Korean cucumber kimchi made quick

“I asked a Korean friend what a typical food day is like here. He said it would usually be similar for all three meals at home: it may include a meat dish like bulgogi (thin slices of beef and onion marinated in a mixture of garlic, sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil), but it’s always served with soup and rice as the main course, and kimchi on the side.

Spicy Sichuan ‘boiled meat’ from Chengdu, China

I arrived in Chengdu, Sichuan province, only a couple days after the big earthquake in 2008. I was expecting the place to be a mess, but was surprised to find so much in the city already running as usual (aside from moments when we’d feel a big aftershock, and people would scurry in a panic, down the apartment stairs and outside). I only mention the food briefly in my novel, mainly because I was fortunate enough to find a bible of a book on the cuisine, and after leafing through it a number of times, I spent most of my energy eating, rather than recording recipes (this is an exception).