Birthday/Chuseok Extravaganza!

 Today was Chuseok, which is the Korean version of Thanksgiving. It is held every year around the Autumn Equinox and it is also known as the Harvest Festival or Moon Festival. Traditionally, it is a time where you give thanks, pay respects to your ancestors and feast on a big dinner or traditional foods. My family is not that traditional, but we will take any opportunity to get together and eat!

This year Chuseok happened to land on my dad's birthday. My parents have been traveling a lot lately, and tomorrow they are off again to visit my sister out of town, so I told them not to worry about anything and that I would host my dad's birthday dinner this year. I am proud to say that I made everything from scratch all by myself! Yay me!

For tonight's menu, I wanted it to be mainly a birthday dinner with just hints of Chuseok. So of course we had miyuk guk (seaweed soup) which is a traditional Korean birthday dish. Someone must make it for you on your birthday. I also made him spicy chicken wings, because he LOVES wings. I made kalbi jeem (braised short ribs) which I generally think of as a celebratory/special occasion dish. I also made a bunch of different little banchan (Korean side dishes).

For dessert, we had a strawberry chiffon cake and an assortment of macarons. And to add a Chuseok flavor, I included the "harvest" aka the fruit and dduk (rice cakes).

I would love to include more description, but I am exhausted and have a mountain of dishes waiting for me. So here are some pictures instead!

Happy Harvest and more importantly Happy Birthday Daddy!