What I Ate in Damyang

While in Damyang I did my best to eat the local specialities. If you recall I was treated to some bamboo bread on my first arrival. After I ventured through the bamboo forest I was hot and wanted something to eat. So I walked around the city area of the town and found a mul naengmyeon restaurant (물 냉면).

I would say that there really isn't much I can compare mul naengmyeon with in America. Maybe gazpacho, the cold tomato-y soup. However, I have come to love this summertime treat and find it a very refreshing meal. The boiled egg on top is consumed first and then one works their way through the noodles and cold broth.

Damyang is well known for a certain Korean dish called tteok galbi. It resembles a hamburger patty just that the ingredients are somewhat different.

I have to say I could have picked a better restaurant as this one wasn't that great. I mean the food was wonderful, just I saw another restaurant around the corner that was more busy.

I have had tteok galbi before and every time I eat it I enjoy the charred parts that are salty and savory at the same time. My choice of side-dishes were ample yet seemed a little on the not-so-fresh side. I wonder if this is easy to make at home. Actually, now that I think about I've seen frozen versions in the meat department and fresh already-made ones ready to be grilled. Hmmm something to think about.

They are also famous for rice steamed in a bamboo cup, which I didn't manage to get as I flopped my order. However, I've had this before in Insadong and know what it's like.

Whenever you are traveling around Korea one of the best things is tasting the local specialities. That is one of the highlights of living in this country and which inspires me to get around more.

Taste of Greek: Santorini Taverna

Located at the "start" of Itaewon street, or near the Noksapyeong station area, is the restaurant Santorini Taverna. This is a sister-restaurant to the main Greek place nearby. I recently had a bite here with some friends of mine from the area.

I've like Greek food for it's sumptuous flavors and use of yogurt, so I was looking forward to an "authentic" Greek meal. Whether it was authentic or not, I can't really say. But all in all it was pretty tasty.

The interior gives you a view of the street of Itaewon, and the setting is pretty much casual. I kind of got a little peeved they were playing Abba music. But, what can you do?

My friend and I ordered the spinach popovers appetizer, while we waited for number 3 to show up. It came out looking delicious and tasted that way too. A little bit oily, but otherwise the spinach and feta mix inside was quite yummy.

For the main course we all shared the gyro and pita set plate, mostly because it was 19,000 for just one. For the price we weren't too impressed with quantity, considering they only gave us 3 pitas. We had to order more pita bread, at a cost.

Otherwise this was very scrumptious and fun to chow down.

I would recommend coming here, but to go with pals as the menu is a bit pricey for one person. This is the first Greek place I have tried in Itaewon, so I'm not sure if it is the best.

I wonder if making Greek food at home is easy? hmmm

Gobbled N' Go

I was surprised to find myself in a part of Itaewon I didn't recognize, recently. It had been just a year since I traversed the back streets near the 3 Alley Pub, and I didn't realize what changes had occurred. Now there are more restaurants and the street seems wider itself. Plus the crowd seems to have diversified and opened up as well. Before it really felt like Itaewon was the "foreigner place" in Korea. This is so due to the plentifulness of foreign-food restaurants and just the sheer presence of non-Koreans wandering around.

However, these days the place is starting to attract all sorts of people. Maybe the hype that Itaewon is a scary place, is fading amongst Koreans. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, or whether locals to Itaewon are griping or not. In the meantime, it means new restaurants to try out.

I did a little researching and app handling to come up with Gobble N' Go, a kind of brunch restaurant. They have one in Gangnam, too.

The interior had the feel of a cozy cafe that also feels like a diner. Their menu has a list of Po'boy sandwiches, soups and salads, pastas and hamburgers. Seoul Eats did a review of the Gangnam location and mentioned that the prices were decent, and I would have to agree. Since the meal came out fresh and with bountiful portions I would say the price of a sandwich for 15,000 Won, was good enough.

I ordered the Po'Boy sandwich and it was an interesting conglomeration.

One half of the sandwich was mozzarella with tomato and the other half was a ham sandwich. It was a split personality thing, but with fresh flavors and thick bread. It came with a little side of salad and a small cup of soup.

All together it was a good meal, and very accommodating for this solo traveler who had other business in Itaewon. I would visit here again to try another item off their menu, or bring in friends to share the atmosphere with.

All together, I would recommend it to my readers as another place to try out in the new 'hood of Itaewon.

Jenny's Bread & Hongdae's Streets

As you might have gathered by now I spent a good amount of time in Hongdae recently, and instead of posting everything in one shot I'm breaking things up. In this post, I'm going to take you to one of my favorite lunch spots, Jenny's Bread. I have been to this place several times, and you can catch a 2010 post here and a 2011 post here.

I think the challenging part is finding the location, however it is quite easy. Instead of the plain looking shop that marks the side-street entrance, there now stands a juice place. So if you see this juice-joint, take a right and head up the hilly street.

As things curve and you go up more, you will come to the first left. Take this and you'll soon see Jenny's Bread on the right.

The place wasn't too packed, just a few folks enjoying a good meal. I had the mushroom sandwich lunch special. This means I got their usual pumpkin soup, which was scrumptious!

The sandwich was as delightful as usual, with home made fries on the side. What's great about this place is the freshness in the quality of their dishes, and the care to which they understand taste. Even the ice-tea came to me unsweetened and was very refreshing.

It was a great meal, indeed and I enjoyed seeing a street cat and trashed shoe on the way out.

I meandered back into the crowded streets of Hongdae, passing the park that has an open arts-and-crafts market every weekend.

I really enjoyed the above hand-crafted jewelry and bought myself a ring. I hope to come back again and find this vendor so to be able to unload the cash.

Hongdae is always full of surprises and new places are popping up everywhere.

