April 26, 2011

A Celebration Feast


Easter is probably the most significant holiday in our family, and yet, we have never formally gathered together to celebrate the occasion over a meal.  I think it's more of a Western tradition and it's not one either of our families adopted along the 30-plus-years of assimilation in the U.S.  Well, we wanted to change that this year.  So we gathered with good friends after church to celebrate the risen Savior over a simple Korean feast (it also happened to be my wedding anniversary).

These beauties, a Korean dish known as galbi (marinated beef short ribs), served as the main entree.


I'm actually not a big red meat eater (in fact, I abstained from it all throughout college and then for some period afterwards).  It wasn't until I started dating my husband (who could probably eat a whole cow straight from the slaughterhouse) that I started eating red meat again.  But only galbi and bulgogi - both marinated in a special sauce consisting of soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and garlic.  I don't know what it is about that sauce, but it's the only way I can eat and appreciate red meat.  I still cannot bring myself to eat steak or burgers (much to my husband's dismay).

My husband marinated and baked the galbi to perfection.  The secret is in the sauce, which I'll save for a future post.


If you saw the way I devoured these short ribs, you'd never guess red meat and I are not the best of friends.


Complementing the galbi was a host of popular Korean side dishes.

Here we have the seafood pancake ("haemul pajeon").


I wanted to keep it very simple, so I used the prepared pancake mix and added a few, basic ingredients:  scallions, spicy Korean red peppers, and seafood medley (which consisted of squid, shrimp, and clam).


I used the same pancake mix to make fried battered sweet potato (goguma twigim).  I simply sliced the sweet potato into thin pieces, steamed it until tender, poured it into the mix, and then fried it with vegetable oil.


And then lastly, we had vegetable and meat dumplings (mandoo).  I wish I could claim I made these from scratch, but I didn't have the time.  These are of the store bought, packaged variety, nevertheless, very good.



Then we finished off with dessert.  A trio of Junior's cheesecake samples (lemon coconut, red velvet, and devil's food chocolate).  Chocolate was my favorite.


Food coma slowly started to set in, so we thought it would be a good idea to get some exercise and let the kids out for the Easter egg hunt.

Nate ran as fast as his little legs could take him.


The boys loved every minute of it.


And when all was said and done, everyone had a fabulous time and we relished this gift of life - now and forever - graciously given to us through a great act of love.  This is the first of many Easter gatherings to come for our family.


19 comments:

  1. What a feast! The ribs are especially appealing to me :) I am totally a red meat person! and a dessert person too, of course! yummy! And beautiful pictures of the kids... Thanks for sharing :)

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  2. Hi Rachel, I love your post!
    What a wonderful celebration! Beautiful pictures!

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  3. Look at this spread! It all looks delicious! I would have love to have tried eveyrthing in this post. What a wonderful Easter celebration!

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  4. You hooked me in with the FoodBuzz photo of your beef ribs -- and I am going to pout until you post the recipe for the marinade/sauce!

    Happy anniversary and thanks for posting lovely photos of your celebration. Next up, the sauce recipe, eh?

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  5. Looks like a wonderful feast - I want to devour some of those ribs right now!

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  6. i love how you were able to caramelize the galbi! looks sooo professional. wow. i used to love sweet potato tweegim, but now i just prefer it baked or steamed ;). ahhh this post brought back many good childhood memories!!

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  7. I love your post, and your pictures look amazing and food delicious! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  8. That top photo of your family table is gorgeous. I especially love the dumplings - made my mouth water.

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  9. Thank you for the comments, everyone. And to An Alaskan Cooks, I do promise to post the recipe for the short ribs. It's so ridiculously simple yet wonderfully delicious.

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  10. What a beautiful blog - love your photos, and I am a big fan of Korean food! This looks like such a wonderful spread for Easter!

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  11. What a delicious array of dishes...such a lovely feast!! Glad you had a wonderful Easter :)

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  12. Wow! What a celebration feast everything looks amazing! Love your photos! I'm loving your site, the writing and photography are beautiful, am now following =]

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  13. What a gorgeous spread and your good looks incredible! Loving your blog and glad to be a new follower! :)
    http://cookskinny.blogspot.com/

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  14. What a wonderful family feast. I hope you also had a great anniversary. This is my first visit to your site and I've spent a lot of time exploring and browsing through your earlier posts. I really love the tone of your blog and the food and recipes you feature here. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary

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  15. You captured the moments beautifully on your photos! Great job! I am your latest follower and would like to invite you to follow my blog too :)

    http://personalfoodjournal.blogspot.com

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  16. It all looks great! I love Korean pancakes =D. Happy belated anniversary & Easter!

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  17. I'm so glad you came to visit. I hope to see you often. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary

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  18. Good job, the editor of the article.

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