Dongdaemun market

Dongdaemun market is a wholesale shoppers paradise. The "market" is made up of rows of buildings that house everything from electronics to socks to stores filled with Ajuma visors. The market is practically a 24 hour affair and it's well known that you can get the best deals after 2am. M and I keep saying we should go after a night out on the town but we haven't made it there past 11:30 pm yet.

Yesterday I went to the market with some people that I met who were looking for fabric so we went to the fabric building (duh!) Each of the eight floors were packed with different types and colors of fabrics and sewing materials. (My mother, an adorable and gifted seamstress, would love this place.)  It's very common to go to the market and to pick out fabric and trimmings and have them custom made into bedding, curtains, dresses, upholstery covers, etc. After picking out materials and designs you can have just about anything made and delivered to your home in about a week. The people that I went to the market with were looking into custom bedding, including sheets, pillow cases, accent pillows (with cases) and a blanket. The total cost came out to about $140 for a Queen sized bed. Not too bad.

Cooking Class

Last week I took my first formal Korean cooking class. The theme of the class was Magkolli, slightly fermented Korean rice wine. (The Magkolli industry recently held a contest to choose a more "western friendly" name for Magkolli. The "winner" was Drunken rice. I don't think they should change the name at all, but if they are going to, I don't think Drunken rice is the best choice. I'm just sayin.) The menu was based on food that is typically eaten with Magkolli: Pa jun (savory scallion pancake) and Tteokbokki (rice flour noodles).

 The tour started at Eumma market where me and the other 3 students met Daniel Gray of Seoul Eats fame. At the market we tasted and bought fresh ingredients and then we moved on to Ongo studios where Chef Shawn Park taught us how to make the dishes. He demonstrated how to cook both the Pa Jun and the Tteokbokki and then we were set up at our own stations and left to recreate the dishes on our own.


We started with the Pa Jun which made me really happy because it's one of my favorite things to eat. I was surprised to see how easy it was to make and how relatively healthy it was (okay, healthy before it gets fried). I always thought that pa jun was made with eggs, and it can be, but it doesn't have to be and we didn't use any eggs. All we used was flour, scallions, onions, garlic, shrimp, squid and a lot of soy oil. We mixed all the ingredients in a bowl and fried it up. The dipping sauce was a simple mix of soy sauce, sesame oil and red pepper. It was really delicious.


In Seoul you can't walk the length of a city block without seeing or smelling a tteokbokki stand. Visored Ajumas are constantly stirring it up with a sticky sweet ketchupy sauce and cut up onions and cabbage. I like tteokbokki but it’s not my favorite and I never thought about making it myself, until now. Chef Park said that his recipe was more grown up and sophisticated and he was right.

We lightly fried the small fresh tteokbokki and so they were both fluffy and a bit crunchy on the outside as opposed to being soft and chewy, as they usually are. They tasted almost like pop corn. It was a very different texture than I'm used to when it comes to tteokbokki and I really enjoyed it. We made a simple sauce out of gochujang (my new favorite condiment), water, fresh garlic, chopped onion and cabbage. After coating the tteokbokki in the sauce we topped it off with the sesame dream team: sliced sesame leaf (green perilla), freshly toasted sesame seeds and a light drizzled of sesame oil. It was tteokbokki - sesame heaven.


When we finished cooking we all sat together and enjoyed the food and magkolli while sharing our Seoul stories. I really enjoyed the whole experience, but especially learning how to make my own Korean food. I already made both dishes at home and can't wait to make them for our friends and family when we get back to NY. So if you're reading this, consider it an invitation to dinner! I'm taking another class tomorrow morning and I'll be learning how to make BULGOGI!! So stay tuned....

Our cooking stations:

Chef Park showing us how it's done:

Gochujang:

Fried tteokbokki sans sauce:

Making pa jun

My tasty pa jun:

my adult tteokbokki:

Korean Teachers Protest

While walking around City Hall this past weekend we came across a group of teachers protesting the current law which forbids them to join a union. The protest was unique to me in that there was music, dancing and lots of strange games. It looked like fun! Here are some pics and a very short and perhaps blurry video.

