House on Wheels: Episode 2

by kaycee

Our cast and guests continue their beach adventures this week, and there’s no shortage of bonding, mouthwatering food and (of course) a little mischief along the way. Because how can there not be mischief with this sweet, funny cast of characters and all-too-tempting food right within reach…

EPISODE 2 RECAP

Winding down after an eventful first day in Goseong, guests Mi-ran and Hyeri have a quiet moment with Dong-il, Hee-won, and Jin-gu as they discuss plans for the next day. Hyeri is the only one excited about watching the sunrise (no one is keen on waking at 4:30 in the morning) while Dong-il is more interested in buying a local specialty, giant octopus.

His aim is to buy off the first boat of the day, which will come in at 6 a.m. It sounds like an early start either way and Jin-gu adorably tries to avoid any early morning errands by attempting to pass on their cash and the car keys to his sunbaes, cracking up the entire gang.

As they get ready for bed, Jin-gu takes the upper bunk bed (he takes this chance to poke his head outside) while Hyeri and Mi-ran sleep in the tent outside the house. The next morning, Mi-ran and Hyeri are the first ones to wake up. A few minutes before sunrise, Hyeri wakes up Dong-il, Hee-won and Jin-gu so they don’t miss out. Everyone is enraptured, and they watch (from the beach — or on their beds!) with delight as the sun rises over the water.

Dong-il and Jin-gu take photos of each other with the sun, and they get creative with their poses. This whole sequence is made even sweeter by the fact that they all have puffy faces, bedhead, and are parading around in their PJs at this point.

With the sun fully up, Hyeri assumes Jin-gu will be making the trip to buy the octopus but he confidently states that won’t be the case. It turns out he already has another job — grinding coffee beans. Since Barista Yeo is back on duty, Dong-il and Hee-won head out to buy the first catch of the day.

Dong-il and Hee-won arrive at the local market and find that one of the sellers has a giant octopus, and the man brings it out for the two to look over. While Dong-il is fascinated by the sheer size of it, Hee-won delicately clasps his hands and slowly walks away.

It turns out Hee-won is pretty easily grossed out (despite his tough guy image). He even tries to talk Dong-il out of buying the octopus and he gives a bunch of reasons, but his last one seems to reveal what his real reason, “It’s scary.”

They end up buying the giant octopus, despite Hee-won’s reservations, and they stop by a restaurant to get the octopus cooked.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Mi-ran, Hyeri, and Jin-gu clean up and tidy. Mi-ran decides to cook the leftover beef as breakfast (unbeknownst to Dong-il and Hee-won), and the beef paired with blue cheese and orange jam is a bit hit.

Dong-il and Hee-won return, showing off the giant octopus. While Dong-il slices up some octopus for breakfast, Mi-ran and Hyeri set up a tarp for shade.

Mi-ran makes a point to say she’s running on an “empty stomach,” and she’s laying it on thick but neither Dong-il or Hee-won catches on.

Dong-il plates up sliced octopus with a choice of two sauces and offers a bite to the guests first. Mi-ran and Hyeri are surprisingly full after one slice. I love how hard they’re trying to cover up the fact that this is their second breakfast.

The staff get a treat too as Dong-il prepares more octopus leg for the them to try. Jin-gu carries the plate over and trips–but manages to hold onto the plate with no spillage. Whew, what a good catch!

Jin-gu’s fast reflexes lead Dong-il and Hee-won to joke about their bad knees. Dong-il then shares that he likes the communal aspect of having octopus since he has fond memories of when his mom used buy and share one big octopus with neighbors.

It’s time for a nap on their front yard, a.k.a. the beach. While everyone is sleeping, Jin-gu takes this time to make himself a cup of coffee and enjoy the beach. He has a quiet moment with Dong-il and they just enjoy being able to take a breather.

Three hours later, we cut to Jin-gu running around trying to fill the air bed that Mi-ran gifted the cast. He makes several flailing, failing attempts so Mi-ran steps in and helps him out. She, of course, fills the bed in about two seconds.

Hyeri mentions that she overhead Jin-gu confessing to Dong-il they had leftover beef for breakfast. It’s so cute how Jin-gu felt guilty when Dong-il was worried about him being hungry. As it turns out, Dong-il and Hee-won bought cup ramyun while waiting for the octopus to boil. And I was wondering if Dong-il and Hee-won might have grabbed a snack!

Talk turns to lunch and Jin-gu and Hyeri are sent off to pick up takeout, a Goseong specialty that’s basically raw seafood with a cold, spicy broth. Mi-ran asks them to pick up some diced saury meat as well.

