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Published: February 16th 2010
Sunday was the epically awesome Korean Lunar New Year, also known as Seollal (설날). As such, I was lucky enough to get a three-day-weekend in honor of the festivities. I would have forgotten about the holiday, except for the cheerful children half-filing, half-prancing out of my classroom calling back to me "Happy New Year, Katie Teacher" (or Olleh KT teacher... or KTX teacher...) Also, my branch manager was nice enough to a) let us cut out of work 1.5 hours early and b) gave us Pantene Pro-V gift sets in honor of the biggest holiday in Korea. Naturally, my Korean coworkers got some chamchi (tuna - 참치) instead.
Which brings me to a slightly random point. Chuseok, Korean "Thanksgiving," and Seollal have a really funny commonality. For Chuseok, it is completely normal for Koreans to give the gift of SPAM. I kid you not. It's useful, and I'll be damned if it has a true expiration date. Seollal is no different-- instead of SPAM, gift packs of tuna are totally the norm. Both of these wonderful (wtf?!) ingredients are essentials in
chamchi kimbap (참치김밥), the Korean version of sushi. Another popular gift for the holidays is a giant box of seaweed. Same
idea, I suppose.
Anyway, I rolled on into Seoul on Friday night after some KBBQ with my coworkers. I caught a 10:20-ish KTX train from Dongdaegu and got into Seoul after midnight. I didn't get to Kate's digs until 12:30, at least... and there, we proceeded to watch youtube videos and smoke hookah. All-in-all, it was a pretty good night.
The next morning we had to be up at 11 because Kate was to meet a girl and pick up her new pet hedgehog. That's right, folks. We have
Craigslist over here, too! 😊 She renamed her little girl "Squid," and from there we went out onto the chilly streets of Seoul for food.
And what did we eat? Ppppffffttt. My FAVORITES, of course! Gangnam street food, just the way I like it! I would like you to meet my favorite food on the planet:
ddeokbokki (떡볶이). What is ddeokbokki? First, the cylindrical things in there are 떡 (ddeok)-- rice cakes. What are rice cakes? They're chewy, kind of gelatinous, kind of pasta-like starches that don't really taste like anything-- like white rice. They are my love.
In addition to the 떡, there is something to break
Dongdaemun
Great East Gateup the texture--
odeng (오뎅) or fish cakes. Yes, I actually eat these. Yes, I have more than one witness. Yes, I understand it's mysterious reformed fish meat. And yes, I know most of you are probably reading this with your jaws agape going "there is no way Katie Lang would eat that."
Oh, but I have.
The sauce itself is actually made of fish broth (from the odeng on skewers you can get at the same stand), red pepper paste, and sugar. It's sweet, but it's spicy enough to clear out your sinuses. It's sooo good. If you fancy trying to make it yourself, I hear
this is one of the best/most-like-real-street-food recipes out there!
At the stands, you can get various fried delicacies... like my other favorite street meal: fried hard-boiled eggs. It's pretty much the best idea ever made. Another one I like is the fried rice-noodle ball. There are also fried jalapenos, fried veggies, and fried blood sausage. I've yet to have the blood sausage- called "soondae" (수대). I'll let you know when I am daring enough.
After gorging on about 4,500W (about $4US) worth of street food (seriously, it's a feast), we decided to take a nap after our early morning
and grueling day (hah). About an hour and a half later, Kate and I made plans for our evening. But first! Our failed adventure to Dongdaemun! We should have known better; it was the day before the most major holiday of the year; even Christmas can't compete with Seollal. Foolish waeguks (위국, or foreigners) we were, though, we valiantly hoped it would be otherwise. Alas, it was not the case.
"But Katie," you may ask, "what is in Dongdaemun that you so desperately want for?"
The answer? Craft supplies. Dongdaemun, the "Great East Gate" is currently known for it's street markets, strip malls, and a giant crafting mall. And all I wanted was a skein or two of yarn. I guess it'll wait until next time. Who knows? By the time I get there, spring will probably be upon us, and I'll be more in the mood for some hemp instead. With our plans readily foiled, we were happily distracted when Annah called us-- she was somewhat near Seoul Station, and we could meet up in the next 20 minutes. We went to Itaewon for hookah, and then returned to Gangnam.
Everything kind of fell into place
at that point, and a chunk of our friends met up for dinner. Muyan, Chau, Annah, Kate, Jeff, Devin, and I all got dinner at Butterfingers. I got the Fresco Burger... and it was delicious. It had bacon, mozzerella, and (yes, I even at the) spinach on it. After a very satisfying dinner, we met up with Jon and Bryan before heading across the street to the MTL Moden Bar... where we were given our own "room"/booth. Annah left early, but it was a great time. It was also my first experience seeing
"juicy girls" at the bar. We rang in the new year in our private area, though, and I downed four Tequila Sunrises after too many of the guys said that they just couldn't do tequila. Figured I'd show them how it's done.
