The Morning Banana Diet owes much of its massive popularity to its simplicity: a breakfast of one banana and warm water as soon as you wake up in the morning, and you can eat lunch and dinner as usual.
What did I say about Koreans and portion control? These little ones are preparing to sink their baby teeth into a one meter (3.28 feet) in diameter Australian beef hamburger. The colossal burger was on display at the Yongsan branch of E-Mart on Aug. 27 to promote Australian beef.
Supersize this - INSIDE JoongAng Daily
Posted using ShareThis
My husband’s family is a notorious “food tripper” — as in we’d spend hours driving to a city known for its specialty food even if we could get it in Seoul (pretty much every city’s specialty is available in the capital).In other words, they are willing to take the time and effort and go a little out of their way for the "real thing" rather than simply finding an equivalent in Seoul. I love this family already. They drove from Seoul to Chuncheon (a one-hour drive) just for some dakkalbi. Why?
Dalk kalbi is one of my favorite Korean dishes. ... What’s in it? Pieces of chicken, spicy sauce, rice cake, cabbage, sweet potato, green onions. Rice cake and sweet potato? Strange isn’t it but it’s really good!Actually, there's nothing strange about it at all. There's a reason that Koreans are willing to drive at least two hours one way to Chuncheon just for dakgalbi. It's really, really good.
If your bedroom or living-room are begging for some Korean-style flair, check out VintageJamie at Etsy.com.
Jamie Choi, aka VintageJamie, only uses natural fibers such as cotton and linen for all her pillowcases. Her home is also dog and cat free, so allergies should not be an issue.
The Suwon, South Korea-based seamstress sells pillowcases in various sizes from 14 inches square to 24 inches square, so you can be sure to find the size you need to perfectly accent your Pacific Rim decor.
A former free-lance English-to-Korean film translator, she made the transition to stay-at-home mom to take care of her two children. Her love of sewing began as a hobby, but it is now an online business.
For more information, you can contact her on either of her blogs, vintagejamie.blogspot.com or blog.naver.com/prtjami. Free shipping is available, but keep this in mind:
If you live in South Korea, please contact me before you pick up the items on my Etsy shop. Thank you~ ^_____^
Photo from ROK Rural Development Administration.This is because Koreans are heavily into portion control in attempts to steer clear of the obesity epidemic. In short, expect 4 oz. drinks and smaller food portions than you are use to.Actually, it has little to do with modern concerns about obesity. Korean portions have always been smaller and focused on a wide variety of fresh, lightly cooked or fermented vegetables.
Korea Times Photo by Sohn Yong-seokKoreans are quite proud of their food. The traditional meal consists of hot soup (with lots of fish and/or vegetables), rice, kimchi and other small side dishes.3. Learn to use thin metal chopsticks. Koreans are perfectly happy to use the most complicated style of chopsticks in Asia to put food into their mouths.
South Korea is the only country that eats with metal chopsticks. Most Asian countries use chopsticks, but only of the wooden variety. Metal chopsticks are heavier and considered more difficult to use. With a little practice, though, even the most Western Westerner can become quite skilled at using them4. Korean food is inexpensive, but not cheap.
Price wise, Korean food is very inexpensive. Two people can eat on the street for less than 7500W. If you cook most of your meals at home and avoid large quantities of red meat, Western food and packaged foods, you can get by on 40,000-80,000 won of food per week.5. Traditional Korean cuisine doesn't include very sweet desserts. Some people call Korean dishes served at the end of the meal "dessert", not because they are sweet but because they signal the end of the meal. However, don't tell me Koreans don't have a sweet tooth. Convenience stores in Korean have rows of shelves filled with Choco-pies and other sweets and bakeries have become very popular.
