A reader asked, and I thought about what really makes authentic Korean tea. There are teas that we drink on special occasions. On the other hand, there are couple of "common" teas that Koreans drink on a daily bais in place of regular tap or filtered water.
If I am asked what makes Korean tea, it would be the common teas, such as roasted barley tea or roasted corn tea. We drink them on a daily basis without even realizing it's a tea. This is equivalent of Jasmine tea in Chinese restaurant or green tea in Japanese restaurant, I guess.
Roasted corn tea or roasted barley tea is very easy to make. Simply add roasted corn or roasted barley to boiling water and brew them for a few minutes until the water turns light gold in color, and strain and discard boiled corn or barley afterward. They are also available in tea bags.
Besides roasted corn tea or roasted barley tea, there are other more traditional Korean teas. Many of them are fruit-based or leaf-based (e.g., dried jujube tea, citron tea, persimon leaf tea, ginger tea, etc), and each of them has very unique aroma and taste.
I would like to add that green tea, especially with roasted brown rice, is becoming another popular common tea in Korea with its acclaimed health benefits. The province of Bosung in Korea is supposed to be a huge tourist attraction these days for its breathtaking view of vast green tea fields. We are looking forward to checking it out when we visit Korea next time.
Sketch
1809 4th St
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 665-5650After our successful excavation of Scoop in Farifax the other day, we became inquisitive of other popular ice cream shops in the Bay Area. After reading some good reviews about Sketch in Berkeley, we went to try it.
If the Scoop were known for their fresh homemade strawberry ice cream, the Sketch sits on a fancier side. The price also reflects that. Frankly, I didn't think Sketch lives up to its hype; I thought their ice cream tasted kinda bland without much characteristics. I think it's ok to try once, but not twice.
Scoop
63 Broadway Blvd
Fairfax, CA 94930We stumbled on Scoop when we were passing by on our way back home from Tomales Bay and saw a long line of people snaking on the sidewalk. It is a tiny, narrow ice cream shop tucked in between some random shops in downtown, Fairfax. When such a tiny shop draws a long line of people, you gotta peek inside at least. We ended up waiting for about half an hour for a cup of ice cream. And, I had my first 'i scream' moment here. Yes, we all scream for ice cream! Ever since then, I've been so spoiled by their ice cream that no other ice creams taste good any more. Really, I think this place gotta be the best best ice creamery on the planet...
Everything here is organic and locally grown. Even their waffles are fresh homemade and their warm smell makes people keep waiting in a line with their smile on. Fairfax is about a forty-minute drive from where we are (Oakland). No matter what, it is definitely worth the drive and wait. Our favorite flavors are Vanilla Honey Lavender and Organic Strawberry. If you are looking for a third scoop, the chocolates never disappoint you. Actually, they are all very good!
약식 [Yak-Shik]
One of the big changes that happened to me this year as an ajuma (a married woman) as opposed to being single last year is that I now find the trace of seasonal changes in different places. If I had realized the seasonal changes before in a mall looking at the fall and winter collection dressed in show windows, this year I had the exactly same realization come to me in the produce section in grocery market. It was the chestnuts and persimmons that sent me the message - the fall has come! When they showed up in the market, I bought 10 pounds of chestnuts and I felt even more like an ajuma... >.<
What did I do with all those chestnuts? I cooked some with rice and I steamed some to scrape off with a spoon. And lastly but not least, I saved for yakshik, sweet rice snack/desserts.
For 4 servings
(Shown in pictures below are for 8 servings)
Main Ingredients:
sweet rice/chapssal (2 cup)
chestnuts (10)
dry dates/daechu (10, pitted)
pine nuts(2 tbl)
Sauce:
water (1 1/3 cup)
brown sugar (2/3 cup)
soy sauce (3 tble)
sesame oil (2 tble)
oil (1 tbl)
ground cinnamon (1 tbl)
1.
Soak sweet rice in water for 6+ hours.
2.
Peel the chestnuts. This is the hardest, most time-consuming part... Does anyone know a better way? The next new kitchen gadget should be a chestnut peeler!
3.
Break the chestnuts into small bite-size pieces.
4.
Cut dry dates into three pieces.