Restaurant segregation

While we're in Seoul, M and I are very open to and interested in meeting people. We like to go to popular places with crowds and action, just like when we are at home. When deciding on where to dine here we consider the social capabilities of the night just as much as the gastronomical ones. Seoul seems to be a good match for us in this respect because it's a large, cosmopolitan city that has endless hip and delicious places to eat and drink. It does sound perfect for us, doesn't it? Yes, except that for some reason we walk into a restaurant we are often seated in the nose bleed section - that is far far away from any other patrons. Usually somewhere near the bathroom or kitchen, even if there are empty seats in a prime section of the restaurant. That is exactly what happened when we walked into the conveyor belt sushi place. The entire front of the place was packed and we were seated at the last possible seats at the complete opposite end of the sushi bar. There were at least 10 seats between us and other customers who were seated up front.


Korean restaurant workers, if you are reading this, please seat us next to other people. We won't bite. Promise.

Conveyor Belt Sushi

I've heard of conveyor belt sushi restaurants but I've never actually seen one until we got to Seoul. Naturally I wanted to try it out and so we went to a place nearby last week. The set up and production of the place was impressive, the sushi, unfortunately was not. It was mostly the same 7 or 8 varieties of white fishes and a lot of raw shrimp that looked entirely unappetizing. M enjoyed the eel sushi and my highlight was the bottomless ginger. The restaurant was large with a huge square shaped sushi bar wrapped around the chef station. The chefs put the color coded plates out pretty quickly. The plate colors corresponded to the cost of the plate. Most of the dishes we chose were in the 3,800 won to 4,400 won price range (roughly $3.25 - $4) but there were dishes that cost a lot more, including the eel. I thought the prices were a little high considering the quality of the sushi.


Another, "famous" conveyor belt sushi place was introduced to us by Ariyong, M's colleague’s wife. We went there this weekend and the quality was much better but there wasn't much variety. All the plates were 3,500 won and all in all it was a fine experience. I think I'll stick with Hwey, Korean style sashimi for now. (At least until the end of the month when we go to Japan!)

The first place:

The second place:

Su Je Bi for the Soul

Yesterday I was in the mood for Su Je Bi and so I decided to try making it, on my own. I went to the Grand Mart food mart and picked up some flour for the dumpling skins and kelp, dried anchovies, green pepper and a few other things for the broth. I didn't have an actual recipe to use and I didn't want to look it up so I approximated ingredient amounts.


Dumpling skins:

1 cup flour
1/3 cup water
1 tsp grape seed oil (I didn't have any vegetable oil)
Salt
Broth:

6 dried anchovies (head and intestines removed)
1 palm sized piece of dried kelp
1 TBSP garlic
2 small Korean hot green peppers (not bell peppers)
2 stalks of green onion
Salt & pepper

A drizzle of sesame oil.
First I kneaded the dough for a few minutes and then set it in a plastic bag in the fridge while I made the broth.
I boiled the kelp and anchovies for about 20 minutes and then discarded them from the broth. I added the remaining ingredients and simmered them for another 20 minutes or so before hand tearing the dough into the broth. When the dumplings where cooked through I added a tiny bit of sesame oil to the soup and ate it all up.
The soup actually tasted really good but not exactly the way Su Je Bi should taste. I realized that it was missing a few key ingredients that would have made it much better. Potato and fish sauce would have deepened the broth and made it a bit more savory. I also should have let the dough rest a bit longer. It was a little thicker than I wanted it but still quite good. Even though it wasn't perfect I was still really pleased with my results. I love the taste of the broth and I especially love how easy and quick it is to make. I'm already thinking about Matzo Ball Su Je Bi for the holidays. I'm going to be the first Jewish mother to make Su Je Bi instead of chicken soup when my kids are sick.
Here are some pics of the ingredients and final product:

Seoul Park Rose Garden

Yesterday I spend the day walking around the Rose Garden at Seoul Grand Park. The weather was beautiful and I wanted to be outside.

When I got out of the subway station (the park is about 45 minutes from my apartment) I thought I was in Paris. The road leading to the park was wide and lined with beautiful trees with bright green leaves and dark, almost black bark. The sun was peering through the trees and as usual the Seoul Mountains set the background. It was a glorious setting.

I could see that the parking lot was empty but there were plenty kids, young lovers, and of course there were Ajumas - older and married women. (I've been meaning to write a post on Ajumas but I have no idea know where to start.)

 I took a tram to the garden and as soon as I got off I could smell the roses. When I stepped through the gates into the garden I thought I was in heaven. The sprawling garden was laid out on a river bank so that the rose bush paths all led to the water. Trestled archways led to more rose paths and provided shade and wooden benches for heightened rose viewing pleasure. A slight breeze and piped in classical music completed the scene. I felt like I stepped into a Monet, and I loved every minute of it.