Koreans often skip out on the dessert at meals, so don't expect a piece of pie when you've finished! Their traditional dessert, rice cake, is not very sweet. I suggest giving it a try, though most Western mouths aren't too fond of it.Posted using ShareThis
Tamar1973 photoGuy's Cajun Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo $14.50 Blackened chicken breast in creamy garlic parmesan sauce with sun-dried tomatoes, and scallions. Tossed with fettuccini pasta. All-Time #1 seller at Johnny Garlic's!
Tamar1973 photoTop designer Anya Hindmarch recently said the age of "it bag" is over and consumers have begun to realize that there is no need to pay so much money for a bag that will be out of fashion in the next season.Here are some cute yet functional handbags and purses for ex-pats living in South Korea who want to support the Korean economy with their hard-earned won.
If you're looking for a cotton tote bag with Korean sensibility, check out norinori's shop on Etsy.com. This Seoul-based shop specializes in 100% cotton tote bags, like this one called "Prayer." The size is 16 in. x 14 in. (4) or 40 cm x 35 cm (10).
Make a wish in your own space.The shop has been on Etsy.com since May 26, 2008. As of yet, there have been no sales. This bag (which costs US$45) would be perfect for an impromptu field trip to the palace with your students. Since it's cotton, it's also washable.
The second Korea-based shop is Bysoniasonia's. For US$28.30, you can easily justify the purchase of this cute and functional tote bag. The bag is 15.5 in. by 11.5 in. (39.5 cm by 29.3 cm). With a 11-inch-diameter round floor, it will keep your out door food market or flea market purchases from crushing each other. This bag is also cotton so don't worry about the ivory tone. It's washable as well. However, if you want a different color, Ms. Sonia will take custom orders. She also sells clutches and vintage bags as well.
If your purse needs run on the small side, check out Atelierdesoyun at Etsy.com. She uses linen, cotton and hemp as well as vintage ribbon and trims to design her petite purses and wristlets. Like this wristlet, Linen Hemp Pyramid Triangle Wristlet Pouch in Sky Aqua Blue, is 5 in. wide by 5 in. high by 5 in. deep. Each purse or wristlet is custom-made to order.
Please understand that every item in my shop is made to order. I hand dye the color and craft those design one by one, giving each of them unique character.I believe it is important to support the local economy of our current residence whenever possible, and that is even more important during these difficult economic times. Buy local!
Seoul Eats has a team of writers devoted to bringing you news about food in Korea. We bring you interesting food tidbits, restaurant reviews, and random tomfoolery.I featured Seoul Eats in my review because the Korea Times article did not post a photo of the Seoul Eats blog, devoting photo space instead to the other two blogs in the article, Zen Kimchi and Fat Man Seoul. I also like that Seoul Eats did not start out as a foodie blog; it evolved into one. If you dig through the earlier blog posts, you will discover a couple of different trains of thought. Some posts describe the problems and travails common to many ex-pats who travel to Korea to teach ESL in either a school or hagwon (institute) setting. Common themes were classroom struggles, difficulties with squat-style toilets and culture shock. The other train of thought that popped up from time to time were about the more personal struggles of a Korean adoptee returning to Korea to try to find the birth family he barely remembered. (As an non-Korean adoptee myself, I understand this a little bit.) It's a struggle to figure out how you fit into the future when you don't know much about your past. It's even worse when the parts of your past you do remember consist of occasional alcoholic rages, beatings (or watching other people getting beat up), and random memories of food (which is one thing we both have in common). But soon, the blog emphasis changed from a personal travel log to food blog. He started talking more often about food and less often about other aspects of Korean culture (or his own personal life). Voila, a food blog! Then he found other foodies to help fill space with restaurant reviews, photos, etc., and a Seoul-oriented food blog was born. You also have to love a blog that makes use of the comic-book style to make foodi-licious food stories. Below is an example of his comicbook-style food blogging. (I might use that sometime.)
Even though Seoul Eats and Beyond Koreafornian Cooking cover a lot of the same material, so far we have not found ourselves writing "me too" blogs about a particular article, restaurant or chef. The Korean food/fusion scene is large enough for both of us to find "interesting food tidbits" yet retain our own original voices.
