Let me eat all night in your Seoul Kitchen

I know it's been a long time since my post. In my defense, the drought has literally dried out my will for gardening. Here in TN the rains just won't come, and since we are nearing water shortages, I cannot greedily pump as much water into my garden as it needs to stay green. Some time back I went through and lopped all the dead and dying bits from the tomato plants still hanging on. Some I pulled outright. I even tried to sucker a few out, but in this heat, forget it. I am not discouraged as a gardener at all, but next year I will do a few things differently. More to come on those tomato plant procedures this fall when the weather breaks.

As for the subject at hand: Korean Food. The avid reader... of this blog knows that I am a major Thai food fan. Hell, my Siam Queen is the healthiest plant out there despite my neglect and the heat. Lucky for me since I can't get enough of that bad ass basil flavor. I digress. Tonight, after being crushed by a real estate deal falling through, you know, where your dream home is bought out from under you by some usurping yahoo from out west, we decided we would treat ourselves with a night out to eat. We didn't spend thousands of dollars on a home after all, why not let someone else cook?

So, we went to the Seoul Kitchen. I've been wanting to go to this place for a long time, never stopping but often thinking about it when I pass by on the way to the grocery. It's a chain restaurant, I know that much, but the food is great and the service was even better. I got spicy grilled pork, and the wife had fried rice. These were our main dishes and they were different than the mainstay Asian entrees. Very nice, but not what I was the most impressed by. The comment "every meal comes with side dishes" peeked my interest. I thought rice was the side dish. Incorrect! There were lots to choose from, three kinds of Kim Chi, some mini-fishes that were chewy and salty, tofu, bean sprouts, some green stuff and a couple more. The poor waitress could hardly name anyof these in English, but did so with a smile. I felt like I had just come home and was served a home cooked meal. My only regret is that we couldn't try one of everything.