Korea House - Part 2

The price we paid for the food and show, I would not have felt bad of paying only for the show part. The performances were really good. There were many different types of performances and the music was all live music, with traditional instruments. I thought it almost a shame that the focus was mainly on the dancers, when the musicians playing on each sides of the scene played so well that it blended perfectly with the performance.

The first performance was with  the 5 Korean drums, with the always smiling pretty women dressed of gold and red. Their movements were swift and all at the same time, it was simply mesmerizing. 

It is very ironic that I would have some background knowledge of Korean drums, thanks to the Joseon drama "Hwang jinyi", but I think it did help me enjoy even more what was before my eyes. I took the time to just suck everything in, not taking any picture or looking away. Those pictures were taken with my dad's camera, and I am happy I left it to him to take pictures, because the result is amazing. 

You know what I hate more than side camera with flashes, that we sometimes had a few years ago, during a presentation?

Fucking phones at a show. 

People think that it's a given that everyone can take pictures without flashes, because without flashes, the artists won't be disturbed. Well that was before people stupidly decided to bring their cellphones to take pictures instead of bringing decent cameras. Stop two seconds to think.

Take two more.

Think of the light of the omg-I-am-getting-bigger-and-bigger-screens-for-my-smartphone, all that, lit up in a completely dark room. Now think that you are sitting between two people both filming the performance with their cellphones. I don't know for you, but this irks me so much I build up anger like mad. Can't people just enjoy the fleeting beauty of the moment? Can't they look at a show with their eyes and enjoy their money's worth, while it's still going on, instead of thinking "well, I'll watch it on my computer later". That's simply retarded.

Amen.

There were such people in the front row. And I kindly let them know that it was not fun to have their phone lights in my face, thank you. Then, the show was more enjoyable.

That first song was great. Loved the choreography, loved the music, loved the costumes...

However.... they started doing that...

Going up and down, up and down, up and down... and I couldn't help myself being reminded of a Korean hit of the summer....

You can understand that I had trouble keeping my face straight for a bit....

My friend Ted, had told me how he loved this song because, as opposed to so many KPop songs in general, that are a weirdly evolved version of borrowed American cheesy Pop, that one song was a style on its own. It was not borrowed from the weirdly cute Japanese Pop either, it was simply some weird music, that just "popped" up, here, in Korea, with nothing else to it. 

Then it got me thinking. 

Maybe that's why he said it was "pure korean"? (I'm just writing nonsense, please do not take my word for that....) you know, if traditional Korean drums have the same choreography... 

... okay okay. I'll shut it.

If I remember well, the second song was the only one what somehow gave the focus on the musicians. At least at the beginning of the song, cuz the dancers came a bit late. 

That one was much much slower song, with Gisaeng dancing slowly, following the slow-paced rhythms of the flute and gayageum.

I've always loved those over-sized braided wigs Gisaengs wear. The extra volume makes their faces looks small and fragile. I can't imagine dancing gracefully with all this weight on my head, however. That must be causing the worst of headaches.

Following, was a performance with percussions with 4 or 5 men all playing different rhythms, all of them seemingly entranced with the song. 

Following, was a dance that felt like a swan dance to me. I did not like that the costumes looked a bit too modern. They basically looked like koreanized western bride dresses with fans. The dance, however, also on a slow pace, was beautiful.

The following performance has been selected as holder of the Korean traditional heritage by... I can't remember the name of the world organization... I hate to wait too long before I blog. So much is left forgotten. Well you'll have to bear with me. It's the love story between nobles (if you look at the clothing, anyways, that's what I'd deduct; tho I kind of want to say that the girl would seem to be a queen, taken her hair accessories and the color of her dress... but as the man was wearing a nobleman's clothes, and not the king's... it'd be a weird adultery story if it were, so I dare not say). 

What was the most remarkable in the performance was the song itself, sung by a cute looking lady with a crazy low-pitched voice, singing in the traditional Korean lamenting tones. She was really something to hear sing. 

