When you go to the Noodle Lady's house for lunch it is like you are going to Grandma's house.
Your sassy grandma's house.
I mean look at her!  How cute is this woman?

Honestly I would have NEVER in 1 million years gone up that staircase because I would have never known this is a restaurant.  The only 'sign' this is a restaurant is that little 'sign' above with Korean writing and a phone number. Who knew?! (Well I guess if I read Korea I might have been able to figure it out....)

Kimchi pots full of kimchi goodness.

Here is the menu.
She has noodles.
2 different types of noodles and kimchi mandu.
I'm not sure if kimchi mandu is on the menu or not but we had it and it ROCKED.

Luckily we went with my beautiful friend that knows the Noodle Lady.
I'm not sure if we got special treatment because of my friend, but I totally felt 'a home' while here.

We ate in her living room.

No really, we did.

From what I understand the Noodle Lady has been cooking up noodles for years and years right here in this kitchen.

I'm not really sure what this is, but I see it drying often.

Some Americans might be put off because it is not a traditional restaurant. 
I feel sorry for those Americans as they are going to miss out on something special.

She has fat noodles

And thin noodles
The thin noodles are my favorite.

The noodles are called Kalguksu and they date back to the 12th century. 
They are a handmade wheat flour noodle that is cut by hand and served in a thick seafood broth. 
If you are lucky you might get a clam.
Once you have Kalguksu you will never look at noodles the same again.

The kimchi mandu.
OMGoodness...
I had NEVER before had kimchi mandu.
It was THE BEST mandu I have ever eaten.

We left full and happy.

I think she was full and happy when we left too.

To get there:
From the Gas Station gate on post....
Cross over into Itaewon.
Typically you would walk straight....this time turn right like you are walking back towards the Commissary gate... Turn LEFT at the 1st street - just past the dog groomer - the alley between urban works and Bull and Barrel restaurant is her alley.  It is across from the entrance of the Underground market in Itaewon. 
It looks like this:
Thanks to a friend that went out and took this picture!!

Turn RIGHT.  You will see the staircase pictured above. Go up the stairs.

The noodle is only open for lunch.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE FALL?
It's true, I do.
I love all things that come with fall....cooler weather, snuggling with the one I love, beautiful colors, PUMPKIN and soup!

A few days ago I started craving a good steak soup, you know, a good hearty one.  Kind of like the one they sell at Texas Land and Cattle - the smoky sirloin steak soup or whatever it is called.  Not that I have had that soup in like FOREVER.  Anyway, it was on my mind so I decided to try to recreate it.  I'm not sure how close I am to the recipe, but I gave it a try and it turned out FABULOUS!  It got a thumbs up from every.single.person in our house - and that my friends is rare. 

3 lbs of stew meat (whatever you fancy...I used sirloin)
1.5 tsp liquid smoke
lots of fresh crushed pepper
1 onion - diced
6 cups of beef broth (I like to use homemade to make it clean/paleo)
1 - 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 small package of baby carrots

Toss stew meat (cut into bite size) & onion in a large dutch oven and brown the meat, while browning add liquid some and LOTS of crushed black pepper - just keep turning that mill!   Once meat is nice and brown add 6 cups of  beef broth & can of diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes.  Add carrots.  Turn heat down and simmer for 1.5 hours.

**I really think this would be a super easy crockpot meal as well....just toss all ingredients in a crockpot in the morning, cook on low 6-8 hours.  If you try it let me know...If not when I try it I will let you know! :o)

**I served baked potato and baked sweet potatoes on the side.  You can always throw potatoes in the soup...that's how they do it at Texas Land and Cattle.  :o)

I drooled a little while typing the title - seriously - I should take  a picture of my shirt to show you, but I'm not going to because that is just gross.  Now I'm having some for breakfast - sweet potato soup, not drool. 

