What's cooking, Good Looking??

The well-loved Korean kimchi jjigae

Ok, so I currently live with a pretty big Korean family: the parents, the son (10), the aunt and the great-aunt (both on the mother's side). Things can get pretty interesting I tell you - especially in the mornings when we're all getting ready to leave the house - talk about STRESSUH. However, I think the most interesting thing about it all is the food Halmony (the great-aunt) cooks me.

Halmony doesn't like cooking for me because it's extra work, and frankly, she says she can't be bothered. The old lady can be a bit cranky, and lately she's been cooking me kimchi jjigae (pickled cabbage stew) and bap (rice) every- well everyday this week, as it happens.

Last night, while walking home, I was desperately willing there to be something other than the good old jjigae waiting for me as I walked through the door. I don't mind the stuff at all; at one point it was my favourite Korean dish, but I am slightly worried that all this pickled food may give me gastric cancer, or... too much gas at least.

As I sat down at the table to eat dinner, I was disappointed to see the dreaded dish yet again, but my disappointment quickly faded as my attention was drawn to something on a plate nearby. Some new food, I thought...At last, some variety!! My excitement quickly turned to bewilderment, as I tried to figure out what this new side dish was.

EUREKA! After a few moments of prodding the food with my chop-sticks, I realised that the dish was none other than a sorry-looking, limp, and BATTERED (as in fish and chips) lettuce leaf! Oh my, how versatile the iceberg lettuce really is. Over the years, I have witnessed the crisp and juicy leaves being used for more than just my mum's prawn cocktail. When thinking of the vegetable that is close to the hearts of many Western housewives, one fond memory often springs to mind.

In my teens I had a good friend, Liz whose parents are from Hong Kong. Liz had a big thing for Ramen noodles, and so did I, so whenever I visited her house, which was a few streets from my family home, she would pull a few packs of noodles out of the cupboard. She would then pull out two bowls for each of us, and a head of lettuce. What ensued always left me dumbfounded. She would line the bowl with lettuce leaves (like a lettuce bowl I guess) and then pour the noodles and some water into the bowl. This left the lettuce soggy and pretty disgusting.

When I saw the limp and frail-looking leaves peering at me from the table last night, I had a flashback of Liz's soggy-lettuce-bowls. Needless to say, I wasn't overly excited to taste the new dish. I was, however, surprised to find that I loved the old lady's fried lettuce...and it's a good job coz I had the same meal again tonight:(