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I love food. During my time in Korea, I have been collecting recipes and anecdotes about Korean food. I also have been working on survival techniques for westerners living in Korea.

In this journal are recipes for cooking Korean food in Korea or abroad and recipes for recreating western food with Korean ingredients.

But mostly, it's about enjoying life.

SUBJECT KEY
Christmas Chronicles - Trying to celebrate Christmas in Korea
Drink - Imbibe me
Event - Special events involving special Korean foods
FFF (Food for Foreigners) - Recipes for foreigners living in Korea
FP (Food Porn) - Pictures for stimulation
Fusion - A mixture -- or clash -- of cultures
Junk - Junk food
KFC (Korean Food Concept) - A blog entry explaining a type of Korean food
Kimchi - Something about kimchi
KR (Korean Recipe) - A recipe for Korean food, duh!
Miscellaneous - Stuff, stuff, and stuff
News - Korean food in the news
Out There - What others are saying
Rest (Restaurant) - An entry about a restaurant in Korea
Street Food - An entry about a street food concept or adventure
Tip - A survival tip for living or visiting Korea
Video - A summary of a video on the site
WTF - A feature on anything unusual that has to be investigated further

Friday, February 09, 2007

(Event #8) Joe's Birthday at Hooters

February 24th. 2 PM.

I know, I know... it's tacky.

Seriously, I was originally planning to go to a Balinese restaurant where they sold durian milkshakes. Yet I only know of two people who would actually enjoy that, myself would be one of them.

Considering the good time we had at the first Hooters in Korea last month, I thought it would be a good place for a little birthday get together and get the ZenKimchi 식 Ruffians back and rolling.

I am well aware of the reputation Hooters has back in the States. Yet like most things from home, they are different over here. I never went to McDonald's in America.

Well, I don't really go to McDonald's in Korea, but really...

The buzz has been good about this Hooters in that it ironically is introducing a good relaxed party atmosphere in Korea with good service that is sorely lacking. There are many TGIs and Outbacks, but their service frankly sucks.

AND I DON'T WANT NO FREAKIN' SWEET PICKLES WITH MY STEAK!!

This is the first U.S. imported restaurant franchise, in my opinion, that actually gets it. Besides, when Eun Jeong saw the pics of our trip there, she said she wanted to go. If it gets Eun Jeong's stamp of approval, we're going.

Still not convinced?

Listen to the Scribblings of the Metropolitician podcast on the topic, and come back here.

If you live in the Seoul area, sign up to join the ZenKimchi 식 Ruffians on the right column. I hope to do more events in the near future like a shellfish roast and a street food night. I also am open to suggestions for places to go and events. It would really be great if more Koreans could join us or even introduce us to new exciting things.

Email me.

Labels: Event

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Sunday, December 10, 2006

(Event #7) Korean Wedding Food

As mentioned on the other blog, Eun Jeong went to her friend's wedding yesterday. She was designated as the official wedding bouquet catcher. I couldn't make it to the wedding, but I begged her to take the camera with her and at least get some pics of the food.

She returned with some good photos of the wedding and the food. Even though she said the food wasn't good at this particular wedding, the dishes served were typical for modern Korean weddings.

I myself have been to a couple of weddings here, and I think the best thing about them is the food--unlike you like the gaudy Las Vegas style of the modernized weddings here (the traditional weddings are much cooler events).

At the top is bulgogi. There's usually a main meat dish. Well, westerners would call it a main meat dish.

To Koreans, rice and soup are the main dishes. The soup is guksu, similar to Eun Jeong's special Janchi Guksu. Being a catered event, the noodles were too soggy in this one.

The big main soup here is a large bowl of Galbi Tang (don't pronounce it like the space age orange beverage). It's a simple soup of beef ribs in beef stock with some scant noodles and sliced green onions. I actually had that for lunch Friday. It's great for winter time. In this case, it was too bland, and the meat was too tough.

What else can we unwrap here? Just like westernized Korean weddings, I think Korean wedding caterers miss the point. You know, even if the food isn't fresh, at least take the plastic wrap off before the guests arrive.

