End of First Day

Today jet lag got the better of me, and I accidentally took a seven-hour nap in the middle of the day. I did, however, get to eat some interesting things as well as get a recipe from Jin for 잡채 (jop-chae). Which is a noodle made from sweet potato flour with vegetables and meat mixed in. So I won't be starving in Korea, Mom! I will go ahead and post the recipe since Aunt Jeanette was asking me about Korean cooking.

Ingredients: Spinach, Onion, 잡채 noodles, carrots, green onions, mushroom, pork (or whichever meat you want to add), salt, black pepper, sesame oil, olive or vegetable oil, sesame seeds, soy sauce

The vegetables and meat you will want to chop into long, thin pieces (except the spinach, which you use as is)
Each ingredient will be cooked separately (I'm told that it's to keep their color).
First, you will need to boil some water. Then, add spinach to the boiling water, cooking it for a very short time (like 1 minute). Drain the spinach, and wash it to bring it's temperature down. Keep separate for later.
Next, individually saute the onion, green onion, carrots, mushroom, and pork (or whatever meat you choose) in either vegetable or olive oil (NOT sesame oil, this will be added later) adding a little bit of salt and black pepper for seasoning. The pork needs to be cooked last, I'm told. Keep everything separate.
Next, you will need to boil more water to cook the noodles (about 5-8 minutes), adding a little bit of olive or vegetable oil (NOT sesame) to the water. It's done when the noodles are stretchy. You can also add soy sauce to the water to dye the noodles from clear to a darker color (I don't think it affects the flavor, only the color). Drain the noodles when done.
Finally, put everything together in a big bowl, and mix together adding soy sauce, sesame oil, and sesame seeds to taste.

This is Jin getting the ingredients ready for the 잡채. Poor Bori didn't get anything. Clearly a dog is a dog wherever you go.  The last picture is another shot of Bori. He's clearly the star of today's blog posts. He is nestled down on top of Jin's father-in-law's chest while he watches TV. (Bori also enjoys watching TV, by the way, and got quite excited when he saw another dog on the screen.)