Korean Tea Tasting

On our last day in Korean class, our professor (Li) performed a traditional Korean tea ceremony for us. Being a tea enthusiast myself, I was uber excited at this, and started snapping pictures right away.

He is a major tea enthusiastic who swears by tea - and he's a living proof of it! He's 76 years old but still energetic like a 25 year old, who for the past 25 years drank only tea, and "not a drop of coffee has touched my lips" in his own words.

Just as every culture has a tea "ceremony", Korean tea has its uniqueness, though it is almost the same as Chinese teas. In fact, tea was first brought to Korea by visits to the Tang dynasty in China.

Let's start with the teaware - Korean tea sets are mostly ceramic, fired in a kiln. But during the process, the door is opened to channel some cool air, thereby "breaking" the glass. That's why you'll see fine cracks on the ebony teaware like fine cracks of an eggshell.

Each teacup rests on a shiny wooden coaster with an elegant design of a leaf. The design is so simple yet elegant. All of the teaware is placed on a wooden mat to instill a sense of natural organic-ness.

The teapot is also different with a handle protruding from one side like this (so it doesn't burn your hand):

 

Unlike the clay teapot that I bought from Taiwan, this one doesn't have a tea leaf filter built in the inside, so you'll have to get an accompanying tea mesh filter.

I thought this design was pretty neat, especially the beaded detail on the string.

In ancient times, tea is used as a form of meditation.Our Korean teacher fully agrees - he says he drinks tea for at least 30 minutes everyday, to help calm his mind and body. Tea is best drank with a peaceful mind, and even if you have friends over for tea, everyone engages in positive conversation (that means indoor voices).

The way Korean tea is prepared is also different. First you scoop some tea with a wood tea ladle into the teacup like this one here:

I like how they incorporate natural elements to their teaware to instill a sense of oneness between man and nature.

Then you pour in the boiling water into a large ceramic teaware like the one pictured upside down above. This is a pretty big bowl.

Then you pour the water from that bowl into the teapot. After two minutes of infusing, pour the tea from the teacup into the medium sized bowl (first picture).

Finally, the tea is poured into each cup from the medium-sized bowl through the mesh filter to drain out excess tea leafs. The way that the tea is poured is also a technique - because the richer tea settles to the bottom, each cup is poured halfway before going back for another round to pour it the whole way. This way each cup gets an equally infused tea.

Instead of washing the tea as in Chinese gong-fu style tea, the first brewing is never thrown away. Professor Li says that the first brewing is always the best.

The tea leafs that we used were harvested from the Jirisan Mountains near the Ssanggyesa Temple. Speaking of temples, this particular tea was harvested and given to him by a Buddhist monk. The tea smells almost like corn, and carries a very flagrant and mild taste. You really have to settle into it to savor its full taste, because unlike western teas, the beauty of this tea lies in the meditative mood it evokes.

Even though the teas are harvested at a relatively low elevation (around 300m above sea level), they bear the same quality and taste as oolongs from Taiwan, because the water and soil in the Jirisans are the most suitable for tea tree growth. Professor Li told us that the tea trees (without fertilizers) can grow as deep as 5m beneath the ground. Korean green tea is prepared in a similar way to Chinese greens, with hand-picked tea leafs that is heated in a wok until it becomes dry. But it doesn't come vacuum sealed like Taiwanese teas.

After brewing the tea, you can see the tea leafs fully expanded this one pictured above.

Professor Li told us that he goes hiking in upstate New York every Sunday, bringing with him his entire tea set and some hot water. He gets up at 5am, drives there, hikes up the mountain, gets to the summit, does 1/2 hour of meditation and performs a tea ceremony with his friends, then goes to church at 8am. For a 76-year-old, that's crazy!

We were really thankful for this culturally enlightening experience, and I'll be sure to visit him if I need some Korean tea!