More than a complex choreography, what was beautiful about that one dance, was the feeling of love and happiness they were giving off. They were just walking smoothly around, in a weird happy chemistry. 

Following was an impressive fan-dance, with an explosion of color and shapes.

The last performance was a bunch of men dancing in the swiftest and coolest ways. The theme of the dance was "men, after failing the entrance exam to join the royal guards". Funny that there'd be an official dance for that, but I guess it was common occurrence: not everybody can get it.

Korea House - Dinner Part

I regret having taken so much time to write my blog entries, because I am starting to forget a few details about all the things that went on during the time my parents were here. time flies, it's already been two whole months. 

After our trip to Namsan Tower and our never-ending walk under the highway beside the Han river, we went to Korea House for dinner. We made reservations and there were no spots on normal chairs and tables available, but I still asked if it was possible to get them, if there were cancellations or anything. I knew that the experience asked to have the low tables and seats on the floor, but my dad being 60, and 6 feet 4, with knee problems... was not really realistic. It would have been only painful for him...

So I was glad when we got there, to see we got a spot in the western side of the Hanok. Sadly, after getting a glimpse at the gorgeous low table room, with windows giving to the inner courtyard, we walked to the quite empty room with western tables to have our meals. Oh well. The experience was the food, anyways, so I suppose I couldn't complain. 

The buildings were gorgeous, with slight lights at the base of the small constructions, so it was peaceful to walk in the chilly breeze of the evening. We got the basic 12 meals course with the Korean performance after. I think it was something like $98 per person, but to be honest, with the quality of the food and the performance that we got to see, I feel like they are not getting their money's worth from us. It was a great presentation and a delicious meal.

Night view of the inside of the restaurant. There was a large inner courtyard and a small pond with flowing waters and catfish inside. There were other guests at the house that night, but surprisingly, not as many as I expected. I think that the reason they said they didn't have space in the western side is probably because they usually don't open the room unless there are enough people to fill it. There were only two other couples in the room we were in. A couple from Hong Kong, and another family of 4. I think they were from the states, but I couldn't be sure.

I realized that I tend to look at architectural details more when I am with my dad. I suppose I try to see the world through his eyes, because I respect him so much. Anyways, I like that in Asia they found so many ways to deal with different type of weather in ways that differ a lot from ours. Have you noticed that they have sliding doors and then opening panels to make 2 layers ? I mean, they had to have something like a two layer door thing, since the weather is so crazy humid in the winter, and they have doors all over the place. Well, those outer doors can be completely taken away from the sliding doors with the help of hooks and cords attached to the roofs. (see picture UP, for open panels)...

See picture UP for suspended panels of the same type or doors. I doubt that they always were glass window doors, but I feel like that was what had to be done for people to still want to work there in our modern winter...

So here starts our royal buffet...

I do not know if they used to come one after the other in the time of kings, but that's what we got. They gave us the servings one by one, after telling us the name of each.

Those two are respectively called the 9 and the 5 flavors plate (9절반과 5절반). Neither my parents nor I really were fond of the asian dry fish. Only, my parents didn't know that yet, so they tried it. I knew they were here for the experience, so I let them try it :3 I knew I wouldn't like it, so I refrained. That's the only thing that was left. the 9 flavor set was basically shredded pieces of many pickled vegetables to be eaten in a thin round shaped wrap. It was blissful. The 5 flavor set was just a bunch of side dish to eat individually (in which there was the weird dried fish in sesame).

We all had a serving of radish soup, kimchi and vegetables, what were refilled throughout the evening. When my parents understood that as long as they kept finishing them, they would bring more, they concentrated more on the main dishes, which would not keep coming in such case...

The third set was a plate of small Korean pancakes (전) to eat with the dipping sauce we each had. I've always liked Korean pancakes :) They did not taste that much more special than in other shops, but they were really prettily set, with the pieces of vegetables all set at the same spot for each of them.

That one is pretty self explanatory. It's a salad. The dressing was really good though, I think it was made with radish puree (샐러드).

