Why was it so good??

Wanna know one of the best and worst parts of travelling to other countries?

Finding something you love.

I was lying here on my couch watching "Outsourced" when I got the munchies.  And the first thing that came to mind was a Korean snack that I ate quite a bit of while I was over there.  I guess you could call them chips.  They were thin, crunchy potato sticks that came in two flavours:  red and green.  I guessed that one was plain and the other a little onion-y.  The onion one was so good that I'd find excuses to eat them.  I think what made me love them so much was not the flavour, but the crunchiness.  They were crunchy enough to be annoying to other people, but not hard enough that they would break your teeth.  MMm.. love.
But guess what?  I have not seen them since leaving.  Nor does my husband remember what they are called.  I have not heard of any currently-in-Korea bloggers talking about them, nor have I seen them on any food websites.  So that's what makes it the worst part of finding something you love.

I also fell in love with this particular scent of Johnson&Johnson's baby powder called "Blossoms".  I have a small bottle that I brought over with me that I only put on on special occasions.  Every time I use it, I get an explosion of memories of my husband's grandmother's house where I was staying.  It is also hard to find online.  BUT, the good news is that my husband's cousin just came here from Korea and he brought me five bottles!  Enough to last for a long time!  I even gave two bottles to my mom and sister.  But now I'm half afraid that if I over-use it, I'll lose the memories associated with it.

aw grandma :)

There was also an excellent restaurant that my roommate and I would frequent late at night.  It's called Country Chicken (촌닭) and it is so good.  Crispy chicken bites and rice cakes in sticky hot sauce.  Served with white rice to take the edge off of the heat.  Delicious!  My husband has made this for me a few times, but there's something about the real deal.  I miss it!

Do you have anything that you would LOVE to have right now but it's unavailable where you are?

Ah, enough reminiscing already.  Time for bed!

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Update:
My amazing Sherlock Holmes husband found that snack.  He has never heard of it nor seen it before.
It's called 눈을 감자 - Let us close our eyes.

The Preciousness of RICE

I've been watching Muhan Dojeon lately (as some of you know).  The last couple episodes that I've seen have gone over a 1 year project that the cast had been involved in.

They apparently rented a farmer's field, planted rice plants, and harvested them in the fall.  Afterward, they packaged it and donated it.  Isn't that nice!

After watching these episodes, all I can say is that from now on I will treat every grain of rice as precious.  A LOT of work goes into rice farming, and each plant does not have that much rice on it!

An old Korean proverb is...
"You need to know the preciousness of rice, in order to raise your children well."

I believe it!

I love picnics!

Saturday was our annual Sunday school picnic. I had to work :P but I still went in the evening for a potluck dinner and some games. It was a lot of fun!

Have you ever played the donut eating game?
You hang up powdered jelly donuts and everyone has to race to eat them.. with no hands!

Lots of fun, and it makes for some hilarious photos :)















Another game we played was water balloon volleyball. Both teams have a bedsheet, and basically you launch overfilled water balloons over the net at each other.

Wow, we got soaked.

Black bean noodles!

MMmm.. these are tasty.

Ja-jang-myeon is Korean Chinese food. They are fat, soft noodles, onions and other veggies, with black bean sauce. And the portions are HUGE. I honestly don't know how ANYONE can finish a full bowl. Sometimes the portions in Korea confuse me because how can so many skinny people be eating such large amounts of food??

But anyway..

On black day, my husband took me out for seafood black bean noodles. And they came with these little biscuits that tasted inbetween a croissant and a fortune cookie. Weird, eh?

Sorry for everything being half-eaten in the photo.. we were starving!

Kimbap

Korean sushi is good. At first taste, I thought it was pretty plain.. but it's actually very filling and good for you.

Regular kimbap is composed of seaweed, rice, and various vegetables: spinach, carrot, cooked egg, and picked radish. You can get other variations of it such as tuna.

It's also very cheap. Most places will sell you a roll for 1000 won. Because of this amazing price, I ended up eating it quite often :)

A cool treat on a hot day

If you're hot and you want a cool treat, head to the patbingsu vendors. You can usually find them by their big, colourful umbrellas and the sound of ice being shaved.

The original version is very simply composed of shaved ice and sweetened, red azuki beans (known as pat). Red beans are what makes it happen, according to a friend of mine.

