belated celebration

Burgers and dogs were on the agenda for July 4th, but I didn't celebrate my country's 238th birthday on the day that also happened to be my 11th blogiversary. The food fiesta didn't occur until just a few hours ago:

At about W3000 per 100 grams (i.e., about $13-$14 per pound), ground beef is hellaciously expensive in Korea, although it's ever-so-slightly more reasonable at Costco. My burgers—sliders, really—were a combination of ground beef and ground pork, surprisingly low-fat in both cases, which meant that there was very little in the way of drippings when I was frying the patties up. I bought the ground meat locally, not wanting to risk spoilage during a 90-minute bus trip from Costco. Also locally purchased: a W2000 package of six tomatoes, which I found to be very reasonably priced. I did, however, hit both Costco and Home Plus again; during my Costco run, I bought Cheetos and Dodger dogs; the latter are great franks for boiling; I also bought a W3800 bag of black-sesame dinner rolls to use as slider buns, and a package of Gouda cheese, which seemed to be the cheapest pack Costco was selling. At Home Plus, I looked for hot-dog buns, but failed to find any. I found a bizarre "mustard relish," some rice-based white bread, two bottles of house-brand cola, and a small bottle of Nutella (this last purchase was inspired by a KakaoTalk conversation with a student, who waxed rhapsodic about Nutella and drove me nearly mad with Nutella-lust).

So I cooked my burgers and dogs, then laid out a large plate for dinner, along with a side of Cheetos and a tall glass of house-brand Home Plus cola (W990 per 1.5-liter bottle as opposed to the usual W2500 per 1.5 liters that I'd pay a the local convenience store). I topped the burgers with a healthy slice of tomato and a dollop of my homemade oi-kimchi. The result is what you see above. And you know what? It was pretty damn good.

Happy Belated Birfday, America.


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