Some fruit. That's good. And some Twigim--deep fried stuff. In this case, it was cold and soggy. At the top is my favorite Korean wedding food, Yuk Hui. It's Korean Steak Tartare. In fact, it kicks the French version's butt. Raw sliced tender beef mixed with Korean pear, sesame oil, and garlic. I went to a wedding a year ago and luckily sat at the Western table. Since most of them were picky eaters, I got loaded down with this delicate and so sinful treat. At this wedding, though, Eun Jeong said it wasn't fresh--a common theme with the foods from this caterer.

Lastly, it looks like we have some seafood snacks, in this case, shrimp and steamed squid, the prerequisite kimchi, and a scary looking salad.

Generally, though, I like the food at Korean weddings. If you get invited to one, try to avoid laughing during the ceremony and really enjoy the great hospitality and food.

Labels: Event

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Sunday, November 26, 2006

(Event #6) Maori Thanksgiving

Just a note that this entry is participating in the Morsels & Musings Festive Food Fair.

If you were following from the main blog, we were in Cheonan, South Korea, at SunMoon University (owned by the Moonies) for a KOTESOL (Korean Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) conference.

The big event was the New Zealand Māori hāngi style barbecue Thanksgiving dinner. It's also called umu in Hawaii and other countries of the Pacific.

Okay, so this is how it's done. You could say it's the recipe.

Dig a pit in the ground. It doesn't have to be big. It just has to be big enough for the food and stones that come later.
Heat rocks (preferably igneous rocks, like lava rocks) over a fire until they're white hot.
Line the pit with the rocks.
Place the food, wrapped in foil, in the pit. In this case, we had sweet potatoes, chickens, a whole cut up pig, and a few turkeys.
Cover the pit with something like metal sheeting. Then cover with dirt.
Cook for two to three hours.

I arrived during the cooking part. You see, we were busy much of the day, and I missed the start of the cooking. I wish I was there. The guy in charge of this was from the Cook Islands himself. He got stuck in traffic, though. So dinner got off to a late start.

When the conference was over, Aaron was worried because the food was far from ready. The attendees entered the cafeteria in the imposing "Main Building" on campus.

There wasn't much Aaron could do. He handled it as best he could, though. He announced that dinner was running late and would be ready -- um, in an hour. People groaned. Check out the lady in the foreground.

Aaron offered to refund the meal tickets. A few took him on the offer but not many. One of the attendees volunteered to entertain everyone with his saxophone. I wanted to go down and see the cooking.

I found it in the back of the building on a plot of land that looked like it was used for farming.

A small group had gathered, enjoying the fire and breaking the university's dry campus policy. The food was buried in front of the fire in the picture. People didn't know and kept walking on it.

This was another example of how glitches become blessings. The original idea was to have the food waiting for us in the cafeteria. The delay caused everyone to come outside and enjoy the atmosphere of cooking food in a pit.

It was fun, but we were also HUNGRY. All we had to eat all day was snacks from the inconveniently located convenience store. One of the Korean organizers said that we should just go ahead and dig up the food.

Break out the shovels, everyone!

Chris (left) helped with the digging.

As did I. With all these guys in suits digging, it looked like a late night groundbreaking ceremony for a shopping mall.

I started smelling roasted meat. It smelled good. Then we got steam!

The cook is the guy in shorts on the left.

Everyone watched in anticipation the unveiling of the food.

Oh yeah, can you smell it? There are some pictures that you can even smell on a computer screen.

Piggy looked like he'd seen better days. The sight made me want to look for someone with a conch shell.

(Don't expect to get that reference.)

The meat was loaded on plastic dishwasher trays, I assume, and carried into the building and up the elevator to the fifth floor cafeteria.

Along with Piggy.

I went to go get a new supply of batteries for the camera from the car. When I returned, there was a horde with plates, grasping for meat.

Despite getting fresh batteries for the camera, my pictures didn't turn out as well as I hoped. It's a food blog entry with bad blurry close ups of the food, such as this one.

This one.

And this one.

