무아 국수집- Mua Noodle House in Anam

Mua Noodle House near KU. It's cheap & delicious.

Kooksoo (Korean somen noodle) is only 2500won or $1.50!!! Can you believe how cheap this is? I could've had 3 bowls and it still wouldn't even cost me 5 bucks!!!

Kimchi jun. As you can see from the picture, it is THAT red and it is THAT spicy. But I thought it was just about right spicy for me. When you eat this with your kooksoo, you can sip the soup after you eat a piece of this to neutralize the spiciness.

도토리묵 dotorimook = acorn jelly (konnyaku for those of you who know Japanese food)
One of my favorite food in the world... I seriously think I have too many favorite foods...

과메기 Kwamegi - fermented fish (sashimi)

I have definitely become more adventurous and brave over the years. I would've never tried fermented fish few years back but here I am eating 과메기. I can almost call myself a gourmet now that I can appreciate the diverse methods of food preparation. Anyway, kwamegi 과메기 is 꽁치, sanma, mackerel pike (according to my dictionary) but I really don't know what to call this fish. You eat it like a raw fish, sashimi style but it doesn't quite taste the same. Apparently this fish has been frozen, thawed, and then frozen and thawed again and this process is repeated many times until it reaches the current state. This dish is famous in Pohang area in Korea and found out there are more Koreans who don't like it than those who do (some think it's too fishy). But I'm one of those that love it. I love seafood. I was skeptical at first but it is definitely chewier and flavorful and is perfect appetizer with soju, which may be the main reason why I like it so much.

As you can see, you eat this as a wrap with sesame leaves, nori, seaweed, leeks, and of course garlic and pepper.

A close up of the fish.

The full view of the table. You also get cabbage leaves and broccoli on the side with seaweed soup.

This is how the wrap would look like if you added all the ingredients. Follow this order.
1. sesame leaf 2. nori 3. fish 4. seaweed 5. kochujang and miso sauce 6. leek 7.garlic & pepper

Before it goes into your mouth, this is how it looks. So yummy~ I love the sesame leaf's aroma and the taste. It brings out the flavors of other food, which makes it perfect to be eaten as a wrap and appetizer.

Hot song for Feb- 소녀시대 Girl Generation's Gee

If you walk down any street in Korea right now, this is the song you would hear coming out from everywhere. I didn't like this song at first but now I'm singing along and doing their dance moves, too. ^^ It's very catchy and gotta say it's pretty fun to watch these 9 girls dance in their bright glow in the dark short shorts. I thought I liked wondergirls but now I like girl generation a little more...

Donating Blood

I didn't wake up this morning thinking, 'I wanna donate blood today!' but somehow, I ended up doing exactly that. I was minding my own business walking to school and I passed a blood center as I normally do. In Korea, there are many blood centers all around the city and in front of it, you would see someone, usually an older lady trying to lure you into the center to donate blood. I have passed by this lady many times in the past, usually with a nod thinking one of these days I will do it but just not that day. I guess I always thought about doing it but the fear of the long thick needle penetrating into my skin and seeing my blood getting sucked out into a bag scared me a bit.

But today, the lady that works at the clinic grabbed onto me saying she really needed donors that there weren't enough donors recently. She also gave me the saddest look and I just didn't have the heart to turn her down. But as soon as I walked into the clinic, I was glad that I got up the courage to do this.

For dealing with a small amount of pain, you get so much more in return. A feeling that you saved a life and sense of pride and accomplishment in fulfilling one of your social responsibility. But I also got a little more than that. I got a neck pillow of 나눔이 nanumi, mascot for the Korean Red Cross. I had a choice of free movie ticket and gift certificate but chose this cute pillow. Of course you also get free juice and snacks. I also got a blood donor registration card and with this, I can get one free blood transfusion. Apparently I can donate this registration card to someone and they can use it in place of me.
I was really happy today for doing this. I haven't felt this good in long time and I am looking forward to April when I can donate again. I'm sure blood donors are scarce everywhere in the world but I heard it is especially more rare in Korea. I don't think Koreans are more shy on donation and community service but this has become a serious issue here. Some attribute the low rate due to increased restrictions on who can give blood. Initially when they found out that I was from the States and I was out of the country for a long time, they were a little reluctant. But because my blood is "Korean" and the fact that I was from the States and not U.K. (I'm thinking mad-cow disease?) and other southeast Asian countries, I was OK to give blood. I found it a little amusing that when they asked me if I was Korean, I answered them, "No, I'm American." But they asked me again, "Is your blood Korean?" I was perplexed but I said yes. I don't know how they could prove this and what kind of effect it would have on blood transfusion. I learned that foreigners are not allowed to give blood in Korea until they have lived here for a year and even for Koreans, if you travel to Malaria or any other disease prone countries, you are excluded from the donor pool. I guess it's better to be safe. I never gave blood in the States and I got curious what their policies were on foreigners giving blood or expats.

