Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Hermit
Yup. I've been sleeping. A lot. At odd hours. I managed to stay awake yesterday for the Kim Family SF Christmas Outing 2009. Then I went back to sleep. Maybe I picked up a brain worm on the way home.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Ice Cream Fondue
Yes, I'm getting my cholesterol checked when I go back home. Also, I need to remind myself that I don't have the metabolism of a 22-year-old, and therefore, should not eat the same things they eat...
(Koreans eat tomatoes for dessert...)
(Koreans eat tomatoes for dessert...)
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Street Food #4
Until a few days ago my favorite street snack was 호떡, or basically a ball of dough that is filled with a cinnamon-sugar-chopped-nut mixture and essentially "deep-fried" on a griddle. It gets squashed flat during the cooking process and the sugar melts and the whole thing is pretty amazing. Lately I've seen green tea and vegetable versions, but right outside of Yonsei's main gate is a man selling 공기 호떡, or "air" 호떡, for 60 cents:
It's, er, healthy, since it's not cooked in oil. It puffs up and gets a little crunchy, and is lined with melted cinnamon sugar:
I walked all the way down to the main gate two days in a row to eat these and I'm pretty sure I would have gone today had I not been persuaded to get ice cream fondue. That's right, ice cream fondue. But that deserves its own post.
It's, er, healthy, since it's not cooked in oil. It puffs up and gets a little crunchy, and is lined with melted cinnamon sugar:
I walked all the way down to the main gate two days in a row to eat these and I'm pretty sure I would have gone today had I not been persuaded to get ice cream fondue. That's right, ice cream fondue. But that deserves its own post.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Street Food #3
So I didn't get this from a street vendor, but the versions I've seen from street vendors look more delicious (because it's pretty much a fried sandwich...)
But I'm getting ahead of myself. This is "toast" which as far as I can tell, means "white bread fried on a griddle covered in oil/shortening and maybe has some sort of filling in it." Since I don't have a kitchen, I am unable to fulfill my (nearly constant) need for a grilled cheese sandwich. I figured that an "egg cheese toast" would get the job done:
Surprise! Totally not what I was expecting. This was two pieces of toast with a fried egg, kraft single, lettuce, sweet mustard sauce, and jalapeno relish inside. I like lettuce as much as the next person but it has no business mucking up a proper grilled cheese. The jalapeno relish was good though.
I suppose I'll have to try "toast" from a real street vendor before I write it off completely...
But I'm getting ahead of myself. This is "toast" which as far as I can tell, means "white bread fried on a griddle covered in oil/shortening and maybe has some sort of filling in it." Since I don't have a kitchen, I am unable to fulfill my (nearly constant) need for a grilled cheese sandwich. I figured that an "egg cheese toast" would get the job done:
Surprise! Totally not what I was expecting. This was two pieces of toast with a fried egg, kraft single, lettuce, sweet mustard sauce, and jalapeno relish inside. I like lettuce as much as the next person but it has no business mucking up a proper grilled cheese. The jalapeno relish was good though.I suppose I'll have to try "toast" from a real street vendor before I write it off completely...
Monday, November 16, 2009
Visit Seoul!
To kick off the 2010-2012 Visit Korea Year campaign, there was a Lantern Festival along the Cheonggyecheon stream last week:
A free concert marked the beginning of the five-day festival, and ahjummas, ahjusshis, and squealing young fans all braved the cold weather to watch FT Triple and SS501 and other groups perform.
Since Lydia and I weren't part of the lucky few who got to sit inside the barrier, we stood along the side hoping we would be able to catch a glimpse of Joon's (from the group MBLAQ) chocolate 복근 (what we would call a 6-pack - here they call it chocolate, like the ridges of a chocolate bar, which Odile tells me is how they also refer to it in French.) In front of us was a tall man wearing a hat and carrying a camera. Behind me was a disgruntled grandpa who kept poking the tall man and telling him to take off his hat and lower his camera because the people behind him couldn't see. Grumpy grandpa was really nice to me for some reason and offered me half a satsuma. I told him I didn't want it, since I am a distrustful American, and also, hello, swine flu?? But he shoved the unpeeled satsuma fruit into my hand and I couldn't just throw it away, so I ate it. And I'm still alive.
Right, back to the concert:
My favorite SS501 member is Kim HyunJoong (not to be confused with fellow member Kim HyungJoon) who was rather breathtaking in the K-drama "Boys Before Flowers." He was a horrible actor, but that's okay because really all he needed to do was stand around looking all brooding and silent while wearing really nice clothes. My dad called him "the yellow-haired guy" because he had a strange hairstyle on the show. Now it's more normal:
The next night we came back to look at all the lanterns on the stream:
There were also "wish lanterns" that people could write on:
It's hard to write when your hands are freezing:
More lantern photos here.
