An Asian Pear!
I have discovered many new things that I like - kimchee for example - and I have found a few morsels that I will never aquire a taste for - seaweed BLEH!! I shiver at the thought of seaweed. Of all the new taste sensations, Asian Pears are my favorite so far, and I have been chowing down on them since week one. These things are bigger than your average pear, and incredibly juicy.
We were recently given a 7.5 kilogram box(16.5 pounds for those of you that are metrically challenged) of Asian Pears as a welcome gift from the ladies in the chapel. The box had 8 pears in it, so you can see how hugemongous these things are. Normally, we slice them up and two or three Snellings feast on it. When these pears arrived, I was all alone. Although I sliced it, I ended up eating a whole one all by myself. That pear bit back!
Daniel and his family gave us a box of these pears and some dduk cakes for Ch'usok. The pears are divine, and the dduk was good but our American tasters had to get used to the chewiness.
Dduk is made from glutinous rice, and if I remember correctly, the rice has to be pounded until it becomes sticky and it is then formed into balls. These little bite sized "cakes" are filled with either sesame seeds or white stuff. The sesame seeds are lightly sweetened and taste really good, and since we are in Korea, there is a 97% chance the white stuff is rice based.
I have developed an inclination to put my own little twist on the Korean food - like rolling the above mentioned treats in sugar. One night, at Daniel's suggestion, we purchased a bag of little puffed rice cakes - think Quaker Oats, just smaller and much more bland. Of all the items the vendor sold, Daniel said these were the best - NOT! They tasted like puffed cardboard. I had no idea what we were going to do with this bag of cardboard cakes, when I remembered some extra chocolate icing in the refrigerator. Guess what! The puffed rice things were gone in a day.
We were recently given a 7.5 kilogram box(16.5 pounds for those of you that are metrically challenged) of Asian Pears as a welcome gift from the ladies in the chapel. The box had 8 pears in it, so you can see how hugemongous these things are. Normally, we slice them up and two or three Snellings feast on it. When these pears arrived, I was all alone. Although I sliced it, I ended up eating a whole one all by myself. That pear bit back!
Daniel and his family gave us a box of these pears and some dduk cakes for Ch'usok. The pears are divine, and the dduk was good but our American tasters had to get used to the chewiness.
Dduk is made from glutinous rice, and if I remember correctly, the rice has to be pounded until it becomes sticky and it is then formed into balls. These little bite sized "cakes" are filled with either sesame seeds or white stuff. The sesame seeds are lightly sweetened and taste really good, and since we are in Korea, there is a 97% chance the white stuff is rice based.I have developed an inclination to put my own little twist on the Korean food - like rolling the above mentioned treats in sugar. One night, at Daniel's suggestion, we purchased a bag of little puffed rice cakes - think Quaker Oats, just smaller and much more bland. Of all the items the vendor sold, Daniel said these were the best - NOT! They tasted like puffed cardboard. I had no idea what we were going to do with this bag of cardboard cakes, when I remembered some extra chocolate icing in the refrigerator. Guess what! The puffed rice things were gone in a day.
No comments:
Post a Comment