Gyeungju: AKA Korean Food
Wow, I just realized I took around eighty pictures. That is a good amount consider it rain one day and the first day we only got to one temple and a park. My battery also die during a staged peeing on a mural of Adolf Hitler. No, I’m serious go check out the picture of my friend Zach as he happily fakes peeing on Hitler. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself. The mural was just one of the surprises this past weekend.
This Friday a bunch of my friends and I got up(or stayed up) early to catch a 7 o’clock bus to Gyeongju, the cultural capital of Korea. For most of us this meant leaving our apartments at 5 or 6 o’clock. So, we set off to Gyeongju bright and early so we could have as much time as possible looking around. Dan, who had taught down there last year, meet us with two of his awesome friends(Kate and Rose) who drove us to Bulguksa Temple. After the temple we went to get some bibimbap and cotton candy(in honor of Children’s Day). We also went to a “pleasure” garden from the Silla Dynasty called Anapji Pond; where a bee called Fuzzy decided to be my friend for a while. We headed back to our place and decided to go play Starcraft. I had never gone to a pc bang(bang means room) nor had I ever played Starcraft, so it was first on both counts. It was fun actually, even though I’m not very good at strategy games. After some game time we head out for food and drinking.
Food:
Food and drinking go hand in hand in Korea. Also in Korea, it is rare to eat alone. Food is meant to be eaten in with a group of people all of whom share the same food. We went to a royodaki(sp?) Friday night, which is where you order a set which comes with a variety of dishes which everyone shares. There are no individual plates, you eat out of shared dishes. Also you drink. Korean beer is weak tasteless beer, but you get used to it. Soju, a rice liquor, is also the drink of choice for Koreans. The side dishes(banchan) included things like ddukbolgi, kimchi, shells(?), fried fish skin, corn, salad, quail eggs, and kimbap(like a cheap California roll but with Spam and pickle) that night. And then there was meat, because it’s Korea. Most often the meat is grilled(as in there is a grill in the middle of the table and you do it yourself) which is then wrapped in a leaf(lettuce, sesame(my fav.) or other green), toped with your choice of sauce, maybe roasted garlic and rice is optional. It’s really a nice balance, simple but delicious. All of our meals were traditional Korean meals, which was nice. We also tried two different sweets using red bean paste. One was a heaping tablespoon of red bean paste encased in a thin crust that tasted like Honey Nut Cheerios. The other one was the size of an oreo. It was two buckwheat(or at least it tasted like it) pancakes with a thin layer of red bean paste holding them together. I tried a lot of new things this weekend, since it’s hard to order some meals without a ton of people(you can’t order this stuff for one, it’s odd and kind of a waste). The desert Friday night was some red beans over ice, after which we moved on to another Korean tradition, noraebang.
Noraebang will have to wait till later. It’s late and I didn’t get much sleep this weekend. Gyeungju part two hopefully tomorrow.
This Friday a bunch of my friends and I got up(or stayed up) early to catch a 7 o’clock bus to Gyeongju, the cultural capital of Korea. For most of us this meant leaving our apartments at 5 or 6 o’clock. So, we set off to Gyeongju bright and early so we could have as much time as possible looking around. Dan, who had taught down there last year, meet us with two of his awesome friends(Kate and Rose) who drove us to Bulguksa Temple. After the temple we went to get some bibimbap and cotton candy(in honor of Children’s Day). We also went to a “pleasure” garden from the Silla Dynasty called Anapji Pond; where a bee called Fuzzy decided to be my friend for a while. We headed back to our place and decided to go play Starcraft. I had never gone to a pc bang(bang means room) nor had I ever played Starcraft, so it was first on both counts. It was fun actually, even though I’m not very good at strategy games. After some game time we head out for food and drinking.
Food:
Food and drinking go hand in hand in Korea. Also in Korea, it is rare to eat alone. Food is meant to be eaten in with a group of people all of whom share the same food. We went to a royodaki(sp?) Friday night, which is where you order a set which comes with a variety of dishes which everyone shares. There are no individual plates, you eat out of shared dishes. Also you drink. Korean beer is weak tasteless beer, but you get used to it. Soju, a rice liquor, is also the drink of choice for Koreans. The side dishes(banchan) included things like ddukbolgi, kimchi, shells(?), fried fish skin, corn, salad, quail eggs, and kimbap(like a cheap California roll but with Spam and pickle) that night. And then there was meat, because it’s Korea. Most often the meat is grilled(as in there is a grill in the middle of the table and you do it yourself) which is then wrapped in a leaf(lettuce, sesame(my fav.) or other green), toped with your choice of sauce, maybe roasted garlic and rice is optional. It’s really a nice balance, simple but delicious. All of our meals were traditional Korean meals, which was nice. We also tried two different sweets using red bean paste. One was a heaping tablespoon of red bean paste encased in a thin crust that tasted like Honey Nut Cheerios. The other one was the size of an oreo. It was two buckwheat(or at least it tasted like it) pancakes with a thin layer of red bean paste holding them together. I tried a lot of new things this weekend, since it’s hard to order some meals without a ton of people(you can’t order this stuff for one, it’s odd and kind of a waste). The desert Friday night was some red beans over ice, after which we moved on to another Korean tradition, noraebang.
Noraebang will have to wait till later. It’s late and I didn’t get much sleep this weekend. Gyeungju part two hopefully tomorrow.
posted by PolskaMando | 10:59 AM
1 Comments:
(You've got an open link in there, somewhere, Kate. It's turned your whole blog into a giant link. That'll eat Tokyo. Or something.)
How do Koreans feel about eating on the road or the sidewalk? I hear that's verboten in Japan. That's got no bearing on Korea, I know, but I'm working with what I've got, here.
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