I made this recipe because Boy 3 had his tonsils taken out last week and there was no way I was going to let him live on popsicles alone for 2 weeks like his ENT suggested - because if one is eating popsicles, all are eating popsicles and since I don't do those high fructose corn syrup sticks anymore and 'good' popsicles are hard to find and when you do find they are super expensive and one can only make so many popsicles at a time with the limited resources one has....well, you see I could go on and on.....

Just make the soup, it will TOTALLY be worth it with or without tonsils.
And it will take you less than 30 minutes start to finish.

What you will need:
2 TBL coconut oil
1 small onion - diced
2 celery stalks
2 cloves of garlic - chopped
4 medium size sweet potatoes - peeled and cut up  (I used 2 raw, and 2 that I had previously baked) 
5 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 can coconut milk
A big pot
A pink plastic spatula for mixing
A stove top
An immersion blender

Melt coconut oil in the 'big pot' and toss in onions, celery and garlic and sauté for about 5 minutes.
Add the chicken stock, raw diced sweet potatoes,  cinnamon and nutmeg and bring to a boil.  Boil for about 15 minutes or until sweet potatoes are nice and mushy.  (This is where I added my already cooked sweet potatoes.)

Remove pot from heat and blend with an immersion blender until smooth (If you don't have an immersion blender you can use a blender).  Put soup back on the stovetop on low heat and add coconut milk and mix with pink spatula until nice and creamy.

Put soup back on the stovetop on low heat -  add coconut milk and mix with pink spatula until nice and creamy.

Yes, breakfast.

Thank you Jan over at Jan's Sushi Bar for this FANTASTIC recipe! 
This recipe is Whole 30 compliant and knocks it out of the ballpark! 

Since living here I have not made curry.  We love all kinds of curry around here, but mostly we love Thai style curries.  One would think that finding curry paste while living in Asia would be a simple task -right?  WRONG.  I have yet to find curry paste in Korea.  Sure I know I can make it, but really I'm just far too busy (lazy) to do that.  Plus there is no shortage of good Thai food here.  HOWEVER being on the Whole 30 has made me rethink eating out - first I can't read the menu and second Korean's don't like to tell you no (cultural thing) so I never really know if what I am hearing is the gospel or just them being nice and me not reading between the lines, SO I finally broke down and ordered some Mae Ploy Curry pastes (in all flavors!) from Amazon as I know the Mae Ploy brand is 'clean' and so I was finally I was able to kick our craving for curry without worrying that there might be some palm sugar lurking somewhere behind the kaffir leaves in our curry.....

So without further ado, here is my first attempt at a clean version of Green Curry.

What you need:
2 1/2 TBL Mae Ploy Green Curry Paste. (I have to order it on Amazon.)
1 can coconut milk
1 1/2 - 3 cups chicken broth
2.5 lbs thinly sliced pork (and of course you can be creative and use chicken, shrimp or just veggies!)
1 -2 tsp fish sauce
3-4 Kaffir lime leaves - if you can find them!
2 Japanese eggplants
1 1/2 cups snap peas
1 -2 cups of mushrooms - I have NO IDEA what type I used.  (See picture.)

To get this done:
Pour coconut milk in a large dutch oven
Add the green curry (more or less to your liking) mix well.
Add 1 1/2 cup of chicken broth cooking till nice and fragrant (almost a boil).
Add pork cook for about 3-5 minutes .
Add peas and eggplant. 
Cook till all pork is cooked through.
Add more chicken broth (as needed).
Add mushrooms & kaffir lime leaves.
Add fish sauce to taste.
Simmer for 10 -15 minutes.

I served this with mashed cauliflower.  :o)

                                     It is no secret that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Noryangjin Fish Market.
When I was in Hawaii I ate sushi EVER.SINGLE.DAY.  When I returned home I was still craving fishie goodness and knew there is no better place to help curb that craving than Noryangjin Fish Market. So with no time to waste I threw on my rain boots headed out for a little bit of Korean love - fish market style:

              I have posted this recipe before, but I have adapted it just a bit since then and made it even better.

