Delivery!

Just another dinner delivery in the Motherland - Jjajangmyun, Jahmpong, Udong, Mandu, and Tangsuyuk!  And all within half an hour, gotta love it!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day in Korea is celebrated differently.  The ladies are supposed to buy their man a box of chocolate.  Then, on March 14th, the men get to reciprocate and buy their loves a box of candy.  Since Sam had the day off, we just used the opportunity to take a road trip!  We pulled Lindsay out of school and, after meandering through Gongju and not finding much of interest, we decided to just drive on up to Seoul! 

On our way up, we stopped at a rest stop and encountered a water drip gone awry.  The streetlight above the gazebo was dripping, apparently for some time, the ice formations were impressive - sheets of water that looked like stalagtites and stalagmites!

Our destination for the day - Namsan Tower.  We'd been meaning to go a couple of times, and finally decided that today was the day.  Unfortunately for us, Namsan Tower is the most popular tourist attraction for foreigners and a top destination for couples in love, and of course, we decided to go on Valentine's Day... *sigh* live and learn...  We didn't realize our mistake until we got close to the area and were wondering why it was so congested in the middle of the afternoon on a Tuesday.

We took the cable car to get to the tower - fun!

The weather was a bit hazy, but the views were pretty from the top.  The cityscape against the beautiful mountains made for a gorgeous view.

Standing in front of a replica of the ancient fire beacon alarm system used to notify the capital of invaders and other communications. We read about it in "The Firekeeper's Son" by Linda Sue Park before we got to Korea. Yay, for library books!

Lindsay has officially embraced the Korean "V" pose for pictures.  I remember my dad asking Grace and me to do this once for pictures when we were very young.  It's still a de facto pose for Koreans, a very longstanding tradition, indeed.

Namsan Tower!

Speaking of traditions. another one that is rumored to have started here was leaving a lock with you and a loved one's name on it, declaring your eternal love for each other.  You can see locks on fences at many Korean attractions now, but it started here.

 My Valentine :O)

Lindsay says that this is how the pop stars pose.  Oy...

For dinner, we headed to Itaewon.  I had never been there, and we were all craving for some non-Korean food.  We all enthusiastically agreed to eat Indian.  Lindsay couldn't have been happier.

 Waiting for the food...

Non Korean food!  We were so happy.  We ordered butter chicken, some Chef's special curry,  and naan.  We ate three orders of naan, so yummy.  Lindsay inhaled the food and was in non-Korean food bliss.  The curry was disappointing in that they had used frozen vegetables - boo! 

I liked the name of this restaurant

After dinner, we walked around Itaewon and then headed home.  More traffic!  We finally got home around eleven.  Lindsay was a bit tired for school the next day, but I'm sure the Indian food was worth it. :O)

새해 복 많이받으세요!

We welcomed the lunar new year in Seoul with family.  We didn't know how many people would come to Sam's Eemo's home, but over thirty ended up coming!  As always, it was nice to spend time with ones we love. :O)

The Elders of the family getting ready to receive their greeting for the new year

We all bowed en masse to save time

Cousins!

Korean Strawberries

*sigh* Korean strawberries, how can I convey how lush and  sweet and tasty they are?  Korean strawberries are:

1.  Grown in greenhouses.
2.  Are a winter treat in Korea, not a summer one like home.  They are at their peak from December to April.
3.  Are all sweet, with no tart.  Yum!

Oh, how I wish I could send each of you a kilogram of these succulent, sweet, beautifully red strawberries.  Since I can't ever foresee myself ever coming back to Korea in the winter, my plan is to eat as many as I can while I'm here.  I'm ruined for American strawberries! 

Ice Sledding!

Last Saturday we had a nice lunch at a Vietnamese/Thai? place and were thinking about what to do for the day.  Sam wanted to go sledding again but the kids were not enthused.  Lindsay said that she wanted to go ice sledding, "어름 썰매", so we decided to try it out.  It was fun!  We rented two sleds and played all afternoon! 

See the dry creekbed behind Lindsay?  I found out that the three gentlemen that run the place come at night for three hours, and pour water on the creekbed to ice it over. 

 

 Action shot!  The sleds went faster than I expected!

It turned out to be a great way to spend the afternoon.  And it was timely too, because it was the last weekend that they would be open.  어름 썰매 재미 있었어요!

Jeonju

Still trying to play catch up!  The weekend after the Persimmon Festival, we decided to go to Jeonju, where there is a traditional folk village.  We were looking most forward to the bibimbap, which Jeonju is well known for.  Well, the food was worth it!  As soon as Sam and I took a bite, we looked at each other and just grinned like cheshire cats.  It was soooooo gooood. 

It only took us about an hour to get to Jeonju.  Aren't the toll gates pretty?  We, of course, decided to eat first before going to the folk village...

Jeonju bibimbap.  Along with the normal veggies, it had mook, marinated raw beef, walnuts, pine nuts, chestnuts and ginko nuts.  Mmmm mmmmm.

All mixed together and ready to eat!

 


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The kids really enjoyed their bulgoki, too!


A huge bowl of resin bibimbap commemorating when the restaurant made bibimbap for 1000 people at once.  I'm sure you noticed that the ingredients are in the shape of the Korean peninsula.  It really does look like a rabbit, doesn't it?



Upstairs, they had a little gallery displaying bibimbaps from the different regions in Korea.  They also had these adorable figures depicting a traditional Korean kitchen and mealtime with a king. 

 In front of the restaurant

 
 

The folk village was a mixture of old and new.  There are many homes that are hundreds of years old along with buildings that were new construction to encourage the tourism industry to the area.  In the end, it's all about making a buck, sadly.  But at least some history gets preserved along the way.

Pretty manhole cover

 

A catholic church built in the Byzantine style.  Built by a French priest in the early 20th century to commemorate the spot where  two Korean Christians became the first Korean Christian martyrs in 1781.  Lindsay and I took a peek inside only to realize that there was a wedding going on, oops!  That didn't stop dozens of others from stepping inside to get their glimpse, too.

 

Yummy street food!  "Chrysanthemum bread", waffles and ho dduk!  We opted for the bread, they were ooey gooey good and warmed us up on that cold day.

 Goofy shot of Nathan from inside a bakery.  That's it from Jeonju, till next time...

Yangchon Dried Persimmon Festival

On a cold Saturday back in December, we went to a Dried Persimmon 꽃감 Festival.  I had seen a commercial on TV promoting it, and being not too far away, we decided to check it out.  It was in a rural village about 30 minutes from Daejeon, and it was interesting to see how people in the country put on a fair.  I like dried persimmons, but the ones they were selling here were more half dried, and still pretty pulpy, so we just tasted the samples and moved on.   What is considered entertainment out in the country was an eyebrow raising experience.  The rumor was quite crude, as was their dress.  But why try to describe when I can illustrate...

 We followed the signs and knew we had made it when we saw the tents and balloons in the middle of nowhere














You just had to be there...



 

A display showing how the fruit is dried.  Of course Sam noted that the fruit would be covered with dust by the time it was ready for consumption. 

 Us and the festival mascots!   I had higher hopes for the festival, but we did manage to stay about an hour or so before heading back home.