However, if you're not into the ever-present red beans (I'm not crazy about them), then there are many other varieties to choose from now. You can get green tea or fruit bingsu. Coffee is also another alternative seeing as Koreans love all things coffee or mocha flavoured.

Galbi - Korean BBQ at it's best

I'm absolutely addicted to samgeopsal (pork belly bbq) but that's a story for a different day :)

I love these restaurants with the raised, heated floors. You can eat and chat for hours on end!
And the whole concept of cooking your own food is fun.. which I suppose you could do at home, but it just wouldn't be as fun now, would it?? And you and your friends can take turns cooking. Although, if you're invited out for dinner by a Korean, they will expect to do the cooking for you because you are their guest.

A tip for the kitchen: Having a pair of "kitchen" scissors kicking around is so handy! I use them for meat (as seen in the picture), or cutting up chives/green onions, cutting up gim (dried seaweed), etc! I don't know why we don't routinely use them in Canada!

But anyway! Back to the topic on hand.
Galbi is marinated beef ribs (apparently it can also be pork ribs, but I don't think that's as common). They are marinated in a soy sauce base with garlic and sugar and then grilled to delicious perfection.
One of the best parts is wrapping a piece of meat with rice and ssamjang (a sauce made from fermented bean paste and red pepper paste). Things tend to get very awkward at this point when you try to stuff it all in your mouth at the same time! :)

As you'll notice in the picture above, the people are not wearing shoes. Remember to take your shoes off either in the restaurant entranceway (they usually have cubbyholes for them), or before you step up into the eating area. At this particular restaurant, the shoes are tucked neatly under the doorway where you see my husband in purple standing.
It would be considered very impolite and embarrassing if you were to wear them into the dining area.

If you're out and about and looking for something to do, I highly recommend galbi bbq. Grab some friends and eat until you're stuffed! :)

Korean Food

I knew it.. I just KNEW I would start to really like Korean food. Which means that when I'm back in Canada I'll miss it! No fair!

I've been getting more inventive with what I try. I still don't really like kimchi, but that in no way limits what I eat. Chapch'ae is a noodle dish that is really tasty..mmm. We have it every Sunday lunch at the hall. And lamien is really good here (read: ramen noodles) Much better than the american version. Also, remember that shredded beef dish that Juno made at the Marshalls? A little spicy and you throw it on rice? Well, it seems that I'm constantly having that... and it's sooooo good. Much better than Juno's Canadian-ized version. It's really really spicy.. and the best way to eat it is to get a medium sized lettuce leaf, put some meat, rice, kimchi (I skip this part), and random veggies in it, throw some red pepper paste on top, roll it into a ball, and stuff the whole thing in your mouth. And you don't have to worry about being rude at this point with your cheeks puffed out and struggling to swallow. :) I love it!

You wanna know what else is growing on me? Everyone sharing everything. Everyone has their own rice bowl, and shares the countless side dishes. It's great. And yes, I do remember the whole germ thing.. and for some reason, it just doesn't bother me. It's just really cozy to sit around with friends and share everything, including hilarious jokes in chonglish (the korean version of "engrish" or whatever it's called)

Anyway, I'm off to bed.

Miss u!

My First Day in S. Korea... whew!

The point of this blog is so that everyday I find at least one good thing in S. Korea. (partly, so my sister keeps updated, and partly to keep me thinking positively)

As it's my first day.. I will start with the one good thing (because there is a lot of not-so-good at the moment)

One good thing.... in Pusan there is a store the sells french imported breads.. and they're sooooo cheap. (only about 80 cents to a dollar for a small loaf of sweet bread) I dropped in for a look and bought a pineapple fruit-cicle for 80 cents and it was heavenly. Mmmm.

Well, that's the good thing.. the bad: I'm entirely exhausted. I don't think I've been this tired in my entire life (even the 16 hour car trip doesn't top this) I'm seeing sparkles in my periphery and am feeling queasy.. yet here I am.. at the school. Blahhhh.. They seem to think that I'll run on pure ambition or something. Well, when I faint while teaching a class, they'll finally get it.
In fact, I'm not going to stick around for tonight.. yeah! I'm going to bed! YEAH!
Ok, that's the end of that..