Now for some bonus black-and-white shots:

Foreigner Joy Cooks: Spanish inspiration

Back in my home country I can easily go to the store and get a rice mix to take home. You know one of those "Spanish" or "Mexican" ready-made rice mixes that you just throw in a pot with some water, and you're done. Not really the case in Korea, where rice mixes tend to lean more towards a Korean flavor. In this case, I realized that I should just try to make the same thing but from scratch.

So I did some searching and found a good recipe from All Recipes.com titled, "Best Spanish Rice." Truth be told, I don't really know what true Spanish rice tastes like, and can only assume this recipe is not the real thing. But my gut tells me I'm mostly following an Americanized version of something here.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons oil

• 2 tablespoons chopped onion

• 1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice

• 2 cups chicken broth

• 1 cup chunky salsa

Thankfully, all of those items are easily attainable in Korea. The chicken broth can be found at Homeplus, and salsa is seen in regular supermarkets here, too. I also managed to get a hold of some cilantro from my local Lotte Mart, and knew I had to include it. The "Mexican-style Chili Powder" was my own addition I had brought back from home. 

The cooking process was quite simple and pretty basic.

• Saute onions in the oil in your large skillet / pot. I had no real sauce skillet thing so just used my regular pot.
• After onions have become slightly clear mix the rice into the pot and stir till it looks kind of brown.
• After this pour in the liquids (salsa and stock) and all your other extras (cilantro...seasoning). Stir and bring to a boil.
• Once simmering, reduce heat to low and let cook for 20 minutes. However mine finished before that, as I think my gas stove is just too powerful.

To complete this meal I made bean tacos to accompany the rice. The refried beans came from an order I made online via nicemarket.net. I haven't found refried beans at my local Homeplus or Lotte Mart, but have seen other canned beans, such as black beans and cannelli. I think a black bean taco could also work. Tortillas are something you could easily make yourself here, but if your like me you can just buy them locally. 

The final result was a wonderful and delicious meal, and made even more better because I didn't have to trek anywhere to get it. 

I highly recommend making this at your home, and maybe inviting some folks over to enjoy it with. 

Yeoju Ceramic Festival

It was time, I finally felt like I needed to get out of Seoul. After looking around the Korea.net site for a fun place to visit I decided upon the Yeoju Ceramic Festival. A place of historic value and one that honors its tradition, and meant to "promote the excellence"of Korea's craft in ceramics, I assumed it would be a fun festival. You'll see that I wasn't proven wrong.

I took a bus from the Dong Seoul Bus Terminal near the Gangbyeon station. It wasn't too difficult to figure this out, just walk up to the ticket booth ask or point to where you want to go and buy your ticket. Mine cost all of 5,000 Won. The ticket says what platform to find your bus and what time it is leaving. My advice, get to your bus ten minutes before hand as they are very punctual on leaving on time.

The bus ride was the nostalgic part of the trip, as I recalled the times I spent in my ex's car looking out the window. However, I enjoyed my solo trip in the bus as I took in the mountain scenery.

Located in Gyeonngi-do it is nearby Wonju and Icheon, so it really isn't too far away. The bus ride was about two hours.

I arrived at the festival early enough to enjoy the sites before the larger crowds came in. Festival goers included a lot of family's, as this was indeed set up for kids. Plus the previous day was Children's day, so I'm sure kids were still buzzing from that. Although being around kids on my day off is not always welcomed, I managed to enjoy myself anyways.

The festival was set up that near the parking lot was a huge stage for auctions and performances. Then you enter the festival arena where buildings housed ceramics and other wares for sale. In the middle of the avenue area were tents set up with traditional foods and trinkets for sale. Alongside this was a hallway where craftsmen and women sold their works.

There were plenty of crafty and oddball things to do if you had kids. At one point I saw people fishing for cups from a pool area. I think the deal was that if you get 4 cups you then get a "real" better cup to take home.

Alongside this area was a place where kids could practice making a pot. Of course they had a potter helping them (who did most the work), but I could tell these kiddos were getting into it.

Another fun thing you could do is buy a cup, plate or slab to paint and take home. It cost just 5,000 Won, and I did it myself, which I will show you later.

The area where artists were selling their work was fun to walk through. There were definitely a variety of wares for sale and a lot of it very well made.

I especially liked the texture on the following works..

Outside this area was a place to get some lunch and had a pig roasting, which was quite amusing.

Even the bathrooms were set up to look like a big kiln...

Nearby this area were some gardens that had a large sculpture. This looked like a good spot for people to picnic at or have a restful moment.

The rest of my trip I went towards the temple site, and will show you the details in another post. For now I'll finish up my trip to the festival.

After lunch I headed back into the festival and found myself painting a cup. I enjoyed sitting down and getting into this. I decided to just paint my name on the cup, as this seemed appropriate.

The rest of my time was spent waiting for my cup to be finished, they baked it in an oven to let the paint seal in. So I wandered around and found some people making tteok, and enjoyed some crafts for sale.

All together, the Yeoju Ceramic Festival was a good time and I enjoyed seeing the various crafts and activities.

The festival is still going on till May 13th, so if you want to you can still get out there!

How to:
- Take a bus headed towards Yeoju Bus terminal from the Dong Seoul Bus Terminal. Ride time is about 70 minutes.
- From the Yeoju Bus terminal head to the biggest bus stop. Now this was a problem for me. I stood at one bus stop and didn't see a bus that headed my way. So I asked around, and people told me to go across the street. Then there was no info there, so I asked. Person at this bus stop told me to go over to the other bus stop. I took a taxi! However, busses do go to the festival area so you can try to figure it out more than I did! haha

Returning home is easy as you buy a ticket back to Seoul and take the ride back.

Hope you get out of Seoul sometime (if you live here) haha.