The Constant.....Eater?

I'm beginning to think this blog should be called "The Constant Eater" because a lot of times my posts are about food. It is true before we moved to Korea I was a picky eater (no onions in anything, didn't really eat veggies, would never eat anything unless I knew exactly what was in it...). The only thing that I have refused to eat or try here in Korea is octopus. My husband is shocked and thrilled at the change in me. I even eat cooked carrots now. I'm surprised at all the vegetables I am eating. Also since beef is so expensive we have pretty much cut it out of our diet. I think we are both healthier for that and all the other changes in our eating habits. When we do eat out in Korea it isn't fast food but homemade food made fast. That's a big difference.

Here in Korea my bread gets moldy in a few days instead of a few weeks. My milk and eggs go bad so much sooner than back in the States. It's got to be all the preservatives that are added to everything back home. I now buy only half a loaf a bread and go to the grocery store almost every other day instead of once a week when we were living in the States.

Su-Mi (my maedeup teacher) took me to lunch before the chilbo exhibition and I had mandu guk which is Korean dumpling soup. It is one of my favorite foods here in Korea. The picture above is of my soup.

Su-Mi had bibimbap.

Here she is! I love her smile!!

While Curt (hubby) was in Taiwan this week I had all my Korean friends over for an American dinner. I made tacos with hamburger and also chicken. I had brought back about 20 packages of taco seasoning. It was so good to be with friends and we had a great time. They didn't tell Jeff that Curt was out of town for fear he wouldn't come but he took it well when he found out Curt wasn't going to be there.

It's Time to Eat!

At our local Home Plus you can also get a delicious meal as well as do other shopping. Located at the front of the ground level of the store is a bunch of cases containing plastic food samples. You order by the number so Curt (hubby) is always practicing his Korean especially if we order a 23.

The prices are incredible for the amount of food you get. We usually order one of the 11,000-12,000WON (about 11-12 US) food choices and we end up leaving food. Don't tell my mom.

You can usually find these cases easily because there are tons of Koreans standing in front of them deciding what they want. This time we went doing the Lunar New Year and the whole store was pretty empty. It was the only reason I was able to get a good picture of some of the cases.

Interesting Menu Item

We ate dinner last Saturday night with my Korean girlfriend(who we had also had lunch and coffee with). We stopped at a hamburger and hot dog joint in Seoul. It was hilarious to see this as a menu choice. It means that you get beer with your set.

In the U.S. a set is the same as ordering a burger, fries and Coke or a #2 or #5. In Korea, you don't order by the number instead you order by the description. At McDonald's, if I want the #1 set, I have to say "cheeseburger set" v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. When I first moved here and ordered by the number, the cashier would always have to look behind them to the menu board to see what I was ordering. I learned pretty fast after that happened a few times.

Lunch and Coffee in Seoul

We hadn't seen my Korean girlfriend since we've been back from our visit to the U.S. We got together last Saturday for lunch. This is a kimbap assortment.

We also ordered ddukboki which is spicy rice cakes. It was too spicy for me.

I ordered the scrimp risotto and it was delicious. So what do you do in Korea when you have a full belly? You go to a coffee shop.

This coffee shop had a unique name.

The interior was really cute. We spent a lot of time here and saw quite a few young couples hanging out.

I loved the bathroom sign. The bathroom was located in a stairway next to the coffee shop. The girl's bathroom was on the next level. I thought the girl's bathroom should be the closest but this is Korea. Tomorrow dinner!

Seoul Food

A new Kraze Burger has opened up at the Suwon Station. We were surprised to find that they spoke English which made ordering easy. Curt (hubby) ordered a chili burger along with chili-cheese fries.

Curt is still learning how to say "no tomato, no onion" in Korean. This is my Caesar salad with a cheeseburger. It's always great when I don't have to pick anything off of my burger especially tomato guts. I know I'm picky!

This is a shot of the inside of the store. We were the only customers. The music was blasting but then we did sit right next to one of the speakers.

When we went to Seoul last weekend, I had heard about another Mexican restaurant. Since they are few and far between here in Korea and we both love Mexican food, we had to try it out. It's called Tomatillo: The Taco Place. The ordering is very similar to Chipotles back in the States. You pick what you want (taco, burrito...), then your meat and fixings. They spoke English. I was even able to get extra sour cream on my burrito!

This is the outside of the restaurant.

A picture of my burrito.

We also got an order of nachos. Curt thought it wasn't as good as Dos Tacos in Gangnam while I thought it was really good. I LOVE Mexican food so I'm not going to judge the differences. It was really easy to find. Subway Line #1, Exit Jongak Station and it's on the right.

As if we didn't need another Korean food addiction, we discovered Rotiboy. It is a mouth watering experience.

It doesn't look like much on the outside but inside is a buttery confection that is really hard to describe. You can also get it flavored with a hint of coffee which is what we prefer.

They are also really reasonable and one just opened close to where we wait for the bus to take us from Seoul to Suwon.


Here is the outside. Hellena brought a box of them when she visited a few days ago. You just have to pop them into the oven for five minutes. Luckily, we don't know if there are any in Suwon but they are pretty prevalent in Seoul.

