Who doesn't love street food?

There's just something about food cooked in a truck or on the side of the road that's irresistable, right? And international food - even more so.

As a kid, I spent a summer in Seoul with my family and I remember hanging out with my uncle and cousins who would buy all kinds of food from street stands.  One day, we shared a newspaper cone filled with little steamed snails.  When I went with my husband a couple years ago, we went to visit a palace and as soon as we stepped out of the cab, there was a woman making duk - she was squatting next to a little grill, cooking up these little rice cakes.  Ahh - I was ready to hand over my won for a taste, but my husband pulled me along.  I more than made up for it during the week, though.

Now, I get my Korean street food fix at the grocery store.  I generally prefer to go grocery shopping during the week, but will make the exception for the Korean market, expressly because there's a little tent out front where a woman is cooking on a plain, flat grill.  And yes, I will admit, I've gone by there just to go to the tent, even when I didn't need any groceries.  She has these fish-shaped, bean-filled snack and rice cakes, but I usually get ho-dduk - its this hot, pancake-ish treat filled with a sugary, peanutty mixture. Mmmmm.

Ho-dduk, fresh from the griddle