Tag Archives: Seoul

Right Before the Trees Got Naked

Sharing a bit of Korea Autumn magic with you!

Hope you enjoy the colors and enjoy your weekend too!

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Treats

No tricks…just treats here!

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How spoiled are we? One of my best friends, Cassie, sent me a large surprise package.

“Happy belated birthday and happy Halloween!”

She knows me oh so well! Get a look at all those fun goodies!

We’ve been best friends since our freshman year of high school And haven’t looked back.

Our friendship has always been so effortless and just plain fun!

I love this girl!

You and Josh are dearly missed.

Thank you again for spoiling us so much!

Doenjang Jjigae 된장찌개

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The past few days we can really feel the days are getting shorter now. The mornings are darker and the evenings after work the sun is setting much earlier. Soon it will be time to turn the clocks back in the states. Luckily these shorter days here are still fairly mild temperature wise. We are able to get away with a light fleece or light scarf and sweater while being out and about.

Today we got home from our touristy weekend and decided that we needed to warm our souls. What better way than to make some soup! Soup is just so comforting in the fall and winter months. Did we mention this soup is not just any soup… Hands down its one of our all time favorite Korean soups. Think of this soup as Korean comfort in a bowl.

Doenjang Jjigae 된장찌개

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We simply cannot help ourselves, we see this savory little number on any menu and ordering it becomes a MUST!

It’s sweet, its spicy, it’s just perfect, not to mention it’s incredibly good for you too.

We’ve been told that most foreigners are turned off by the smell and sight of the traditional soup. We really must be an exception to the rule.

So what is the soup made of? Mom, Dad, are you ready for this? Fermented Korean soybean paste.

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Doenjang Jjigae –Korean Soy Bean Paste Stew

Adapted from Tofoodwithluv

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 strips of dried seaweed (kelp)

2 tbsp Korean soy bean paste (doenjang)

2-3 tsp Korean chilli pepper powder (gochugaru)

6 Dried anchovy

5 Cups rice water broth (from the water used to rinse rice, ssal ddeum mul, and use for stew)

1/2 Green onion, thinly sliced

1 Green chilli pepper, sliced

1 Large zucchini, diced

1 small packet tofu diced into cubes

1 pack of enokitake mushrooms

Lets Get Cooking!

Toast the anchovies in your black bowl, Rinse your rice, making sure to save the milky rice water, that you plan to eat as a side with your soup. Add the broth/water to the anchovies, throw in the seaweed and bring to a boil. Boil about 3 minutes. Take out the seaweed and anchovies, discard them. Next mash and stir in the soybean paste into the simmering broth. Add in your chili powder. Cover and bring to a boil on medium to high heat for 5 minutes. Add onion, chilli peppers and zucchini, boil for 8-10 minutes. Add mushrooms, tofu in the last 2 minutes. Serve immediately with steamed rice.

ENJOY YOUR DOENJANG JJIGAE!

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Tourist

You know, we have been living in South Korea for quite some time now. There are still just so many different things on my list that I want to get out and experience while living on this peninsula. This weekend we had a change of plans, so we decided to tackle one of those touristy things on that little old list of mine.

I STILL love being a tourist! It just doesn’t get old to me.

We headed into Seoul and took a Han River cruise at night.

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The river is such a beautiful part of the city of Seoul. There are various tours that you can take to enjoy the Han River. We ended up taking the hour and a half cruise at night for only 15,000 won per person, roughly $15.00. What a great option to admire the city and its lights in the reflection of the water.

Prepare yourself for some photo overload…

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We were just taken away with all the bridge and building structures. Speaking of bridges, half way into the tour the boat goes underneath the Banpo Bridge. Once it gets to the other-side, it turns itself around and waits for a few brief moments. After those few moments pass, you get to see a spectacular water and light show. What a treat! The Banpo bridge fountain is the worlds longest bridge fountains in the world. Wait to go Korea!

The fountain is programmed to play various shows throughout the day and into the night. At night we learned that the fountain has 200 multicolored lights. These rainbow like lights illuminate the fountain and are synchronization with music. How peaceful!

After the show, once everyone got in the opportunity to snap pictures of themselves. Kimchi! The boat announces that it will be going back under the Banpo bridge. If you don’t want to get wet, move under the boats awning area. Some did not listen nor care and got soaked. You know me, with the cool Autumn night air coming off of the river, It didn’t take me very long to seek out shelter.

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How long have you been in your city? Do you like to do touristy things too? What are some of your favorites?

Grab the map coordinates here

TGIF

I remember looking forward to a Friday night as a child. Some of those Friday nights included school dances, while others included football games, a sleepover, and earlier on (dating myself here) watching TGIF on TV.

As an adult I still look forward to my Friday nights just as much as when I was a child, if not even more.

It’s been one of those scramble brained weeks. You know, the kind that you misplace your cellphone, later discovering when getting out your lunch you accidentally put it in the refrigerator earlier that morning. Yes, the kind of week where you put your full carton of milk in the kitchen pantry, luckily realizing that you did just that right before walking out the door. Or, last but certainly not least, the kind that you wastefully print 15 envelopes out, incorrectly mind you, while trying to get your absentee ballot request out. Ugh! all my defeated little brain could think after that fiasco was, “no wonder so many people do not vote..” (Don’t worry, it went out in the end!)