A Night in Seoul

Hannah teaches an English class on Thursday nights and since Curt was out of town, she invited me to her class. She said her students would be shocked to see me there. I met her outside of the Gangnum Station in Seoul. This is one of the the most congested areas in of Seoul especially at night.

I was waiting outside the exit and watching this Korean woman (the one at the right in black) try to give away advertising cards. Almost everyone that walked by ignored her but a few did take her card only to throw it on the ground a few yards away. When she saw a bunch of them on the ground, she went over and picked each one up and then threw them away in a garage can. I was really surprised that people would just throw them on the ground and even more so that she cared enough to pick them up.

I also noticed I got another picture of a devoted Korean boyfriend carrying his girlfriend's purse.



I met up with Hannah and we decided to eat dinner at Omuto which specializes in Korean type omelets. They are loaded with rice and all kinds of things.



I was surprised at how they advertised their salads, especially the one if you wanted fair skin.



We ended up splitting a curry and a cheese omelet. They were both delicious but way too much food.

Hannah has three students and they were shocked to see me. We spent the two hours with me doing most of the talking along with trying to coax them to speak to me. They were pretty timid but did really well. I had a great time and got back to Suwon about 11:00pm.

Rice Cooking 101

This photo is of Korean rice in my rice cooker. To me, the rice looks clean and ready to cook but to my Korean girlfriend, Hannah, this is filthy, dirty rice. Hannah was over one night cooking a Korean meal for us. I noticed her filling the rice cooker with rice, then removing the bowl from the rice cooker and placing it under the kitchen water faucet. I thought she was filling the bowl with water to cook but she continued to drain the water. She did this about three times when I asked her what she was doing.

She said that she was cleaning the rice and I gave her a puzzled look. I told her that I've never cleaned the rice and never knew you were suppose to. Back home, I was always a Minute Rice girl and I don't remember the directions ever saying you had to wash the rice.



This is my bag of Korean rice.


I don't see anywhere on the instructions where it is saying to wash the rice before use. Although, my Korean is non-existent but I did look at the pictures accompanying the instructions.

I am washing the rice now before I use it. Although, if I'm in a hurry, I have forgotten to. So be warned if you ever have rice at my house, the rice may not be washed!

Friday in Seoul, South Korea

After we mailed my book, we went to Seoul to try to retrieve Curt's (hubby) U.S. driver's license. The main reason (besides the crazy Korean drivers) I didn't get a Korean driver's license is you must surrender your U.S. driver's license. The only way to get it back is to show proof of an airplane trip abroad and they will return it to you. You still retain your Korean license. I was skeptical that retrieving it would be easy and I worried they would lose it or misplace it in the meantime.

We went to the license bureau with a copy of our Christmas flights scheduled for December. We went with Hellena, my Korean girlfriend, who helped with interpretation. We left without his license and me wearing a "I told you so" look. It turns out the flight has to be within a month of your departure to retrieve your license. Curt really just needed the number for something his U.S. company requested so he was able to get a photo copy of it. They didn't even charge us for the copy. Wow!

As we were riding the subway, I had to get a photo of this Korean's man bag. It says "EXCLUSIVE DESIGN HARE, BAG." It was so funny.



Of course, we had to go to lunch and Hellena chose a Chinese restaurant. I loved the bamboo place mats. I'm going to have to find some here.


We ordered some dim sum. Hellena had already taken one so that is why there is only two. She felt so bad and forgot that I always take pictures of the food. This one had a bunch of shrimp in it.

This is sweet and sour pork. I have not be able to find sweet and sour chicken which is one of my favorites. This was very good.

We also ordered some spring rolls. I've never had a spring roll melt in my mouth like these. They were heavenly!

We also order General Tao chicken. It wasn't as spicy as it's U.S. counterpart but it was still very delicious.

This was the final dim sum we were served. It had like soup in it and I would love to see how they made these. Everything was really good. Hellena didn't eat much because she said greasy food like Chinese makes her full. It's funny that she felt that Chinese food was greasy. I honestly couldn't tell but what do I know about food.

Hannah is Cooking in Da House!

With deadlines looming, my wonderful friend Hannah came over for the weekend. She cooked and just plain took care of us. She never follows a recipe and seems to use a million different ingredients to create her masterpieces. Here she is preparing homemade budae jjigae which is one of my favorite Korean foods.





She always has a smile on her face and a peace sign ready. I asked her why Koreans seem to cook everything on high (with the flame screaming). She said, "Is there any other way?" She always makes me smile.



Here is the budae jjigae. It was sooooo good!



The next meal she even brought the groceries. She wanted honey which I haven't had in my house since the kids were babies but she improvised with sugar.


I forgot the name but it was a chicken dish. It was spicy and sweet. I told her that I have to videotape her cooking and put it here on my blog.

One funny thing that happened on Saturday at Home Plus. Curt (hubby), Hannah and myself were on our way to lunch and on the escalator when we heard a little boy who looked about three crying very loudly. He was about 10 feet behind us with his grandmother. Hannah started laughing and asked us if we wanted to know what his grandmother said to him. Sweet little Korean grandmother told her grandson that if he didn't stop crying that the big foreigner was going to take him away. Who was the big foreigner she was talking about? MY HUSBAND!

