Friday, September 20, 2013

reassessment

No galbi this vacation—way too expensive—and no oven use until October (unless I decide to broil some garlic bread). The oven problem is that I need a surface on which to put the oven. I don't want to put the precious appliance on my rubberized floor, and I can't simply set it directly atop my microwave (which is too small for the oven's footprint, anyway). Much more likely, meanwhile, is that I'll be making budae-jjigae, whose ingredients are less expensive, and whose preparation requires only the use of a knife, a cutting board, a sink faucet (for veggie rinsing), and a pot. I've got all that.

Next month, when I get paid, I'll send $1400 home to cover revolving debt (Sallie Mae will have kicked in come October). That will leave me close to $600 to play with for a month—certainly more than I ever had while working in the States. Galbi action will likely happen then. Meantime, this month, I have to save the meager funds I have for things like travel to—and overnighting in—Seoul. Things to see, people to do, and all that.


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2 comments:

Charles said...

Bummer!

I guess one thing to note would be that, when you do get that oven set up, making sure you have sufficient clearance around it for radiant heat to escape. It probably says something like that in the instructions.

And I suppose you don't have too much free counter space, either. I can definitely relate to that.

Kevin Kim said...

Yeah, I've got pretty much zero counter space. I'm gonna need to buy a low-slung, Korean-style table on which I can set up a cutting board and ingredients for when I'm feeling cookish. But that's going to take a few months, as I'll need to purchase the necessaries bit by bit. Maybe around Christmastime I'll have a better kitchen setup.