Recently they have started TV campaigns to promote blood donation with Korean pop stars. I just hope there will be more people who are willing to donate their time to give blood. I hope whoever that read this can get inspired to give blood because if Kelly can do it, so can you!

Most Beautiful Korean Stars 2009

The votes are in and according to 15,000+ Koreans surveyed by KBS Entertainment Program (aired on 2/1/09), the most beautiful Korean actor is Jang, Dong-Gun (37) and actress is Kim, Tae-Hee (29).

Among the Korean actresses, Kim Tae-hee was voted to have the most beautiful eyes (left), Han Ga-in, most beautiful nose (middle), and Song, Hye-gyo, most beautiful lips (right). Apparently their facial features are most requested for cosmetic surgeries.

Diet Yoga

I went to my first diet yoga class on Wednesday. This yoga class is offered at my local community center and I was fairly impressed with its size and the classes offered. It's about 7 stories (including the B-levels) and has indoor olympic size pool, basketball, badminton courts, judo, taekwondo dojos, aerobics room, etc... I originally wanted to take a swim class but I didn't have a swimsuit, swimcap, nor goggles. Well, I had my bikini but in Korea, no one wears bikini indoors, unless you have a perfect body. So I decided I must buy one-piece swimsuit before I start my class. I figured that would be faster than trying to work out and get a perfect body before class starts. Anyway, I signed up for a swim class from next month. Hope this goes well.

As I for my yoga class, it was just as I expected, the class was mostly ajummas with maybe 3-4 younger women. I didn't know what to expect from this diet yoga but it was pretty normal yoga stuff. But I just couldn't stop laughing at ajummas doing the yoga poses. They were doing everything wrong... but trying so hard... I know I suck but it was entertaining just to look at these women.

After an hour of doing yoga poses, boy was I sore! I didn't realize how stiff my body was. I could barely split my legs nor bend my body forward. The instructor kept saying bend your upper body lower and all I could say to her was 'I'm trying! I'm trying!' But when I looked at myself reflected in a mirror in front of me, I did look pretty pathetic. Most of the ajummas were better at stretching than me. I didn't even look like I was trying to bend. I was stiff as a tree. But I'm hoping I'll get better at it soon. Looking forward to my next class!

My favorite song for Feb 2009

Currently there are two songs that I am constantly humming... Love 119 by K.Will feat. MC Mong and Big Bang's 붉은 노을 (Red Sunset). These two songs are on continuous replay on my ipod. When I like a song, I listen to it over and over again until I get sick of it but I don't think this will ever happen to these songs.

K.Will & MC Mong's Love 119.
Apparently MC Mong wrote this song after breaking up with his girlfriend of 3 years. He sings about how his love for her is still strong even after time and no one can replace her. 왜 이렇게 가슴이 아프지? 멜로디는 밝지만 가사는 너무 슬픈... 이런 사랑해본 사람만 알 수 있는 그 아픔과 간절함. 아휴~ I totally feel what he's expressing through his music which made my heart ache even more. Only those whose been through this pain can feel the desperate yearning hidden behind the cheerful melody...


The part that I sing over & over ^^:
사랑해 세월이 지나도 널 사랑해
세상이 변한 데도
다른 누구도 널 대신 할 수 없어 너도 알고 있잖아
내 사랑은 단 하루도 못 쉬어
너 없이 나 한 순간도 못 살아
니가 있어야만 난 숨을 쉬어
영원히 언제까지나 사랑해

Big Bang's 붉은 노을 Red Sunset.
I loooooove Big Bang. I know I'm too old to love teen idol groups but how can you not? I especially like T.O.P. He's so cute and sexy! Whew~ OK, that's enough of my infatuation with the most beautiful guy on earth... Now, with the song, this is a remake of an oldie but a goodie from 1988, sung by Lee, Moon Sae. His songs are really good but I forgot how good they were... until Big Bang reminded me. Aren't they wonderful?


