Okay, I know the title of this post will really terrify a lot of people in the US. Squid jerky? I must have lost it right? But please, give squid jerky with gochujang sauce a chance! Also, I thought the subject of this post would be ‘spooky’ enough to qualify as a Halloween post. I mean, look at the photos below. Creepy, shriveled up body trailed by tentacles with suckers on them.
I’m not doing a good job of selling this snack to you, am I?
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Last weekend I stopped by my parents’ house and took a quick walk through their garden. Despite it being cold and rainy, the herbs were still green and I spotted a few tomatoes still on the vine. I was suddenly reminded that my dad had asked me to pick all the tomatillos that had ripened, heavy in their husks, the plants bowing towards the ground. There were about a dozen in varying sizes, still bright green in the gray and wet day. It was funny they were growing in our North American/Korean hybrid garden since no one in my family recognized what they even were.
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I’m sure this is true of any area of the country that grows apples, but I feel like apple picking is an annual ritual here in Virginia that officially marks the end of warm weather. It confirms that we are in the middle of autumn and the quick slide into winter has already begun. When I was a kid, we went apple picking every year. My mom would prepare a picnic the night before, and we’d wake up early the next day and drive west towards the Blue Ridge Mountains. We’d stop at a Cracker Barrel on the way to fuel ourselves for some apple picking and it was really exciting because it was only once a year, like Christmas. We would end up at some orchard my dad read about the in the Washington Post and pick apples. I’m pretty sure I’d get bored of this after about ten minutes but it was okay because there was always warm apple cider. We’d pick enough to fill a few brown paper grocery bags and we’d hit the road again. Next, we would cruise on Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park and take in the changing leaves.
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Whenever the weather cools and fall is no longer punctuated by unseasonably hot days I think about my favorite Korean street snack, bungeobbang (also spelled bungeoppang). These are sweet, fish shaped treats that are made by street vendors that are reminiscent of waffles filled with sweet red bean paste. My first fall in Seoul, I’d get off the bus going home from the elementary school I taught at and before I crossed the road to get to my apartment building, I’d stop by the street stand on the corner selling these sweet treats. For 1,000 won ($1) I’d get three fish in a paper bag and I’d start munching on them before the crosswalk light changed. They’re best when hot and fresh off the iron since they start getting soggy quickly. A crispy, golden exterior encases a molten hot sweet filling that peeks through the crust.
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I am crazy about goat cheese. Any type of cheese made from goat’s milk is bound to make a meal complete in my mind. To be honest, some days I come home from work exhausted and all I can muster up the energy for is a cheese snack for dinner. Cheese and crackers- is there anything so basic and satisfying? Give me a side of cornichons and/or olives, too, please. Sometimes I lazily attempt to add some green in there with a sprinkling of herbs or arugula. These days I’m topping it with the last of my CSA tomatoes. 90% of the time the cheese of choice is goat cheese: chevre, gouda, cheddar, even goat’s milk brie! Let’s just say the cheese section of Trader Joe’s is my happy place.
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