Keep in mind, I was being jostled by a lot of English teachers who hadn't tasted turkey in YEARS. And I was being pushed aside by Koreans who wanted to find what this big hoopla about turkey was about.

I did get some decent shots of salad.

And a pig head with pies.

The pies were from Costco and was another treat in a country where most Westerners don't have ovens in their homes.

Poor Ben had just gotten his plate filled and was about to head to a table when he was recruited for turkey carving.

I've never seen such anger repression in Ben. He did finally get to eat.

In fact, since some people left and there was so much meat, they were forcing it on us.

And let me tell you this. My first hāngi food experience was amazing. This created the smoky barbecue flavor while retaining a lot of moisture in the meat. The chicken breast was not dry. Granted, a few things were undercooked because we were short on time. They had to steam one of the turkeys in the kitchen to get it to cook all the way through.

I didn't have any turkey. The pork blew it away, in my opinion. I went up to the carver with my plate, and I saw him peeling some crispy fatty skin off the meat.

"What would you like."

"Could I have some meat with the skin on please."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah, really."

I didn't gross anyone out by snagging myself a foot or carving a cheek off the pig's face. It was the most amazing pork I had ever tasted. I'm pretty sure of it. Ben and the Chrisses agreed. It was pure aromatic earthiness. The smell of the pig and the oven stayed with me the rest of the evening. It's been over twenty-four hours, and the taste is still lingering in my mouth. I want more.

I'm definitely going to more of the conferences.

Labels: Event, festive food fair

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Sunday, October 08, 2006

(Event #5) The Great Food Blog Summit

From left: Shauna, Mary (mary eats), Gdog (The Daily Kimchi), Devante, me, Cat (SeoulLife.net), David, Colin
(Photography by Kevin; courtesy of mary eats)

As far as my intelligence reports, there are currently three Korean food bloggers in Korea. Currently. This was a historic occasion, getting all of us into the same room.

It started, as many of my endeavors, with me being very, very naughty. Colin had been talking about us getting together in Anyang for drinks during Chuseok week. Then Eun Jeong mentioned she was going to her mom's house in Gyeongju for the holiday. Since she was leaving, I thought I'd have a little get together and hope she wouldn't find out. Mary, from mary eats, had suggested we have something like this at some time.

You see, Eun Jeong is not anti-social. She just has been worried about people seeing our apartment while it is still in a semi-moved in state. Until this week, we still had boxes in our living room because we didn't have containers to put everything in. Now we do.

Yet I can't hide anything from Eun Jeong. When she said she may stay here during Chuseok, I told her about the get together. She said it was okay. She was cool with it.

I intentionally did not call this a party because I didn't want the pressure of having a party. It was an informal 'get together.' Nonetheless, I had to get some food. And since it looked like all the Korean food bloggers and Cat from SeoulLife were showing up, I couldn't get away with chips and dried squid. Besides, I had the oven.

On Thursday, Eun Jeong and I put our heads together to figure what we could cook. Just in case I couldn't make enough, I put the call out to everyone to bring drinks and possibly food. I decided to use the duck I had gotten from a new local butcher.

Funny story about the duck. Despite being in Asia, within miles of the home of Beijing Duck, duck meat itself is hard to find in my area. So a new butcher opened that had opening specials for 2,000 won whole chickens and 7,500 whole ducks.

I stopped by there on the way back from work. I asked if he had some duck.

He said he had some chicken and showed me the chicken. I asked if he was out of duck. He said he had some duck and pulled out a cellophane wrapped pack of dissected duckmeat.

I guessed it was better than nothing, so I asked for a chicken and a duck. He took the chicken to his cutting board and readied his knife. I stopped him.

"NO! I don't want it cut up. I want to roast it in my oven."

This seemed to confuse him.

"You don't want it cut up?" [NOTE: I'm loosely transcribing what he said, what I think he said, and what I think his face said] "What kind of person doesn't want his chicken cut up?"

I pointed to the whole chicken and made hand gestures, asking if he had a whole unprocessed duck. He went into the cooler and came out with a beautiful duck.

