Taste of Korea

Yesterday I went to one of my favorite places, Seoul restaurant, to eat dinner. It is located on Martin Way. I ordered Bi-Bim-Bop, which is the most popular Korean dish. Being so hungry, I was counting the seconds till the food was ready. When the waitress brought Bi-Bim-Bop, I couldn't wait to start to eat. The dish was a big hot bowl with warm rice and beef, vegetables and fried egg on the top. The variety of vegetables (soybean, zucchini, spinach, carrot and cucumbers) created a specific taste which reminded me of the time when I was in South Korea. The meal cost me $10 included tax. I think this is not bad for good dinner. I left the restaurant filled with great emotions of a hearty dinner.

The dish which I had in Seoul restaurant, Bi-Bim-Bop, represents to me fresh and healthy food. Today, people prefer to eat fast food, but if they go to the restaurant and order a hamburger or sandwich with French fries it will cost around $8-10. Therefore, it is better to pay couple dollars more for a healthy dinner. Also, Bi-Bim-Bop expresses to me Korean traditional food. The way it is cooked and ingredients used have been presented for hundreds years, and now the country should be proud of their traditions that people follow.

Budd Bay Cafe

On Sunday my husband and I went to Budd Bay Cafe in Olympia for lunch. They were easy to find and in downtown Olympia on the water. We arrived at 2:30 and were seated immediately. The restaurant was clean with a beautiful view of the water. Our waitress was named Kim and incredibly friendly.

She suggested the strawberry lemonade and I agreed that sounded wonderful. My husband ordered water. We ordered the steamed clams for an appetizer and while we were waiting she brought us warm homemade sourdough rolls.

When the clams came out they were steamed in a garlic white wine chardonnay sauce with carrots and celery. Then, surprisingly, they also had almonds sprinkled them and they gave a very satisfying texture. The clams were also well cooked and not chewy or undercooked. The portion size was also quite large, especially for a lunch appetizer.

I ordered seafood Alfredo for my main course and it came with clams, shrimp, and scallops. I was thrilled to find there was a lot of seafood in the pasta and they did not skimp because it was lunch time. My husband ordered blackened salmon with roasted asparagus and bell peppers and a side of Yukon gold mashed potatoes. He said his salmon was moist and delicious. (after letting me taste it I agreed!)

The price was really acceptable also.

Strawberry Lemonade = $2.95

Steamed Clams= $13.00

Blackened Salmon= $13.00

Seafood Alfredo= $13.00

Total= $ 45.53 (before tip)

When reading the menu I was surprised to read that all of their burgers as 1/2 pound of all natural beef with no antibiotics, steroids, growth hormones, or bi-products. Their oysters are local when they are in season. The salmon is all farm-raised in British Columbia.

Healthy eating can be tasty

I am always keen to try something new. Especially when it comes to food. In an effort to keep finding new and interesting tastes, I decided to have a meal at Angel Thai in downtown Olympia.

We started dinner with fresh spring rolls. These were very good, and by my estimation pretty healthy as well since we got them fresh and not fried. They came with a peanut and a sweet sauce, of which I preferred the sweet. I think this was mainly because the peanut sauce was warmed, and the spring rolls chilled.


My main course was Pad Thai. Rice noodles with beef and vegetables, cooked in a wok with a spicy sauce. Being a fan of spicy foods, I chose a "two star" level of spiciness (the scale ranged from no starts up to three stars) and this made the food just on the upper end of my tolerance. Maybe next time I go with one star, but I suspect my preference would be 1 1/2. Maybe I can ask for that next time.

This was an excellent opportunity for me to eat out, share a dinner with a friend, and do so with delicious and healthy food. All to often I find myself eating fast food, and even when I go to a restaurant, 'western' meals are all to often not as healthy as I may like. I suspect I will be returning to Angel Thai again soon.

Food For Thought

1. I went to Applebees

2. I had an oriental chicken salad. The quality was very good. The size was very beneficial. The cost was around $8.50-9.50. The salad had a sweet dressing that was quite good. There were cut up almonds on top of it. I went there with my roommate. We went there on monday night around 10:30 pm. I had the chicken grilled not breaded to be a little more healthy.

3. I didn't get a chance to take a picture.

4. The meal I choose represented me because i wanted to get something that was good but also healthy. I would like to explore obiesity and the issues our society has with it. I think it's a very serious issue that our society needs to address immediately. I don't think the fault falls on society itself; I believe its the owners of the fast food chains. Business is business so whatever sells is what is going to make the most money. As long as people keep on buying the supersize value meal at McD's, BK, or DQ, obiesity is going to continue to plague our society. I think it's harder to eat healthy. The reason why is that it's less expensive to eat out everynight. Fresh fruits and vegtables can be spendy, compared to Taco Bell's 89 cent burritos.

Pho

I went to a pho restaurant on pacific today. I orderd a beef combination pho. It only took about 5 minutes from ordering till the food was ready. It contains beef broth, rice noodles, thin-sliced onion, green onion, beef steak, beef meat balls, soft tendons and tripes. There are some ingredients that are not usual for American food, such as tendons and tripes. Besides the big bowl of soup noodle, the meal also comes with herb, bean sprouts, lime, hot pepper. The meal costs $7.53 including tax. The food was light-seasoned. Seafood sauce and hot sauce are on the table, so customers can change the taste of soup the way they like. I really liked the soup, I wish I could finish all the soup, but it was a lot of soup to drink.

This meal represents a new image of fast food. Fast food usually represents oily, high calories. Pho is light-seasoned, seems very healthy to me.