Entry 21: Cooking for One

I only possess a handful of skills when it comes to cooking. Thankfully, during my sophomore year of college I found the joys and the pains of the kitchen. The joys being something tasty being produced at a much lower cost than something that would have been bought at a restaurant. The pains? Some days our kitchen could produce life that was not meant to be birthed, just ask Harrison (I think he experienced this to the fullest) about the rice cooker story (part 1 and part 2). Let's just say that we all found out that rice turns different colors when you don't do anything about it for MONTHS. But to continue on the current train of thought, I thoroughly enjoyed breakfast foods, especially eggs. Eunice calls my fried eggs amazing and I'm pretty sure that she craves them every know and again, but I don't think there is anything special with my eggs, I think she was just very hungry.

When I first went grocery shopping at the local market, which is located about 2 minutes walking from my apartment, I went straight to find the eggs. Eggs are the least expensive form of protein here in Korea (excluding tofu, but they are both a lot less expensive than red meat). For those of you who don't know, meat from a cow is about twice as expensive, meat from a pig and chicken is 1.5 times as expensive as back in the states (all are approximates). This is where stuff doesn't make sense to be one bit. When I first went to go buy the eggs, I looked at the price tag for 10 eggs, 3000 won. I was shocked, because back in the states at HEB you could buy a dozen eggs for $1. I bought the eggs that day, and made sure that each egg was used and loved three times more than the eggs back home.

But there is a strange loophole, that made me question what Korean people are thinking.

10 eggs = 3000 won
30 eggs = 4500 won

You get a fifty percent discount when you buy in bulk?!

With this being the truth, Once my measly ten eggs were devoured, I went back to the store and bought the 30 egg carton. Now its time for some crackin',scramblin', fryin' and boilin'.

So with my 20kilogram back of rice (approx. 44lbs) that my school provided me when I first moved in, my 30 eggs, 8 whole onion, 10 mushrooms, 2 cans of 고추tuna, 3 packs of shin ramen, and all the different oils and sauces that I have at my disposal I embark on the journey to cook for one.

It is almost a habit of mine, to come home from school and wash and cook one cup of rice for dinner. Fry two eggs, and eat with some kimchee and other side dishes. But thank God for Korean frozen foods. I was able to fry up some 만두, added some soy sauce, and BAM, gourmet meal (it wasn't gourmet, but variety is always welcomed).

BUT, because I cook for myself, it automatically leads to a decrease in my caloric intake.

1 cup of rice = 204 calories
2 fried eggs= 180 calories
3 servings of kimchi = 45 calories.

This is my meal twice a day. Once at around 10am and then again at 6pm.
For snacks, I drink a cup of milk and eat some bread.

Basically, my caloric intake is about half of what it was back in the states. I miss bar-b-que.


I think I fixed the problem that people were having with leaving comments on my blog.