(upbeat music)
(record scratch)
(speaking Korean)
(upbeat music)
- So a really big part of Korean meals
is the act of eating together as a family.
In fact, the Korean word for family
is "Shikgu," which literally means
a group that eats together.
So through this meal I thought I would share
some of that Korean culture with my friends
even though we can't be in the same place right now.
All right, (speaking Korean).
All right, welcome to day one
of cooking with ya boy.
So to start things off,
I thought we would do the appetizers first.
Now, what is the Korean equivalent of an appetizer?
Side dishes, or banchan.
Now, I'm so positive that none of my friends
have had any of these side dishes before,
and I'm hoping to just show them
that there's more out there
than Korean barbecue, or kimchi.
All right, so let's get started.
Right now I'm gonna embody my inner Korean mom.
Every Korean mom spirit out there just give me strength,
and we're gonna do that
with an OG Korean mom apron.
Country cats, baby.
Let's get it.
All right, so the first side dish we're gonna do
is the radish salad.
And because I don't feel like
cutting all the slices of radish,
here's a tip for you.
Go into your Korean mother's kitchen
and look for these. (chuckles)
This is ...
It's a thing, all right?
(chopping) (upbeat music)
Honestly, I'm not too concerned.
I feel like these are just side dishes,
so I don't think it'd be that hard.
(upbeat music)
All right, radish salad is complete.
Look at this masterpiece.
I told y'all.
I told y'all the apron is where it's at.
All right, so one down, three to go,
and it only took me
(chuckles) two hours.
(laughs)
Jesus Christ.
(upbeat music)
All right, so since I am making kimchi
I'm gonna give a call to the person
who makes the best kimchi in the world:
Mama Kang.
(speaking Korean)
(laughs)
- [Mama Kang] No, no, no, no, no.
Sean, listen to me.
(beep)
(speaking Korean)
(laughs)
(laughing)
(speaking Korean)
(laughs)
(beep)
(speaking Korean)
- Bye.
(speaking Korean)
(groans)
I'ma try my best to save it,
but work case scenario I'ma tell 'em
that this how it's supposed to taste. (chuckles)
All right, here it is.
(laughs)
I really don't think they'll notice.
Please don't notice.
All right, recipe number three,
it is stir fried anchovies.
I saved this one towards the end
'cause I thought it was gonna be hard,
but I really feel like this might be
the easiest one so far.
(cheerful music)
(sizzling)
(popping)
Oh (beep).
Just dumped the whole thing in by accident.
Okay.
(cheerful music)
(scraping)
Gonna go in with the sauce now.
(scraping) (sizzling)
Honestly, this is looking pretty good.
I'ma give it a taste real quick.
Yo, that's good.
This is my best one yet so far I think.
Mm!
Fire.
That's right.
Get at me.
All right, I'm on my last one,
the braised black beans.
It's nine o'clock.
Let's just get this over with.
(mellow music)
All right, I think these beans are about done.
Let's give it a check.
Oh, that is beautiful.
All right, here it is.
Gonna hit it with the sesame seeds like this.
Oh, sesame bae.
All right, so end of day one
I am absolutely exhausted.
I really thought this was gonna be an easy day.
I just spent eight hours making four freakin' side dishes.
That's it from me.
I'll see you guys tomorrow.
(upbeat music)
Welcome back.
It is day two.
Today we're gonna be focusing on
the main dish as well as a soup.
Korean people love soup.
Today I got some bulgogi.
So yeah, I'm gonna be making bulgogi
as well as kimchi-jjigae, which is basically kimchi stew.
You already know we can't cook
without our country cats apron.
Oh, I look good.
Okay.
Let's get to cookin'.
(upbeat music)
(whirring)
Oh sh- ...
(laughing)
Oh my God.
Pry got to cut that out.
Okay.
(beep)
(upbeat music)
(rustling)
(upbeat music)
All right, so I think this is good.
We're now gonna move on to the kimchi stew.
And lucky for my friends, I will be sacrificing
the last of my mom's kimchi
in order to feed my friends.
(upbeat music)
All right, we got the kimchi stew cooking right now.
Oh, you see that?
Let me just give this a taste real quick.
(slurping)
(coughs)
(beep)
All right, so the kimchi stew is cooking.
We got our bulgogi out of the fridge.
And now, who better to call than my very own grandma?
Here we go.
I really hope she answers.
Grandma.
- [Joyce] Hi, baby.
- Grandma, let me tell you what I'm doing real quick.
So, basically-
- [Joyce] Wait, I'm frozen.
Wait, let me get on my LTE.
- Okay. - Give me a sec.
Is it better?
- It got significantly worse.
- Really?
(beep), okay.
- That's my grandma who doesn't know
how to use technology,
but it's okay. (Joyce laughing)
I don't know what happened.
(laughs)
She just hung up.
(beep)
How have you been feeling during these weird times?
- I'm taking it day by day
and I'm using this time to
really figure out who I want to be
and what I want.
I tend to forget how much love I'm surrounded by.
- Yeah.
- You are loved and I hope that we all
can get through this together
knowing that the only thing we need is love.
And I love you.
- Thanks, I love you too.
- Give yourself a break.
Just be yourself, you're more than enough.
- Thanks grandma.
- Of course.
Anytime, baby.
- Bye.
(laughs)
All right, end of day two.
I'm not as excited as I was
when I first started,
but tomorrow's the last day
so I just want to finish it up.
All right, calling it a night.
Adios.
(mellow music)
Our final day.
Today we are doing dessert.
The dessert that I picked today is called sikhye,
which is basically rice punch.