A free concert marked the beginning of the five-day festival, and ahjummas, ahjusshis, and squealing young fans all braved the cold weather to watch FT Triple and SS501 and other groups perform.
Since Lydia and I weren't part of the lucky few who got to sit inside the barrier, we stood along the side hoping we would be able to catch a glimpse of Joon's (from the group MBLAQ) chocolate 복근 (what we would call a 6-pack - here they call it chocolate, like the ridges of a chocolate bar, which Odile tells me is how they also refer to it in French.) In front of us was a tall man wearing a hat and carrying a camera. Behind me was a disgruntled grandpa who kept poking the tall man and telling him to take off his hat and lower his camera because the people behind him couldn't see. Grumpy grandpa was really nice to me for some reason and offered me half a satsuma. I told him I didn't want it, since I am a distrustful American, and also, hello, swine flu?? But he shoved the unpeeled satsuma fruit into my hand and I couldn't just throw it away, so I ate it. And I'm still alive.
Right, back to the concert:
My favorite SS501 member is Kim HyunJoong (not to be confused with fellow member Kim HyungJoon) who was rather breathtaking in the K-drama "Boys Before Flowers." He was a horrible actor, but that's okay because really all he needed to do was stand around looking all brooding and silent while wearing really nice clothes. My dad called him "the yellow-haired guy" because he had a strange hairstyle on the show. Now it's more normal:
The next night we came back to look at all the lanterns on the stream:
There were also "wish lanterns" that people could write on:
It's hard to write when your hands are freezing:
More lantern photos here.
Street Food #2
I ate a lot of these growing up - every time we went to Japantown we would get taiyaki. Here they're called 붕어빵. Traditionally, they have a sweet red bean paste filling, but during an outing with my cousins last week, we found a stand selling some with different flavors and decided to try each one. Although the ones in San Francisco are delicious, they're made with pancake batter so they can get a little soggy if they've been sitting out or you don't eat them right when they come out of the molds. The ones here are made with sweet rice flour in the batter so they stay nice and crunchy. They also have chili cheese, sweet potato, and custard fillings in addition to red bean paste. And they're only 1000 won (87 cents) for three...I'm pretty sure the ones in SF have gone up to $2 or $2.50 each by now.
I had such a craving for these over the weekend but the below-zero weather prevented me from making the trek to go get them. I'll probably cave by tomorrow, even though the walk over there will make my face freeze off...
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Happy Pepero Day! (11/11)
November 11 is Pepero Day, so if you walk by any bakery, convenience store, supermarket, or even a few beauty product stores, you'll see elaborate displays of boxes of Pepero (Lotte's version of Pocky):
A few random facts gleaned from Wikipedia:
It is similar to Valentine's day in that couples exchange Pepero sticks (the date 11/11 resembles four sticks) and other mushy gifts. (Yup, several men have been spotted today buying boxes of Pepero and romantically-themed boxes. Bakeries are selling their own version of Pepero - long breadsticks dipped in chocolate and such...)
Lotte denies starting the holiday, but 55% of their annual Pepero sales occurs in early November. Hmmm....
One story claims that Pepero day was started in 1994 by students at a girls' middle school in Busan, where they exchanged Pepero sticks as gifts to wish one another to grow "as tall and slender as a Pepero". (Um, I'm pretty sure the way to grow slender is by NOT eating Pepero...)
A few random facts gleaned from Wikipedia:
It is similar to Valentine's day in that couples exchange Pepero sticks (the date 11/11 resembles four sticks) and other mushy gifts. (Yup, several men have been spotted today buying boxes of Pepero and romantically-themed boxes. Bakeries are selling their own version of Pepero - long breadsticks dipped in chocolate and such...)
Lotte denies starting the holiday, but 55% of their annual Pepero sales occurs in early November. Hmmm....
One story claims that Pepero day was started in 1994 by students at a girls' middle school in Busan, where they exchanged Pepero sticks as gifts to wish one another to grow "as tall and slender as a Pepero". (Um, I'm pretty sure the way to grow slender is by NOT eating Pepero...)