5.
Drain the sweet rice, and mix with chestnuts (from Step 3), dry dates (from Step 4) and pine nuts.
6.
In a separate bowl, make the sauce by mixing the ingredients above: water+brown sugar+soy sauce+sesame oil+oil+ground cinnamon.
7.
Pour the sauce into sweet rice mix.
8.
Mix them well.
9.
Cook in a pressure cooker for 10 minutes and release steam. My Fissler pressure cooker was set to Level II, and I turned it off after the steam bar hit the last red ring. If you are using a rice cooker, set it to the brown rice mode. It should take longer than regular rice. Or, you could simply microwave them for 10+ minutes in small portions.
10.
This is how it's going to look at the end. Stir them.
11.
Place the rice into flat mold or ramekins and cool off.
Beard Papa
845 Market Street Suite # FE 16San Francisco, CA 94103 This past weekend, my aunt came to visit us from Chico. Though it was not her first time in the Bay Area, we wanted to take her for some sightseeing. We hadn't decided where to go until we were already in the car and up on the ramp to I-880. Min asked again - so where are we going? When we were up on the ramp and on the highway, the skyline of San Francisco across the bay came into sight before us. As spontaneously as we plan things, few minutes later we crossed the Bay Bridge and took the downtown exit. As we were about to cruise through the downtown, Min asked with a smile if we want to have cream puffs. Then I remembered there is one Beard Papa store in SF downtown.When Min and I were living in New York, we often stopped by Beard Papa (on Broadway and 84th in Upper West Side) on our way back from grocery shopping in Fairway a few blocks down. They sell the freshest, giant vanilla cream puffs and also offer daily special flavors. We'd order one regular and one daily special and finish them on the spot. Since we left New York last fall, we haven't had their cream puffs for the longest time. So, when Min mentioned Beard Papa, it took me back in time and place when we were dating in New York, and spending much time and money pigging out on foods like pizza, sweets and finger foods. Sometimes it's overwhelming to think that all the changes in our lives (getting engaged, moving back from the East coast, getting married, and finally settling down in the Bay Area) took place within just past year... Like Min, the cream puffs make me smile, too. It may be because we are still "newly wed" after all, for we tend to attribute sentimental values to everything we do and stuff we eat :) I wish that we continue to enjoy Beard Papa's cream puffs with the same smile and excitement like today again and again in our years to come.We forgot to take a picture of cream puffs this time, but instead here is one from few months back from New York. :D
Here is an eye candy for the day.
I mentioned in my previous post that my sister, Misa was baking a cake for her friend’s birthday and we used the left-over cake crumb to make rice cake balls. Misa was kind enough to leave us a few extra slices. Her cake is so photogenic, and of course fresh and delicious, that we arranged a special Kodak moment. :)
찹쌀경단 [Chop-Ssal-Gyung-Dan]
These Korean rice-cake balls are, again, my mom’s creation from the weekend we were visiting my parents. During that weekend, as I said in my previous post, my mom and dad got so excited about me blogging Korean food that they constantly wanted to cook something for us. It made me think, why didn't I start this blog much sooner? :D
It happened that my sister, Misa was baking a birthday cake for her friend and had some left over cake crumbs. With those, mom said we could make rice-cake balls. What you are seeing above are Korean rice-cake balls, coated with cake crumb and ground black sesame seeds.
For 4 servings (make about 20)
sweet rice flour (2 cup)
hot water (1 1/2 cup)
salt (1 tsp)
cake crumb (1 cup)
ground black sesame seeds or flax seeds (3/4 cup)
1.
Mix sweet rice powder and salt.
2.
Add hot water.
3.
Mix the dough until smooth. And, leave it in room temperature for 1 hour.
4.
While waiting, prepare the cake crumb and ground black sesame seeds and set them aside.
5.
Make small balls of smooth surface.
6.
Cook the small balls in boiling water until they rise onto the surface of water.
7.
Cool them off in ice water immediately after they are taken out of the boiling water.
8.
Coat them with bread crumb or ground black sesame seeds.
9.
If you don't have ground black sesame seeds, you can use ground flax seeds or chocolate cake crumb instead. Have fun~
