Oppa…

I saw on my dear friend. Mary‘s Facebook page that her daughter’s oppa (오빠) was in town and Chef Youngcheon Heo was taking orders for Chinese New Year. A true blue Korean? You can’t get any more authentic than that so of course, I placed an order immediately and I told Mary that she could just let me know when the time came and I would drive over to her house to collect myself, no problem at all.

It certainly caught me by surprise when she dropped by my place the other day and passed me EVERYTHING! She said they received too many orders for Chinese New Year so she was giving me mine way ahead of time.

There was this HUGE container of jokbal (족발), the Korean braised pork trotter…

…with all these dips…

…to go with it and yes, it tasted really good. The meat was so so tender and I must say that I was so very impressed by how he had cut the trotter into thin slices like that (the big bone was hidden underneath), making it so very convenient to just eat and enjoy, no need to wrestle with the bone and what not.

Having said that, I have to admit that it was these Mayak eggs or Mayak Gyeran (마약계란) / Korean soy marinated eggs…

…that stole the show. My cousin in Kuching commented on my photograph on Facebook, “Mayak means drug in Korean, mayak gyeran because it’s addictive. I love this dish, easy to make and yummy with hot rice.”

Well, I would say that the main attraction was the chef’s ability to cook these eggs perfectly with the yolk still moist and a little runny….

Oooo…I really loved that so much! Those were so good!

Of course, there was freshly-made kim chi…

…too. The ladies in the house loved it – they said it was so very nice.

I asked Mary how much I would have to pay her for everything but knowing how Mary was, is and always will be, she simply refused to accept any payment from me. *facepalm*

Thank you so so so much, Mary and thank you to your girl and her oppa too. A very Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year, Gong Xi Fa Cai to all! God bless always, cheers!!!