I can't imagine a bingsu without the sweetened red bean paste, which would be properly called patbingsu.A glass filled with shaved ice and bokbunja extract, topped with vanilla ice cream and decorated with mint leaves and a berry...The delicious, intense flavor of the sweet berries and the ice went well with the soft, milky taste of the ice cream. It was a simple - yet refreshing and creative - harmony.
...said judges should be screened to see whether they hold "biased ideological views" and plans to recommend A-Meat seek another judge if it feels they are biased.She is being sued by Mr. Park Chang-kyu, a South Korean beef importer and restaurateur, because of comments she made in reaction to MBC's sensational report in May 2008 discussing the potential for Mad Cow disease in American cattle. Since Ms. Kim was named as a co-defendant alongside the MBC producers and reporters directly associated with the report, many have come to her defense, arguing that the suit is a legal assault on her right to freedom of speech. I have not seen any articles or blogs coming to the defense of MBC in regards to this lawsuit. Maybe that's because a government report found that their shoddy and possibly negligent English translations purposefully exaggerated the threat of Mad Cow disease in American beef to boost their ratings and to provoke negative Korean public opinion of the US. Ms. Kim, on the other hand, was simply reacting in a blunt, knee-jerk manner to the content of that report. She could not have known that MBC was manipulating her, and millions of her fellow Koreans to react the way they did to that report. I do not believe that Mr. Park is helping his food disparagement case by targeting Ms. Kim in this fashion. This suit may have gained more publicity than it would have if MBC was the only party he sued, but the only court that should matter in this case is the opinion of a judge and jury, not the court of public opinion.
I received a message from the editors of Foodbuzz.com on July 24, telling me they would feature my Korean Gingered Pear Sauce recipe on their front page on Aug. 17.
"Yum! Your recipe will be featured on the Foodbuzz homepage on Aug 17th. Congratulations! Thanks for being a part of the Foodbuzz Community and we hope your recipe tasted as good as it looks!" —FoodbuzzMy husband excitedly promised to capture an image of the front page of the website with Paparazzi (a Mac browser view capture application) to commemorate the honor. Here it is.
I haven't racked up hundreds of new subscribers as a result of this but I had only been a member for a couple of weeks, so I think of it as an honor. I hope people try it out and give me feedback on the results.
Photo: Courtesy of Yonhap/JoongAng Daily
Institute of Traditional Korean Food
Classes last three hours and are taught in English, Japanese and Chinese. Prices range from 50,000 won to 70,000 won per person. Only groups of 20 or more can arrange for a class. Applicants can pick from a range of rice cake, kimchi and traditional Korean dishes. Reservations should be made at least a week in advance.
Free cooking classes for Japanese tourists are held every Saturday through November.
The institute is located near Jongno 3-ga Subway Station Line 3, Exit 7. After exiting the subway station, walk straight, past two stoplights. It will be on your left.
For more information call (02) 741-5477 or visit www.kfr.or.kr
Food and Culture Korea Co.
Classes are taught in English and Japanese. Prices range from 25,000 won to 50,000 won per dish. Only groups of two or more can take a class. To get there go to Gyeongbok Palace Subway Station Line 3, Exit 2. Walk straight for approximately 500 meters. For more information call (02) 720-6704, visit www.fnckorea.com or send an e-mail to hwlee@fnckorea.com
Aug. 14 is supposed to be a day for couples walk around in the woods in green clothes (sounds like a St. Patrick's day knock-off to me). Singles drown their sorrows by drinking lots of cheap soju (which is usually sold in little green bottles) to console themselves since they haven't found someone to dress in green and sneak around with in the woods. This "holiday" is not nearly as popular as Valentines Day, White Day and Black Day, however. Maybe if Doosan or Jinro did a massive marketing blitz for Green Day, it might help the holiday gain some traction.