And then he put it on the chopping block and began to cut it.

ARRGH!!!

He basically stripped the skin and fat off the neck, butterflied it, and removed the giblets (kinda wish he hadn't). I walked up next to him and stopped him before he went any further.

"It's okay. Really, it is. All done. I want to buy it now. How much is it?"

"The duck is 7,500 won."

"Great. I want the chicken too."

"This chicken?"

"Yes."

He took the chicken I stopped him from mutilating before and started hacking at its wings. I stopped him in mid motion before cleaving the breastbone in two.

"Please, I don't want it cut!"

"Not even in half?"

"I want to roast it... um, French style."

"French style?"

He gave a dismissive look.

So I had a duck, and Eun Jeong didn't think she and I alone could eat a whole duck. So that took care of one part of the party.

I also experimented with a bread called Pain a l'Ancienne. It's a fairly new technique from France that uses ice water and refrigeration to help the bread develop flavoring enzymes and bacteria before the yeast wakes up. So this may have been the first time this bread has been made in Korea. I got it from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart of Johnson & Wales.

I started it the evening before, and everything went well until the baking. I had to throw out half the bread, and the ones that did survive looked more like bread sticks than loaves. Nonetheless, they tasted fine and had a great crispy texture.

I made a Caesar salad with homemade dressing. It wasn't because I'm Mr. DIY. It was because I couldn't find Caesar dressing at E-Mart.

I threw together a rustic onion tart using some of my leftover frozen croissant dough I had made last month (which had turned out to be much better pie crust dough than croissant dough).

Lastly, I made a big batch of mashed potatoes using Old Bay seasoning, some vinegar, and a whole stick of butter.

Some items that I had planned to make but didn't make it to the table: a balsamic tomato salad, Cock of the Walk style pickled onions, E-Mart variety sausages (I remembered that Mary liked those), and cinnamon rolls (which were proofing and getting bigger all evening).

You know, after the omen of the bread, I was worried that nothing would come out right. So I didn't take any pictures of the food. Mary did, though.

The duck I rubbed with salt, pepper, and Chinese five spice. Slowly roasted it and glazed it a bit with maple-dwinjang sauce.

Oh yeah, two sauces I improvised for the party that surprisingly turned out. Here are the recipes.

Canada Meets Korea Maple-Dwinjang Glaze
This recipe was inspired by something I saw on the internet somewhere.

Ingredients:
1/4 c. Maple Syrup (preferrably the real Canadian stuff)
1/4 c. Dwinjang Paste (the 'stinky miso')
1/4 c. Dark Soy Sauce
1 Small Onion, chopped
1/4 c. Sesame Oil
1/4 c. Rice Vinegar
1 Tbsp. Yuzu Juice (the Japanese citrus fruit similar to limes)
1 Tbsp. Korean Chile Powder (Gochugaru 고추가루)

Boil all the ingredients in a saucepan until it reduces thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Adjust the sweet and sourness with the maple syrup and vinegar.

Bloody Orange Sauce
I didn't have the ingredients that I saw on other sites for a traditional Duck l'Orange sauce, so I experimented with this one.

Ingredients:
1 c. Blood Orange Juice (the red orange juice)
1 Tbsp. Yuzu Juice
1 Tbsp. Fresh Ginger, chopped
1 tsp. Potato Starch (or Corn Starch)
1/4 c. Water

Boil the blood orange juice, yuzu juice, and ginger until it reduces to around half. Dissolve the starch in water and add to the boiling juice. Turn off the heat and let cool a bit to thicken.

The gang started showing up after five. Mary and her husband Kevin, followed by Cat and her husband David. Mary had brought a persimmon cheese tart with fresh nutmeg. David brought some cool wine and a case of high quality import beers (David, did you mean to leave that behind).

Colin showed up with some more booze and some Sun Chips and mandu. We started serving the food, and I realized that I had been so busy planning the cooking part, I hadn't given much thought to the serving part. We luckily had enough plates, but we had to use wooden chopsticks as utensils. All the spoons and tongs were used for serving.

