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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, December 25, 2009

Holidays leave you hung over? Go for soup


By Jeff Chung

Merry Christmas! It's the holiday season, which for many people means year-end dinners that provide opportunities for one too many glasses of eggnog, wine or champagne. Hangovers are common as a result, but Koreans have the answer: haejang (literally detoxify), a healthy soup to negate the effects of a night of holiday partying.

Each country has its own hangover remedies. Koreans have several options, but all include vegetables in a hot broth and fight the headache and the raw feeling you can have in your stomach no matter how much you drank. When I am feeling ill from the night before, I crave a spicy beef broth soup — yukhwejang — or I'll go to a Korean restaurant and ask for the haejang-kook. Each restaurant may have a different recipe, but most varieties of the soup work. Many of the soups include bean sprouts, along with other vegetables like radish and cabbage.

One of the more popular dishes for hangover is the blowfish soup. It's basically bean sprouts, radish and blowfish in a hot pot. In the city of Busan during the film festival, Restaurant Keum Soo Bok Kook near the Paradise Hotel is jam-packed with film-industry people waiting to get their hot pot. Not only does it taste great, it helps them recover from a night of binge drinking.

Most Korean restaurants here offer haejang kook as well. Just simply say haejang kook or pick another soup-type dish, such as seol lung tang (much like oxtail soup), dukk-kook (rice cake soup), soon-dubu soft tofu stew or kalbi tang (kalbi soup). A nice spicy stew helps you sweat it out, and a nice nap would do the trick for most, but if you have a sensitive stomach that can't tolerate spicy foods, stick to the dukk-kook or a mild kong namul kook (bean sprout soup). Have a safe and happy holiday.

THIS WEEK’S K-DRAMA SYNOPSES

'SMILE, HONEY'

EPISODES 13 AND 14

Tonight at 7:45: Jungin tearfully complains to Hyunsu that he didn't even wait 30 minutes for her when he'd waited eight years for Junggyung. Hyunsu replies he'd waited eight years for Junggyung because she was his first love. To make their own "first" memory, Jungin steals a kiss from Hyunsu. Tomorrow at 7:45 p.m.: Junggyung tells Jungin she shouldn't develop feelings for Hyunsu, upsetting Jungin. Hyunsu comforts Junggyung after her fight with Minjun. Hansae takes Jungin to a fancy condominium and offers it to her, only to upset Jungin even more.

'LOVE YOU 1000 TIMES'

EPISODES 9 AND 10

Sunday at 6:45 p.m.: Eun-nim goes on with her life, but never forgets her baby. Gang-ho is back and bumps into the owner of the wallet he found. Chul is also back. His mom cuts him off so he needs to find a job. Eun-nim's dad works two jobs. Se-hoon and Sun-young's relationship remains strained. Sunday at 7:45 p.m.: Eun-nim saves Yoo-bin's life. She also applies for a job in Gang-ho's company. Sun-young and Se-hoon reconcile. Meanwhile, Yeon-hee feels alone. Gang-ho also applies for a job at his father's company. Chul's mother isn't happy about his job delivering Chinese food.

'ANGEL'S TEMPTATION'

EPISODES 9 AND 10

Monday at 7:45 p.m.: Jae-sung sees Joo-seung and Aran go into a hotel room and sends a picture message of the hotel room door to Hyun-min and Hyun-ji. Hyun-min and Hyun-ji surprise Joo-seung and Aran at the hotel room, but don't see Aran's face. Hyun-min catches Yeon-jae talking to Aran on the phone and pressures Yeon-jae to tell him about Aran's past. Tuesday at 7:45 p.m.: Jae-sung calls Aran vulgar when she kisses him. Joo-seung tells Aran that he saw Jae-sung and Jae-hee together and tells her to be wary of him. Julie gives Jae-sung a new outfit and a car, saying he needs best of everything to deceive Aran even more completely.

'HE'S BEAUTIFUL'

EPISODES 9 AND 10

Wednesday at 7:45 p.m.: Minam gives Taekyung a cup of coffee along with a "Happy birthday" message. Youie continues to torture Minam and takes Minam's hairpin. Taekyung sees Youie with Minam's pin and yells at her saying that it was a gift from him. Hwaran calls Mija and tells her that she wants to meet the twins. Thursday at 7:45 p.m.: Minam gets a high fever at night and Taekyung rushes to take Minam to the hospital. But Minam tells Taekyung that she doesn't want to go to the hospital because she doesn't want Taekyung to get in trouble if they find out she's a woman. Taekyung stays up all night taking care of Minam. Minam tells Taekyung that she'll leave the group because she no longer wants to be a burden to him.