dailyprompt-2129 | Fat Wallet Refugee

What are your family’s top 3 favorite meals?

Fried chicken is a household staple for us. But chicken can get a little dull over time, so my mother has explored with several different recipes to spice things up, quite literally.

With my family’s adoption of the Korean Jesa ceremony several years ago we also started including healthy foods in out diet, like kimchi and pajeon. We have a local Korean grocer in Wake Forest (Han Ah Rum Mart) that we visit on occasion when we have the spare funds.

Another favorite for us is Tteok-bokki, rice cakes about the size of a French fry and consumed in a spicy sweet sauce accompanied by fish cake and sausages.

No meal is complete without dessert and we especially enjoy strawberries either with a nice dollop of Häagen-Dazs ice cream or some pudding or cake.

In the spring and summer my mother will craft homemade ice cream in a variety of flavors. We’ve had cranberry, mango, wolfberry, and orange ice cream.

Another Korean treat is the sweet red bean paste which can be found in Patbingsu (팥빙수) and Bungeoppang (팥빙수) the fish shaped pastry. We bought a shaved ice machine and waffle bowels to make a really nice treat.

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I had access to a wide variety of foods. I think though that my families most frequent meals revolved around those dishes most closely associated with my ancestry.

I am a product of British and African-American parentage. Between, and as a part of, my broad world views and cultural upbringing, I have over time developed a discerning, yet liberal palette.

My love for food has reached even to the far east. I have taken every opportunity available to indulge in foreign foods from China, Japan, and Korea including Kimchi, Sukiyaki, and Mapo Tofu.

I am not alone either in these endeavors. Each year my mother brews the Korean rice drink Makgeolli and my father stores away many a container of homemade Kimchi.

Still, I cannot escape it. Curry with poppadom and fish with chips will always remain dear and true in my heart.

Attributions:

Curry (Nov 30, 2022 by Aneesha: SpiceCravings.com),

Fish and Chips (By Matthias Meckel – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74468548),

Fried Chicken (March 1, 2023 by Anonymous: Allrecipes.com).