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.

Han's Deli

We discovered Han's Deli when we were staying near the Suwon Station waiting for our ocean shipment to come it. It had a picture menu and when venturing out to eat with non Koreans, a restaurant with a picture menu is always a good idea.

Recently one opened up near our apartment and we were excited to visit. Their menu is definitely Western oriented from pasta to quesadillas. The picture above is what Curt (hubby) ordered.

I ordered a pasta with white sauce. I forgot the name that they used. The food is great and we also get free sweet pickles!

The restaurant is on the second floor looking over a busy intersection so we always seem to choose the same booth with a window view. This is one of the plants that was bought by friends and family for the opening. We never read the English on it until now. It says: Flower Garden Romantic style & Tomato. My mom would have to agree, tomato goes with everything!

Celebration Korean Food! Lunch, Dinner and of course, Coffee

Yesterday I had lunch with all my yoga buddies. We bought 10,000 won ($10 US) coupons and were told to meet at this restaurant from 11-2. We all went together after class and luckily someone drove because it would have been a long walk. When we arrived at the restaurant, all the yoga teachers were the servers so I thought one or more owned the restaurant but that wasn't true. They were just "renting" for the couple of hours so I'm assuming it was a fundraiser although I'm not too certain. These were the side dishes and then we were also served soup. The older women really wanted me to try the side dish with the tiny fish (anchovy?). See it in the center of the picture. They pointed to their knees (mine are always sore from class) letting me know that it was good for my knees. I pointed to my eyes and the eyes of the fish letting them know I won't eat anything that can look at me. They laughed so hard at that and I'm sure they thought I was one crazy American. The kimchi was fantastic!!!



I went into Seoul for a night of maedeup with my Korean girlfriends. This week, we tried another traditional Korean restaurant that specialized in a fish soup. I've never had fish soup and as long as I didn't have to eat octopus, I was fine. These are the sides we received.

What I didn't know and should have was that the fish in the soup had bones! Yike! I was kinda freaked about eating a fish bone (and I think I may have). I had trouble separating the fish from the bone. Eventually my friend Hellena helped me out by deboning the fish before she put it into my bowl. I felt like I was two again. The soup was really spicy but good (except for the bones). I even ate tofu which I don't really like but in a soup, it takes on the taste of the soup.

It was so noisy in the restaurant with so many Korean men drinking too much soju that we ate and left immediately. You couldn't hear the person talking across the table from you. It was really that loud.

Of course, after dinner, is coffee. The girls surprised me with this and it was so cool looking I just had to take a picture. The coffee was topped with whipped cream and caramel. Mmmmm, my type of coffee.

They also bought these pastries. I could hardly eat any more so they had me bring most of this home to Curt (hubby). We got out our maedeup and I showed Hellena, with Hannah's help, how to make the male butterfly maedeup. We laughed and talked until 10:00pm. Time to get on the bus back to Suwon.

Dinner with My Girlfriends

We went to a Korean style restaurant which was famous for these dishes. Of course, now I can't remember the names but I'll find out at class on Saturday and update my blog. This was pork that had already been cooked so we were basically warming it up. The girls also put pieces of kimchi on the grill. The combination of the pork with the kimchi was unbelievably tasty.



This dish had chicken in it with kimchi plus a whole slew of other ingredients. It was really spicy and the waitress was surprised I liked it. The girls thought it was too spicy but they were drinking water while I was sipping on a Coke in between bites. I think the sugar helped tone down the spiciness. The waitress was very attentive and my girlfriends said that we were getting special treatment since I was a foreigner.


This is how the pork is prepared. It's the first thing you see when you walk into the restaurant.



I was surprised to find that it used wood but the girls said the wood gave the pork flavor which it did indeed. The restaurant was extremely crowded. We arrived around 8:00 pm. and we're able to grab one of the few empty spots.

This was a Korean traditional restaurant and I saw that there were a lot of men. They were extremely loud and I think more than a little drunk. I saw empty Soju bottles everywhere. But I must say they were having a great time just like we were.

After dinner, we went to a coffee house and didn't have coffee. We had freshly made kiwi smoothies. They were fantastic. We talked and laughed. We brought our maedeup and showed each other the problems we were having. Three heads are better than one. All of a sudden it was after 10 pm and I needed to get back to Suwon and the girls needed to get home. I got home around 10:40 pm and I was surprised at how long the line was for the bus to Suwon at that time of night. Koreans do work long hours!!

I'm skipping the rest of the week at yoga. I pulled a muscle in my knee and the more I go to yoga, the worse it is getting. Curt (hubby) made the suggestion to take a few days off of yoga and to give the knee time to heal. Good advice and I'm taking it.

Cool Restaurant in Suwon, South Korea

A few weeks ago Curt (hubby) had a work dinner at this restaurant which is called Jang Su Ma Eul. It is a chicken restaurant and he came home raving about the food. It's about 10 miles from our apartment so he had a co-worker program it into our GPS so he could take me to it. As we started out, Curt hit the wrong button and erased the address. It took Curt a little time to figure out how to enter it again and I was crabby thinking we would become lost which is VERY easy to do in Korea. But he got it entered and off we went.

The picture above is the restaurant. Isn't it the coolest building?



This was the first course which was some kind of greens and radish. The radish came in a big piece but the waitress took out a pair of scissors and sliced it up for us. Curt said that when he went with the co-workers, they had to slice the radish themselves. It was nice of her to do that for the foreigners.



You find these peppers with red bean paste with many Korean meals. Sometimes they are very hot and sometimes they are not. You never know but the red bean paste is always hot.


The next course was dalk nu roong ji baek sook which was a whole chicken in a creamy chicken sauce with rice and gingseng. The chicken just falls off the bone and there are bowls of salt to dip the chicken into before eating.

On the right was a creamy chicken and rice soup.

Curt was craving this chicken bulgogi. It was so good. In fact, the whole meal was delicious. As we were leaving, we were stopped by the hostess. We couldn't understand what she was saying but I could tell she wanted to know how we liked the meal. I rubbed my belly and said "Delicious!" I don't think she understood me but she was smiling when we left.

A view from from the car on the way home.

What You Would Never See on a Wall in a T.G.I. Friday's Restaurant Back in the U.S.

Seen on the wall of our local T.G.I. Friday's here in Suwon, South Korea.

Mexican Food in Seoul

My biggest craving since moving to Korea has been for Mexican food. Thanks to the Daily Kimchi, we found Mexican food in Korea. By subway, take exit 6 from Gangnam Station and upon leaving the station walk about one kilometer and look for the Tous Les Jours bakery which will be on your left side. Right before the bakery is an alleyway, turn left into the alley and you will see the signs for Dos Tacos. We were there on a Saturday about 3:00pm and it wasn't crowded at all.
We sat next to some other Westerners, something you don't see in Suwon everyday. We found a table and were given menus immediately. Then about three minutes later a waiter came to take our order (unusual in Korea, you normally have to wave over the waitstaff). We started to speak in our limited Korean only to find out the waiter spoke perfect English. I was also surprised to hear English being spoken exclusively by Westerners and Koreans alike. It felt really strange to hear all the English.

This is my chicken burrito which cost $5.50 USD. It came with plenty of chicken, sour cream, lettuce, cilantro, jalapeno peppers, onions, rice and a delicious salsa. They also had a spicy sauce you could add but the waiter said it was very spicy so we passed.

Curt ordered the chili burrito for $9.00 USD. His burrito came with beef, cheese, fried rice, chili bean, onion, jalapeno, olive, avocado, sour cream, cilantro, lettuce, and salsa. He said it was delicious. This definitely soothed our Mexican craving and we will be going back!

Adios!

It's Not Always as It Seems

We discovered a chicken restaurant a few blocks from
our apartment. I usually go once a week and get some
chicken to go. The owner gives me free treats in my bag
like a Pepsi. This week, she handed me this corn. It
smelled and looked delicious. When you bite into it, the
corn was the toughest corn I have ever eaten and we
really couldn't eat it. The chicken comes with a sweet
and sour coating and is really delicious.

We never would have ever gone into this restaurant if not for the sign.
In English, it said "Mexican" and I was so hungry for anything
Mexican that we entered the restaurant. Luckily, it had pictures of
the food on the wall and we soon discovered that the only thing Mexican
was the name, it was actually a chicken restaurant. We ordered a plate
of fried chicken and one of the sweet and sour chicken. The owner really
questioned (in Korean) our choices but we were very insistent that was
what we wanted. About 20 minutes later, she brought out two huge plates
of chicken. Ohhhhh, now we get it. The menu is family style. We brought
how a lot of leftovers.

I have been wanting to go to Icheon since we arrived here in Korea.
It is a huge ceramic community. I had visited all the websites:
http://english.tour2korea.com/03Sightseeing/DestinationsByRegions/depth04.asp?oid=&sightseeing_id=114&ADDRESS_1=21134&ADDRESS_2=20048&sight=sightseeing&konum=1&kosm=m3_1
http://www.atcjob.com/enjoy/view.php?bbs_num=29&bbs_code=visit

We found the Visitor's Center and got a map of the area. We found on the map the Icheon Pottery Village and off we went. We drove past it the first time. On the way back, we found a pottery shop pretty much next door so we parked the car and walked.

We found one shop. It had extremely expensive pottery, a vase was $1600.00. We walked outside and found this outdoor kiln.

Another shot of the kiln.

We found these two bags of peppers.

We found this street which lead to some private homes.

We followed it and found someone outside who we asked

where the village was. He basically pointed to where

we had been. I was extremely frustrated so we decided

to head home.

The GPS put us on this road. I told Curt, "This can't be right. This road

is too narrow." Curt said, "It's just like one of the back roads I take to

work. We continued on.

Then we ran into a roadblock. Curt had a few fine words for the GPS

and promptly started to back up the car. Why were we backing up?

The road was too narrow to turn around!

Another view of the road the GPS chose.

See why I was getting nervous.

We finally got on the right roads and headed back to Suwon. Here
is a tunnel we are about to enter. One of the tunnels is one mile long.

Inside the tunnel.

I was really disappointed and frustrated. I wanted to do some major

Christmas shopping. We ended up stopping at The Outback for a late

lunch. That really hit the spot.

I also did something I thought I would never do in South Korea. I'll

go into the details on that adventure tomorrow.