Food

I'm up for it all, I will try it at least once.... hmmm... I don't think so! I'm soooo not Andrew Zimmern.  If  I don't know what it is, Sean doesn't know what it is, and it has a suspicious appearance, yeah... most likely I won't try it. Sorry I'm not that adventurous. But whatever I do have, (If happen to take a picture before I devour it) I'll post here.

First is obviously Kimchi.  I'm most definitely no expert on it, but this is comparing from where I've had it.  For my taste, Kimchi here is far to "intense". 

We had it in Barcelona (at a Korean restaurant we found) there it was tasteless.  It seemed watered down. 

In Puerto Rico I found a can once at the Chinese store (made in China) this was really no good at all, tasted like can. 

We found a Korean area in Buenos Aires when we went there in 2009, but we didn't go, cause they told us it was a dangerous area... boooo : ( 

The few times I've had it, I liked the New York one the best.  I <3 NY, it really is the world inside the world. 

   

Kimchi

At a Korean Restaurant in Barcelona
 with our dear friend "Amarillo" : )

At a Korean Restaurant we found in Barcelona, with our dear friend from Puerto Rico, Amarillo. : )

For my Spanish speaking ppls' & Puerto Rico friends, this is what I told someone that asked me on the Kimchi picture that I have in my FB page;

hmmm... no hay parecido. Pero lo mas cercano, seria el sofrito ; /.... Realmente es repollo, marinado en ajo, (mucho ajo), vinagre, gengibre, cebollines, sal y azucar una cantidad desmedida de pique. Lo rojo es todo "chili peppers". 

kimchi, seoul, korea, food, traditional korean food, fermented food

kimchi, fermented food, traditional korean food, Seoul, Market, traditional Markets in korea

Kimchi really represents Korea's best known food. They eat it at every meal. And I know some can't go for a couple of days without it.  Me... not there yet,  I'd rather eat Choco-pie : )

I would love to continue with my "Food" post, but I have to run. The tiny boss in my house is calling for her "food".  So much & so little time.

To be continued...

xoxo,
T. : )

Breakfast!

My favorite meal of the day, has always been breakfast.  I can have eggs, oatmeal, cereal, toast anytime of the day.  The week we came to visit, we stayed at a Hotel, so we had it at the morning buffet, It was delicious. I Found a bit odd that Sean and I were always the only ones there and that they also had out kimchi, kimbap, Shrimps, fish & fried rice. I knew it had to do with the diet here, but to me these tipes of food are far to heavy or "intense" to have so early in the morning.
When we moved here and where no longer eating out of a Hotel Buffet, we realized what was going on. First;  no one here wakes up early! We have a 2 year old that wakes us up 6am, but even if we didn't have him, we wouldn't be in past 8am, at a latest.  Here even at 9- 10am everything is closed! Maybe some places would open 10:30-11:00am, but very, very few. Second;  there is no breakfast (at least our type). They have here exactly what was odd to me at the buffet, kimchi, kimbap, Shrimps, fish, fried rice, rice porridge, corn soup or a clear broth (assume is vegetables, fish or beef stock). I was devastated by this...booo... I <3 my breakfast out on the weekends, now I would have to make it even on the weekends!!!
Yes there are the bakeries that have good breads, (and I love them), but what about my delicious scrambled eggs.

Bakery in Korea

Some places serve eggs, but for brunch (way late for our family), they are very expensive and mostly fried. I've asked if they can scramble the eggs for me and they refuse, "Aishh, ah nee yo, ah nee yo" not even just a stir, and there I get the "X" sign (they cross their arms to say no)... It really is a big deal... hmmm....
With time we found a couple of places that served some american style breakfast, but very few. The first one we went was in Cheongdamdong.  

Butterfinger Pancakes

They make really delicious pancakes, (I was never a pancake lover) but here I really like them. I ordered some blueberry pancakes and Sean Banana Nut, we shared with Markus, one glass of orange juice, one grape and two cups of coffee...  

tatarataaann.... was like $90!!!  Yeah I'll be making my own pancakes for a long time : P

After we moved to Seorae Maoul, I found a cute small bakery/coffee shop that makes delicious belgian waffles (a lot less expensive) and that opens at 9am wich is ok. They are very nice & we are always the first ones there! Problem is, can you really have this all the time..... : /

Belgian Waffles 

 I don't have breakfast out as often as I did when we were in Puerto Rico, but I'm used to it, and it's ok.  Next time I'm back to the island I plan on eating tons of mallorcas, grilled cheese & scrambled eggs. They say you don't know what you had till you lost it : ( .... so true.

xoxo,
T.

The cute Street

Over the weekend we decided to rent a car & go on a drive around the City.  We went to Pyeongchang-dong. They say it's nice and there's houses there.  I wanted to take a look at it to see if we could move into a house.  The extra space would be nice, since I have 2 kids now, and the 2 year old just runs around our apt. all day long. 

