In times both high and low, a nice bowl of hot noodles in a flavorful sauce is the way to go. At least for my palette.
Transitioning to college was difficult in part because I no longer had the familiarity of my mom's cooking like I did at home. Don't get me wrong, I love trying out different cuisines, and DC has been a good place for sampling everything from Ethiopian to Chinese to Greek. Still, I didn't have a place where I could get the same sort of comfort food that my mom would make when I was feeling low.
On bad days, she would make dishes for dinner like jajangmyeon*, a warm bowl of noodles topped with a succulent black bean gravy called chunjang and onions, zucchini, cabbage, and meat. Or she might prepare bulgogi— thin strips of marinated meat— alongside noodles or rice. Her cooking always made me feel a little less down on bad days and made the good days even better, and although there are far bigger things to worry about or miss in college, I certainly missed the warmness of my mom's cooking.
Fortunately, after some searching, I found a restaurant in the basement of Shenkman Hall with a solution. While perusing their menu, tucked in on the side was a sign displaying a picture of jajangmyeon in all of its brown, saucy glory. I immediately ordered and ate it up.
To be fair, it's still hard to match my mom's jajangmyeon; for one thing, the restaurant served a runny egg on top (of the noodles and sauce (something my grandfather might have done since he puts eggs on top of everything, but not my mom). Still, the dish had the same kind of warmth and comfort in it that the jajangmyeon at home had, and that was all I needed.
Now, I have a place to turn to for food on all occasions. When I do great in a class or am celebrating something with a friend, jajangmyeon makes for a good meal. And when I get wrecked by an exam or just feel sick all over, jajangmyeon is there in all of its brown, salty yet slightly sweet goodness to make the day at least somewhat better.
And to any vegetarian friends out there, don't worry; you can ask for the dish without the meat.
*To clarify, my mom is Korean, and jajangmyeon is of mixed Korean-Chinese origin while bulgogi is Korean.
