a korean hostess

last week, i hosted a dinner party with a theme of korean food. usually when i invite people over for a meal, there is a relaxed and relatively... ghetto atmosphere in our flat. people have sat on the floor, some of the bowls are mismatched, and there is only the main meal served family-style followed by a dessert. well, at least this time people weren't sitting on the floor! with such a small apartment, there is only so much i can do when it comes to feeding a group of more than 4 people. but it was great fun! appetizer, main, and dessert were served in a timely manner and i can feel my cooking confidence growing by the day. i foresee many more dinners to be hosted by me. (:


pictured above is a simple pan-fried tofu dish which i topped with garlic, scallions, soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice vinegar. a wave of homesickness overcame me as i was preparing the meal; when my mom would cook at home, my brother and i got to taste-test everything. of course it was all perfect and i had nothing to add, but i'd keep sneaking by to 'test' another piece and another and another. especially when my mom makes fishcakes! as i asked my husband to taste-test a couple pieces of the fishcakes, i missed my mom so much! by the way, maangchi posted the fishcake recipe on the day after my dinner! what a cool coincidence. ^^


there was a vegetarian in attendance so i made sure there was enough for her to eat. my mom can tell you that acorn jelly has always been one of my favourite foods; way before i was even aware of veganism or gluten intolerance. but this dish is perfect for both of those since all it contains is the starch of the acorn and water. even though i love it, i am always pleasantly surprised when non-koreans enjoy acorn jelly, as the consistency and concept are so strange. it was served with the same sauce as the tofu, which i now regret (lazy me!), but they taste so good together. at least no one complained. (;


the other dishes served were soy sauce eggs with daikon and jalapenos, water kimchi (more on this later), classic napa cabbage kimchi, a salad, and galbi. i think the dinner went well even though i decided to serve quinoa at the last minute, which was a struggle to eat with chopsticks. stupidly, i did not check on the brown rice that i'd set in the cooker; it turned on and back off again for some reason. so obviously the rice never got cooked... but it works again now and thank goodness for that! i hope my mom is still reading my blog and will be proud of my hosting skillz, though they'll never come close to hers. but maybe after 30 more years of dinner parties, i can be half the hostess she is!