Chicken soup for the old man

Korean people ask me a lot of funny questions sometimes. Do you have Korean parents? You're from America, why aren't you fat?! Why don't you play golf?? These are all fun to answer, but one of the more difficult questions is, "what's your favorite Korean food?"

I guess if I had to name a favorite, it would the above dish. It's called Sam-ge-tang. Basically, it's whole chicken in broth, but the chicken is stuffed with rice, chestnuts, and ginseng. My Korean friends usually think it's pretty funny that I choose this dish to name as my favorite. It's considered an extremely healthy option, and one for old men to eat (because of the virile power of ginseng!!!). I like it not only because it tastes great, but it makes me eat slowly and really enjoy every spoonful of meat and broth. The week before I took the MCATs, my mom made me this dish everyday. Yeah, I'm pretty spoiled I guess.

My cousin's son just finished reading a book about Thomas Jefferson's binge eating, and apparently he really loved Mac and cheese. Since my family has never eaten it before, I decided to make it from scratch. It turned out pretty well, so many thanks to my good friends Tyler Florence and Jon Fombonne.

I told my cousin that in the States, African Americans usually eat Mac and cheese with fried chicken. She got really excited, and so for our next meal, we ate the leftovers, chicken nuggets, and bbq wings. My family enjoyed the food, but they told me they expected it to be much sweeter and more oily. Strange.