The party picked up from there. I had to have been drunk because I remembered the next day saying things that I knew made me sound stupid.

Colin went to check on a call in the computer room when he said there was a knock on the door. Gdog from The Daily Kimchi arrived with Devante and Shauna (am I spelling your name right) and a bag o' soju.

Turned out Shauna was from Atlanta, as were Cat, David, and myself. How weird is that? Usually when you get a big group of foreigners in Korea, they're all from Vancouver.

We still had some food left, thank goodness, even though it wasn't of feasting proportions.

A bunch of food nerds in the same room. That was amazing. I don't get to talk about food in 'real time' very often. Poor Colin had this lost smile on his face much of the time.

It was a nice quiet get together. Gdog and his posse couldn't stay long. The trip from his area in Mokdong is pretty far to Anyang. Eun Jeong had to make that trek before we moved in together.

Gdog's departure signalled the winding down of the -- okay, it was a party.

As everyone was heading for the door, we remembered that we had forgotten to have Mary's persimmon tart. So shoes were again removed, and we had some tart.

Poor Mary was embarrassed, but the tart was amazing. Fresh nutmeg. Haven't tasted that since I moved to Korea. I had seconds.

SeoulLife and mary eats left after that. Colin and I sat out on the balcony with our beers, talking about life.

Beyond that, I have gotten hooked on making breads this weekend. I finished making the cinnamon rolls yesterday, and they turned out better than expected.

I also had all those E-Mart sausages to eat. But I had no bread. All the bread from the party was consumed. So I made my own hot dog buns, with toasted onions and sesame seeds.

Thanks everyone for showing up! Surely doing this again.

(NOTE: Photos of the food on the table and me with the tart come from mary eats)

Labels: Event

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Wednesday, October 04, 2006

(Event #4) Chuseok Deals!

The biggest holiday in Korea is basically here. Do you have your SPAM™ gift set yet?

No?

Well, here at ZenKimchi Chuseok Central, we have all the latest deals clipped from the newspapers -- just for you!

Take advantage of this now. Since it occurs on the same week as that other holiday we always confuse with other holidays (Independence Day, Constitution Day, Liberation Day, Constipation Day), you get two weekends, plus a Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday off. Yes, you may have to work on Monday and Wednesday, but think of it this way -- if you count the previous Friday, you get THREE FRIDAYS!!

And you know what three Fridays means? No, put down that soju bottle. It's time to shop!

First off, you need some fruit. And see the pretty packaging? That means freshness! Seng, seng!

43,000 won (~$43) for 13 apples is a bargain, especially if you take note of the beautiful packaging! And they're from Korea, so you know they're superior!

Oh, your father does not like fruit? How about this gift set of beef galbi.

At 148,000 won (~$148), it's a steal!

Cutting back on the red meat, you say? Well, you can't go wrong with a gorgeous package of dried fish.

Look how neatly they fit together. And the plastic yellow rope strung around them? That means quality. Just read the hangeul right there. 베스트 Gift. It's the Beh-suh-tuh -- I mean, Best Gift!

Have a friend who loves his Best Gift fish but has undesirable side effects from his pescous intake?

Nothing says, "I love you, but you smell bad," more than a gift set of toothpaste and soap! And remember, if it is packaged symmetrically, it is quality toothpaste and soap. Give your stinky friend this gift with a smile. He will definitely have a Rice Day.

So, you gave your mother a coffee pot and fresh bean coffee for Christmas last year. Has she used it? Yes, she says, but the coffee doesn't taste right.

Of course not! This is Korea. We drink our coffee instant and have been since 1954. Oma is a sophisticated lady, so she needs sophisticated coffee.

Maxim Original and Maxim Mild, for when you want the half-spoonful experience with a spoonful. And the Prima (프리마)? It's white and you put it in your coffee. Tell her that she'll love it. It's in a pretty red box. It's good.

Oh, you forgot to give something to your son's English teacher? Do foreigners celebrate Chuseok?

Of course not! Don't be silly! Only the most civilized of ancient cultures honors their ancestors with breathtaking gift sets of SPAM™.

