Memorial Day weekend gives my family an excuse to get together and do pretty much nothing but eat. We went to my aunt’s house in delaware, as usual, and started the festivities with these korean style pancakes. Mrs. W brought these over. This is really the easiest way to cook them. It’s an electric non-stick skillet. Just throw in some oil, which gives you the crispiness, and cook them on each side until they’re lightly browned.

They weren’t typical, in fact, they had shrimp and broccoli in them. And because the batter had some yeast in it, they were a bit on the puffy side. So chopped up raw shrimp, chopped broccoli, julienned zucchnii, and chopped scallion. And voila, lovely shrimp and broccoli pajeon. You can buy dipping sauce or just make some with soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, sesame oil, and whatever else you want.

Next up we had some riblets. We didn’t have actual proper courses or anything, we aren’t that fancy. It’s just that we started off with one thing, and then just ended up moving to the next dish, and then cooking the next thing, etc. We also had some lovely lettuce from my mom’s friend’s garden so we could make little riblet ssams. You know, like the fancy people do at momofuku and what not.

It was memorial day weekend, so you know what that means. That’s right peeps, it means firing up the grill. So as usual, my uncle manned the grill and we had some korean bbq. How easy are these to make? Super easy. You go to H-Mart and buy them marinated. Then you throw them on the grill. It doesn’t get easier than that.

Alongside the ribs, we grilled up some spicy dried file fish that my mom prepared. They were extremely thin and delicate and were boney, so you had to be careful. These had tons of flavor, but were a tad too salty for my palate.

We ate rice too, like the asians are known to do. And we had plenty of banchan. There were random green things that I did not eat. There was tons of spicy kongnamul, or soybean sprouts to you, which is one of my favorite banchan in the whole wide world. There was kimchi too, not made with your typical napa cabbage, but this one was quite the hit with everyone. I particularly liked it.

What did I do at this feast? The only thing I was in charge of was the corn on the cob. I peeled back all the husks and removed all the silks. If you can, get someone else to do this, because it’s a pain in the ass. Then put the husks back into place.  Then soak these bad boys in water before putting them on the grill. The soaking will help steam these beauties. Don’t worry about burning the husks, the corn inside will be perfectly fine. Make sure to not undercook them. I got a little scared and took them off the grill too soon. It was still good, but because it was slightly undercooked, they weren’t freakishly sweet, like they could have been. They were just normal sweet. Don’t make my mistake!

We even had dessert! This doesn’t typically happen. My aunt happened to have this lemon cake, which was pretty f’in lemony and amazing and beyond moist. I wanted to eat the whole thing. But alas, I controlled myself and shared.

We had our little bbq the day before memorial day. On actual memorial day, we didn’t really do much. My mom brought some berries and I happily ate them up for breakfast.

Later in the day for a late lunch, we had miyeok guk, which is a korean seaweed soup. When my mom makes this, she just cuts up meat. But my aunt’s version had rib meat in it and I think she had basically stewed the meat so that it fell off the bone and was super tender. I literally ate all of the meat from the entire pot of this. We didn’t just eat well this weekend, we also cooked! Or at least my mom and my aunt did. Recipes coming up next!

A was in town over Memorial Day weekend and she wanted to go have lunch. I like when other people decide where to go, and she suggested H-Mart. Yay! There wouldn’t be very many reasons for me saying no to this. A got the dolsot bibimbap. She doesn’t put the kochujang into her bibimbap and mixes it up before she eats it. So you can see that the rice is still white and nothing is spicy. But she takes little dips of the kochujang and adds it bite and bite if she wants. It’s a different approach. Hey man, whatever works! It’s good with the spice or without.

It was a hot day, so I did not want hot food, but wasn’t really sure what to get. Then, we saw two employees eating from this giant, and I emphasize, giant, bowl. That particular shop sold tuna albap and shrimp albap, but these girls were eating it with tofu. That’s what I wanted. But it wasn’t on the menu. But I asked for it anyway. The lady behind the counter got confused. So she asked one of the girls who was eating this, and she said sure, why not. So they made me one. What I thought was a serving for two employees turned out to be actually just for one. It just happens to come out in a giant bowl. You cannot see how giant this bowl is in the photo. That bowl with all the shredded lettuces, cabbages, carrots, cucumber, and tofu, does not have any rice in the middle of it. That stilll has to be added later. This giant bowl was just positively filled with a giant heap of shredded veggies. It was awesome.

When you throw the rice in there, the kochujang, and mix it all together, you get this lovely firey mess. Really, it looks like a giant mixed shredded salad or shredded cole slaw with a red dressing. Oh, but with a little teeny bit of rice mixed up in there. On a hot day, this really is just the perfect food. Raw crunchy cold ingredients, with a hint of spice. The tofu was warm with some sesame oil, and it was the perfect protein. Aside from the imitation crabmeat, this was practically vegan!

This year for mother’s day, we went to Gaya. We haven’t done the brunch thing for awhile, which I don’t mind at all, and on mother’s day, mother gets to pick. And lately, she’s been pretty much picking Gaya for everything. The thing that bummed me out a little was there there was a special mother’s day menu in place. This meant that some of my favorite dishes weren’t even available at all. Oh well.

Meat! We got korean bbq, of course, and it tastes just fine here. There was a nice variety of banchan, including two different salads. One was the kind you would get at a sushi restaurant, with the ginger dressing. This other one had a sweet and vinegary pepper sauce. I loved them both.

One thing to note about the korean bbq here. You will not leave this place stinking of korean bbq! It has ventilation built into the bottom of the tables, and it must be as strong as turbo jets because I’ve never been to a korean restaurant and not smelled at all. But here, when you leave, you leave the smell! It amazes me!

We also ordered the ganpoong saewoo, which were fried shrimp in a sweet sauce. These were good, but nothing spectacular.

When you eat here, you get your choice of white or mixed rice. The mixed rice has beans in it, and the coloring of the beans makes the rice this deep purple color. I like the taste of this, and it makes me feel like I’m being healthier.

We ended the dinner with mul naengmyun. Apparently, when you eat korean bbq, you finish it off with mul naengmyun. It’s just how it goes. I love naengmyun in general, but this one wasn’t anything special either. I missed my favorite dishes, but it was still a good meal.