Monthly Hush 004: Korean Feasts, Gooseberries & Curious Elk
July has always been one of our favorite months at The Hohnstead. Maybe because it’s when we celebrate another year together (17 this year!), or maybe because the forest seems to come alive in the middle of summer.
This month brought unexpected gifts: we found Korean food that transported us back to the Land of the Morning Calm (and yes, it happened inside someone's home 😱), a new chapter for the Stargazer Cabin, a gooseberry harvest we’ve been waiting years for, and enough elk sightings at the Secret Pond that we finally had to ask:
“What do elk do when no one is watching?”
Welcome back to our Monthly Hush stories from the land, the kitchen, the business, and behind the scenes of our lives here at The Hohnstead - our slice of heaven in the Montana woods. It’s a 3-2-1 style monthly newsletter, which helps us create and connect in a more real way, instead of just trying to “please the algorithmic gods and goddesses.” Thanks for being here!
3 Stories from The Land
In the last Monthly Hush 003: Pet stories, gifts that wow, and home-made bibimbap, we made a really yummy bibimbap, an homage to our 14 years of teaching in South Korea. We’re still obsessed with Korean food and were pleasantly surprised when a Missoula business wanted to do a collaboration. In exchange for staying in our cabins, Hana offered us a Korean cooking class, which fell right on our 17th anniversary. We couldn’t say no, so we said: “Ne!” (yes in Korean).
We cook all of our meals ourselves at home, and at times forget how much fun communal cooking and eating is. Hana taught us how to make LA galbi with spicy radish side dish, a marinade, and a dipping sauce. Along with our friends and participants, we sat around a table, where the cooking stove sat in the middle. A variety of smaller plates surround the stove, including rice and lettuce leaves. When the meat was ready to eat, just like in Korea, we all put a lettuce wrap in our hand, then a small amount of rice (thankfully our chopstick game is still strong), some radish, dipped the meat in the dipping sauce, wrapped the lettuce and its contents into a small pocket, and popped it into our mouth. Bam! We went to Flavor Town!
Ahem, I’m salivating while writing this…
And just like in Korea, we shared stories, travel tips, and of course, Garrett’s homebrew. Somehow our 2.5 class turned into 4 hours and stuffed and happy we drove home, thinking:
“Whoa, we just had the best samgyepsal (grilled pork belly) and LA Galbi (short ribs) we’ve ever had!”
After so many years living overseas, we sometimes forget how much we miss those everyday moments around a Korean table — not a restaurant table, but someone's home, where food slowly appears, conversations stretch longer than planned, and nobody is rushing to leave. Contact Hana Lee @letsgetkorean to be a part of her magical gatherings.
For years, it seems we lost most of our gooseberry harvest to selfish but oh so cute chipmunks. This year, we took off the tomato cages that, instead of helping the plant, just acted as ladders and scaffolding for the little thieves. We also put up netting, and even though some of them still found a way in, the majority of the berries were rapidly ripening in front of our eyes. Recently, Alla collected 3.3lbs (1.5 kg) of yummy gooseberries, which, if you don’t know, are not super sweet and have a slightly sour end taste. We’re yet to look up recipes, but for now, they are great just eaten raw.
Living here has taught us patience. The forest gives, but it also takes, and every small harvest feels like a tiny victory.
Share your gooseberry recipes in the comments below.
Two years after opening the Stargazer, we finally gave it the upgrade we’ve been dreaming about.
When we built this cabin, we knew it wasn’t finished. Honestly, none of this place ever feels finished. The forest changes, guests teach us things, and we’re constantly noticing little ways to make the experience better.
This project was less about adding something new and more about making something we already loved work even better.
2 Recipes from our kitchen
It’s been hot this month, and while we don’t have AC, during the mid-day break, we occasionally treat ourselves to something cold and savory. Recently, Alla started making some Nice Cream 🍦
Recipe for Matcha Nice Cream (Makes 2 servings)
Freeze 3 ripe bananas in an aluminum foil.
Place the frozen banana into a food processor or high-speed blender.
Blend or pulse the pieces until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed.
Add 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder
Add 2 tablespoons of Matcha Powder
Enjoy immediately as a soft-serve treat, or freeze it longer in a container for a firm scoopable texture.
Recipe for Frozen Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Bark (Makes 12 servings)
Place parchment paper on a flat tray that you can fit inside your freezer
Mash the aging bananas (4 or 5 bananas) and spread them around the tray. Place in the freezer for a few hours
Take out and spread peanut butter on top of the banana
Blend some dark chocolate chips and peanuts in a blender into smaller pieces
Spread the chips and peanut mixture on top and seal by drizzling Agave syrup on top in random lines
Place back in the freezer for a few hours.
When ready to eat, remove the parchment paper and cut into the desired piece size.
Original recipe calls for spreading a chocolate layer on top of the peanut butter, but this cook has yet to learn how to melt chocolate without burning it :(
Do you have any tips?
1 Video “What do elk do when no one is watching? “
We get a good amount of wildlife roaming in these Montana woods, but it’s the elk that really take your breath away. Their sheer size and recognizably cute sounds make them some of my favorites. We’ve had so many sightings of them recorded on the hunting cam located at the Secret Pond that we’ve decided to create one video with elk as the protagonist. Watch until the end to see them showing off.
Watch “What do elk do when no one is watching? “
If you missed previous Hush stories from the land, you can find them here.
Thanks for following along with our little corner of Montana. We never imagined this forest would become a place where we could share food, stories, wildlife sightings, and moments with people from around the world.
Until next month,
