After spending three hours beheading raw shrimp and battering and frying various food items, I have new respect for both my biological and host mother. It's been over five hours and umma (Korean for mother) is still going strong! ....while MJ and I have given up and gone off to study for a while. I keep asking umma if she needs a rest or any help, but she declines and says that Korean mothers are strong and she's got caffeine on her side. She'll probably ask for more help later, but I think we've accomplished quite a lot of cooking by this point.

MJ and I started by coating pieces of fish in flour, then in egg, and then frying them. I made these skewer things (pattern: meat, scallion, meat, kimchi, meat, carrot, meat) and battered and fried them in the same manner. While MJ fried more fish and cut various vegetables, I began the grueling process of cleaning what felt like a hundred shrimp (although probably more like forty). Our work was eased by singing together to an eclectic playlist selected by MJ and myself. TW (host brother) spent the whole time we were cooking by lying on the ground around the kitchen, saying random stuff, and eating.

Labels: chuseok, cooking, tw antics