The part that I sing over & over ^^:
난 너를 사랑해 (u-hu I love you girl)
이 세상은 너 뿐이야 (whole in the world)
소리쳐 부르지만
저 대답 없는 노을만 붉게 타는데
아름다웠던 그대 모습을
이젠 볼 순 없겠지만
후횐 없어 그저 바라볼 수 있게 붉게 타주오

Soondaegook- Korean Sausage Soup

When it turns 12 noon, City Hall area gets flooded with office workers looking for a place to eat. I work in City Hall and our daily dilemma is deciding what to eat for lunch. If I could have it my way, I would always eat here at 참맛참쌀순대, a soondae restaurant. This Korean sausage soup is 아바이순대 abaisoondae, which is North Korean style sausage. I just looooooove this soup. There have been weeks where I ate here everyday and I'm still not sick of it. It's that good.

The soup comes seasoned but it's fairly light. The best way to eat this soup is to add these three condiments into your soup. The first sauce is the red pepper sauce to make it spicy, then you add the salted & fermented shrimp 새우젓 to taste, and lastly sesame seed powder (the more you put, the better it tastes).

Here's how the soup would look like after you add the condiments. The condiments are optional but I think it just tastes so much better with everything on top.

Here's a close up of the abaisoondae. I'm not sure if you can tell the difference but a normal soondae would be flatter and darker in color from the blood. But this soondae is thicker and stuffed with more meat & vegetables which makes it chewier and tastier. I can't wait till my next work day to eat this!

Red Mango

Red Mango is big in Korea. It's all over the place and no matter what time of the day it is, it is always crowded! I heard even Leonardo DiCaprio bought and installed a Red Mango yogurt machine in his office because he loved this nonfat frozen yogurt so much! This frozen yogurt has so much flavor in it, you don't even need toppings to taste the fruit. But who can resist wonderful toppings?

We ordered the large nonfat yogurt with 5 toppings (grape, mac nuts, choco chips, raspberry & blueberry). It came out to 9900 won ($9). I am still shocked at how expensive coffees and desserts are in Korea and still adjusting to this culture shock. It's definitely a luxury to eat desserts here but don't get me wrong. I'll be going back to taste more of this absolutely delicious and flavorful yogurt!

I love the interior of red mango and any other coffee shops or restaurants in Seoul. It has windows for its walls and although you are inside, it feels like you are always part of the action with the outside world because you can see everything from your window. And windows make it easier for you to see (check out ^^) people and also be seen.

Indoor Rock Climbing at KU

Steve, who is from Utah is a rock climbing fanatic. Apparently rock climbing is huge in Utah where he's from so he invited all of us in the program to come out and try it out. Conveniently, there's an indoor rock climbing facility in the sports center of our school so here we are getting all the equipments to rock climb!




I learned what rock climbing in Korean was for the first time today. 암벽등반 ambyukdeungban. No one was there so we had the whole place to ourselves. Yay!







Group photo with our equipment on. We look so happy! Thank god for self timer function on the camera.











OK, I'm finally ready to rock climb...

Kelly says: Belay!
Steve says: Belay on!
Kelly says: Climb!
Steve says: Climb on!
















Aigo aigo~
It is harder than it looks. I'm hanging on with all my strength here. You use a lot of your forearm, underarm, shoulder, gluteus and finger muscles. I found out the day after. Ouch~ I really need to exercise and work out regularly.











But I made it to the top! See! My hands are touching the ceiling!

Tom's Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich in Anam (Korea U)

I found a really cheap but good philly cheese steak place near school called Tom's Philly. The owner is from So Cal and he likes to speak English to his customers. Apparently a lot of 외국인들 (foreigners) are regulars here and I'm not surprised.





