.: evil jungle prince :.

What an unusual day today has been. In the morning, we had a minor earthquake: 3.5, centered about 10 miles from here. Now in the late afternoon we have heavy rain (very unusual for the season -- in fact, any rain is unusual) and thunder. It suddenly occurs to me how quickly one becomes accustomed "the usual" here in the desert -- hot days with clear, cloudless skies. Anything else which deviates from this norm seems... otherwordly, almost.

But deviating from the norm makes life interesting, which is why I decided to prepare today's dish -- a first for me. And to my general delight, it turned out wonderfully. Seasoned seaweed salad (미역무침 or miyeok-muchim) is a chilled salad served with spicy, seasoned seaweed and seafood, and it really fit the bill when it came to satisfying my cravings for Korean food. I loved the texture of the chewy seaweed combined with those classic Korean seasonings: garlic, chili, and vinegar. This was seriously delicious.

1. To prepare this wonderful dish, I began by de-shelling some shrimp and dropping them very briefly into salted, boiling water. I removed them as soon as they turned pink. After allowing them to cool, I cut them in half and then placed them into the refrigerator to cool.

2. I next placed the knotted seaweed into a pot of boiling water and allowed it to boil for 15 mins. The seaweed was then drained, rinsed with cold water, and placed into the refrigerator to cool.

3. Into a small pan of fresh, boiling water, I placed one bunch of green onions cut into 3-4 inch lengths. These were immediately removed, drained, and placed into the refrigerator to cool.

4. Finally, I prepared the spicy seasoning by combing 2-3 cloves of garlic (grated), 2-3 tsp soy sauce, 2 tsp of white Korean vinegar (rice vinegar ok), 1 tsp gochujang sauce, 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds, and 2 tsp sesame oil. After the main ingredients had cooled down completely, I combined them with this spicy sauce and served.

This dish livened up my spirits (and taste buds) on such a dark, moody day. Amazing how food can affect one's mindset, isn't it?

Update: even stranger weather came an hour later, with the strongest winds I have ever seen in this area -- check out these strange cloud formations and the swaying palms.