4.002 Sapporo Udon

Cycle 4 – Item 2

7 (Mon) January 2013

Sapporo Udon

2.5

by me

at home

-Oksu, Seongdong, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

with the Family, Nanny 8

Introducing the latest ready-to-cook product by Pulmuone, it’s an udon, supposedly à la Sapporo, whatever that means.

The woman giving out free samples at the supermarket swore that it would be like nothing that I’d ever tried before. Other than the “hand-made style” noodles, pleasantly chewier then most, the cupful that she gave me tasted like every other semi-instant udon on the market that I’d ever tried before. But I bought a package anyway, seeing as how it was priced the same as the rest of them.

At home, I added the enoki and scallions, which didn’t make much difference.

* * * *

BREAKDOWN OF CYCLE 3

By rating. My overall satisfaction went way up. I’m either getting more generous with the ratings or enjoying better food these days – probably more the former, as I didn’t make any special effort to improve my dining habits last year.

By origin. Korean food, of course, topped the list again with 110 items (30%). Chinese came in at a distant second with 43 items (12%), and American was third with 30 items (8%). Due largely to Project 45/45/45, I added 20 new countries, including Australia, Cambodia, Cameroon, Czech Republic, Egypt, Iran, Ireland, Lao, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Norway, Peru, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, and UAE – my proudest achievement of the year.

By source. Surprisingly, I had 233 items (64%) prepared by myself or someone else that I know, while only 133 items commercially prepared, even with all that eating out during 45/45/45.

By location. 165 items (45%) were eaten at home, a figure that drops every year. Just 10 items while camping, which was down because I spent most of the summer weekends at our new cabin. I was fortunate to have dining experiences in 4 new countries this year, including: Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka.

By companion. Amazingly, and proudly, 224 items (61%) were shared with DJ. 200 items with W. MtG, whom I’d eaten with 46 times during Cycle 2 – even then, I’d commented that the frequency had dropped due to his new girlfriend – ate with me just 22 times last year.

By Audience. In total, the blog recorded 41,764 hits during Cycle 3, up from 16,156 hits during Cycle 2, and 2,015 hits during Cycle 1. The United States had the most hits at 16,861, and Korea came in second at 10,239. The remaining top 8 countries included Russia, Canada, Australia, Philippines, Austria, Sweden (GK!), UK, and Singapore. Thanks, everyone!

BEST BY ME DISH

A signature dish of my own invention that my friends and family seem to enjoy a lot, hoping that it becomes an all-time classic.