Adventures In Cooking: Part 1

My kitchen consists of a sink, one burner, and a small strip of counter between the two. Recently, the mother of my dear friend Anny gave me this gigantic rice cooker to use for the year (I am accepting name suggestions for it. Those currently in the running are Bertha, Hilda, and Hal).

This limited cooking area, coupled with the fact that I’m not always completely sure of the contents of what I’m buying at the store, is sure to lead to some interesting culinary escapades. Now and again I may share these “Adventures in cooking” with you… like today…

My friend’s mom also gave me large amounts of kimchi, which I love. If you are not familiar with this spicy pickled cabbage, you really should try it. Kimchi does have one drawback though – its smell is so strong and penetrating that, if left in your refrigerator for more than .05 seconds, the entire unit will smell like kimchi and soon everything inside will taste like it. It’s kind of like the Bog of Eternal Stench… but, um, yummy… Anyway, since I didn’t want my muffins or filtered water to acquire a not-so-subtle kimchi flavor I left it on the counter for a day or two, postponing the inevitable.

Then, this evening I got the brilliant idea to make soup. So at about 10pm I ran downstairs to buy a knife from 7-Eleven, then got started chopping veggies and chicken. By 11:30 I had a delicious kimchi soup with onion, carrot, potato, rice, chicken, and, of course, kimchi.

The following are pictures of the process.

Now I just have to figure out how to store the leftovers since I don’t have tupperware… Hmm, hadn’t thought that far ahead…