Korean Language Center of NY
38 West 32nd Street, Suite #1112
New York, NY 10001-3816

Angelo's Pizza

I'm sure by now you all know how much I love - absolutely LOVE - pizza. So it should be no surprise that Hubby reserved us a table at Angelo's Pizza for a get-together with some friends.

We got there the really long way, because Hubby got confused and led us back and fro, crossing 5th Ave at least 2 times before finding the right direction. Guess corporate America gets people confused =S

When we arrived, we thought we were the first ones, but one of our friends had already come first, waiting for us at the second floor. I was surprised at how large the restaurant was, even though it was on 57th near 5th, one of the busiest (you would think) streets in NYC. But alas, we were glad that it wasn't uber crowded.

We chatted for about 20 minutes before our other friend showed up. Then we ordered and munched on some house-bake rolls. They were pretty decent, with a crusty coating on the outside that made the bread crackle as you snapped it open.

Inside was a starchy softness, though a bit dry in my opinion. Woulda been nice if it has been baked with more butter. Everyone drizzled some olive oil to dip their bread in, but I guess I was still accustomed to the French way of eating bread with butter (totally bad for your body but good for your heart).

Insalata Di Arugula

We ordered an arugula salad that came with sundried tomatoes, endive, radicchio, sun dried tomatoes with a honey vinaigrette dressing and shaved Parmesan cheese. More on this later.

Pappardelle Alla Toscanese 

We also got a pasta dish of pappardelle with sun-dried tomatoes, wild mushroom, marsala wine, aged parmigiano and pecorino cheese in a creamy sauce. This was perhaps the creamiest pasta I've ever had.

It was like a party in your mouth, an intellectual one that is, with the flavors of the wine and pecorino cheese dancing in philosophical harmony. The noodle itself was cooked al dente, providing a nice contrast to the more astringent sun-dried tomatoes.

Of course, who can forget the pizza? We got a 15" pie with pepperoni, broccoli,  mushrooms and spinach toppings to share amongst the 4 of us.

I've got to say that the salad was life-changing. It was this sweet n sour mixture of well, veggies. But it tasted very rich, with the sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan cheese adding more dimension and body to it. Everyone agreed that the salad was delish. Even though we got the individual portion for both the salad and pasta dishes (suitable for 2 people), it was enough for the 4 of us.

And the pizza? Out of this world. I loved how the pizza came warm and toasty straight out of the coal-oven. Everything on the pizza tasted fresh, including the mushroom and broccoli, so it was as if we were eating actually something healthy (probably not). It was a fine balance between the tangy sauce and fresh ingredients that made the pizza at once bucolic and a piece of art.

 Yes, these are real veggies on it

The thin crust was so good to chew on, and easy on the teeth. Even the very end of the crust tasted pretty good. Like the story goes, Angelo, the creator of the restaurant, wanted real pizza with blackened and crisp crust. And only fresh mozzarella and tomatoes. This was it indeed. We dipped our crusts in the pasta sauce to savor the creamy flavor.

We chatted, laughed and had a great time. No wonder companies on 5th Ave come here for corporate events. Even the stuffiest white collars can relax with the good food and atmosphere. (Plus the wait staff are  friendly and attentive, and give you the option of having the food comes out in courses or altogether).



**** (4/5 stars)
$$

Angelo's Pizza
117W 57th Street

Kids-friendly (reservations just to be sure for weekday lunches)

DIY Jap Chae

After our Korean outing the other day, I've decided to start cooking some Korean food. I happened (really, it's true) to find some dang myang, or sweet potato noodles in my cupboard, so I thought what better way to start the Korean cooking adventure than making some of my favorite jap chae, or Korean style vermicelli.

You can find the dried vermicelli in any Asian grocery store. Probably your best bet is at a Korean or Chinese one. It's pretty cheap - about $2.50/pack.

You start by boiling it in some water. Real easy, heat up the water, wait until it boils, then drop in the noodles. Add some salt (rock salt works well) to add taste while the noodles are cooking.