Now, this is definitely not the hardest thing
that we've made all week,
but it is definitely the most time intensive.
So, yeah, let's get to it.
(mellow music)
Now this has to sit for a few hours,
so I'm gonna put a little wrap over it,
leave it alone,
and then come back when it's ready.
All right, so while I'm waiting on that
I'm also gonna make some rice because
it wouldn't be rice punch without any.
So I'm gonna go ahead and wash this,
and then I will use my trusty good old rice cooker.
My best friend.
Don't tell Andrew.
(laughs)
(mellow music)
(clicking)
(beeping)
(mellow music)
All right, now we got our mixture
and we got our rice.
We're gonna take our bowl and very carefully
pour the mixture into the rice.
Now I'm gonna take this rice
and put it back in the rice cooker,
let it ferment for about four hours,
and then I'll come back and check it again after that.
All right, so I'm gonna open this up,
and what we're looking for here
is for a few grains of rice to have floated to the top.
If there are none floating,
that's an issue 'cause it's already 10 o'clock
and I don't want to do this anymore.
So please, please, please, please.
(clicking)
Oh snap!
Yo, this is pool!
Oh my goodness, my hard work has finally paid off.
All right, so I transferred the punch to a big pot
and now I'm bringing it up to a boil.
And in the meantime, I might as well just call this guy.
(mellow music)
Yo!
What are you up to?
- I am chillin', man.
I was about to play Xbox.
What are doing?
- Did I tell you what I've been doing this week?
- Sleeping.
- No.
- Okay.
I don't know what you've been doing this week then.
- That's your only guess, sleeping? (laughs)
(beep)
- That's dope, bro.
I appreciate that.
The fact that you're spreading that joy.
That's dope, man.
Dope.
That's awesome, man. - Yeah, man.
- So when's dinner?
- I'm thinking I'm gonna drop it off
to you guys tomorrow.
- Oh.
You know I'm in Phoenix, right?
- What?
- I'm in Phoenix.
(chuckling)
Just ship it.
Yeah, pack everything up--
- I'm not gonna ship it.
How am I supposed to ship this?
- I guess your love and your joy
doesn't spread to one state over,
so it's cool.
- This is not my fault, all right?
You need to talk to FedEx about this issue, all right?
'Cause this is not my fault.
- Bro, it's dope what you're doing,
and I think they're really gonna like it.
I think this is gonna go really well.
I think they're gonna appreciate the effort though, man.
I think the home cooked meal is less about
it being perfect or good,
and it's more about the love that you put in the meal.
- All right, since I got you on the line
I might as well just try it one more time.
I feel like it should be okay by now.
- I agree.
Here's the charm.
You got this.
(slurping)
- I think that's it.
I think that's it.
- That extra two.
- Teamwork, baby.
Teamwork.
- All right, broski. - All right, dude.
- [Andrew] Keep doin' yo thang.
- So day three is complete.
I'm finally done with this challenge.
(sighs)
I'm so done with this challenge.
(laughs)
The big dinner is finally tomorrow.
I'm a little worried,
but I tried my best,
so what else can I say?
I'll see y'all tomorrow.
(quirky music)
- I was upstairs taking a nice little nap
and this guy Sean just text me
to go check my front porch.
- You know how Sean is.
He's weird.
We're gonna see what's up.
- [Q] All right, let's see what this guy got goin' on.
Yo, this dude is weird man.
- [Blake] Is that what he wants me to get?
What is this?
- [Q] I've seen this movie before.
There's probably a bomb in here.
- Look at the packaging!
Aw, with my name on it.
(gasps)
- This is definitely rice in a big bowl of water.
Okay, Sean.
- [Blake] Did he make this?
It's in Tupperware.
Maybe his mom came to visit.
- This looks really good.
Aw, Seannie boo, you did such a good job.
- [Blake] Oh, look, it's a little note.
Look.
- [Q] Dinner's at 7:00 PM.
- Sean's planning something.
I don't know what's going on.
We'll find out at 7:00 PM. (chuckles)
- Wait, what time is it?
(uplifting music)
- I was like, "This is really good."
- Yeah.
- Yo!
- Sean! - Sean!
- I know this quarantine has been really tough
and difficult for everyone,
so I spent an entire week
cooking traditional Korean food,
and so that explains why you guys
have a whole spread right now.
Except for Andrew.
I'm sorry, Andrew.
But ...
(laughing)
- I hope it don't taste good.
It's gon be real, real bad.
I'm joking, I love you all.
I love you all.
All you guys are the best.
I'll see you in LA real soon.
I'll be back.
- Are you guys eating with a fork?
Blake, you're eating with a fork?
- I'm eating with a fork.
- This is actually kind of nice, sharing a meal.
It feels like you guys are here.
- All right, guys, let's do a cheers
to staying strong during this quarantine, all right?
- Yes.
- Cheers. - Cheers.
- Hey, wait, wait, wait.
Everybody keep it up, keep it up.
Cheers to Sean for hooking us up
with this great meal,
and thanks a lot buddy.
- Mm-hm, yes. - Sean, my boy.
- Cheers, cheers.
- All right guys, I'll see you later.
Bye. - Bye.
- All right, this was definitely one of
the most stressful weeks I've had in a very long time.
Especially during those moments
where I would face a lot of doubt,
I think calling my mom, Andrew,
and Joyce really helped a lot
because it really felt like
they were in the kitchen with me,
encouraging me to just keep pushing forward and not give up.
And that was the whole point of this meal, really
was to remind the people closest to me
that we're gonna get through this together.
I'm not crying, my voice is just gone.
(laughs)
(mellow music)