Nonetheless, foreigners need socks. They're so silly, they think that Chuseok means "Two Socks."

Foreign English teachers. What would we do without them?

Now that it is finished, you can go visit your family for Chuseok.

What? You say that you waited too late to get a bus ticket to Graepupeon?

Console yourself with the Chuseok bachelor's survival kit. A five-pack of ramyeon and a case of Cass™ Beer.

Labels: Event

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Sunday, July 23, 2006

(Event #3) Sh-wing in July

The first gathering of the ZenKimchi 식 Ruffians met Saturday at Sh-wing for wings and beer. On the way there, I found that Domino's is now offering Satan's pizza.

Even though I was late, I was the first to arrive. Sh-wing was empty, and there was a late middle-aged lady there. I explained to her in my bad Korean that friends were coming, and we both set up the chairs and umbrella outside. If one can sit outside at Sh-wing -- do it. Half of the Sh-wing experience is the wings and beer. The other half is the people watching of Apgujeong denizens.

Sh-wing, we found, is under new management, and the all-you-can-eat special that was a staple for years no longer exists. They do have a 60-wing bucket for 43,000 won deal, but we made our disappointment known to management before ordering. Brant was there, along with Yeong-jun and Cathi, the proprieter of the Seoul Life blog.

The wings are still good. The cheeseburger and fries are still great. The service is actually a little better. Yet remember to order your next batch of wings fifteen minutes before you need them. They take a while.

The people watching was better than usual. The styles on the scantily clad plastic surgery-enhanced young ladies and men were not disappointing. Event the mannequin across the street showed a little for us.

At one point, the leggy singer Son Ji-yeon stopped in front of Sh-wing. She seemed to be waiting for people to notice and gawk at her. When people did so, she promptly walked away. I didn't get any pics because I was in the bathroom at the time. (Darn you, beer!)

After Sh-wing, Brant, Cathi, and I went to my other traditional Apgujeong spot, Gustimo. It's an amazing gelato establishment. Until recently, the flavors were only written in Korean and Italian. But now there is English in small letters by each flavor. The flavors are also designated by real life versions of their ingredients. The cheese gelato has a package of cream cheese on it. The coconut gelato has a coconut. The black sesame seed as a jar of -- black sesame seeds.

They always have new interesting flavors. Sometimes I get the diablo, which is a spicy gelato. This time, I found they had a white wine flavor. Of course I got that one, along with dark chocolate and tiramasu.

Brant got the velvety chocolate and... I forget.

And I totally forgot what Cathi ordered. You'll have to check her blog for that info. She also took pictures that I missed, such as the menu for "Calm Chowder."

We did see a Hello Kitty fan. It brought up the subject of the Koreans' urban myth that if you sleep under a fan, you could die. So that makes this model one killer pussy.

On the main street to Apgujeong's south, a TV drama was filming. See the boom? The scene took place in the back seat of a car driving off. The blurry guy in the suit was one actor. The fruity-shirted guy was the director.

I was trying to get a good shot of the actress in the car when other actors told me to stop taking pictures. Brant said to me, "It's a public street. You can take pictures."

But I really didn't want fruity-shirted director guy to chase me down. I mean, he had a car.

The other significant find in Apgujeong was the cigarette bar. This made me think of Tony Bourdain (I'm glad he got out of Beirut). This is the future.

People will no longer be allowed to smoke anywhere except this depressing cigarette bar. And it looked like there was nothing else they served there but cigarettes. I can understand a cigar bar. Cigars have a woody aroma that can be intoxicating. But a cigarette bar would smell like an old person's breath. Also, was that guy following my camera?

Labels: Event

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Friday, January 27, 2006

(Event #2) Lunar New Year: Let's Have Us a Bowl of Deokguk -- or Thirty-two

It is time for Lunar New Year again. In Korean, it's Seollal. Thank goodness it's not as freezing as it was last year. I have a video of last year's celebrations on the ZenKimchi video blog web site at the folk village in downtown Seoul.