One thing to note is that they kind of stick together in the package, so it's hard to tell how much it will materialize to be actual noodles. A rule of thumb is that one pack (they kind of come entwined as sticks) will feed 2 people. I dropped in 2 stick packs and that was like a whole pot of vermicelli, which left Hubby and me with leftovers for the rest of the week.

You can see that the noodles become translucent after 10 minutes of cooking. You can turn off the heat once the noodles become completely translucent and soft (you can do a taste test for this). Drain the water from the noodles and soak it with cold water. You want the noodles to be around room temperature when you start the final mixing.

Next, bring out those veggies. The recommended vegetables for jap chae are julienned carrots, onions, green onions, shitake mushrooms and spinach. Of that, I found only carrots, onions and green onions in mine, so I replaced the spinach with celery and threw in some cabbage.

The thing with jap chae is that it's not hard to make, just a long time to prepare all the ingredients. I used two small carrots, but it took at least 10 minutes to peel and then julienne. I'm sure if you used a food processor it would be a lot easier.




The cabbage was still pretty fresh when I cut it up, even though it's been in the fridge for about 3 weeks.

The cutting board gets pretty full after a few veggies, so you mind want to do it the French way and put them into separate bowls.

Garlic is always tricky to mince. 

I ended up with a very colorful cutting board at the end. The next step is to start frying each item. You are supposed to fry each item separately, but if you want to save time then do what I did.

I fried up the onions and carrots. You don't want to overdo this - just fry it until the onions caramelize and the carrots turn a deeper orange. Put the fried onions + carrots on a separate plate or drop it into a large pot for easy mixing later.

Then I put in all the greens. This was a little too much for my little pan to handle, so next time I'll probably have to do the cabbage separately. I drizzled in some vinegar to add some texture to the cabbage. Again, plate or drop the greens into a large pot ready for mixing.

Drain out the water from the noodles (that was soaking in the cold water). The recommended recipe is about one tablespoon of brown sugar and two tablespoons of soy sauce. I of course never follow the recipe, and wanted to use up an old dumpling sauce. So I did about 1/2 tablespoon of that dumpling sauce, 1/2 tablespoon of Chinese stir-fry sauce and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce.

I also had some leftover kimchee spices left from the last of my kimchee (noooo....). So I mixed in some brown sugar into it and added some water to dissolve it. 

Looks pretty disgusting, but it'll add some sweet heat to the noodles.

Now it's time to mix! I didn't find a bowl large enough for all my ingredients, so I put them in the noodle pot.

You want to mix in all the ingredients alongside to another tablespoon of soy sauce and any other condiments you wish to add to this hodge-podge of nutritious deliciousness. 

I made enough jap chae for 4 meals (yea totally overboard). It tasted pretty good - the noodles were soft and chewy, the veggies retained their original taste. I think one thing I would change next time is to use sesame oil to add more flagrance to it, and maybe cut down on the oil too because it was a little greasy everytime I had to fry up another ingredient.

Since I was in a mood for cooking, I also chopped up some sweet potato fries and baked it for half an hour with a good drizzle of olive oil and seasonings. 

And since it's summer, we can't forget corn on the cob!

Now we're ready for a summer picnic!

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Flushing Streeteats: Dirty but Delish

Last Sunday after a nice walk in Flushing Meadows Park Hubby and I went to Flushing to get some treats for our dehydrated stomachs.

Our first stomach is of course bubble tea. We parked towards the end of Main Streets, so walking up we hit ShareTea. They actually share it with a shoe store, so I guess as you sip your bubble tea you can grab some booties as well.

Their menu wasn't as extensive as some of the other bubble tea joints in the hood, which is a good thing because I'm always pouring over the menu and indecisive over which one to get.

Thankfully, this was an easy decision because they had a sale of 2 for $3, so we just got two green milk bubble teas. I didn't want bubbles in mine but the lady said you can't customized. Oh well, I was just trying to save them and my mouth some trouble.