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
청국장 (Cheunggukjang)
What is it? Well, let's just say that I've avoided eating at my boarding house for the past few days because at mealtime, a pungent odor of sweaty socks mixed with mildewed dishrag wafted up the stairs from the kitchen. Korean Wikipedia describes it as a Korean traditional food made with soybeans similar to Japanese natto. Today I foolishly went downstairs for dinner, thinking I would be safe, but BAM! There it was, slapping me in the face. It was too late to go back upstairs, and besides, it is getting cold out so I didn't want to eat an apple with peanut butter for dinner again, so I grabbed a bowl of rice and tried not to inhale through my nose.
Maybe I've just been unconsciously inhaling the smell so I've gotten used to it, but the soup tasted surprisingly normal. It was a bit of a shock, like, how could something that smells so terrible be palatable? I guess it sits on the opposite side of the smell/taste spectrum as salted fish fried rice (tastes just as bad as it smells.)
So here is how I've been avoiding falling into a food rut:
First, it helps to have two fun dining companions who look cute wearing the restaurant-issued aprons.
A big pile of spicy chicken and vegetables doesn't hurt either. But it gets better...
Oh my god, cheese, how I've missed you...
Yes, that's right, the cheese goes on top. With some peppers, onions, and olives, you get pizza chicken kalbi. How's that for fusion food? It was absolutely delicious. Unfortunately, the waiter is supposed to keep an eye out for you (or at least, it seems like it, since any time you try to stir the meat yourself he or she hurries over to do it for you) but ours was so engrossed in some sort of TV show that he completely neglected us, then refused to make us fried rice because we had eaten most of the meat. I was all for having him just fry up the rice and spicy sauce, screw the meat, but he said it wouldn't taste good. Interesting, because in the US they would have just been like "fine, as long as we make money do whatever you want!" but that doesn't seem to be the case here.
Isn't that the cutest ice cream sandwich you've ever seen? From Baskin Robbins. They also have this crazy chocolate fondue dessert complete with fruit, bits of cake, and the cutest little ice cream balls in little waffle cones.
It was 70 degrees yesterday, hence the ice cream sandwich. Today it was 60 but felt colder because of the wind. So a nice hot bowl of ramen seemed in order. This was another place that had an ordering machine. It was a little more stressful because there were more options and I had no idea what anything was, so I just pressed the button next to a picture of what looked like a bowl of ramen and hoped for the best. The slice of pork was grilled over charcoal and the soup was really filling and almost nutty/smoky-flavored. I'm not sure how they achieved that, but I sure hope it wasn't through pork fat...between eating whatever I want and neglecting my running shoes (I'm not even sure where they are right now) I might have to be rolled off the plane when I land in San Francisco...
Maybe I've just been unconsciously inhaling the smell so I've gotten used to it, but the soup tasted surprisingly normal. It was a bit of a shock, like, how could something that smells so terrible be palatable? I guess it sits on the opposite side of the smell/taste spectrum as salted fish fried rice (tastes just as bad as it smells.)
So here is how I've been avoiding falling into a food rut:
First, it helps to have two fun dining companions who look cute wearing the restaurant-issued aprons.
A big pile of spicy chicken and vegetables doesn't hurt either. But it gets better...
Oh my god, cheese, how I've missed you...
Yes, that's right, the cheese goes on top. With some peppers, onions, and olives, you get pizza chicken kalbi. How's that for fusion food? It was absolutely delicious. Unfortunately, the waiter is supposed to keep an eye out for you (or at least, it seems like it, since any time you try to stir the meat yourself he or she hurries over to do it for you) but ours was so engrossed in some sort of TV show that he completely neglected us, then refused to make us fried rice because we had eaten most of the meat. I was all for having him just fry up the rice and spicy sauce, screw the meat, but he said it wouldn't taste good. Interesting, because in the US they would have just been like "fine, as long as we make money do whatever you want!" but that doesn't seem to be the case here. 
Isn't that the cutest ice cream sandwich you've ever seen? From Baskin Robbins. They also have this crazy chocolate fondue dessert complete with fruit, bits of cake, and the cutest little ice cream balls in little waffle cones.
It was 70 degrees yesterday, hence the ice cream sandwich. Today it was 60 but felt colder because of the wind. So a nice hot bowl of ramen seemed in order. This was another place that had an ordering machine. It was a little more stressful because there were more options and I had no idea what anything was, so I just pressed the button next to a picture of what looked like a bowl of ramen and hoped for the best. The slice of pork was grilled over charcoal and the soup was really filling and almost nutty/smoky-flavored. I'm not sure how they achieved that, but I sure hope it wasn't through pork fat...between eating whatever I want and neglecting my running shoes (I'm not even sure where they are right now) I might have to be rolled off the plane when I land in San Francisco...
