School Lunch (점심)

Overall, I really enjoy my school lunches. The school cafeteria is one of my favorite places to dine because it offers so much hearty and healthy delicious variety. However, most of my coworkers and students disagree with me and often complain the food is too salty or too bland. 

Here's today's menu:

Korean Egg Omelette with Vegetables and Ham

Pork Bulgogi with Zucchini and Onions

Multi-Grain Rice

Spicy Seafood Soup with Silk Tofu

Thank you, Korea.

- Angela

Princess Cake

You may have encountered this little green cake in Ikea, or perhaps a fine European bakery. What is so appealing about the princess cake? This traditional Swedish cake is unique for its green marzipan layer which encloses several layers of delicate fresh cream, raspberry jam, and soft cake. It is light in texture yet incredibly rich in flavor, with multiple layers of incredibly rich flavor. Its name (prinsesstarta in Swedish) comes from the love of the cake from princesses who were the daughters of Prince Carl, Duke of Vastergotland. This elusive cake does not appear often in your everyday bakery, which means one needs to travel far and wide to obtain one. I decided to remedy this and made own!

The first step is to obtain some marzipan and incorporate green food coloring to give it the signature color. Roll it out as if you were making cookies, and try to make the layer relatively thin while taking care not to rip it.

Prepare the whipped heavy cream filling, adding vanilla extract for more flavor.

After filling the layers, cover the cake with more cream.



Then carefully wrap it with your layer of marzipan.

Dust with powdered sugar and add a raspberry for presentation.

Delectable!

- Candice

Treats at School

In Korea, it's very common for staff members or parents of students to bring in treats to share with the staff. About once to three times a week there will be a little nugget of goodness waiting at my desk. Here are some treats from the past two weeks:

Rice Cake with Caramelized Walnuts (각색편)

I love the gluten-y texture of Korean rice cakes and this is one of my favorite kinds because it has an extra hint of sweetness from the caramelized center.

Juicy and Sweet Organic Tomato

Usually I don't eat whole large tomatoes as a snack but after this I think I will. It's quite refreshing.

Roll Cake layered with Strawberry Jam

The cake was utterly silky and heavier than I expected, like pound cake. Very satisfying.

Chocolate Covered Rice Cake Doughnut Hole

This is like an orgy of all my favorite sweets - chocolate and gluten. Addicting!

Multi-Grain Coffee Cake

The cake was very moist and had a wonderfully buttery and nutty taste.


Wrapped Rice Cake with Red Bean (쌈떡)

The rice cake part was actually a little savory and the red bean inside wasn't that sweet. It caught me off guard but I liked it.

Other common treats that are often passed out include pizzas, yogurt cups, cookies, vitamin drinks, a variety of other kinds of rice cakes, many other kinds of cakes and pastries, fresh fruit such as strawberries, grapes, and oranges, .

Thank you, Korea.

- Angela

Spicy Chicken Stew (찜닭)

Friday night looked something like this...

My good friend got admission into a popular English academy and he wanted to treat me to dinner to say thanks for helping him prepare for the interview. Given the weather conditions, I was craving something spicy and hearty.

Spicy Chicken Stew/ Jjim Dalk (찜닭)

What's in it: Chicken, soy sauce based sauce, potatoes, onions, carrots, red peppers, and thick sweet potato noodles.

The sauce is amazing with white rice.

Afterwards we headed to my favorite bakery and picked up one of my favorite cakes:

Green Tea Cake layered with Blueberry and Pistachio Mousse.

We took this to one of my favorite coffee shops and washed it down with a warm cup of black coffee.

Thank you, Korea.

- Angela

Pizza, Pasta, and Pastries

My friends invited me out to their neighborhood around Beomo Station to show me their current favorite eats. There's A LOT of good restaurants in this area so they asked me what I had a hankering for the most. I hadn't had pasta in a long time and I admit I think restaurant pasta in Korea is better than pasta in the US. The prices are fairer and the quality is overall very good even in very small commercial restaurants. Here's an example:

Smoked Salmon Salad with Capers

This was damn delicious. It had little clouds of whipped sour cream on the plate for dressing. I could have eaten spoonfuls of this.

Seafood Cream Sauce Pasta

This was amazing! The cream sauce was buttery and so aromatic with the right touch of Italian herbs, and the pasta was al dente.

Plain Cheese Pizza


The cheese was still piping hot and stretched from plate to plate.

After a great dinner (the bill was under USD $30/ KRW 30,000!), my friend took us around the corner to a quaint little coffee shop. Strawberries are in season so they are everywhere in Korea, especially as cakes.

Strawberry and Fresh Cream Cake

I can't emphasize enough what a pure delight this was! I felt like I was eating burstingly sweet strawberries and clouds.

Honey Buttered Toast Topped with Vanilla Ice Cream and Fruit

This was the best sweet toast I ever had in Korea, and I think cutting off the crust and having every piece of toast absorbing an equal and hearty amount of honey and butter played an important role.

Thank you, Korea.

- Angela