I had a good-bye potluck with a few nice ladies from my office. We ate a mix of Korean and Cuban foods. The Korean foods included gimbap and bulgogi. I made my "famous" berry crisp. The best part of the meal (other than juicy work gossip) was the homemade sangria! I'll miss nights like these. I'm sure I won't make as many friends in Kansas. Not to mention the dearth of Korean products!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Sangria Good-bye
I had a good-bye potluck with a few nice ladies from my office. We ate a mix of Korean and Cuban foods. The Korean foods included gimbap and bulgogi. I made my "famous" berry crisp. The best part of the meal (other than juicy work gossip) was the homemade sangria! I'll miss nights like these. I'm sure I won't make as many friends in Kansas. Not to mention the dearth of Korean products!
Now I'm Thinking About It...
I had forgotten about the melamine scare until I purchased these crackers in Hong Kong. Great way to ruin my appetite!
Chinese Dinner - Hong Kong
Before the yoga conference started, we took the Star Ferry to Kowloon:
We ate at a dim sum restaurant. We shared sweet-and-sour breaded fish:
Vegetable and rice wraps:
Crispy fried dough:
Tangy cucumber skins:
Hot tea served in water glasses:
My friend's sister, a prominent yoga instructor in Korea, ordered seconds of everything! For petite Korean women, they ate a lot!
We ate at a dim sum restaurant. We shared sweet-and-sour breaded fish:
Vegetable and rice wraps:
Crispy fried dough:
Tangy cucumber skins:
Hot tea served in water glasses:
My friend's sister, a prominent yoga instructor in Korea, ordered seconds of everything! For petite Korean women, they ate a lot! I was surprised by people's eating habits at the conference. Many people skipped breakfast, believing that the food would impair their yoga practices. (We practiced strenuous yoga four hours in the morning.) Others merely ate salads or nibbled on carrots for lunch.
I brought my own food and ate hearty oatmeal, protein powder, deli sandwiches, Chinese buns, and Odwalla bars. One day I followed my teacher's advice and skipped breakfast. What a mistake! I felt extremely hungry and ultimately ate more food than usual. I guess my friends ate such a huge Chinese dinner because of their daytime eating habits!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Update
I'm down to 6 weeks in Korea. My friend and I created a "Korean Bucket List" of everything we want to do before we leave. Once we start on that bucket list, I'll have more photos! Also, anticipate some posts related to my Hong Kong trip.
Here are a few random Korean food items:
-The PX was out of Centrum. Older Koreans love Centrum, especially bottles with American labels. My friend from the states sends them to his grandmother here.
-My SO competed in a long distance triathlon in Jeju over the weekend. The finish line lacked fresh, cold water! His only choices were hot soup, tea or coffee on a hot day! That's what he gets for finishing too fast!
-Yesterday I sampled Australian moscato and red sweet wine....at the grocery store! Heineken beer was also available to taste.
Here are a few random Korean food items:
-The PX was out of Centrum. Older Koreans love Centrum, especially bottles with American labels. My friend from the states sends them to his grandmother here.
-My SO competed in a long distance triathlon in Jeju over the weekend. The finish line lacked fresh, cold water! His only choices were hot soup, tea or coffee on a hot day! That's what he gets for finishing too fast!
-Yesterday I sampled Australian moscato and red sweet wine....at the grocery store! Heineken beer was also available to taste.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Good-bye at Berlin and B1
Saturday night was ladies' night dinner at Berlin in Itaewon. Sadly (or happily) everyone will be moving soon.
One person received her dish ten minutes before the other dishes. I've noticed that Korean restaurants often serve food with no regard to timing. I don't know how many times I've eaten my appetizer with my main course or while my husband watches me hungrily. The reason? Since Koreans normally share dishes (pancheon, grilling meats, etc.), timing is unimportant. We joked that our friend should not wait for our meals to eat. As the oldest person at the table, she was suppoed to eat first by Korean culture!
