K-Drama recommendations

[boatyardblues]

A K-drama thread was suggested on the Netflix subtitled gems thread so we can discuss in more depth without swamping the other thread. There are a lot of Korean films & boxsets on Netflix and I’m discovering the quality is variable, so I thought this would be a goid place to swap recommendations (and ‘avoids’). So far, I have hugely enjoyed:

• Something in the Rain
• Mr Sunshine (new episodes still dropping weekly)
• Live

Would also love to hear how closely these dramas represent real life in Korea from anyone who has lived there. Its fascinating learning about another culture.

While I’m here, I’ll lament the v disappointing Korean BBQ experience we had whilst away. Interestingly, the waitress asked how we’d heard about Korean BBQ - had we heard about it on Facebook or seen it on YouTube. I suspect it’s about to become “a thing”, but isn’t great out of context. It was an option in a restaurant serving other Asian food, but no appropriate side dishes and the kimchee served in a teeny weeny dish (think ketchup dish) alongside it was beyond awful. Makes me sad to think people will have such an inauthentic experience and miss out on the joy of a decent Korean kimchee pancake or spicy rice cakes.

I can imagine young men in the UK thinking it weird to share sleeping space in that way - once they get past the sleepover stage that is. Even then if forced to share they would top & tail.

What book are you reading?

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. It’s really good, although I’m only half way through so I don’t know how the rest of the novel shakes down.

Book noted, thanks!

I suspect it’d have to be a proper Korean restaurant to be really good. I need to head back to the supermarket soon as I have run out of Soju.

The kids found a Korean cookery programme for me on Freeview while we were away. The chef used soju to deglaze the pan after she’d sealed the short rib beef for her stew.

If you like Korean cooking some good youtubers are (English lang)
maangchi
future neighbor
These are brilliant, but they don't translate into English, but I think if your familar with korean ingredients you would be able to guess/follow along
아내의 식탁 Wife's Cuisine < is amazing, it makes you feel really chilled out.
Choi주부
심방골주부
뚝딱Tooktak
데라세르나de la Serna

Thanks Seadays. I’m feeling braver with Korean and Japanese ingredients, so I’m planning to learn to cook both over the next few months. Plan to buy a rice cooker this month.

I have say, food features so prominently in Kdrama, including the prep, that I am picking up tips as I go. I loved Healer & his gal pal both using scissors to chop dried seaweed and spring onions into soup.

Yes and scissors for cutting up meat on the grill!

I recommend a zojirushi rice cooker, they're Japanese and absolutely amazing if your going to use it regularly, they are pricey though but they come with lots of functions, lmao I feel like an advert, but I use mine several times a day.

Those rice cookers look excellent Seadays but OMG £££. What should I be looking for in a more basic model? The timer & keep warm functions are attractive because we are out at work all week. Are there particular settings or features that I should look for?

Right, I finished my second (expedited) pass of DDTD earlier. I think Jo Jung-Suk was wearing lifts as well as having more heel than usual on his man shoes, which I hadn’t noticed first time around. I suspect it was necessary because Kong Hyo-Jin is so tall (unlike his co-star in Oh My Ghost, who is pocket sized), but it harshed my mellow. I wish shorter men would embrace their stature - Tom Cruise does the same and I loathe Tom Cruise’s vanity.

What next?

No I won't have a word said against Jo Jung-Suk!

But if you're after tall you could have a look at Lee Jong-Suk in I Hear Your Voice (boy hears people thoughts after a tragic accident when a child, legal thriller) or Pinocchio (journalism, dark deeds covered up, inability to lie). He is vair young, so there is a Noona element, especially in 'I Hear Your Voice'.

I'm on Rooftop Prince which is a likeable romp with time travel, reincarnation, dastardly villainesses. Very silly, but at least I can drag myself away from it.

I started I Hear Your Voice earlier in the week, so I will continue with that.

I found two Korean cookbooks in TK Maxx earlier. Judy Joo’s Korean Food Made Simple, which was the show my boys found on the Food Network earlier this week. She is Korean-American, so lots of the recipes are American with a Korean twist but it was only £5 (from £22) and I want to make the Galbi Jjim recipe we saw. The other one is Korean Food Made Easy by Caroline Hwang (£7.99, RRP £17.99), which looks more authentic and has a section covering basic ingredients, sauces and flavourings and how to use them. Will report back as I work my way through them.

Depends what your using it for, for just basic white rice, a basic one with keep warm is probably good, I use mine for mixed grain also use the congee function often. If you get yourself a rice cooker also get a rice seive it makes the ridiculous amount of rice rinsing you need to do easier!

Enjoying I Hear Your Voice, a bit too much. I am struggling a bit with the age gap - is he ‘old enough’ for it not to be weird if it gets off the ground. Also, his ‘Stalker’ nickname is fitting - he was rather intense and fixated at the beginning. Hope he settles down.

Thanks for the rice cooker tips Seadays. I am probably looking at using one 2-3 times per week & mostly for rice, so I don’t need anything too fancy.

I think he’s meant to be 19 (he was 25 when they filmed it) , and there’s meant to be a 9 year age gap between them. The school uniforms make everyone look really young, especially the girls, but they’re normally around 19 in the last year of school, I think.

I Hear Your Voice is one of my absolute favourites, Lee Jong-Suk is just beautiful (and tall)

Oh yes, he is commendably tall and I loved the Tae Kwon Do scene in episode 1. Very cool. I still think he comes across a tiny bit possessive in a way that would have the MN Relationships posters unfurling their red bunting. Case in point: his over-reaction to seeing sassy lawyer on her roof terrace with her colleague. However, I will suspend judgement and persevere as I am enjoying it so far.

Indeed, but then he has been searching for her for so long.....and part of the story is him growing from a boy with his ideals into a man. He does relax as he finds out that she is not quite the perfect goddess he thought she would be.

Don’t worry Betty - I am hooked, so will continue. I guess its an indication of the (usually) sunny, slightly safe/asexual Kdrama vibe that otherwise overtly stalkerish behaviours are somehow OK - Healer climbing in through the heroine’s bedroom, installing spy cams and hiding under the bed, the lad in I Hear Your Voice tailing lady lawyer on the bus, following her home, instaliing tracking software on her phone, Suspicious Partner woman following lawyer around, CEO guy following Na-Ri home on her very bad election day. I’ve clearly spent faaaaar too much time on MN, because I notice all of these things and think there’s a thin line between devotion and unhealthy obsession. It seems quite normalised in Kdrama.

Lee Jong-Suk In his checked suit = v dapper. I also like how Mr Cha is getting progressively more handsome and ‘with it’ as the series progresses.

All it takes is ditching the white socks... if only it were so in real life too!

At some point, can't remember where, you see him in his previous role as a cop & he was much more dishy.

But still not as appealing as Lee Jong-suk once he gets away from the school uniform.

At a loose end until I start another drama so I went back and watched the Taekwondo scene from I Hear Your Voice 'cos, well, why not?

On the theme of protectiveness v stalking and love v obsession kdrama throws up some interesting examples. I see that Netflix has just added Dr Romantic in which Dong-Mae, in surgeon's scrubs, is v keen/obsessive about/however you want to interpret it, another surgeon. There is a rather steamy moment in a store room where MN would be up in arms possibly about his approach. Also a noona scenario.

His Master's Sun has also just been added, which is also good and has Gong Hyo Jin in it.

I’m not sure whether to thank you or curse you, Betty, as both those suggestions sound fab.

I am now into the “second act” with the amnesiac...