Deok guk on New Years Day 2012

We started off the New Year right by eating the traditional Korean soup everyone eats on New Years day called Deok Guk. Our soup contained the traditional rice cakes, mandu (dumplings), green onions, oxtail, and strips of seaweed. Thank god my mother was here and knew what to do because I would be so clueless! She boiled the oxtail overnight to really bring out the flavor of the broth and make the meat tender; it made the soup so delicious!

 

Koreans believe that eating this soup on New Years will bring you luck and add an additional year to your lifespan. Regardless of what you believe, it's still a damn yummy soup!

I like to add a lot of kimchi to the broth to make it spicy and turn it red. 

Poor T, he made me breakfast only once while my mom was here and the rest of the time, I asked my mom to make me soups. I didn't even finish this beautiful plate of food!

Kimchi kongnamu guk- http://koreanfood.about.com/od/soupsandstews/r/kongnamulgook.htm
This isn't the recipe my mom used but just an example of the traditional style soup.

For dinner, we ordered takeout from Tandis, a Persian restaurant in Chalk Farm. http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/venue/2%3A22407/tandis

We ordered the seabass with dill rice and salad for my mom.

For appetizers, we ordered the Salad Oliveyeh (diced chicken, potato, egg, pickled cucumber and green peas mixed in mayonnaise and olive oil), Kashke Bademjaan (aubergine grilled and mashed with fried onion, walnuts, herbs and garlic topped with whey), and Hummus.

All the appetizers were delicious with a slice of pita bread for dipping!

T and I shared the mixed grill platter, which was flavorful but slightly overcooked.

My humungo plate with all the fixins!

Sonoma getting ready to attack her oxtail bone!

Some exciting news! It's official: We're moving back to the states! Specifically Rockford for now, but hopefully we'll be in Chicago permanently in a few months. I am so excited to be able to spend the rest of my pregnancy in the States and also give birth there. Honestly, there is no other place I would rather be. London has been great but I can't imagine raising a family here. Time to start packing!