Sunday, November 8, 2009
It's like I never left...
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Dinner with Lydia and Barret
Mmmmm, meat:
You know you're in Seoul when your dessert costs twice as much as your dinner:
(Americano FAIL)
(Checkmate FTW)
You know you're in Seoul when your dessert costs twice as much as your dinner:
(Americano FAIL)
(Checkmate FTW)
Street Food #1
When I first came to Korea, I set a lot of goals for myself. Shamefully few of the goals involve furthering my career - most have to do with food. Like, I will eat a Papparoti every day. Or a 호떡. And try all sorts of different street foods.
Surprisingly, I'm not really keeping up with my food goals. I suppose that's not a bad thing, because if I did, I would have to keep up with my other goal of running every day. (It happened once.) It's not like I'm NOT eating delicious things here (see above post), but it's time to step up. I only have a month left here. I'm getting tired of 하숙집 food. It's time to fully embrace my zero-income-generator status and just start eating out all the time.
The other day I had a street food snack that I have never seen on my previous trips to Seoul:
It's an egg encased in a slightly sweet waffle batter (계란빵). It satisfied my craving for something sweet but wasn't so entirely unhealthy that I felt guilty about it later. Plus, the protein powered me through an epic hour of shopping that involved buying 2 pairs of shoes, a couple sweaters, and bargaining a wool coat down to 50,000 won from 83,000 won. (That was a fluke that will probably never happen again. I think it makes up for the scarf that I stupidly overpaid for last week.)
Oh, and the 계란빵 was less than 70 cents.
Surprisingly, I'm not really keeping up with my food goals. I suppose that's not a bad thing, because if I did, I would have to keep up with my other goal of running every day. (It happened once.) It's not like I'm NOT eating delicious things here (see above post), but it's time to step up. I only have a month left here. I'm getting tired of 하숙집 food. It's time to fully embrace my zero-income-generator status and just start eating out all the time.
The other day I had a street food snack that I have never seen on my previous trips to Seoul:
It's an egg encased in a slightly sweet waffle batter (계란빵). It satisfied my craving for something sweet but wasn't so entirely unhealthy that I felt guilty about it later. Plus, the protein powered me through an epic hour of shopping that involved buying 2 pairs of shoes, a couple sweaters, and bargaining a wool coat down to 50,000 won from 83,000 won. (That was a fluke that will probably never happen again. I think it makes up for the scarf that I stupidly overpaid for last week.)Oh, and the 계란빵 was less than 70 cents.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Studying
Last week we had midterms. This consisted of a gazillion different tests designed to evaluate our speaking, writing, reading, and listening skills.
Lydia and I studied at Paris Baguette:
For me, this was really just an excuse to eat a pastry.
The next night I had a fit of college studying nostalgia and decided that something mac and cheesy (I miss you Pink House ladies!) would help me study better. This instant "cheese boki" did NOT fit the bill. In fact, it may have been responsible for...
...the following stupid mistakes:
Even though it is printed right ABOVE, I somehow managed to carelessly write 시잔 instead of 시작 and 니가 instead of 나가. Argh! I do this all the time when I'm scribbling notes in class, therefore confusing the hell out of me later when I'm reviewing something.
Lydia and I studied at Paris Baguette:
For me, this was really just an excuse to eat a pastry.
The next night I had a fit of college studying nostalgia and decided that something mac and cheesy (I miss you Pink House ladies!) would help me study better. This instant "cheese boki" did NOT fit the bill. In fact, it may have been responsible for......the following stupid mistakes:
Even though it is printed right ABOVE, I somehow managed to carelessly write 시잔 instead of 시작 and 니가 instead of 나가. Argh! I do this all the time when I'm scribbling notes in class, therefore confusing the hell out of me later when I'm reviewing something.
Seoraksan
Last week I went to Seoraksan to see the fall colors. Seoraksan is near the east coast of South Korea, and it takes about 3 hours to get there, if you leave Seoul at midnight. With traffic it takes 5 hours to come back.
That's right, we left at midnight. We "slept" on the bus, arrived at the park entrance a little too early, "slept" until 5am, made sandwiches, then started our 20km ascent.
The fall colors are amazing. My measly camera cannot do them justice.
On the way up, there was a temple that was growing its own vegetables. I think these became kimchi. The temple was also serving bowls of rice porridge with kimchi on top.
