The sujebi of my last summer in San Francisco

Only on rare occasions do I find the house empty. A much treasured rarity indeed. I shuffle my feet to the kitchen, delighted to be able to cook for only myself again. There isn’t much grocery left though. Some flour, kimchi, an onion, and some chicken thighs. “Perfect” — I thought. Enough for a bowl of sujebi. I mean, after all, it’s summertime right now.

Sujebi (수제비 in Hangul if you’re wondering) means hand-torn noodle in Korean, made from a simple dough mixture of just flour, oil and water. And a pinch of salt for flavor. As my hands mix and knead the dough, the palm sense takes me back to my tiny dated studio with a big Victorian bay window in San Francisco in the summer of 2015 — the first time I learned how to make that dish.

I was a senior back then. For all 2 years in the U.S, I traveled back home in Saigon every summer break. But as college was coming to an end, I decided to stay in SF for the summer — both to save money for my family’s trip to my graduation a few months later, and to savor my last free time in the beloved city. What made that summer even sweeter was my boyfriend’s going home for a few weeks. Growing up, I never got a chance to have a space completely for myself. So as a homebody (집순이 in Korean), being able to enjoy solitude was like serendipitously finding a forgotten dollar bill in a random pocket.

The recipe says to chill the dough in the fridge while making the soup so that it can become even chewier. I’ve always loved sinking my teeth into anything soft and glutinous so things like bánh dày, bread, 떡, and mochi are my favorite. While the sun is scorching the ground out in the patio, gusts of breeze from the fan blows at me, attempting to evaporate beads of sweat formed from the heat of the stove. I tap my fingers on the cool counter surface to the beat of Red Velvet’s Red Flavor (“빨 빨간 맛 궁굼해 honey”) as I wait for the water to boil to add the onion, garlic, gojuchang and anchovy stock base. “Oh how I miss the summer air in SF” — I thought.

Summer in SF was a paradox. In the morning, my apartment would be flooded with feather-liked, unadulterated, honey colored light. The air…

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