Junggamcheon

Mondays appear to be slow days, so it seemed like a great choice for a cooking class! We met up with our teacher for the morning at a subway stop nearby and she charmed us immediately with her mix of California-Korean-English. As a group of eight, we strolled through Mangwon market with ‘Sarah’ as our guide. Every few stalls, she’d stop and explain whatever it was we needed to know along with some things we didn’t. The market was a mix of sounds and smells, food and fish and every now and then Sarah would invite us to sample one dish or another, most of us obliging happily.

Within about an hour, we had left the market and arrived at Sarah’s home to cook, where everything was laid out for us and waiting for action. Over the next couple of hours, we chopped, pounded, fried and tossed, finally producing the most gorgeous spread which included Bipimbap, Pajeon (seafood pancakes) and Dakgalbi which’s are like bite sized tacos made with leaves instead of the actual taco! Sarah added a few sides she’d already prepared along with makgeli, rice wine. We ate literally until we were full, enjoying each delicious flavor and marveling at the apparent simplicity of all we’d made. It was a great experience!Read more