June 25, 2011 ; 2011년 6월 25일

BJ: I was being the little hamster dude who turns into a hero, and he went around and around because  it is good, and his hero name is Nanuman (and there was more but I lost the thread of it in there somewhere).

AJ: I was hitting him because it is fun.

AND... My mother-in-law made 고추장 (hot pepper paste) for my husband today, and I took pictures.  I've been trying to record this more and more because my mother-in-law's family was/is very traditional, but that's changing very rapidly.  Every year, her mother made soy sauce, but she died 2 years ago, and the soy sauce wasn't quite right the year before that.  She also used to make 된장 (it's a fermented soy paste used as a base in several foods), but I haven't seen that for a while either.  So, while we still can, I want to have it where people can see it (of course the same is true in the US.  I remember my mom and all the other ladies in the neighborhood canning, but that doesn't happen much any more.  It's something else I need to record--particularly as so many Koreans seem to think that Americans are without culture and roots, my boys need to see them).

SO... here goes.

Put dark 물엿 (like corn syrup) and water in a big old humongous pot...

And boil said mixture on the stove.

Cool this mixture in a cold water bath.

The cooling process can be speeded along by swirling the mixture and periodically changing the water in the tub underneath.

Prepare most of the dry ingredients: 고추장용 매주가루 (which roughly translates "everyday starch for use in hot pepper paste." I discovered that some 매주가루 only contains ground soy bean, but this one also has wheat.),

very spicy hot pepper powder (this is ground from peppers grown and dried by my in-laws),

and mildly spicy hot pepper powder (also ground from peppers grown and dried by my in-laws).

The pepper powders are measured out to a final ratio that I believe was one part very spicy and two parts mildly spicy.

The entire bag of 매주가루 is emptied into the bowl followed by half of the mildly spicy hot pepper powder.

 These are mixed, the remainder of the pepper powder added, and then mixed again.

Now 어머니 adds a bottle of her own homemade peach wine/spirits and mixed again.

Salt is added as a preservative, and the paste is given a final mix.

Then the whole thing is set to rest in the back before being poured into containers for storage.