Black Day - Why Not?

After rambling on so many Korean commercial celebrations, I had to at least try to go by one. I didn't give chocolate to a loved one on Feb. 14, didn't get candy on March 14, I got to April 14 and I had to eat jjajangmyeon. Not I did not dress all in black. I was told that if a foreigner were to go get black noodles on Black Day all dressed in black and be all depressed, they'd probably make the news. While I did find the idea of making the NEWS for being pathetic and alone on the official pathetic-and-alone-day, I ended up deciding to get the food only. 

They were sooooooo good. I think those were my favourite black noodles so far. The restaurant was not my discovery so I have no merit, but I did enjoy my meal, and my black day. Usually, the idea is "you are alone and everyone in Korea is in couple, so you're lame, however, you only have a single day where you can be proud of being so pathetic so show it to the world by eating black noodles alone", but I found myself breaking the rules nonetheless. I went with a guy friend from the baseball cheering crew, that I had met by coincidence the day before at Coex (the coffee expo I wrote previously - sorry, in Korean). Since he lives right around the place I work at, I asked him if there were good jjajangmyeon places around and he took me to one.

That's why I have no merit for the deliciousness of the food. The restaurant was busy as a bee, with tons of people of different age groupe, mostly older people though. There was a table of 4 girls across from our table (single? most probably, otherwise... why?).

I doubt he'll help me for the next coming up useless celebration: May 14 - Kiss Day. loll Maybe I should just buy a bag of Kiss Hershey chocolate and stuff my face into it?

À suivre.....

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

Insadong with Mum and Dad

Our first day in Bukchon was a success.

It helped that we were on a national holiday, since the palaces were free ;)

On the second day I thought we could visit Insadong. There was also the temple close by the big Insadong street that I had visited before, but that was a good opportunity for my dad to see temples. Getting out of Seoul and back during Chuseok is a bit suicidal so as we stayed downtown, the downtown temples seemed a decent alternative to the faraway mountain temples that we would have gone to visit another time....

Oh.

Another thing.

When I got to Korea I realized something really weird. I was used to Japan, and China and even Taiwan, for when it comes to the culture and the everyday life. What I experienced was the early bird early sleep of Japanese people. Stores opening pretty early, as people get on with their day and enjoy it during the sunlight hours. 

Then Korea blew my mind.

In Korea, there is simply no end of the night. During weekdays, people with drink out of their minds, sometimes til 4 -6AM before waking up and work the next day. That's why, there is NO store, restaurant, coffee shop, snack canteen open before 10AM, sometimes even 11 (with the lonely exception of Paris Baguette that opens at 9AM I think).

I thought that was a great thing. That would allow me to wake up early and take walks in the empty towns and enjoy the shining sun, and in the heat of summer, have the chilly mornings for me. 

I obviously never did that. But possibility, there is.

Thing is. My parents are the wake-up-at-6AM type. So we had a lot of time on our hands. We got to Insadong at 9, by reeeeeaaaally dragging it in the morning and taking our time at the guest house. but there is always so much you can do to drag on.

Thing is, having a town completely empty, that's also cool for one thing. Taking nice building pictures without anyone around. So that's what we did at first. Good morning Insadong!

I noticed, as I met korean friends there, that there are not that many Koreans who really went to Insadong. Unless they went with their parents and went when they were too young to remember. I think, tho, that among the people who did go, not that many got the chance to see an empty Insadong, and had the time to admire the buildings for what they are, instead of for what they sold. 

There were surprisingly a great amount of amazing looking buildings, cleverly designed spaces and buildings with unusual material. Every time I walked around Seoul, I always got a thought for my dad, thinking that he'd be really enjoying the sight of all those nice buildings all over the place. Well I am happy he finally got to see some :)

Ssangji Gil, that building, that closes at 6PM, was always closed when I visited the first times, but I am happy I finally got to go. It is a weird 4 floors building, of which you can climb up without even realizing that you are walking up. There are obviously staircases on each corners of the building, but the most interesting way to go up is to just walk in squares (I want to write walk in circle, but it sound inadequate, since the building is no really a circle, and I am a sucker for details). As you can notice on the picture below, the sides of the walking ways are slightly slanted upwards so you gradually just get to the top without straining yourself as you would by walking up flocks of stairs.

The building has tons of trinket stores with mostly hand-made jewelry, bags, clothes and accessories. I didn't buy anything, but then, it's more the kind of place you would stroll by with a boyfriend and maybe get some silly couple accessories, or stop on the rooftop coffee shop for an expensive coffee.

As it was, we really went there for the view.

I read somewhere that there was a Trick-eye museum, like the one I went to with Rosemary on Hongdae, but there were so many people by the time we came back to Ssangji Gil that it was not tempting to look for it. I'd go later, I told myself.

We waited in line outside an amazing Mandu place called "palace", where we got our money's worth of deliciousness. We got pajeon (Korean pancakes) and boiled mandu (dumplings).

There was a paparazzi...