chunk of burning love

one of the awesome owl bowls given to us this christmas

this is not a recipe blog.

first reason being that most of my meals are in the "weird" category. i'm not sure why i've been doing it since childhood but now it's pretty much because i'm freakin' poor. corn out of the can, raw tomatoes with ketchup, plain roasted button mushrooms. you can see how other people might not dig it. another good reason is that i, like a lot of korean ladies, don't do a lot of measurements beyond the knuckle method that my mom taught me. not to say i cook anywhere near as well as most ajuma! for me it's usually just a matter of throwing stuff together to eat and occasionally other people will pick at it. there are way too many amazing chefs out there in the blogworld for me to even pretend that i know anything about real cooking. my brother back in california however, has this weird tendency to turn any food he touches into something really delicious. and there can only be one!

with that understood, i now feel it's safe to post today's lunch.

made from the flesh of orphans, i mean... organic danish potatoes

here in denmark there is a classic dish called brændende kærlighed, which loosely translates to "burning love." why is it called that? my fiance muses that a girl must really love her boyfriend if she stays with him even though all he eats is brændende kærlighed. well, one of my roommates eats it at least twice every week and he has no girlfriend, but i'm sure his choice of sustenance has nothing to do with that! it's basically mashed potatoes topped with fried bacon and onions. really good during the cold winter when you need some grub that sticks to your ribs. and it helps that it's a cheap meal. however, this is a little heavy for a small girl like me and i rarely buy bacon. gasp! shock! yes, i know there is still a lingering bacon craze and denmark is famous for bacon. but i just don't like it enough to buy a pack of 10 slices all the time! so i put a korean twist on a danish staple for starving artists; after boiling and mashing the still-hot potatoes just mix in a dollop of gochujang. i didn't even add milk or salt, other than a pinch in the water for boiling. i can eat plain white potatoes alone with no seasoning but punching it up with some heat makes them even better. i think i'll still call it burning love, since the spice burns a little bit. and it's a lot easier to say than "gamja gochujang" or something along those lines.

yes, the name of the green grocer is CHINA TOWN MARKET ):

my dane works at a studio that happens to be located pretty close to the asian green grocers around the central station. there are only 3 or 4 shops and each is a strange mix of asian and middle eastern products. but i've spotted a few korean ingredients there and the prices are a bit better than the japanese shop in inner city copenhagen. he thoughtfully bought this (expensive!!) sunchang gochujang last week. yay! i was pouty when we finished the last of the two packs less than a month after i brought them from california. btw, as of today 50 danish kroner is equal to $8.86. i'm sure my mom would shake her head and say, "you could have bought it for $3.99 at arirang market... why did you move to denmark?!" oh well, i'll take advantage of the low prices when i come to visit. but for now i am really enjoying this sunchang gochujang, even just with carrots to dip in it! P: