I just learned a new tradition a couple of days ago. Apparently, sometime around December (I’m guessing it’s dealing with the Lunar calendar), there’s a day dedicated to eating “pat gooksoo,” aka azuki bean noodles, in Korea. While I was aware of how my mother seems to have a thing for these noodles every year, I wasn’t aware of the reasoning behind it.

The subject line says it all. My mother told me last night to eat a few mouthful of those “pat-paste covered noodles” so a ghost will not haunt my living body and soul. Since I’m not superstitious like her, I just rolled my eyes at that ridiculous idea. However, I humoured her and ate some. While it does taste good, I am not a much of a fan of pat. I do like it in bungeobbang and in patbingsoo, though!

So, everyone, eat some pat once in awhile to ward off evil spirits, ghosts, or whatever the heck you want to call those supernatural beings.