KIMCHI!! Koreans love this stuff....and luckily for me, so do I, b/c it is eaten with pretty much every meal here(if you so choose). There are several types of Kimchi, but the most common type is fermented(pickled) cabbage with a hot chili pepper paste. Yes, this is the same girl who does not like lettuce, saying that she throughly enjoys kimchi...you can pick your jaws up off the floor now...or leave them there b/c the other food I have tried may cause the same reaction.
On my first day at the school, the principal wanted to take me out for a nice lunch. We entered the restaurant, took off our shoes and sat on the floor. For an unflexible American girl like myself, sitting Indian style on the floor while eating, is not the most comfortable of things to do....I may start practicing yoga just so I can sit and eat in comfort. He ordered the premium menu, which came with about 15 side dishes( pronounced "banchan" in Korean) and at least 3 main dishes. I tried a little bit of everything(the Korean names of some I can not remember): mandu(Korean-style dumplings), dotorimuk(acorn jelly salad), seaweed, the tofu, the jangeo-gui(broiled eel), udong(noodles in fish broth), rice, rice water(the water used to cook the rice is then served to drink...yum), sukju namul(sprout salad), something with pumpkin, etc..; everything but...the fish, which was served cooked, but still attached to its head and with all of its scales still on and bone inside...it looked like a whole entire fish was just fried...it was more than I could handle.
On day two, all of the teachers and one of the vice-principals went out to lunch again. The only other teacher who speaks beyond "hello" in English asked me if I liked octopus. I said, "Well, I don't know because I have never tried it, but I will try it." Luckily for me, the vice-principal was worried I would not like the octopus so he ordered me a "westerner meal" or something off the kids menu...great!! But like I said...luckily. When we sat down to eat I was warned that a live octopus was going to be cooked on our table....yikes!! When the octopus was put in the mix or broth and vegetables on the broiler on our table, all of the other teachers watched me to see my reaction. I immediately wanted to grab my camera to capture the tentacles of the octopus slithering(for lack of a better term) around everywhere, but I resisted, so the pic below is borrowed and will give you an idea of what it looked like as it was cooking.
Once the octopus is cooked, one of the waitresses comes by and cuts up the tentacles using scissors so that you can begin eating. The head is left intact...that is, until you've eaten nearly all of the tentacles. Then she comes back again and cut up the head....gag! It is supposedly the tastiest part, but I took a pass.
Last Saturday, I made some new friends, a few whom I have seen frequently this week!! CJ, a Canadian who has been her for about 3 and a half years; Jinah, his Korean girlfriend, who is so nice and helpful; and Ryan, a South African, who has been here a few months. On Tuesday, I went out with Ryan and some of his friends to an Indian restaurant for dinner. The food was great and I got to meet some more cool people. On Wednesday, it was CJ's birthday, so I went along to dinner for my first galbi(Korean BBQ) experience. Strips of meat are cooked on the table in front of you. Then, you wrap them in lettuce or mint leaves( I preferred the mint leaves), then add some sauce, garlic and sprouts and wrap it up....thanks to CJ, I learned the proper way to prepare my galbi. It was very good!! Sorry no pics again...I'll take some next time!!
Other than that, I have been eating a lot of bibimbap, which is a rice dish mixed with sauteed veggies, seaweed and a raw or fried egg(I only eat the fried egg) topped with chili sauce and mixed together, and kimbap, rice rolled in seaweed usually with veggies and some form of protein, be it fish cakes, crab, eggs or meat...it is pretty similar to maki(if you know sushi).
bibimbap, my most common school lunch
kimbap
Pretty much everything here is eaten with chopsticks, so I am slowly getting better. The nice thing is that Koreans use metal chopsticks...even when you have food delivered, they bring you metal chopsticks, and then they return to collect them and the dishes the food was in....what a novel idea in not creating ample waste. Since I am no chopstick expert, I tend to eat very slowly, which turns out to be a good thing b/c I recognize when I am full and don't overeat!! I rarely finish an entire meal...they're huge!! But, some of the teachers worry that I don't like the food...hahaha!! I assure them daily that I do, I am just full!! Once it gets warm and I get on Kayne's workout plan(jk) I might be a skinny bitch...again joking!!
Don't get me wrong, I have had the occasional non-Korean meal...to include: sweet potato pizza, pasta and even a hamburger one day, but I am trying to eat as much Korean as possible. I have also been eating a lot of ramen noodles for lunch...hello college!! I don't have pots or pans yet, so cooking is out of the question!! I figured out that my lunch time is a good time to Skype people at home, so I came home a couple of days last week and cooked my ramen in the microwave...seriously...college!!
That is all from from this foodie!!