Meanwhile, the clouds are starting to look grey, as if it’s about to rain. Dong-il suggests moving the tarp closer to the house and we get a new round of Hee-won-ah’s as the big hyung calls out for him for everything from nailing down the tarp to moving Dong-il’s chair.

Hee-won jokes that he’s developed a name-related neurosis, pointing out the number of times Dong-il called out for him and playfully hits Dong-il. Hyeri and Jin-gu return from their market trip and lunch is served.

Today’s menu: a mouthwatering platter of octopus, steak tartare, Jin-gu’s jjigae from the night before, and the cold seafood soup. Everyone agrees that the seafood dish is delicious and it really feels like home, sitting all together to share a meal.

After lunch, it starts to rain and they move indoors, taking their seat cushions with them to use as sitting mats. Everyone settles in cozily, with Mi-ran resting her head on Hee-won’s legs and Hyeri using Mi-ran’s arm as her pillow. They muse (and I agree) that it’s interesting how our perspective of rain changes. The sound of rain is peaceful if you’re inside, but a nuisance if you’re stuck outside.

Hyeri comments that she seems to bring rain with her when she goes on trips. While Hyeri and Jin-gu break out the board games that Hyeri brought, Dong-il and Mi-ran reminisce on the old days, back when lots of families used to live in small apartments together.

The young ‘uns play several rounds of Pass the Bomb (a game where they come up with words relating to a certain theme before the timer, a ticking bomb, “explodes”) and eventually convince Dong-il to join in.

With dinner in mind, they start to discuss what to cook; they decide to make burgers with fish patties. Hyeri, Jin-gu, and Mi-ran head out for another grocery run. Hyeri comments that her housewarming gift was not well chosen and Jin-gu agrees that she didn’t consider the age group. (I disagree — you’re never too old for board games!)

The guys begin preparing fish patties under Dong-il’s direction and — oops — lights go out due to overload. It’s not surprising to Hyeri. We’re given a montage of the hiccups so far, from mosquitos to water leaks. Anticipating a long wait for dinner, Mi-ran and Hyeri decide to make ramyun. Hyeri manages to sneak out a pot, ramyun, and kimchi while the guys are busy cooking.

Dong-il asks Hee-won to sprinkle some pepper on the fish patties and not realizing the hole size, Hee-won literally pours almost the whole bottle onto two patties. This causes intense smoke in the whole house, distracting Dong-il, and he also burns the bread so they’re back to square one, but without Hee-won this time.

In the meantime, Mi-ran and Hyeri’s ramyun is finished cooking and they agree that eating in secret makes it more delicious. Hee-won, sidelined after his pepper incident, finally seems to catch on that something’s off and he asks why Hyeri keeps striking poses. Dong-il chides Hee-won for laughing, not realizing Operation Secret Ramyun is running right under his nose.

The fish burgers are finally cooked and Dong-il finishes the patties by basting the patties in butter and a drizzle of lemon juice for some extra flavor. He puts cheese onto the patties and carefully adds toasted buns and scrambled eggs to the platter.

Dong-il worries there’s not enough food so he instructs Jin-gu to cook up some ramyun. With that, you would think the ladies are caught as they’re one ramyun package short, but when Jin-gu asks where one package has gone, Mi-ran diverts their attention.

Dong-il insists on cooking ramyun with Jin-gu, and Mi-ran assembles a fish burger for Hyeri (who’s not too eager to eat). To Hyeri’s surprise, the burger is tasty, with no fishy smell, which Hee-won attributes to the insane amount of pepper. Her praise for the burger has Hee-won doubling up with laughter while Jin-gu reacts with pure joy.

Jin-gu’s burger sauce also gets compliments and he’s relieved that the dish is well-received. Hee-won asks why Hyeri and Mi-ran were posing and staring out towards the sea earlier and Mi-ran confesses that they were eating ramyun. Just goes to show how focused the guys were on cooking.

Dong-il jazzes up the ramyun with onions, peppers, and leftover octopus. Hyeri asks for just a tiny bit as she’s not a fan (right…she’s not full at this point) and Dong-il promises that he’ll cook up the best ramyun for his daughter. Aww.

Dong-il and Jin-gu finish cooking the ramyun, and then settle down for dinner. Everyone chats and giggles, reviewing the meals they enjoyed together and the highlights of the day (not missing the opportunity to tease Jin-gu on his epic tripping incident earlier in the day).

Guests Mi-ran and Hyeri are preparing to leave, but Dong-il sends each of them off with some of the giant octopus that he’s bagged up for them to take to their families. Hyeri looks slightly concerned (lol), but it’s such a sweet ending to their visit, pulling together all the “old time” memories they talked about — especially that of sharing food with others. It’s exactly those vibes that we get from House on Wheels this week — simple living, yummy food, and lots of warm-hearted laughter.

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