This recipe for Tteokbokki 떡볶이 or Korean Spicy Rice Cake, alongside majority of the Korean food recipes I know I learned from an Ajumma 아줌마 (Korean elderly woman) who owned a Korean restaurant near the place where I used to live. My friendship with this ajumma didn't really start off on the right foot, you see. She used to dislike me.
For her, I was this annoying girl who speaks in broken Korean while asking for extra servings of kimchi more than a normal customer would. Until I grew on her. I somehow and surprisingly charmed my way through her heart and the next thing I know she was handing me a notes of her Korean food recipes before boarding the plane that will bring her back to her motherland for good.
For her, I was this annoying girl who speaks in broken Korean while asking for extra servings of kimchi more than a normal customer would. Until I grew on her. I somehow and surprisingly charmed my way through her heart and the next thing I know she was handing me a notes of her Korean food recipes before boarding the plane that will bring her back to her motherland for good.
I miss her. I miss hanging out in her restaurant and annoying her with my Konglish until she feeds me good food because she'd rather see this annoying girl devour her food happily instead of talking things she cannot understand. But when we speak the language of food, we become friends, there was nothing we cannot understand.