The little boy only cried louder. I looked back to see the grandmother bending over her grandson while pointing at Curt. Hannah said that she again said that the foreigner was going to come and take him. I was shocked but Hannah said it is very common for Koreans to use this tactic with their children when they are misbehaving in public.

I still feel bad about this incident for a lot of reasons. Mostly, that this child would look at foreigners as something to be afraid of.

A funny thing happened in yoga today. It is still hot enough that I sweat in class so today I thought I would go in pigtails. A pony tail doesn't work because we spend part of the time on our back and it would be uncomfortable. I changed into my yoga clothes and walked into class a little later than usual. The entire room stopped warming up and starting pointing and laughing at me. Then they started calling me "ae-gi" which is the name for baby in Korean. Some even came over and yanked on my pigtails. It lasted for a few minutes until the teacher came in and got the class under control. My yoga buddy told me that NO ONE my age would EVER wear pigtails. It picked up again after class as we went into the changing room to change into our street clothes.

I had to do some shopping after class so over to Home Plus I went, pigtails and all. Did I get more stares than usual? I'm not sure because I'm always stared at but no one came over and yanked on them so I was grateful for that.

I was glad to see that at least today I could put a smile on a Korean's face. That doesn't happen every day to me. The U.S. beef import controversy had made things a little uncomfortable here at times. Will I wear pigtails out of my apartment again....... maybe.

More Mexican Food in South Korea

I had heard about a new Mexican restaurant called On the Border in the COEX Mall. It was a great opportunity to meet again with my Korean girlfriends. I hadn't seen them in a few weeks which is a long time in Korean terms. The restaurant was near the Hyundai Department Store but it was still hard to find and the girls had to ask several times to find it. One of the foods I crave is Mexican and restaurants aren't as plentiful as in the U.S.



The above photo shows my lunch which was a chicken burrito and a salad. The burrito came with a white sauce over that wasn't too bad. The chips and salsa were delicious.



Curt (hubby) had the chimichanga. He still preferred the food at Dos Tacos near Gangnam Station.


Hellena had a quesadilla and a bowl of chicken tortilla soup.



Hannah had beef and shrimp fajitas. After we finished eating we picked up some patbingsu, which is sweet red beans and shaved ice. It is combined with some milk and assorted fruit. It is what Koreans eat to cool off in the summer. We brought the patbingsu to a Starbucks for coffee. The Starbucks was packed with people. We had to wait a few minutes to find an open table.

The funniest thing we saw while enjoying our coffee and patbingsu was taking place in a coffee shop right across from ours. Curt noticed a Korean guy with his head on the table while his Korean girlfriend was systematically using her fingers to comb through his hair and then plucking something out every once in a while. This went on for some time and we were really entertained by the whole thing.

Hannah said that the girlfriend was plucking gray hairs. Honestly, these two looked like they were in their early 20's. We asked Hannah if this was something you see couples doing in public and she gave us a funny look and said, "No."

The only bad news of the day is I have a sore tooth and it is sore even when I don't chew on that side. I was hoping to be able to wait until we visit the U.S. this Christmas to have it looked at but now I'm not so sure. I just don't like going to the dentist so I will be deciding soon if I need to see the Korean dentist Curt saw. I'm wishing and hoping the pain will just go away.

It's All About the Food in South Korea

This was Curt's (hubby) choice on a recent shopping trip to our local Home Plus (like a U.S. Target). We have some of our best meals in the Home Plus food court. Most the choices are 5000-7000 won ($5-7 US). It's way too much for me to eat but Curt always takes up my slack. He had bibimbap with the usual sides.



I chose the above assortment because I was hungry for some shrimp. I didn't notice until Curt pointed it out that the soup had octopus in it which I don't like. I ate around the octopus and he finished the rest of the soup for me.


We also went to E Mart which again is like a Home Plus. We were looking for ink cartridges for our Korean printer. We found a hot dog shop and as we waited for our food, we noticed this sign on the wall. It reads "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory!" We got a laugh out of it. I think my territory is "large" enough thank you.


The hot dog shop is what we would call in the U.S. a fast food restaurant but in South Korea even at McDonalds, everything is made to order. So it took at least 5 minutes for our hot dogs, I mean hamburgers to arrive. No ketchup and mustard here. Mine was supposedly a cheese hot dog. It did come with cheese along with some type of coleslaw, sweet pickles and a dark sweet sauce (bulgogi). It was interesting to eat and very delicious.

I also heard from the U.S. that a Dr. Fish (fish pedicure) type spa has opened in the United States. It was even on Good Morning America yesterday. I am surprised at how much it is: $35 for 15 minutes and $50 for 30 minutes. Here we pay 2000 won ($2 US). Of course, we have to purchase a 8000 won drink to accompany the Dr. Fish. I wondered about the U.S. Department of Health and Safety's perspective on it. We have seen stories about people getting nasty infections from Dr. Fish but I think they went in with an open sore or something that festered after the Dr. Fish. I had told Curt that we should open one when we return to the U.S. and I guess someone beat us to it.