Three Meals A Day (Fishing Village) (ep5): Highlights

Our happy family has more or less settled into the fishing village’s groove, so much so that Jung-woo and the production crew comment that they all look like they are born there. Is that good news? Or bad?

1) The seafood stew challenge

In continuation of last ep‘s Dinner Menu Challenge set by Na PD, the only participant who is clearly stressed out is Papa Yoo. From his previous bad experience with the hook and line, he sorta expects history to repeat itself. And true to his (sinking) gut feel, it happens again. After spending like 4-5 hours on an offshore rocky outcrop, braving the wind and waves, Papa Yoo returns with nothing. Not even with a sea slug.

In order to bring home SOMETHING, he had to resort to using his almost frost bitten hands to dig for measly clams. (and when i say “measly”, they are measly…they look so tiny…) Poor Papa Yoo doesn’t even dare to announce his arrival at home, he juz leaves his fishing apparatus, picks up a pail and goes back to trying to dig for more clams. (and as if to rub more insult into his face, one of the clams he dug out drops back into the ocean…awww)

To give Chajumma credit, he never blames Papa Yoo for his failure. Cos Chajumma understands the weather condition is unfavourable. To pull off the seafood stew with minimal seafood, Chajumma whips out his special sauce and tops up the stew with beansprouts. The result: a resounding pass from the production crew — it looks too delicious anyway.

2) The battle between San-je and Bee

Too cute to leave uncaptioned: this is the aftermath of Bee’s heavy dinner. The production crew films the cat for a full minute while it tries not to doze off sitting.

 A cat will be a cat, and a dog, a dog. While San-je’s mode of play equates to smothering his owners with doggy licks and kisses, Bee prefers the more dignified approach to play time. Unless he is cornered by San-je, in which case, both will be rollicking around trying to mock-bite each other. (sho cute!)

Juz like any other day, Ho-joon is play-kissing San-je…only to feel a sub-zero frosty glare emitting from the cat box. Bee, clearly pissed off, is giving his usual “what are you two doing?” look. Guiltily, Ho-joon picks up Bee to let him roam around…but he has to hold back San-je from charging Bee. o_0

Seeing that Bee is hungry, Ho-joon puts some cat food in his tray. San-je again tries to intervene, only to get reprimanded for being a greedy dog (he has juz taken dinner, like 5 mins ago). But no sooner did Bee had his fill, San-je is immediately slurping up the remainder from his bowl. (oye dog, that’s CAT food!!!)

3) Manjae-do’s first bakery

An offhand remark by Chajumma about converting an unused stove into a makeshift oven had the production crew thinking. So to make for better entertainment, they insist that Chajumma bake bread and make home made orange marmalade for lunch.

Seriously, I am impressed all over again with Cha Seung-won‘s culinary (and now BAKING) skills. He and Yoo Hae-jin successfully convert the unused stove using a pot, bread dough and bricks into an oven/ kiln. And Chajumma’s soft toast is a success. I’d thought with such a primitive oven and no measuring aids (Chajumma uses instinct to measure out the flour, sugar, milk and yeast proportions), the bread challenge will flop.

But no…it is a resounding success. So much so that the smell of the freshly baked bread attracts the village head’s children to pop by for a free lunch. And they cutely say they will come back often for more goodies. (hee)

4) The new additions to Three

Nope. I’m not talking about guests. The village by now is comfortable with having Chajumma’s family around. And they aren’t camera shy either. The village head’s kids continue to hang around Chajumma’s house after lunch, playing with San-je and chatting amiably with Chajumma, Ho-joon and the crew. The little boy even manages to get an autographed cap from Ho-joon, in return for giving him a massage. (awwr)

Even the village head pops by later for Chajumma’s baked fish dinner, complimenting on his cooking skills and promising to turn up frequently for (more) free food. (ehhh, like father, like children)

5) Dinner Challenge — Baked fish

And on the condition that each member of the household must have a fish each. No sharing. You can imagine Papa Yoo’s stress level. However…luck is on his side when it comes to NETTING fish. A quick visit to Net No. 1 reveals about 6 greenlings (fish) in the net, all rather sizeable. Nets No. 2 and 3 also ensnare enough sea basses and other sea creatures to feed the threesome for a few days more.

The loaded catch signifies the re-emergence of cocky Papa Yoo. And signals new deposits into the almost defunct Fish Bank.

6) Jung-woo, the Village Idiot

Hilariously, the first question Jung-woo gets asked when he steps onto Manjae-do is “Who are you?”. And by the village head’s son, no less. Poor him. Apparantly, Manjae-do villagers probably never watched Answer Me, 1994. Although he appears only in the last 15 mins of ep5 (more on him in the next ep), Jung-woo manages to impress us — with his clear sense of empty headedness.

Case no. 1: The first qns Jung-woo asks when he sees Ho-joon fanning the fire…”what is that?” and followed by “I smelled gas” (note: it’s a WOOD stove)

Case no. 2: Jung-woo oppa’s idea of fanning a fire is standing a metre away from it and gingerly waving the paper fan. (ahem)

Case no. 3: He has no idea how to identify ginger (and so does Ho-joon), and ends up uprooting all the poor carrots he has mistaken for ginger.

Case no. 4: He eagerly volunteers to collect kelp for the fish stew, and runs off to the beach — only to realise…he doesn’t even know how kelp looks like…(oops) Thankfully (with hints from the crew), he manages to gather a few stringy kelp before Chajumma explodes in impatience.

We will get to see (and roll our eyes over) at Jung-woo and his antics in ep6 next week…but wait, it seems like Chajumma and Jung-woo both depart from the island together, leaving only Papa Yoo and Ho-joon. Omg…how will they cope? (did they buy enough ramyun?!)