Although there wasn’t a lot of time for cooking or eating, I got to experience a semi-instant tteokguk for New Year’s Day thanks to a good friend of mine who is also adept at cooking (yah, someone else finally doing the cooking!). For those who are unfamiliar with tteokguk, it is a traditional dish enjoyed by many (if not all Koreans) during the New Year’s and Lunar New Year holiday. The rice cake used to make tteokguk is first made into a long, white cylinder shape called garae tteok. Its shape and length are symbolic, representing longevity in life, especially back in the early days of Korea when mortality rates were so high. Back to the cooking aspect of tteokguk, the more traditional method calls for boiling a good chunk of beef with vegetables for at least an hour for the stock, but with an instant beef stock from Ottogi you can cut your total cooking time in half without sacrificing all the good taste. And as with most Korean soups and stews, many variations exist and can include the following add-ons: mandu (dumplings), various seafood, and toppings like fried egg strips, seaweed, and scallions. There is nothing better than starting off the New Year’s slurping down those slippery smooth rice cakes on an empty stomach! ^^