Many people erroneously believe that grapes are grown everywhere except Asia. Nothing could be further from the truth. Historical records indicate grape cultivation in Korea goes as far back as the 14th century, during the Koryo dynasty, when people drank Podoju (포도주) which is a rice wine mixed with Korean grapes.
In more recent times, Korean celebrities such as actor Bae Yong Joon (BYJ) and Korean pop entrepreneur Soo-Man Lee (founder of Seoul-based S M Entertainment) have made it publicly known they consider themselves oenophiles (wine lovers). BYJ's purchase of the Korean TV rights to the popular Japanese manga, Drops of God, was inspired in part by his personal passion for wine.
Even though the grape cultivation in Korea goes all the way back to Koryo dynasty, grape wine did not start gaining a foothold in Korea until the turn of the last century. I wonder if the Japanese occupation delayed Korea's development as a wine growing region?
...Modern viticulture began around 1906 when an experimental station was established to test imported cultivars. The wine industry began in 1910 in Kyongbuk Province. Some cultivars for wine were imported from USA, Europe, and Japan. These have been grown throughout the country since 1960...Korea does have some indigenous grape varieties but according to Gi-Cheol Song
...wild species of grapes like Vitis amurensis and Vitis coignetiae found in the Republic of Korea are not commercially important species.They say the average South Korean drinks about half a liter of wine a year, but this trend is growing, especially among Korea's younger generation. Doosan, a large Korean chaebol, makes Majuang wine, which is a blend of Korean grapes with European or New World varietals. Doosan supplies 200,000 bottles of Majuang wine per year for use in Catholic masses throughout Korea. Doosan has supplied sacramental wine to the Catholic Church in Korea for over 30 years. Majuang is not a luxury wine and it will not compete with Opus One or some of the other snooty, pretentious wines on the market. It is marketed straight to the middle and working class, most bottles selling for less than $10 a bottle.
Napa and Sonoma Counties are not the only two counties producing wine in California. The American winery that supplies Doosan with a lot of wine to make their blends is Ironstone Vineyards. The winery is located in Calaveras County, in the Sierra Nevada Foothills. Ironstone Vineyards is the largest American exporter of wine to Korea thanks to its partnership with Doosan.
I tried to find markets selling Majuang wine for the American market but to no avail at this point. Most of the Korean winemakers do not make enough cases for the export market. For now, Ironstone Vineyards might be the closest one can get to buying Korean wine.
The five were booked without physical detention on the charge of intentionally distorting and exaggerating facts about the risk of mad cow disease in American beef.Mr. Park Chang-kyu is claiming 300 million won ($240,000) in damages although he claims to have incurred over 1.50 billion won ($1.22 million) in operating losses.
We suffered huge damages because the MBC report discouraged consumers from eating American beef, forcing dozens of Orae Dream restaurants to shut down. The candlelight vigils also delayed our beef import schedules by more than a month,” he said. “We’ve suffered 1.5 billion won (1.22 million dollars) in damages, but I seek just 300 million won (240,000 dollars) in compensation for now.
According to the Dong-A Ilbo, Park who is the president of A Meat and restaurant chain Orae Dream is the first US beef importer to file a product disparagement suit against MBC. The popular MBC program sparked widespread protests in Seoul and helped stymie the Korea/U.S. Free Trade Agreement talks last year.
In May 2008, actress Kim Min-sun posted a comment on her website saying, “It is insane to import American beef with bones since it could cause mad cow disease. I’d rather eat potassium cyanide.” A promise she was apparently spotted breaking within a couple of months after her blog post.
There are striking similarities between this lawsuit and a class-action lawsuit filed against Oprah Winfrey by the Texas Beef Group. The trade group claimed that Texas ranchers had suffered more than $12 million in economic damages after she aired a show on April 16, 1996, discussing mad cow disease.
When Winfrey's mad cow disease show aired on U.S. television, cases of the disease in humans were limited to the United Kingdom. At that time, there were no known cases of the disease in the United States.