A close up of the menu. For 3000won ($2.50) you get a choice of your cheese steak sandwich and a drink. That's cheap! For those of you who can't read Korean, they have philly steak, BBQ steak, Hot steak, Hawaiian steak, chicken philly, teriyaki chicken, Cajun chicken, and Hawaiian chicken.




We ordered hot steak, hawaiian steak, and cajun chicken and they were all so very, very tasty! I made my hot steak extra spicy and it was SPICY~

So here's how he made it.
1. Add beef and mix it with onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, and other ingredients










2. Mix and stir fry 'em












3. Separate them into 3 orders and add appropriate sauce for the sandwiches. Here, he's adding the cajun sauce.









4. Add cheese and final sauce on top










5. Scoop it up and put it in the bun. The buns were nicely browned on the side while the meat and vegetable was cooking.
Voila~ The sandwich is complete and he does this right in front of you so it's entertaining for your eyes & taste buds!

This place is definitely a thumbs up! I'm going back next week and trying the Hawaiian steak!

OTSAL- Indian Restaurant in Anam (Korea U.)

The two times that I tried Indian food was in Hawaii and I have to say, it wasn't my best food experience. But I wanted to give it one more try. There have been many dishes in the past that I hated it in my first try like uni, natto, Vietnamese and Thai food but all these food have become my favorite now. I know some food need a little getting used to and I knew Indian was just that kind of food.



Recommended by my teacher at KU, we decided to give Otsal a try. I've heard several others say good things about this restaurant so I thought this place would be perfect for me to try Indian again. I was very impressed with the interior and the service. The decoration was authentic Indian (according to a friend who just returned from India) and it had warm, welcoming atmosphere with nice touch of Indian crafts and art.














I ordered San Miguel, a draft beer from Philippines. Apparently this beer goes well with the Indian food. I wondered why an Indian beer would not be a better match with Indian food but oh well... what do I know about Indian food right? ^^









Our first order was butter nan 2500 won or $2. We ordered two of these. Very very yummy.










The next dish was tandoori chicken with vegetables. It wasn't as spicy as I thought it would be. 8500won ($7.50)














Third course was lamb curry. Very tasty~















Our last dish was mixed biriyani, which is fried rice with tomatoes, coconuts, and other spices and vegetables.







For our dessert we ordered Blackberry and Mango Lassie (yogurt drink). 2500 won ($2)



I can now proudly say, Indian is in my favorite food category! Can't wait to try more Indian food!!!!

Outdoor Skating at Seoul Plaza

Seoul City sponsors outdoor skating at the Seoul Plaza in City Hall every year. This year was no different and this facility went up from December and it will close this month. I've never ice skated outdoors so I was estatic when I saw this outdoor rink being set up in front of my internship. Although it took awhile, I'm glad I finally made it to the rink before it closed.

This is where you buy the ticket. You have to buy in one hour increments and it's only 1000won or 75cents, which also includes your skate rental. Isn't that crazy cheap? I just couldn't believe how cheap it was! And one hour is all you need. We went between 7-8pm and it was very crowded and my legs were pretty tired after an hour.


Here's where you rent your skates, at the lending office. I know, I thought the name was funny too. I wonder who does the translations for the City.












In this video, you can see the blue character doing the techtonic dance~
He did several other dances throughout the night which was just too cute~~~



This video just shows people skating around the rink. Enjoy seeing regular Korean people in action!

Ramen House- City Hall

We were looking for a place to eat dinner before we went skating nearby and found this hole in the wall place that looked cheap but good. It says they are ramyun (ramen) house and had Japanese on the sign so I was expecting an awesome authentic soup base ramen!

But I was surprised to find that they serve Shin Ramyun! It's so funny that they would call themselves a ramen specialist when they just cook up an instant noodle. But at least they added mandoo, gim (nori) and green onion. It was 3000 won, which I thought was way overpriced. You can buy a bag of Shin for 600won and felt totally ripped off.

We also ordered Kimchi fried rice (3500won) and this was the best one out of the 3. I liked how they added bean sprouts with gim (nori) on the side.
They really liked to use gim here. Almost every dish they served had gim on top of it.





Kimbap was 3000won, which I thought was way overpriced, too. It was alright but not worth 3000 won.



So overall rating, I would not go back to this place. Way too expensive for a place that serve instant food.