There are a few traditional foods eaten on the New Year, as there are in other cultures. My culture has a tradition of eating black-eyed peas and collard greens for good luck on New Year's Day. Can't find either in Korea, so when in Korea, do what the Hanguk saram do.

The big symbolic food is deokguk, a white beef stock soup with chewy rice cakes in it. We had it today at the school where I work. It's a fairly simple soup. I can't find a recipe on the internet, but I've asked around. What can make it special is the garnishes one puts on it, like shredded egg, kimchi, dried salted seaweed, and vegetables.

The rice cakes, or deok (pronounced similar to "dock"), come from a long strand one inch or more in diameter. It is cut into coin-like shapes, and this is intentional. This is to bring wealth when one eats a bowl.

I'm not sure if the rest of Asia does this, but Koreans count birthdays different than we do. There is the legal birthday, based on the solar year you were born, and there's the lunar birthday. Generally, one could say that everyone is one year older than she really is. Everyone's birthday is on Lunar New Year.

Since this is so, there's a saying that a person must eat as many bowls of deokguk according to how old he has become this year. So, I guess I turn thirty-two this Seollal. I should eat thirty-two bowls of soup.

No wonder this is an extended holiday.

As with many foods eaten as tradition, it's eaten only as tradition. I've talked to a few Koreans who can't stand deokguk but eat it anyway, the same as many Canadians and Americans don't care much for turkey but have it on Thanksgiving. I still haven't found a Korean equivelant of fruitcake, though.

There isn't much out there on the history of deokguk and traditional Korean New Year's foods, not in English. I'll post more when I find out more. One funny thing I found is a reference to an old treaty signed between Korea and England, China, and Germany, known as the Treaty of Deokguk. Korea calls England Yongguk and China Chunguk. Supposedly, Korea used to call Germany Deokguk. I told a Korean co-worker about my finding, and she was surprised. But she said that the word "deokguk" implies being long and white.

How this applies to Germans, I'm afraid to guess.

Labels: Event

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Sunday, November 13, 2005

(Event #1) Pepero Day

Children get all excited about this day, Pepero Day. Okay, the Korean spelling is 빼빼로, making i

ts literal Romanization "Bbebbero."

How about Bpebpero?

Actually, if you say it using that spelling, more Koreans will understand you.

Bpebpero comes from the Korean root meaning "skinny." These are skinny cookie sticks dipped in chocolate. Bpebpero Day occurs on November 11th, or 11/11.

Get it?

It's an obvious commercial ploy by the Korean conglomerates, more than likely Lotte, to obligate children to buy candies on a specified day. It's really no different from Hallmark inventing Valentine's Day to sell more greeting cards.

When I talk about Bpebpero Day with Korean adults, they almost all ask, "What d

o you think about that?"

The adults are acutely aware of the commercial propaganda of this day. Being a teacher and a parent, I have learned that one person alone is powerless against a multi-million dollar marketing campaign.

So I bought a few 500 won packs of Bpebpero to hand out to my students.

On Bpebpero Day, we teachers also receive Bpebpero from students. This was only my second Bpebpero Day, but in one year's time, it seems like the flavor has improved a lot. Last year, I could barely eat the things because they tasted so laden with chemicals.

This year they tasted more natural, like a delicate Swiss cookie. And they had larger, more creative varieties. My favorite was essentially a waffle cone rolled into a long tube and dipped in chocolate. It was a foot long.

And also, they can be pretty useful. Their pencil-like shapes come in handy when you run out of ink.

Labels: Event

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ZenKimchi Exclusive!

The ZenKimchi 식 Ruffians is a group dedicated to finding the sublime meal in Korea. "식" (Sik) is the Korean word for "cuisine." "Ruffians" is the term used for fans and followers of Anthony Bourdain's philosophy of experiencing the most a culture has to offer through its food.
Sign up now to join us on the next outing.
Note: Most all events right now will be in the Seoul area.

UPCOMING EVENTS
Sign up to get invites to new events
2/24 Joe's Birthday at Hooters
--PAST EVENTS--
Hockey and Dong Dong Ju
Foreigner Chuseok
Sh-wing in July