One of her featured guests that day was Howard Lyman, a former cattle rancher who had repented of his carnivorous ways and had become a vegetarian food activist. He told Winfrey's 15 million-strong audience: One hundred thousand cows per year in the United States are fine at night, dead in the morning. The majority of those cows are rounded up, ground up, fed back to other cows. If only one of them has mad cow disease, [it] has the potential to infect thousands.After Lyman provided some more colorful and gory details about how some cows were fed commercial feeds made from the cooked and "sterilized" remains of cows and other animals, Winfrey exclaimed, "It has just stopped me cold from eating another burger!" Those comments and the subsequent drop in cattle prices spurred the cattle ranchers in Texas to sue Winfrey and Lyman and test Texas' new product-disparagement law. The Texas law stated that people could be held legally liable if they make false and disparaging statements about perishable food products, and raw beef is certainly perishable. Twelve other U.S. states, including Georgia and Idaho, have similar laws on the books. After a six-week trial, Winfrey and her co-defendants were found not guilty by a court of beef-loving folks in Amarillo, Texas. The jury verdict in Winfrey's favor was upheld on appeal. At this point, the food-disparagement lawsuit filed in Seoul Southern District Court is not a class-action lawsuit. Park told the Dong-A Ilbo:
American beef importers in Korea have suffered about 300 billion won ($240 million) in collective damages, but I understand companies are taking steps to file individual lawsuits since they incurred differing amounts of losses.Although there are obvious similarities between the two stories, there are also clear differences. The experts interviewed on The Oprah Winfrey show may have used very colorful, graphic language, but the basics facts were truthful and held up under close scrutiny in a court of law. The Korean Communications Commission (KCC) investigated MBC's mad cow disease program, and their conclusions weren't very charitable. They found that MBC's program was based on distortions of scientific data, use of questionable film footage, purposeful mistranslations of English interviews and flat-out lies. On August 12, 2008, the KCC forced MBC to apologize on air for its mistranslations. I'm sure the KCC's report and other evidence will end up on the evidence table during this trial as well. Some claim that this lawsuit is an attack on free speech in the same way that the lawsuit against The Oprah Winfrey show was back in 1996. However, in America truth is an absolute defense against libel. I will be watching the coverage of this Korean food-disparagement trail closely. I'm sure all of us will learn a thing or two about Korean media law by the time the jury has rendered its verdict in this case.
Here are a few tips on keeping a journal during your travels in Korea:
This hardcover blank book makes a great journal or sketchbook to take on your travels. The front and back covers are a map of Asia taken from a vintage atlas found in a used bookstore. The front focuses on North and South Korea .... It has been hand-bound with orange linen thread in a Coptic binding. The first page has been Gocco printed to give you a place to say who the journal belongs to and how to contact that person in the horrible event of the journal and owner being separated. It also includes one of my favorite quotes by Bruce Chatwin, "To lose a passport was the least of one's worries. To lose a notebook was a catastrophe." There are 80 pages of 50 lb. white sketch paper. This book opens flat to make for easy writing or sketching and at 5" x 7" (12.7 cm x 17.78 cm). It's an easy size to take anywhere and throw into your travel bag.
The August 6 edition of the JoonAng Daily Online had a brief article about the Natural Herb Center in Baekdu village, Gangwon Province, where visitors can ride on a small monorail while instructors discuss the 200+ different medicinal herbs common to Gangwon's forests.
Experience various natural herbs, such as Angelica gigas, milk vetch root, Cnidium officinale, Angelica tenuissima, Codonopsis lanceolata, and balloonflower, and taste medicinal foods and healthy mountain herb dishes.
I designed the T-shirt myself and uploaded it to Cafepress.com. If you want your own, you can get one here. I made this video around the time that Bae Yong Joon was suffering a serious shoulder injury during the final weeks of filming the Korean TV miniseries Tae Wang Sa Shin Gi (The Legend). He was actually on vacation in the U.S. at the time. I had hoped he would come out to Sonoma County to research his upcoming project, a Korean TV miniseries Drops of God, which is based on the Japanese manga by the same name, but it was not meant to be.
