On March 14, men return the favor and buy chocolate or some other suitable romantic gift for the target of their affections (presumably a woman). This is called "White Day."
On April 14, men and women who received nothing on the aforementioned days get together and eat jjajangmyŏn, udon-type noodles (myŏn) in a black bean paste called jjajang (most Koreans think jjajangmyŏn is Chinese food, but 99.8% of Chinese have never heard of it).
If the jjajangmyŏn-eaters are lucky, they might hook up with one of the people with whom they are comiserating.
While I didn't end up having jjajangmyŏn with anyone, I did enjoy a heaping plate of "seafood fried rice," which comes with a steaming bowl of jjajang, which you heap on to the rice-and-seafood mixture.
I hooked up with no one (which is probably for the best, since my breath smelled like squid).
Today, April 15, is not only Tax Day in the US (fortunately for us overseas US citizens, we have until June 15 to procrastinate on our tax filings), but also the birthdate of Kim Ilsung [kim ilsŏng], the "Great Leader" who is still the nominal head of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, despite having died twelve years ago. The North Korean propaganda machine, not wishing their wonderful teacher to be outdone by some lowly self-proclaimed "president-for-life" in some third-rate jungle dictatorship, has declared the Father of North Korean Communism "President-for-Eternity."
North Korea celebrated by threatening everyone within a 3000-kilometer radius.
[photo: Children in Pyongyang celebrating the 94th birthday of Kim Ilsung. After reunification occurs, North Korean youth will be recruited by the South to teach Seoul commuters how to wait in line for the bus.]
The menus of some ordinary Chinese restaurants list as an item "zhajiangmien," a dish of noodles topped with a brown-colored sauce made from REAL fermented beans. Unlike the Korean version, which looks and tastes like tar, Chinese zhajiangmien is delicious.
ReplyDeleteSonagi, any idea what part of China zhajiangmien is supposed to be from? Is it the Shandong Peninsula?
ReplyDeleteI think a history professor explained that most of the people who ate this particular food eventually up and migrated to Korea, so it's rare to find this "Chinese food" in China.
Unlike the Korean version, which looks and tastes like tar,
That's a little harsh, don't you think? I'm not a big fan of the stuff, unless it's complementing Korean-style 볶음밥, but I've tasted some homemade stuff that was pretty good...not tar-like at all.
I need to head back to China for some authentic Chinese food. I haven't even been to Hong Kong for a couple years.