Shanghai Eats

Some people like to shop on vacation. Some like to lie on the beach. I like to eat.

Shanghai is fantastic for street food. I loved the pork mooncakes. I could eat these everyday.

And Portuguese egg tarts… mmm. I need one of these bakeries next to my house.

Pork and rice cooked in (banana?) leaves.

Oh, and the pot stickers that shoot out hot oil when you bite into them (so be careful!)

Don't forget stinky tofu!

Since this was China and I couldn’t read anything, I would enter a restaurant with a decent amount of customers and shrug my shoulders, point to something on the menu or a neighbor’s dish and dig in. Great method if you don’t have any allergies or dietary constraints.

But I didn’t get to try everything I wanted. Time ran out and your belly can only hold so much food. Crayfish were on the top of my list, but I overindulged on street food and didn’t have room for any crustaceans. I guess that means I’ll have to go back. And probably eat some more eggs and tomatoes. 

East Sea Weekend

Back in June we decided that the last weekend of July would be spent on the East Coast. It started out as four of us, but as the weekend progressed, our group grew.

Our first night we spent at a love motel in Samcheok. A bit dirty but also dirty cheap. We spent Friday night on the beach slurping up ramen with shellfish and taking pictures at dusk.

Breakfast in the morning was a bit of a hassle to find, but once we found a restaurant, we enjoyed a Korean breakfast of 청국장 (fermented soy bean soup) and kimchi-jjigae.  

After meeting up with the rest of our companions at the bus stop, we headed to our Saturday destination: Jangho (장호). I had traveled to Jangho port last year when I camped on Samcheok's beach and really wanted to see it again. CNN Go listed Jangho as Korea's most beautiful village and I can see why. However, for some reason they like to describe it as Korea's Naples. This is Naples:

And this is Jangho.

So they are completely different. Plus, Naples is full of trash. Korea, stop calling X the Y of Korea. Jeju is not the Hawaii of Korea. Jeju is just Jeju. Comparing apples to oranges just ends up disappointing people. We were definitely not disappointed in Jangho, though, and spent the day basking in the sun, swimming, and drinking beer.

The evening was spent back in Samcheok with grilled shellfish and spicy octopus (쭈꾸미). A bit expensive, but mad delicious.

Sunday's activities were chosen last minute, but were probably my favorite of the weekend. We took a taxi to 무릉계곡 (Mureung Valley) for some hiking and mountain bibimbap. HS and I zoomed of and ended up by ourselves looking at waterfalls, climbing 'Heaven's Door' and looking out over the entire valley. What a day!

Poor deer lost its head...

This was my last weekend trip in Korea! Well, at least for this year. I'll probably be back again.

Yummy Summer

I love 회덮밥. So much. Aren't the colors beautiful?

Raw fish, rice, and veggies with some spicy sauce.

I had this near Nakseongdae station with HS. Not the highest quality, but still great and refreshing.

Roasted Veggie Sandwich

Already getting going on New Year's goals. Here was dinner tonight:

Roasted vegetables, humus, and greens on amazing whole grain bread from The Baker's Table. My stomach is quite happy.
I don't think I've ever roasted vegetables before, but I may have to start doing this all the time. Maybe make some sort of Koreanized version of this dish with Korean root vegetables... Red pepper paste instead of hummus? ㅋ ㅋ ㅋ

Thanksgiving in Seoul 2012

I can't remember when I was home for Thanksgiving... it must be at least six years. Luckily, most Thanksgivings I've had a great group of friends both in college and abroad who make the holiday worthwhile (even if we don't have the day of in Korea). This year, we hosted Halloween at our house and had quite a great turnout. We pretty much had every Thanksgiving fixing plus some extra dishes. I was going to make rice pudding, but since we had cupcakes and pumpkin pie I was discouraged from making the pretty much flavorless Swedish dessert. C made the turkey and did a fabulous job; she brined the turkey which resulted in a great bird. I might have to adopt her method...

This was my first plate

 Our house was pretty packed. Not only were we celebrating Thanksgiving, but it was also a chance to celebrate three of our friends birthdays. I love house parties!

One of the best contributions was given by JB; he bought a huge bottle of baiju: a Chinese liquor. As I was studying for the GRE, I was not drinking Thanksgiving night. Lots of our guests, however, hit the bottle decently hard. Love was in the air that night. Seriously, there were at least 6 people that kissed on Friday night. That baiju is horniness in a bottle.

They kissed

And we kissed (and JB is straight!)

I hope you kissed... J certainly was dancing like a stripper

 There are probably videos of all the sofa dancing that went on at that party. I'm not sure I want to see it. Embarrassing videos of people dancing are signs of a good party, though, huh?
So Happy Thanksgiving! I'm thankful for having a job that I like most of the time, an enjoyable life, good health, and great friends. I'm thankful that I live in a world where I can live across the ocean and still see my family back in the US at least once a year. I'm thankful to scientists for such amazing breakthroughs in agriculture that we can have amazing food all the time. I'm thankful for life ^^

October in Food

Yum yum yum! I'm a little late posting this, but this is some of the food in October!

Original creation: Mexican lasagna

We have amazing breakfast

Cameron made me fried rice!

 I went out for 쌈밥 with my school: all sorts of different types of greens with various side dishes. Super delicious and healthy.

Pork shoulder and noodles at school? Why not?

Homemade pizza ^^

October was a month of potlucks and barbeques

 

September's Sustenance

I had tons of great things to eat in September. That includes some amazing food in Taiwan, but that will be for a later post. Here's what kept me alive in Korea:

Cut noodles (made by hand)

 I went out with my co-workers for some delicious food- steamed minnows, followed by a surprisingly delicious spicy fish soup and then fried rice.

Soldier soup after volunteering with the Deaf Association

Catie and I make wonderful breakfasts on Sunday

Thinly sliced radishes with vegetables

 BBQ with my school and Jinnie teaching us how to make kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew) at home.

 Barley rice and sundubu jjigae (which is a soft type of tofu stew)

 Blueberry flavored makkeoli with my old co-teachers ^^

More kimchi stew with ramen noodles

 C and I have made some very American meals. Including tacos and spaghetti.

YUM YUM YUM! My favorite mackerel and spicy pork stir fry 

Eating spicy rice cake and stuffed pig intestines after our school's volleyball tournament 

 I've realized that my New Year's goal of eating twenty new cuisines is nowhere near completion. I'll have to work on that... Still, I have managed to try a lot of new Korean foods.