Food Blog linkage...

Where I read, mostly...

So, I've noticed that I am reading a lot more food blogs recently... I don't know if this is because of my relatively rural location and its accompanying lack of accessible activities (at least for someone who speaks next to no Korean)... or perhaps it is me missing American food, because no matter how much I love Korean food (a lot!), I do miss many of the things I ate in America... maybe it is not so much missing the food, as missing a sense of community I had in the States - I lived with my sisters, I saw my friends in person, I was able to talk to the vendors at the farmers markets and my favorite shops and have them understand me... whatever the reason, my food blog consumption has been up recently... so I thought I would share a list of the new sites I am loving (there are many others that I love, and have read for a long time - these are just the new ones)...

These are all "new to me" with in the last month or two, though many have been around for a while... and some of them are a bit more than just food... they tend to reflect my love for writing about life, with recipes... some I love for the beautiful photography, some for the beautiful words, many for both, actually... and they all have wonderful food... anyway, the list...

Always with Butter

Desserts for Breakfast

Eat All About It ... right now she is writing for the Seattle times at the All You Can Eat blog

Eat Like a Girl

Hollow Legs

Remedial Eating

Rowley's Whiskey Forge

The British Larder

The Yellow House

I would love to know what other people been reading more of recently... online or anywhere... please share...

Jeonju Bibimbap Festival...

 ... really an excuse to see two of my favorite people...

They really aren't creepy, I promise!

This weekend I went to Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea, ostensibly to eat bibimbap. It was after all the annual festival celebrating this awesome food... and it really is an awesome food - I've yet to have an iteration that I haven't liked, though some do shine brighter than others. And I did eat bibimbap. And it was tasty (the best I've had so far, in fact).

Festival bibimbap

However, I also got a tour of some of L. and B.'s favorite places in their current hometown. First we hit the Hanok village, where the bibimbap festival was being held, and the displays of historical iterations of bibimbap were impressive...

But we were all pretty hungry, so we moved on to the real thing - and as stated above, it was super tasty. After we were all fully satiated, we browsed around the Hanok village a bit more. There were lovely booths with crafts and food. But there was more to be crammed into the 27 1/2 hours I was in Jeonju, so we wandered over to the Gaeksa - a shopping district a short walk away from the Hanok village.

B. perusing the offerings in the Gaeksa

The Gaeksa is a wonderland of retail delight, but I managed to resist temptation until we got to Hot Tracks, a stationary store, where I succumbed to the lure of office supplies and scrapbooking necessities. What can I say, they had my favorite pens in colors I didn't, and a box in a box (which has become my desk organizer), and cool fabric tape that I needed to add to my scrapbook of Korea. The little journal was probably unnecessary, but I have a hard time resisting quad-ruled notebooks.

The night was still young and we were getting hungry again, so after a quick break to let the puppy out at home, we moved on to Chonbuk, which is the district next to Chonbuk National University, where I was introduced B.'s favorite Korean food (maybe favorite food ever?), dak galbi. I took pics of the whole process, but that seems a bit excessive here, so perhaps I'll save that treat for some future post. For now, here is the final product...

Dak galbi, which actually means "chicken ribs".

It is a mixture of marinated chicken, vegetables, noodles, rice cakes, and sweet potatoes. They cook it at the table in front of you, periodically stirring and adding more chili sauce. The white-ish river in the middle of the pan is melty cheese. It's served with  lettuce in which you wrap the yummy goodness. Which we all clearly enjoyed...

Yummy!

The dak galbi break revived us, so we moved on to a tour of the neighborhood. There was a bit of shopping to be done here, as well. In fact, we found a purchase my scarf daemon would not let me pass up. The lovely carriages are now mine!

Carriage scarf!

At this point we were starting to wind down, so we moved on to a lovely little spot called Art & Travel... they have it all...

Art & Travel

They only do tarot in Korean, though. Sad face. So we restrained ourselves to nightcaps and "Words With Friends" on L.'s iPhone. 

The was night finished off sleeping at the jjimjilbang (Korean bathhouse) - it's cheap and not overly uncomfortable, despite the fact that your sleep on the floor in a room full of strangers. That makes it sound much more uncomfortable and awkward than it actually is, but it is also an accurate description of the experience, so I guess this really is a case of 'you had to be there'.

Upon waking... ok, really upon finally getting up and ready... we went off to eat. Again. This time we satisfied my craving for American breakfast... kinda. In Korea, breakfast, even the American one, comes with salad. But hey, hash browns make it all good. Then we walked some more. This time back in the Gaeksa for the things that L. forgot to buy in the excitement of facilitating my Gaeksa initiation the night before. We took a little break at Ann House Cafe Self Bar (or Ann's Self House, according to B.). It's like having tea (and cake!) in a doll house.

Adorable tea!

Revived, we resumed the pursuit of purchasable items, Halloween and pet paraphernalia for B. and L. and irresistible office supplies for me. (No, I don't have a problem. Why do you ask?) 