1 TBL olive oil
1 medium red pepper, finely chopped
1 medium onion (red or yellow - I used 1/2 of each because that is all I had in my house), finely chopped
5-6 cloves garlic chopped
1 TBL Oregano
A few shakes of crushed red pepper (if you like more spice add more – I did)
1 cup of good dry white wine
2 cans 14.5 oz diced tomatoes
Salt to taste
2 pounds halibut cut into bite size pieces
1 pound mussels (scrubbed and beards removed)
1 pound shrimp
½ pound oysters (shucked)
1 pound clams (shucked or not, whichever way makes you happy - I like unshucked)
¼ cup fresh chopped basil

In a large Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat until very hot. 
Add chopped peppers and onion and cook 6-8 minutes or till tender, stirring occasionally. 
Add garlic, crushed red pepper & oregano, cook 1 more minute stirring. 
Add wine and heat to boiling, boil for 2 minutes.
Stir in tomatoes, salt and ½ cup water; heat to boiling over medium-high heat. 
Add mussels and clams reduce heat to medium-low and simmer covered 8-9 minutes or until shells are open. 
Add shrimp and halibut, cook for another 4-5 minutes or until shrimp are nice and pink & fish is cooked through. 
Remove from heat, sprinkle with fresh basil and serve immediately. 

Baby it is COLD OUTSIDE!  As I am typing it is 16 degrees and it has warmed up a bit already!  To me cold means soup & lots of soup!   I have 3 different soups on our menu for this week alone!  Good thing it is so versatile!  This week we have Beef Stew, a Chicken Chili Soup & a version of Fisherman's Stew! 

But one of my favorite soups (I tend to say that A LOT) is a classic French Onion Soup.   AND I couldn't believe that HALF of my children liked this too.  (The other half only ate the bread, cheese and broth, but I'm good with that.)

French Onion Soup (adapted from the Cooking Goddess herself, Ree Drummond)

4 yellow onions- sliced thin
1 stick of butter
1 1/4 cup dry white wine
4 cups of chicken broth
4 cups of beef broth
4 garlic cloves minced
Dash of Worcestershire Sauce
French bread or baguette cut into thick slices & toasted
Swiss or Gruyere Cheese - grated

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Melt butter in a Dutch oven (I don't have a Dutch oven so I used a sauté pan.  Dutch oven is on my Christmas wish list!)
Add onions and cooked covered for 20 min. 

Place Dutch oven in the oven with lid slightly ajar - this will ensure onions will brown.  (Again, I have no Dutch oven so I used my crock pot insert thingie.) 
Cook onions for 1 hour stirring once during cooking to prevent sticking or burning.

If you are using your crock pot insert when you check on your onions at that 1/2 way point to stir them you will find that crock pot lid handles were NOT made to go in an oven set at 400 degrees F and you will find this:

That is right, a nicely melted handle. 
Once your onions have cooked the complete hour take the pot out (whatever you are using) and return it to the stovetop cooking at medium heat. 
Stir the onions scraping all the little brown bits of heavenly flavor. 
Add wine.  (Drinking a glass about now is a good idea too, I mean you opened a bottle....)
Cook wine down for about 5 minutes.
Add broths, Worcestershire and garlic. 
Reduce heat to low.
Simmer for 30 - 45 minutes.

While the soup is simmering toast bread slices under the broiler, turning them once to toast both sides. 
Watch them closely, they tend to burn FAST under the broiler.
I caught mine in time, but they are a tad bit over toasted.

Once the soup is ready ladle into a bowl or ramekin.  Place toast on top and sprinkle generously with cheese.  (Once you do this no one will even notice that your bread was over toasted!)

And stick under the broiler and broil until cheese has melted and is a little bubbly.  Serve with a side salad and warm your soul from the inside... 

Cheers! :o)
Trish