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: