Bacon Kimchi Fried Rice

Rich sent me this recipe which was adapted from the Momofuku cookbook. My first reaction was "OMG WHUUUUUT, must try immediately (ooo pretty pictures)."

So today after work, I went to the Chinese grocery store to get the kimchi and bacon. I really should have drove my lazy ass two minutes further down the street to the Korean grocery store, but 1. I like the Chinese store's fruit and vege selection, 2. Chinese grocery store is cheaper than the Korean one, 3. the Korean shopping center is a pain in the arse to get in and out of which triggers my brain signals to say (in robo-tone naturally) *danger*danger*avoid bad Asian drivers*danger*danger*.

I go to the where the kimchi is in the store and they only have one brand of kimchi. The jar doesn't have all that red speckled spicy goodness and looks sorta limp and non-spicy, but I don't have a choice. It is served in 2 sizes, the giant 2 liter size (which I'm sure every Korean person has in their fridge), and the regular 6 inch tall jar. Two of the little ones for me, thank you very much. Check. Next up, bacon. Apparently Asian stores don't sell American smoked prepared bacon. I had to get sliced "Pork Bellies", a.k.a. no smokiness or cured salty deliciousness. Fail. Ok so I figure pork belly is pork belly, it will have to do.

I cook my fried rice slightly different than the recipe. I like to include green onion in the rice and to garnish. Also, I always add a few sprinkles of white pepper. It makes it taste better. Otherwise, everything is pretty much the same. Sometimes (actually most of the time) I don't cook the ingredients separately because I'm too lazy. All in all, the fried rice tasted good, but if I had real American bacon and better kimchi, it would have been gorgasmic (my made up word for gourmet-orgasmic). Richard summed it up very nicely, "Yeah, it's totally the kimchi. It's not very... kimchi." So mister bacon kimchi fried rice, the next time we meet, I shall conquer you!