Culinary Genius

Frig and I have been on a culinary adventure the past few days. Now that we have all the "key" ingredients to be able to make the recipes in Korean Cooking Made Easy we are taking full advantage.

These "key" ingredients are certain items that show up in the recipes time and again which we would not have had in our pantry prior to two weeks ago. These items include hot pepper paste, soy bean paste, garlic paste, sesame oil, and sesame paste. Since our first foray into Korean cooking, bulgogi, we have also made a noodle dish and last night Frig made the red pepper grilled fish. All three dished have been a delight.

As we have been reading up on toddler adoption and attachment the change in smells has come up time and again. Children that are adopted will potentially grieve for many reasons and one of these is the change is the smell in the house. We thought we would try to counteract this by cooking Korean dishes several times a week. Making Korean dishes for ourselves as well as feeding Christian the foods he is used to eating during the important attachment period. While some of the foods he eats require heating; therefore, adding aroma to the house, this is the always the case.

Both of us really are in love with the culinary genius that is Korean cuisine. We consider our family lucky that both Frig and I have adventurous pallets. Kimchi is a side dish we look forward to with each of these meals. I have decided that if my German and Mexican ancestors were forced to come up with a dish together that something close to kimchi would be the ultimate result. It has the spice of many Mexican dishes with the fermented cabbage aspect that is German sauerkraut.

We will be eating bulgogi again one night this week, I picked up the required Asian pear from H Mart this weekend, but who knows where else our little cookbook will take us. If nothing else we have already picked out the two dished we plan to make for my parents this weekend when they come into town. The four of us will celebrate Father's Day by moving furniture out of the nursery.