Even though I had made the shirt specifically for this video, when it came time to do the video I got cold feet because I knew that most people would not understand it because it's in Koreanized English, a.k.a. konglish. When I expressed my concerns to my husband, his reply was, "Well, it wouldn't be the first time someone wore a T-shirt that made no sense."
This was also the first video I made where I discuss more than one recipe. As I was developing this video, I tried two different recipes for the alfredo sauce base. I tested both versions repeatedly on my family, friends and my husband's co-workers before I made a final decision. The deciding factor was which sauce reheated better, i.e., oil and sauce wouldn't separate. Heavy cream makes a creamier sauce, but cream cheese keeps the sauce looking good the second day.
Because a pound of pasta serves four to eight people, depending on whether the pasta is the side dish or the main meal, people usually have leftovers. My testing showed that the version using the cream cheese reheated more nicely. But we made a slide with the recipe for the other option anyway because people have a right to make their own decision.
The Korean American Coalition – Los Angeles (KAC) is sponsoring a Korean BBQ cook-off on Aug. 8 (Saturday) in the parking lot of the Summit on Sixth Building. They are partnering with Yelp to host the event. The three cook-off judges are: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold and LA Times Food Editor Russ Parsons.
Ten restaurants scheduled to participate in the competition are Beverly Soon Tofu, Byul Dae Po, Ham Ji Park, Jinju Galbi, Mu Dae Po, Park's BBQ, So Hyang, and Soowon Galbi. (Where's Kogi?)
Schedule of Events:
2:00 pm – Eating contest with mystery ingredient
3:30 pm – Cooking demonstration “How to marinate Korean BBQ” by Monica Yang, resident chef at Good Samaritan Hospital
5:00 pm – Cook-off competition
6:30 pm – Awards ceremony
If you're going to be in LA this weekend, check it out! I hope they follow through with their plans to make it an annual event, which would be a benefit to Korean BBQ enthusiasts the world over!
According to the Korea Herald, the Korean Tourism Organization has published a booklet to assist Korean restaurant owners in developing accurate English (as well as Japanese and Chinese) translations of their menu items. It also provides tips on giving their staff basic foreign language training so they can explain the menu items to their customers.
This booklet is just one part of the Korean government's efforts to promote Korean culinary tradition worldwide (besides appointing Stephen Colbert's arch-nemesis Rain as their Korean food ambassador). A lot of people come to Korea for the food. I wonder how many come to Korea to read and photograph the humorous konglish menus?
The Korea Herald article says,
The KTO has been operating a center dedicated to improving foreign language signs and information across the country, for a more uniform and correct use of foreign languages. The center also provides free translation and proofreading services to municipalities, public organizations and restaurants.Well, if the KTO's plan works out, Korean restaurant menus will be more accurate but far less entertaining.
 |
| Photo credit: Jeff Quackenbush, 2008 |
The issue of disposable chopsticks became a huge topic of discussion in "green" circles leading up to the 2008 Summer Olympic games in Beijing. Environmentalists and their media cheerleaders in countries such as China, Taiwan and Japan pushed restaurants to stop providing disposable chopsticks for their clients to reduce waste.
Many restaurants in Taipei and other large Asian cities have stopped offering chopsticks or utensils of any kind in an effort to "reduce their carbon footprint." What is a hungry traveler supposed to do when faced with a steaming hot bowl of udon? Eat it with your fingers?
The Boy Scouts motto is, "Always be prepared." So be prepared for your next trip to Asia by carrying your own chopsticks. You can find many different styles on the internet on sites such as eBay, Etsy, YesAsia, etc. The most environmentally friendly kind are made of bamboo, which are strong enough to be reusable but are made from a fast-growing plant and are biodegradable when they no longer serve their purpose.