Shopping made us all hungry again, so they fed me once more before I had to head back to the bus station. My camera was already packed, so I will have to post pictures of shabu shabu next time, because, oh, yes, there will be a next time! Yummy!

So that was my weekend of eating and walking, and eating and walking, and eating and walking.

List: Korean food I've tried so far...

So, first two apologies... I'm sorry, but I was too busy eating and listening to the Korean speakers around me to take pictures. And also, while I'm sure I'm not the world's worst speller, neither am I the best, or even really good at spelling, so some of these may be a bit off...

• Kimchi - I haven't tried cucumber kimchi yet, but I think I've tasted most of the other kinds
• Mandu (and manduguk) - dumplings
• Toeji galbi - grilled pork ribs
• Toast (which unlike American toast, is actually an egg sandwich with various other things on it, depending on the kind of toast i.e. ham and cheese toast is egg, ham, and cheese)
• Toenjang jigae - bean paste soup/stew
• Kimchi jigae - kimchi soup/stew
• Seafood pancakes
• Bibimbap - deliciousness! rice, veggies, chili paste, and an egg (sometimes meat, too)
• Gimbap - a rice roll similar to sushi hand rolls, but I like it better - this is what I usually have on my supper break
• Chuseok rice cakes
• Many banchan (side dishes) for which I don't have names
• Snacks - the snacks (junk food) here is somewhat different... things I expect to be sweet are sometimes salty, and even when they aren't, they are rarely as sweet as I am used to... and things I think will be salty are almost always sweeter than I expect.
• Soju (technically a drink, not a food) 

That is all I am remembering, obviously I will post more about food - and I will try to remember to take pictures!

A Korean Update... With Pictures!

Last Wednesday, the 7th, I got to Reagan National Airport at 4:30 am to begin my trek across the country, and then across the Pacific Ocean. The next 25 hours are lost in a blur of airpot trams, plane boardings, and too-small airplane seats. I arrived in Korea around 6 pm local time, on the 8th. After running the gauntlet of immigration, baggage claim, and customs, the very helpful information desk people helped me buy my bus ticket to the correct Gwangju (the one in Gyungki-do). They also guided me through ground transportation to the correct stop to wait for my bus. 

 I moved into my apartment on Saturday, after staying with my school director and his family for a couple days while the previous teacher moved out. As you will see from the pictures, I am not completely settled and organized... that may happen sometime around when I have to pack to leave, if I know me.

This view is standing on my bed, all the way in the opposite corner of the apartment.

This is next to the door, in front of the refrigerator.

Here's my little patio, complete with washing machine and drying rack.

And my tiny, unseparated bathroom - I'm not quite used to showering in the middle of the room yet.

I arrived for the festival of Chuseok, and so even more than normal, my Korean hosts were anxious to make sure I had enough to eat.

These are the traditional rice cakes - my favorites were the ones with sesame and honey filling.

Here we have the radish kimchi that is my new favorite food. Homemade and delicious!

I will try to get pictures of my neighborhood up next...

=)

A new adventure...

Much has happened since last we spoke (or really, I wrote at you), my loyal readers. In that time I have applied for and achieved a job teaching overseas, visited my sisters, seen a city that was new to me, moved my things, and I am now staying with my sisters (first G, then M) until it's time to fly. Whew! That's a lot.

So, for the news that is probably of most interest to those of you who read here... Teaching overseas. I will be English teaching in Korea, in a city just outside of Seoul. There are things about the job that make me nervous - no Korean language experience, young children - but for the most part I am overwhelmingly excited to begin. I am excited for the new place and the experiences, hopefully good experiences. This will be an opportunity for me to expand my teaching experience, and at the same time I might be able to save a little money and pay down some of my student loan debt.

This doesn't mean that I am done with academia - I am still following along on the internet, keeping track of what is going on in my various realms of interest. But I am taking this time to figure out what it is I want to pursue - food, medieval lit, popular romance studies - and how it is best to pursue that primary interest once I figure it out. I am pretty sure food will be involved, but how and in what combination of ideas I don't yet know. My teaching schedule should give me a fair amount of writing time, as well. Which I hope to use not only for the aforementioned figuring, but also to work on projects and papers I've started but have not ever thought through and written out. Perhaps in the process of finishing, I will also be figuring. I am also going to spend a lot of time reading - my reading list I never finished, new philosophers I've stumbled across, food memoirs I've added to my list, my auto-buy authors that I can get my hands on in Korea. I've been stocking up on eBooks, as I only get two suitcases. And also because I love the format.

I am not sure what this move will mean for me on the cooking front. It's my understanding that most of the eating in Korea is done out, in a very tasty and inexpensive way. This is exciting for the cuisine I will get to taste, but disturbing that I won't have the comforts of my accustomed kitchen or the excitement of learning new techniques and dishes. However it happens, though, I am looking forward to exploring the cuisine.

I will report more as the adventure unfolds...