Adventures in Korean Food

Thought id share some of the different eating experiences ive had recently. The first isnt really a single experience, but many, and is actually just a custom over here. The custom i refer to is drinking one's soup directly from the bowl. Now, there are spoons in Korea - no knives or forks - but that doesnt stop this process from happening. I was reluctant to do this for probably the first 6-8 weeks of my arrival, but since then its become a favourite thing of mine. It always brings a smile to face when i bring that bowl to my mouth - partly because im doing something that was never allowed before coming here, and partly because the whole thing seems a bit absurd. But im definately not the precious type so im very comfortable with absurd. In reality, its actually quite practical - there is a soup with nearly every meal and really, who has the time or energy to use their hand in the same repetitive motion 20 times when u can simply drink the whole thing in 3 gulps. Genius. It took some time to get some photos of me doing this; i obviously dont take my camera to every meal; but when one of my friends was showing me some photos while i was eating some dwaen-jang jig-gge (seafood and tofu soup, delicious and a great hangover food) with a lowly spoon, i connected the dots and came up with these.




Had my first serious experience of raw fish last week. My plan for the night was to meet a friend who is leaving the country soon and raid his house of anything he was leaving behind, and then eat McDonalds for the first time since ive arrived. Well, ive had a medium chips and a single bite of someones burger, but this was gonna be the first proper Maccas in about 5 months. I was quite excited for how the night was going to play out, and i took only enough money for maccas coz i planned on coming home afterwards. All that changed when my mate wondered if i wanted to grab dinner beforehand. I said sure, he is leaving soon and in the mood to hang out, drink and eat so I thought why not. He said he was thinking fish, and I thought, "great, i love fish, this will be good'. As we are walking down the street, we looked at the fish resturants - some were pufferfish resturants (no joke) and the others were raw "normal" fish. So I went from Maccas to raw fish in a matter of moments. The meal was interesting - lots of side dishes, some normal, some completely whacky, but they kept on coming. The whacky ones included random large chunks of fruit and vegetables covered in mayonnaise - it looked like potato salad but had cucumber, carrot, prawn meat and the best of all, apple. Yes, apple covered in mayonnaise. Weird. We also were given a plate of small shells. They looked like the tiny pink and speckled cone shaped shells you often find on the beach back home, but where dark in colour. You put your mouth over the small opening and just suck as hard as you can, until the little thing living inside it pops into your mouth. Weird. I was told this can also be sold as barfood. Again, weird. The raw fish was OK. Average. It wasnt very tasty and required some sauces to give it some kick, and there were times when it was in your mouth that you remembered it raw fish and the texture freaks you out a little bit. But it was edible. And expensive. And not very filling. It wasnt filling enough that i had to buy some Ramyeon (2-minute noodles) a little bit later as we were drinking out the front of a corner store. Yes, drinking out the front of a corner store. Most corner/convienience stores have chairs and seat set up in front of them so u can buy some booze and drink it up out the front. Its basically a cheap outdoor bar. Bloody awesome. This was where I had the ramyeon and also where one of my mates ate a hot dog that made him sick for the next 3 days. Yes, he ate raw fish earlier that night, but the hot dog made him sick.


First day of semester today so technically my "holiday" is over, but today reminded me that every day for me is a holiday. I love my job. So bloody easy. And fun. Was in a bit of a crabby mood in the morning but had a smile plastered all over my face when I was in class.

Last but not least, couldnt pass up the oportunity to post this photo


Happy Birthday Mum!!!!!! Miss you heaps and love you lots!