Do you ever do these sort of things? Have those sort of weeks? Find yourself slowly losing your mind? Do you chalk it up to age? HA HA! Typically at work I say, “This getting old business is for the birds.” Really, it is! Perhaps there is a need for ginkgo bilobain my near future too?

I think we can all agree when I say TGIF!

Tonight for dinner we Bees decided on our favorite place for a bite to eat. It was exactly what I needed. Happy heart and full belly.

Happy Friday!

Fog

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Do you ever have those days where your body feels like it could stay in your comfy bed all day long? That is exactly how Bean and I feel this morning. I think last night I committed some sort of social crime and took my 20 something body to bed before 10pm on a Friday night, my 9-year-old heart could hardly fathom it.

Look at that fog. That was this morning outside of our place. The closer we get to Halloween the fog always reminds me of some eerie Tim Burton movie, like the nightmare before Christmas. Gosh! I used to watch that movie over and over again as a child, while spending the weekends at my grandparents, eek. Do you think that’s something to be concerned about? I think if it was good enough for the Grandparents, and they still love me today, so it’s okay… Right?

The sun is slowly burning off the fog now, I love seeing the rays shine through the thick air. I am feeling more energetic as we speak. Guess now is as good of a time as any to take the first step out of bed, but not without my pink Hello Kitty slippers.

Enjoy your weekend ahead!

An Apple a Day

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So I guess we have more than enough apples to enjoy for a few days… or so…

I didn’t get to fulfill my hopes of apple picking in Korea this year. I couldn’t track down a farm that would allow you to pick yourself. I guess I can add that to my list of things that I do miss from home.

Don’t worry! We did fulfill the apple void by ordering a 15 kilo (roughly 33lbs) box of freshly picked apples from a farm South of us. These apples are delicious! My stomach is envisioning many nights of apple slices dunked in caramel and topped with whipped cream, totally healthy, hey! You’ve got to live a little.

Speaking of apples and things that I miss, almost every fall my family makes applesauce and cans it for the winter. The sauce is heavenly. Just the perfect amount of sweetness. If I were home right this second id be begging to make it with them. Hopefully there is at least one jar left when we go home for a visit to savor.

How do you enjoy your apples? Plain? sauced? baked? Feel free to let me in on a few recipes too! Goodness, you see our refrigerator, I think we can spare a few and try out a new thing or two.

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The nerd in me had to share these fun facts that I received in an e-mail as I was writing this blog. Perfect timing!

The crabapple is the only apple native to North America.

Apples come in all shades of reds, greens, and yellows.

Two pounds of apples make one 9-inch pie.

2,500 varieties of apples are grown in the United States.

7,500 varieties of apples are grown throughout the world.

Apples are grown in all 50 states.

Apples are fat, sodium, and cholesterol free.

Apples are a great source of the fiber pectin. One apple has five grams of fiber.

The science of apple growing is called pomology.

Apple trees take four to five years to produce their first fruit.

Most apples are still picked by hand in the fall.

Apple varieties range in size from a little larger than a cherry to as large as a grapefruit.

Apples are a member of the rose family.

Apples harvested from an average tree can fill 20 boxes that weigh 42 pounds each.

The largest apple picked weighed three pounds.

Most apples can be grown farther north than most other fruits, because they blossom late in spring, minimizing frost damage.

Apples have five seed pockets or carpels. Each pocket contains seeds. The number of seeds per carpel is determined by the vigor and health of the plant. Different varieties of apples will have different number of seeds.

Apples ripen six to ten times faster at room temperature than if they were refrigerated.

Source: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/apples/facts.cfm

Humph, who would’ve thought.

Follow

Today we woke up at 4AM so that we could get everything together and be out the door for the East Coast. Well, I’m not quite what you would call a morning person. I move…mmmm… what’s another word for slow? Snail speed, ah yes! Lets go with that.

I’ll be the first to admit, I was the cause of our lateness today. Oops..sorry Mr. B.

Once we got to the Rest stop to meet up with our group, I decided on my first ever grown up drink. Coffee! What were you thinking? Again, much to early for anything else. I ordered a Carmel macchiato. I have had a few sips here or there from the coffee aficionado, Mr. B, but never my own full cup. Growing up my family never enjoyed or appreciated a good cup of joe. The fresh brew just wasn’t part of our morning routines. I always thought of coffee as the crazy man’s drink. You drink it, you get hooked, you can’t function in the morning without it, repeat routine. I assume this is why I too never got excited for the stuff. Well, whatever the case, today marked an adult milestone for me. Did I cross over? Does this mean, I too am finally a “grown up”? Look out Mr. B!

We got back on the road fairly quick and departed for the coast.

Once we arrived, Mr. B set up his scuba gear, while I parked it on a beachfront park bench and Skyped with my grandparents.