The fifth serving was a pumpkin soup. Really yummy. I like how they made us go from cold to hot, soft to hard, and simple to complex types of foods. (호박스프)

"Royal Codfish". We didn't get the Korean translation, if there was. The green salad on the side was just as amazing as the fish itself. The fish melted in the mouth, and both seasoning was perfect. One of my favorite <3 

The seventh serving was Korean hotpot (시설롱). We got our own personal mini-hotpot. We usually get those in huge size in Chinese Hotpot places but this was my first time to see its tiny counterpart.

I think that is beef (떡갈비찜)? I am not sure. It's weird because it basically had a texture similar to your regular "hamburger meat",  in that the piece of meat had been completely taken apart from the bones, and put back together. That made it soft on the tongue, and the seasoning was, once again, really good.

King Shrimp (왕새우). Literally. Shrimp, scallop and zucchini. I love zucchini in Korea. They always taste great and have this amazing crunchy texture. I know I am weird, not to talk about the seafood that should be the focus of that meal, but while I do love seafood, I like zucchini better. Period.

Korean beef barbecue (불고기). Mini portion of a Korean barbecue meat. I like that that evening got my parents to try the mini version of many Korean stuff, instead of getting too stuffed with the crazy amount of food that they'd normally get by ordering them from a restaurant. Served with rice.

That soup was the last thing we got that evening. It did help a lot to make everything go down. Because let's face it: that was a lot of food.

I said the soup was the last, but the soup was number 11 out of the 12 servings we got. So the dessert was obviously last. We got a fruity tea (didn't get the name T.T) plus fruits and rice cake to end the meal. At that point nothing else would have gone down so we were grateful that the dessert was so small. I had a feeling of Déjà vu, from the time in Japan, where we got a traditional supper, my brother and I. Luckily, in Japan, they don't really eat dessert. 

During the evening, we had two different waitresses. The first one seemed really cold, distant and mean. She seemed in a very bad mood, so I invented her story.

She is the manager of the waiting staff. It's her only day off and one of the waitressed call in sick, or quit. Tonight is not such a busy night, so let's just not open one of our rooms, and do with less staff. 

However, there are too many people who called to make reservations at the western tables so she ends up coming to work. She is irritable, because she just missed a date with her boyfriend. So she decided to come to work without a single makeup tough - which means the end of the world in Korea. 

That's why I say she is the manager, because an manager would never let a normal employee come to work without any makeup... 

That said. 

She started her evening and got pissed. Those foreigners. I hate them all. they should just stay in their country. 

Well, think about it princess, why are you working in a foreigner paradise of a restaurant if you think like that? Just saying... 

Oh and this tall guy, why does he keep taking pictures of everything with his big camera. I'd like to see him try taking a picture of me. See I'd give him a piece of my mind. 

So here goes for the setting story. 

My dad loves the costumes all the waitresses are wearing, I mean, me too :) and takes pictures of the food. Then he says, Oh, when she comes back, I'll take a picture of her as she brings the food. Normally I don't make a fuss, but that time, you know, I had made the story of Princess here, and explained that, if my story (cuz my imagination is always right) was right, a Korean prideful lady would NEVER even go out without makeup, but that girl did, she already looked irritable, so I doubt she'd like it. Better ask first. My dad looked at me doubtfully. 

As the girl came, he took his camera, and asked her if it was okay, not really waiting for the answer, as he was expecting an indifferent yah sure. But she was like "no". Take the food if you want. On a tone that did not leave any place for dialogue. Whata bitch. I say that not because of the refusal. I was sure she would, but because she hurt my dad's feeling. He is such a people lover, outgoing with a warm aura that he shares with other, and I saw that he was feeling super sad and awkward at her answer. I wanted to hug him. Bitch. 

Anways... later on in the evening, two more waitresses came to work (yup, I noticed) at other tables, and our last 3 plates were brought by another younger, prettier, happier waitress, and that one, let us take a picture. She was surprised that we'd ask. And I saw she found it funny. She even make a fake "pouring tea" pose for the camera. Thank you <3