HwangGyver's mountain resort

We were going to the Hwang family's mountain resort today. Before leaving we needed some lunch though. The dish was from the time of the Korean war, people did not have very much food and just tried to eat what they could get.
Meat was sparse and the only place that seems to have a surplus of meat was the American bases located in Korea. The locals soon discovered that there was a lot of meat thrown out at the bases, so they would scavenger what they could get and soon figured out to make a pretty nutritional dish out of it. It was kind of a soup, with all sorts of meats in there, vegetables and cheese. It didn't look too impressive at first, when the lady came and just poured 1 liter of water over all the ingredients. 10 minutes later after cooking for a little bit, it started smelling good and I was kind of surprised about how good the taste was. I ended up emptying the entire pot of food, I guess they have found my soft spot now, haha
Living in a condo on the 20th floor in a huge metropolitan area, does give some people an urge to get out into the nature now and then. Hynnju and Yumi's dad had bought his own piece of land some 40km from home, in a pretty rural area without water and electricity.
In Korea the best piece of land is on a mountain slope facing South, with flowing water in front. That's what he had bought. Trees had been cut, a bulldozer had helped level the area a little bit and the creek flowing by had been diverted to make a little more space in the precious corner. A nice garden had been created with many different vegetables growing there. Mr Hwang was now a farmer!
When we came there, he was deep in the forest working in the creek, creating flowing water for his farm for water irrigation and whatever you need. In his family he was known as HwangGyver, making anything out of nothing, just like MacGyver.
The garden had a lot of chili, the Korean hot chili, which I just had to taste to give a thumbs up or down. Wow that thing is spicy, but funny enough, in a totally different way than most other chilies I have tried.
This one tastes a little like green peas with you chew in it. Unaware of your big mistake, you take another bite, because maybe you got one that wasn't spicy afterall? Yeah right, 10-15 seconds later the throat starts to burn, a lot! Jalapeno seem quite weak next to this monster, and differs in taste too. The sharpness come immediately in a jalapeno or habanero, but these guys are slow killers. There I was in the middle of the mountain, with a burning throat and Hyunju's dad looking at me - he was laughing even though I tried not to show it was spicy, haha
Hyunju was getting some lessons on farming, this started many years ago when she told her dad that rice grew on trees. That's when he realized he had neglected something in her upbringing.
I can't say I didn't learn anything, I though peanuts actually grew on trees, but I was told to help harvest these small things from this plants and after looking a little closer to what it was, it turned out it was peanuts. Who knew...
In the evening we went to a restaurant in the middle of nowhere, for yet another dish I had never tasted. A very authentic looking place with a huge ceramic plate as a stove with gas heating it up from below. Once warm, the entire stone was hot and food was cooked all over the stone.
Looked more or less like a pork roast, but already sliced in thick slices, before being BBQ'ed with kimchi, onion and garlic.
Again you are supposed to make these wraps, taking the sesame leaf, adding garlic, chili paste and chunks of chile. All to be washed down with soju and beer. How can I not like this food culture, it seems to get better and better, haha
Today it was HwangGyver's birthday so a lot of "effort" had gone into picking up a cake at the local bakery for the birthday party.
Interestingly enough, the cake is part of the celebration, doesn't seem very Korean to me though, but the celebration itself was not so special either? Not sure, just what I observed