The roses came in every color and size and in crazy color combinations. The ones I liked the best were really big and had hot pink petals and bright orange stimuli (I'm taking a guess that that's the right name since that's all I remember from 7th grade science.) I especially loved seeing how thick the stems and how large the thorns could be. I never got roses like these. I never knew what I was missing.

After walking around and smelling the roses for about an hour I decided to take a rest and eat the snack that I brought with me - small, sweet Korean yams. I found a nice spot in the shade by the river and enjoyed the yams, the smell of the roses, the sounds of the music mixed in with the waterfalls and birds chirping, the view of the lake, and the perfection of the moment. I enjoyed it so much that I bought a rose scented after bath spray. I guess I've been converted.
Well I hope you enjoy my photos as much as I enjoyed the day.

Korean-style sashimi

While walking through the backstreets to Hongdae we decided to stop for dinner at a cute Japanese place - we're pretty sure it was Japanese. The decoration and style of the small space was definitley Japanese: lots of lanterns and pumping cat fists, but the menu was in Korean and the sashimi was served in the Korean style (Hwe).

The menu was entirely in Korean and lacking the convenient pictures that are pretty common on most menus in Seoul. With no other options we pointed to a fried croquet on a table across from ours and then ordered some drinks. While waiting we were able to read that the specialty of the restaurant was 사시미. Sashimi. We decided to order some without knowing what kind of fish it was and how much of it we ordered. We like sashimi so we didn't really think twice about it.

When it came to the table the sashimi was presented on top of the fish carcass it came from. Head and tail intact. (We've heard about this style of sashimi and have seen restaurants that specialize in it but were reluctant to try it.) M felt a bit queasy about the whole thing because our fish was alive a few minutes ago and it was staring right at him. Once we got over the initial shock of seeing the fish flesh presented that way the head and tail of the fish started moving around on our plate. Our fish was still alive! M jumped out of his seat and was scared to come back to the table. It was both hysterical and sad at the same time. Of course I realize that in order for me to eat a fish, said fish needs to die. I didn't realize that it would die on my plate as I ate its flesh. It took a few minutes of poking, taking pictures, and hoping the fish would finally stop moving before we took the "when in Rome" approach and attempted a taste.  Once we got started we never stopped. We ate the whole thing and it was really tasty and well, really fresh.

Here are the pics:

When we were done with the fish they took the carcass outside to dry it out. I'm guessing the bones will be used for some kind of stock. Our fish is the small one on the top that isn't hanging.

The fried curry croquets were delish! Golden and crunchy on the outside and crisp, curried veggies on the inside.

Hair Update

Two weeks ago I had a hair disaster. Today I'm happy to blog that I went to get my hair color corrected and I'm no longer the Ronald McDonald of Seoul! I wouldn't say I'm exactly thrilled with the results but I'm not complaining either. Now my hair is so dark brown that it almost looks black. I'm hoping that in a few weeks it will start to lighten up a bit. I can't say that i'll never go back to being a blonde, since I always do go back to it, but I'm definitley good for now.

Pics to come...

Mike's Cabin

Mike's cabin is a cool bar in Sinchon where expats and Koreans come together for drinks, darts, foozeball, great music, dancing and fun. Mike's is kind of a bar/club/lounge hybrid. It's not uncommon for darts, dancing, and relaxing to be going on all at the same time. It's also a great place to go to meet new people and to get the scoop on local events. We went last weekend and met a fun group of guys and girls from Shanghai.

Dunkin Donuts

M likes to read and prepare for his classes at cafes. (I think he's got a cognitive map of all the free wifi, decent coffee, and book friendly coffee shops in Seoul.) He's also a huge doughnut lover and so he couldn't resist trying Korean Dunkin Donuts. On one of his trips to DD's he realized that in addition to the "regular" doughnuts, the Korean Dunkin Donuts have "multicultural donuts". In other words there are multi-culti flavors incorporated into the doughnuts. Some are sweet and some are savory and a lot of them are plain old strange.

We decided to taste the savoury lentil curry croquet first. It was actually pretty good. I imagine it was supposed to be from India but it tasted more the like the golden curry puffs we get from our local thai takeout in Bklyn. Next up we decided to be bold and so we ordered the garlic glazed. It was a sweet doughnut filled with garlic that had been cooked down until it turned sweet and then glazed over with sugar. It wasn't as bad as it sounds but it wasn't that great either. There were some other strange combinations like the sweet olive chewisty, the onion and garlic roll, and of course the kimchi croquet. We'll save those for another time.