We ate a traditional, and quite yummy, Korean barbecue style lunch. This consisted of an arrangement of leaves in a variety of shapes, flavors and sizes, a bunch of side dishes, toppings and sauces, and a grill in the middle of the table where paper-thin strips of beef could be grilled. The idea was to take a leaf, drop 1 or 2 strips of beef in, add some green-looking stuff and some sauce, wrap it up tight, and shove the whole thing in your mouth. This is the best way to taste all of the flavor at once.
It actually is quite tasty, and one of my favorite meals I've had here. But Bora, being the sweet lady she is, decided to teach me the name of the leaf meal. It's called "Ssam". Which is different than the number 3, which is "sam". However to my ear, they sounded exactly the same. Bora tried to say that "sam" is a softer sound where "ssam" is a much harder/assertive sound. When I later tried to tell my host father what I ate for lunch, I could tell I was saying it wrong because he had a look of confusion plastered on his face for a good 30 seconds before I finally conveyed my lunch menu. Needless to say, I am still very confused.
Another hugely popular dish with my host family is the traditional Korean pancake/pizza. Whatever they wish to call it, it is neither pizza nor a pancake. But it is a fairly simply snack to put together, so we often times have it at dinner. It is made with flour, leeks, a little water and an egg. If you are in favor of seafood, squid is oftentimes added for a little extra flavor. Especially at my house because NaHyun LOOOVES seafood in all shapes and sizes.
This is it:
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Finally, I had the pleasure of meeting Ellen up in Seoul this past weekend. It was a great one! Filled with fun times and lots of Korean cultural history. One surprising turn of events was meeting a Korean Ph.D. student who is in the midst of her dissertation research in Korea but is studying at Michigan State. We had a fun conversation since it's not everyday you meet someone on the other side of the world that lives in the same town you did last summer.
Since my post is about food, one of the most delicious meals I've had was at a lovely restaurant that also had the food cooked in front of you. This one had a large skillet filled with cabbage, noodles, other veggies and chicken all mixed in a somewhat spicy curry sauce. We accidentally ordered 2 servings which looked like a small mountain of food. I'm not sure what it was, the lateness of our meal (3pm), the hours of walking, or just great appetites, but we downed that baby with no problems. Looking forward to eating some of that again when I go back up in a couple of weeks!
As for me, my life remains busy, exciting and relaxing all at the same time. This weekend is particularly eventful as I am heading off to Jeju-do, the Hawaii of Korea. I am looking forward to this so much! It's the first place I've gone by myself and there are lots of things to do! Check out their website if you want to feel jealous.
Also, a shout out to my sister and brother-in-law as they have just become brand new parents! Santiago Paul was born about a week ago and he is the cutest thing I have seen since that CNN distraction video of the baby elephant cuddling with a boy. Sigh. Can't wait to meet you little guy.
Loves and hugs from Korea.
