decided on sharing the Bas Platter which comes with all you see below (drinks are separate). The two burgers we chose were the Hawaiian (grilled pineapple on the burger) and the Bas burger (Cheese burger). It also came with fries, onion rings, wings, and coleslaw! The three sauces offered are honey mustard, mayo, and ketchup.

Fries, onion rings, Hawaiian burger, Bas burger, Chicken wings, coleslaw

Overall, I really like their burgers and fries. All the veggies seem crisp and fresh and the burger itself is tasty and juicy. The buns are pretty good too. The onion rings were just ok and the chicken wings were as I expected. Check out the map and Facebook page below for more information.

Do you have any burger restaurant recommendations for me? Leave them in the comments!

Bas burger

My Korean Life #47: Dinner Party!

Last night I hosted a small dinner party for 3 people! My cooking post gathered a lot of attention and I offered to cook for a few people recently and they took me up on my offer. They even brought me a few gifts :) Check out the photos below!

Table setting - disposable everything since I don't actually own that many dishes :/

Take a seat! 

Vegetables all prepared

That close up shot

The finished product! Tuna and vegetable stir-fry with rice, topped with roasted sesame seeds

Thank you so much for the wine and fruit!

The dishes aftermath, all fit on the rack except for the cutting board

Thanks again to Cook Smarts for the tasty stir-fry ideas!

Cook Smarts

My Korean Autumn 2013: Day 6 - 회식...not really

Well, I wouldn't call the dinner I had with my co-workers a full on 회식 but it's as close as we could come to one. We all gathered in the hotel lobby to walk to a traditional Korean restaurant just a block from the hotel. I know there is probably an official Korean name for the type of meal we ate but it escapes me. Basically it was a bunch of different courses of Korean food, along with beer and soju.

We had a private room upstairs where we all removed our shoes and sat at a long banquet table. I thought that we'd be sitting on the floor initially since we took off our shoes but...I was wrong. I waited to be told where to sit as this seems to be the norm when dining with Koreans, especially people you work with. I was probably the lowest man on the totem pole so I waited off to the side. Eventually we all found an appropriate place to sit down and prepared to eat.

We had a ton of courses, this included salads, different types of kimchi, soup, various meats, and rice. A few speeches and drinks were shared...it was overall a very pleasant evening.

Also at this establishment was an area where you could try on classic king or queen clothing from back-in-the-day and take your picture on a fancy looking chair/throne. A few of us partook in this activity, complete with headgear. I won't embarrass myself or my co-workers by posting pictures :)

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