We shared two pitchers of sangria. In Korea, the younger person should pour drinks for the older person. You should never pour your own drink. Here is one of our designated drink pourers:
After dinner we strolled to B1 to meet the guys. (They were having their own dinner.) We drank Suburbans (my friend's signature drink from her bartender days) and snacked on a cookie gift box from Shinsegae Department Store:
Monday, May 18, 2009
Daegu Olympic Triathlon
Despite the rain, we drove to Daegu for an Olympic triathlon. I had a meal of hobak juk:
And a tiny piece of bread:
Plenty of beta carotene but not enough calories! Later I bought a red bean bun at Family Mart. We stayed at a love hotel. Usually love hotels charge by the hour, and you have to pay cash. Instead of a key, the clerk buzzes you up. The parking lot entrance is shrouded with a tattered plastic curtain for car privacy. The rooms have always been really nice, though I don't know who would use the community toothpaste and hair brush!
In retrospect I should have given him the meal. I didn't eat it. Concentrated calories and simple sugars are best directly after a race. From what I've seen at Korean races, people either don't know or don't care about optimal recovery. Perhaps the Korean post-race meal is for celebration, not recovery. In which case, the meal was perfect!
And a tiny piece of bread:Plenty of beta carotene but not enough calories! Later I bought a red bean bun at Family Mart. We stayed at a love hotel. Usually love hotels charge by the hour, and you have to pay cash. Instead of a key, the clerk buzzes you up. The parking lot entrance is shrouded with a tattered plastic curtain for car privacy. The rooms have always been really nice, though I don't know who would use the community toothpaste and hair brush!Anyway, the weather was perfect the next morning. I swam and biked just for the chance to run:
Every lap I passed a table of choco pies (a staple at Korean races), bananas, gatorade, and water. The race is too short for a choco pie, in my opinion! My SO swears by the Korean cake rolls for his long runs, though.
Every lap I passed a table of choco pies (a staple at Korean races), bananas, gatorade, and water. The race is too short for a choco pie, in my opinion! My SO swears by the Korean cake rolls for his long runs, though. Every athlete received a meal upon finishing:
The meal included seaweed soup, rice, vegetables, kimchi, and breaded meat cutlets. When I briefly walked away from the meals, an old man approached and picked up one of the boxes! I hurried back and grabbed the box from his hands. He looked as confused as I was. Then he used hand gestures to ask me to get him his own box! Mind you, he was not in the race. I pretended I did not understand. 
The meal included seaweed soup, rice, vegetables, kimchi, and breaded meat cutlets. When I briefly walked away from the meals, an old man approached and picked up one of the boxes! I hurried back and grabbed the box from his hands. He looked as confused as I was. Then he used hand gestures to ask me to get him his own box! Mind you, he was not in the race. I pretended I did not understand. 
In retrospect I should have given him the meal. I didn't eat it. Concentrated calories and simple sugars are best directly after a race. From what I've seen at Korean races, people either don't know or don't care about optimal recovery. Perhaps the Korean post-race meal is for celebration, not recovery. In which case, the meal was perfect!
Hwaguesa Temple
I spent a Sunday afternoon at Hwaguesa Temple, near Bukhansan:
A monk greeted us in French and led us to an eating area for foreigners:
Everyone else ate in the noisy outer area. Our meal included rice and various sidedishes and fruit:
We accidentally sat at the "monks only" table and ate their black bean rice cakes and oranges:
Since you should eat everything you take, I filled my bowl conservatively. Mushrooms, pineapple, tofu, and rice:
The meal was free, so I wondered how many hikers stopped merely for the food. Donations, of course, were welcome. After the meal, we headed upstairs for 1:30 of meditation. Talk about challenging. I much prefer a 4am meditation to a food coma post-lunch one!
A monk greeted us in French and led us to an eating area for foreigners:
Everyone else ate in the noisy outer area. Our meal included rice and various sidedishes and fruit:
We accidentally sat at the "monks only" table and ate their black bean rice cakes and oranges:
Since you should eat everything you take, I filled my bowl conservatively. Mushrooms, pineapple, tofu, and rice: 
The meal was free, so I wondered how many hikers stopped merely for the food. Donations, of course, were welcome. After the meal, we headed upstairs for 1:30 of meditation. Talk about challenging. I much prefer a 4am meditation to a food coma post-lunch one!
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