It’s always fun to go to Yakitori Boy because you get to try so much different stuff. Go with new people each time, and it’s like a whole new restaurant. But don’t get me wrong, I usually end up ordering all the same stuff. Like the tatsuta age at the top. This deep fried chicken dish is one of my favorite japanese dishes of all time. H/A introduced me to it awhile back, and since I’ve only had it at Yakitori Boy, it remains my favorite. Whenever it comes out, it’s always super super hot, so you have to be careful not to burn your mouth. But damn, it’s so juicy and delicious. Below that is some kind of yakitori sampler. I don’t think you get to pick, so you just get whatever they bring out. We ended up with some pork belly, shrimp, liver, and balls. It was all good, except for liver. I do not care for liver. I wish it had been gizzards.
We got a bunch of rolls too. The ones at the bottom are some kind of tuna and avocado roll, the rainbow roll, and the green river roll. The massive crazy looking one at the top was a special of the day, and our server was cuckoo crazy over it. He insisted that we try it. It was good, but it was just way too much. It had fish and was deep fried and had crunch on top and was literally served with four different sauces at the same time. It should be called the schizophrenic roll.
The hokkak don. It’s so beautiful! The uni?  Ick. Nobody wanted it.
The pork ramen. Not bad! It’s still the only ramen I’ve had in Philadelphia, so far. And so far, it’s not bad. I’d order it.
My tempura soba. It’s still good! We ended up ordering way too much food and it was a shame that some of it did not end up getting eaten. But H/A did a fairly good job of doing his garbage man duties and eating most of everything. It’s always a fun time here.

My uncle’s brother was in town, so we had a little bbq in Delaware. It’s usually my uncle’s job man the grill, but for whatever reason, my mom was womanning the grill this time.
Before we started cooking outside, earlier in the day, we had a little snack. It was fairly simple really, just some raw fish. I can’t really call it anything else, because that’s all it was, a plate of raw fish. There was some spicy kochujang to dip it in, some sliced raw garlic, and some red leaf lettuce or perilla leaves to roll it in. But any way you looked at it, it was just sliced raw fish on a plate. Delicious raw fish, at that.
Once we started our proper dinner, we kicked things off with a noodle dish. This isn’t the first time my aunt has made this. But what’s not to like? We have soba noodles as the main starch, and cucumbers, watercress, and shredded perilla leaves for veggies. Then we have squid, shrimp, and imitation crab meat for seafood.
Everything is mixed together with a spicy kochujang sauce, not unlike the dip that we were using for the raw fish earlier. That’s all there is to it! I hate perilla leave, with a passion, so I make sure to get a batch without it. It’s that gross to me. But without the perilla leaves, I just love this stuff. And for a hot summer day, cold noodles with veggies and seafood are perfect.
Here’s the galbi that my mom, the griller of the day, cooked up. I prefer pieces that are nearly, if not actually, burnt. I’m odd that way.
My mom also marinated up some dried file fish and grilled those up.
Here they are after they’ve been cooked. They were a bit too salty for my liking.
She also marinated some large pieces of squid. My mom always scores the flesh with crosshatches on one side, so they can curl. I’m not sure if it’s necessary, but it’s fun watching them curl up. It was another lovely, lazy, and food-filled day!

Anyone living on the east coast knows how damn hot it has been this summer. And when it’s this hot, I don’t ever want to cook, let alone cook anything warm. But you know, a girl’s gotta eat. So on one of these scorching days, I whipped up the easiest cold soba dish known to man. So here’s how easy it is. You cook some soba noodles, per the directions. After draining, rinse them well with cold water, and add a few ice cubes to help them cool down right away. If you have a cucumber, julienne that up and toss that in with the noodles. Then it’s sauce time.

Ok, so I cheated. I didn’t even make the sauce. I used some existing packets of sauce that come with mul naengmyun. Here’s the thing. If you go to a korean market and buy frozen mul naengmyun kits, they come with the naengmyun noodles, packets of the cold broth, and also packets of spicy dressing. I buy these kits strictly to make the mul naengmyun, so I only use the broth packets. So I had all these spicy dressing packets left over and didn’t really know what to do with them, but kept them in the freezer. So I just decided to use those. And you know what? It was amazing. It’s a teeny bit on the spicy side, but it works perfectly with the soba noodles. The dressing is spicy, sweet, and a little bit savory. I told you this was easy! All I had to do was boil some noodles and cut some cucumbers. Seriously. And then I had to cut the spicy packet open. Even I am capable of performing these rudimentary tasks.

This is a total hot day lazyman dish, and I love it. Why slave in a hot kitchen? These are the brand of soba noodles I used. They claim to be No. 1 in Japan. But if you look at the packet, they’re made in Australia. It would surprise me that an Australian made noodle would be tops in Japan, but I guess I have to believe the package! But I really like these. And they are a bit on the pricier side, but hey, it’s organic, and you don’t want to skimp on soba noodles!