The tea came in a pretty little sealed cup, and to my surprise actually tasted pretty charming as well. You could actually taste the hint of green tea intermixed with the sugary milk mixture, and the bubbles were tender and al dente, not hard to chew.

I've always wanted to try the place under the Main Street bridge for their really super uber cheap scallion pancakes and fish sticks. So we got exactly that - a spicy fish ball on a stick and some spring rolls. The fish balls hit the umami spot - it was soft, tender, full of juicy flavor with a kick of spice. Too bad we only got one because Hubby devoured it in 5 secs flat. The spring rolls were full of carrots and minced pork, which I guess were pretty good had I been a fan of spring rolls. We saved the scallion pancakes for our next Flushing outing.

But I did grab a giant sesame encoated flat scallion pancake bun. It was hanging out a couple of vendors down, and there were a sincere interest in these. So I got one for $1, and bit into it. Surprisingly, you could see the bits of scallion pieces inside, which was full of delish salty scalliony flavor. Too bad that only lasted 1/5 into the bun. Towards the end there wasn't much flavor so I had to save it to eat with some kimchee at home.

Then walking back we stopped by the infamous $1 peking duck roll joint. There was a little sales window outside the busy - I mean real busy - store that sold some dim sum and of course, their infamous peking duck roll.

There were lots of puffy glutinous things, but we resisted for the duck roll.

You Tiao

But of course I couldn't resist the golden pieces of poofed dough deep-fried in a thick cauldron of oil and lard (called you tiao, literally translated as oily stick). Delish. Two sticks for $1. 

Duck in a Bun

This is a probably what inspired David Chang's Pork Bun empire, except at a mere fraction of the cost. Even though they have a sample, they make it fresh in front of you. I really liked the spruces of green onions that jutted out alongside to a thick layer of duck and sauce. Plus the serving lady was one of the nicest I've ever met in Chinatown, explaining to me very patiently what each thing was. 

After our street eats we stopped by a Chinese supermarket to pick up some groceries. Even though I don't need to cook anymore for Hubby since his company has free lunch. Yes, ladies and gents, there are free lunches on Wall Street.

I'm always amazed at the incredible selection of seafood in Chinatown. If I could stand the smell, I would spend hours pouring over the various exotic creatures that live inside the sale bins. Like this creature pictured above - anyone have any idea what this is?

I was also amazed to see that the clams were actually breathing! It was my first time seeing live clams whose shell actually open and close depending on how "alive" they are!

When we got back home, first thing was first - try the honey duck feet!

Looks pretty gruelsome but tastes pretty good. Can't really taste the meat at all because there isn't much, so the most you can get outta these suckers is to suck on it for the flavor. The flavor mind you is quite intense with a deeply marinated honey soy sauce glaced over it. Must have taken quite a while to cook these. I've had similar ones in Taiwan where they actually put a sugar glaze (go figure, Taiwanese cuisine embraces sugar) on top of it and then freeze it until it's like a popsicle. I couldn't really taste anything after it's been in the fridge for so long, so that was kind of disappointing. But this one I'll bet is quite authentic in taste, so I actually enjoyed it.

You Fan 

The oil rice tasted pretty good as well. I liked the bits of imitation duck meat and the shitake mushrooms embedded inside this bed of soy-sauced glutinous rice. It actually doesn't taste as strong as the ones in Taiwan, because this was without the glaze on top. 

Sideway Portrait of the Modern Duck Feet (sounds like an exhibition at Moma, doesn't it?)

We also feasted on the $1.99 watermelon we picked up at the grocery store. It was pretty fresh, but not that sweet. Looks like I'll have to work on my watermelon knocking skills to test out the ripeness more.

Ta-dah!

$
**** (4/5 stars)
Flushing street eats, Queens (not an actually place, just the street eats in Flushing in general)

Motto: Dirty but Delish