At the base of the highest peak was a shelter we could sleep in for the night. There was a bit of a kerfuffle when we tried to check in (having made a reservation on the internet) and then were told that foreigners can't make reservations. Um, what??? Luckily we got a few spots, because it was so cold and foggy outside that by 7pm I was ready to cry. Yup, I went inside at 7pm to go to sleep. People were already snoring at that time so I don't think I fell asleep until 9 or 10. Then I woke up because it was too hot. Then they turned on all the lights at 5am and told us to get the hell out of there.
I've mentioned that people in Korea are pretty hardcore about hiking. This includes waking up at 5am to climb up to the peak, then walking back down in the dark without seeing anything.
The goal, I think, is to have your picture taken with this marker. There is no waiting in line - you pretty much have to shove your way into the front and not care that you are ruining somebody else's picture.
The full set of pictures (featuring actual trees and leaves) is here.
One day I may even add captions and descriptions of the photos, but I kinda need to finish my homework so that I can watch 미녀들의 수다...
That's right, we left at midnight. We "slept" on the bus, arrived at the park entrance a little too early, "slept" until 5am, made sandwiches, then started our 20km ascent.
The fall colors are amazing. My measly camera cannot do them justice.
On the way up, there was a temple that was growing its own vegetables. I think these became kimchi. The temple was also serving bowls of rice porridge with kimchi on top. 
At the base of the highest peak was a shelter we could sleep in for the night. There was a bit of a kerfuffle when we tried to check in (having made a reservation on the internet) and then were told that foreigners can't make reservations. Um, what??? Luckily we got a few spots, because it was so cold and foggy outside that by 7pm I was ready to cry. Yup, I went inside at 7pm to go to sleep. People were already snoring at that time so I don't think I fell asleep until 9 or 10. Then I woke up because it was too hot. Then they turned on all the lights at 5am and told us to get the hell out of there.
I've mentioned that people in Korea are pretty hardcore about hiking. This includes waking up at 5am to climb up to the peak, then walking back down in the dark without seeing anything.
The goal, I think, is to have your picture taken with this marker. There is no waiting in line - you pretty much have to shove your way into the front and not care that you are ruining somebody else's picture.The full set of pictures (featuring actual trees and leaves) is here.
One day I may even add captions and descriptions of the photos, but I kinda need to finish my homework so that I can watch 미녀들의 수다...
Thursday, October 22, 2009
The day in pictures...
Lunch:
It's always exciting to see somebody you know in the subway station. Especially if they're across the platform. Even if you walked to the station together...
I managed to find a cup of decaf. It was all fancy-schmancy from Peru and single-cup-hand-brewed or whatever the kids are calling it these days. I suppose that explains the $3 price tag. But then again, that's how much a cup of Philz costs. Although Philz lets you put cream and sugar in your coffee.
While I was at the cafe, these two girls sat next to me and then asked my opinion on a T-shirt design they wanted to produce. We started talking and one girl said "I'm so glad to meet you! Let's have dinner some time." Yup! I met a real Korean person! We exchanged numbers! It was very exciting.
I'm going hiking this weekend about 5 hours north of Seoul to see the pretty fall colors. The timing couldn't be more terrible, seeing as I have 3 days of tests next week, have been (so far successfully) fighting off the cold that everybody and their mother has caught, and could really catch up on some sleep. But I'm excited to go. Almost as excited as when I found this:
This will be perfect since I have to bring my own food. I can't imagine anything better than enjoying a nice slice of mozzarella chicken-flavored Spam after 12 hours of climbing up a mountain. It's finding things like this that make me really sad my brother isn't here.
It's always exciting to see somebody you know in the subway station. Especially if they're across the platform. Even if you walked to the station together...
I managed to find a cup of decaf. It was all fancy-schmancy from Peru and single-cup-hand-brewed or whatever the kids are calling it these days. I suppose that explains the $3 price tag. But then again, that's how much a cup of Philz costs. Although Philz lets you put cream and sugar in your coffee.
While I was at the cafe, these two girls sat next to me and then asked my opinion on a T-shirt design they wanted to produce. We started talking and one girl said "I'm so glad to meet you! Let's have dinner some time." Yup! I met a real Korean person! We exchanged numbers! It was very exciting.
I'm going hiking this weekend about 5 hours north of Seoul to see the pretty fall colors. The timing couldn't be more terrible, seeing as I have 3 days of tests next week, have been (so far successfully) fighting off the cold that everybody and their mother has caught, and could really catch up on some sleep. But I'm excited to go. Almost as excited as when I found this:
This will be perfect since I have to bring my own food. I can't imagine anything better than enjoying a nice slice of mozzarella chicken-flavored Spam after 12 hours of climbing up a mountain. It's finding things like this that make me really sad my brother isn't here.
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