Afterwards, Chau, Kate, and I parted from the guys, and, on our way back to Kate's, I found a scarf on the ground. I looked around-- no owner. Mine now. I washed it tonight, and its a cute pink & purple pashmina. It's also the second scarf I've obtained via picking it up off the streets of Seoul. Well, who am I to look a
At Mr. Pizza
Sure, the pizza was chock full o' meat, but we had a good time! gift horse in the mouth? The first one was a black Calvin Klein. This one is clearly a decent quality pashmina. Ohohoho, vain Korean girls, please continue getting drunk and leaving your scarves around where I, the shameless foreigner, can pick them up for myself.
Moving on... After Alisha introduced me to the wonder of
hodu gwaja (호두과자) a few weeks ago, I introduced Kate to what warm, delcious hodu gwaja tastes like (we had a cold experience in Seoul a few weeks ago, and the treat was not up to par). It's a small, "walnut" pastry with red bean paste and a walnut inside. It's sooo good. The lady gave us two service ones at Kate's subway station, too! 😊 I think it's because I read the hangul outloud and she was impressed with my madd skillz (hah).
Anyway, I forgot to take pictures until I was halfway done with my last dessert, so forgive me.
The day after the tequila, etc. The three of us girls went to Mr. Pizza and tried to have a meatless pizza (Chau, for the Buddhist holiday, and Kate because she's a vegetarian). We guess that pork doesn't count as meat
Making ddeok
Not me, but I did the same thing! in Korea... so the bacon and sausage chunks on the potato pizza remained. On the upside, I got to eat all of the meet. My carnivorous nature definitely has not left me. Kate and I then left for Bucheon to see Annah and her puppy Willow.
What an adorable puppy! But I would never be able to have the time, money, and effort of keeping a puppy in a Korean apartment. That much is clear! It's already had 3 vet visits because of kennel cough, has another schedued for shots, and has yet to be spayed. On top of that, it's a challenge house training a puppy with a pee-pad. Especially one that resided in a kennel cage for most of it's short life. But, Annah is a persistant person, and she resued that poor puppy from death. I wish I had a picture of it, but Willow is super hyper and didn't sit still long enough for a decent picture. Oh well.
That night, Kate and I hit up Gangnam again for dinner and found a cheap kimbap place. I got ramyeon (ramen, 라면) and Kate got bokeumbap (Korean fried rice, 볶음밥). The lady was trying to
Jujube Tea
Jujubes are kind of like dates. tell us what kind of things were mixed in Kate's fried rice as we ordered, and my meager Korean picked up the word for squid. What followed made an awesome night. I practically glowed, I was so happy when I left. We ended up teaching the woman the English words for squid, oyster, and crab. I sounded out the English words in written Hangul (Korean script) for the woman, and we heard her practicing so hard to be able to say the words in English. She actually got it, too! It was honestly heartwarming. Before we left, the women working there told me I had beautiful eyes and told Kate to come back again the next day! SO nice.
The next day was Monday, and Kate and I thought maybe we'd try Dongdaemun again. No luck. BUT while we were there, my friend Julie, one of my ELI Talk Time students from Pitt, texted me! And she met up with us! And then we went to Insadong (인사동), the art district and market! It was amazing! I even got to hammer some 떡 in the traditional manner like the worker in the square. The Koreans laughed good naturedly at
the waeguk's attempt to make rice cake. Let me tell you, though, I blew the little Korean girls in high heels and short skirts out of the water smashing that 떡! I blame it on the German genes 😉.
Afterwards, we went to an authentic Korean tea house, where Julie, Kate, and I had Jujube tea. Then, at the table next to us, the man putting on his coat accidentally knocked down the lantern above his head. The girls working there didn't know how to put the lantern back up. I ended up showing them how to do it (after looking ridiculous and awkwardly making hand motions for a moment before Julie explained I wanted to help), and I got up on the bench and re-hung the lantern for them. Sure, I might look like a ridiculous foreigner, but I can be as helpful as all of the Koreans I've encountered here. We finished out tea, and parted for the day. I was so happy to have seen Julie, though.
Sadly, that was the end of my Korean adventure for the most part. We missed out on some of the Temple activities, but all-in-all, it was a great way to start the new year!
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Krista
non-member comment
There are so many WTF moments in this entry, I can't even choose one to comment on. Julie IMed me the night before and asked me what kind of food you liked. I told her meat and cupcakes.