We drove around the Gyeongbokgung Palace.  On the east side of it, there is a little street that is SUPER cute &. It's lined up by cute coffee shops & stores.  This is what I'm talking abooOOout...  : ) Small cute shops always make my day!

Wall art Korea

Somewhere around Jongno-Gu

Marky and Buzz <3

It's evil Doctor Porkchop!!!

Picture please...

Mobile phonecharms

weird 

Then we realized the area was so nice because it was around the Blue House, where the President lives.

Wall on the west side of it.

Towards Buam-dong

On our way up...

On our way to Pyeongchang-dong we drove by a little town named Buam-dong.  It was pretty cute, very small and all I got to see it had was a cupcake shop & a couple of coffe shops. We drove so fast by it, I couldn't take any pictures. We were just trying to find our way out, and continue our drive... you know since we got there on navigation system, we were a bit lost... "Nos dieron unos cuantos bocinasos" : ) When we got to Pyeongchang-dong we realized it is not the place for us. Way to far from Sean's work & I would be way alone. Houses are great but really expensive, and I'll remember it as my first encounter with a restaurant that serves Dog meat.

So we just ended driving back & eating a burger (Best one I've had) at Charcoalo in Shinsa-dong.... In the end It's all about the food. : )

Dogs... Oh you know what I mean!

You've heard what they say... They eat dogs in Korea.  I have to admit, I was very concerned with the idea of walking into a restaurant that serves dog meat. I could see myself ordering a dish by looking at a picture, (since I don't know korean) and have it be dog... Barffff...euuuu

I guess In this case "Ignorance would be a bliss"... I'd rather not know: /

On my experience, I have NOT run into this, and glad. I have to thank God Sean speaks korean, but reality is I don't think it happens (if it does) as often as you think. I also looked into "Dog meat Consumption" and it happens to be that dog meat is eaten all over the world. It is also been historically considered an emergency food source in many countries. And here poor Korea gets all the bad rep. 

Truth is if you come here, you shouldn't worry about this at all. If I've seen anything here is that people are very nice to their dogs and there's sooo many Vets. and Pet shops around, it make me want to get one  every time I walk by one. 

This was a random pet shop we walked by, NOT a restaurant. I just think is funny they would put this sign up, above a dog knowing the rep. they carry...

xoxo,

T. 

Working out!

One of the things that I found very interesting when I first got here, was the workout machines in parks. I really don't know the story behind these, (must be some government effort to promote healthy living), but they have them in all parks I've walked in. Funny to see all the "viejitos" working out...

This one goes side to side. For the waist I guess...

Marky's fave... "the steering wheel"  The kid loves this one, he thinks he's steering a boat. He makes pirate noises and all.... arrrrrrr  

On this one you hold two knobs that it has and twirl holding on to them, like dancing Salsa and doing the "vueltitas"...

This one I'm on is like a disk on the bottom,  and you rotate side to side. Another waist machine...

There's the one where you pull up your weight and the pull-up bar. 

I said to myself I would start using them as soon as I was over with the belly. Now Olivia is two months and I've not used it once, even though I've taken Markus to the park plenty of times. I need to get started to see if I get rid of all the pounds I packed with the pregnancy... (sigh).... On the bright side, I quit Choco pie... ; )

xoxo, 

T.  

Lotte World

One of the first things we did here, was take Markus to Lotte World.  Lotte World is a small theme park in Jamsil, Seoul.  I would like to go back there sometime during the evening or night, since the park turns into a fairy-tale like place where the rides & buildings are illuminated with LED lights. I know Markus would just LOOOOVE it.  We were not to lucky the day we went. I was 5 or 6 months pregnant & we went there when it was a busy, busy park since, we happened to go during Children's Day. Children's Day is a national holiday in Korea celebrated on May 5. On this day parents are to indulge their kids with gifts, taking them to parks, movies, to the zoo or just do about anything that will make a kid happy... (pretty cute) : )

Lotte World, amusement parks in Korea, Seoul, Lotte Castle, Lotte Mart, Living abroad, expat in korea

Lotte World

Here me trying to hide my belly with "blankie"... They don't let preggo's on rides.  Don't worry, it was far from dangerous. 

mixed boy, mixed kids, Korea, South Korea, Expat in Korea, Seoul, lifestyle in Korea

mixed kids, mixed boy, kids, Seoul, Korea, Lotte world, 

The only ride he could go in.  It was so busy, lines were 1-2 hours long. To get in this one we did almost two. 

We paid from around $80-90 to get in.  We were there for like 4 hours & only did one ride. Markus was very upset cause he could't go in the Choo-choo"...  So we ended the day with a chocolate Ice cream cone. And he ended the day happy after all, Markus & the kid that still lives on his Mamma.... ahhhh (sigh) Ice Cream, just fixes it all : )...  except my figure.

xoxo, 

T. : )

Settling

This is what we've been up to since we got here...

It's November 2011 and We moved here on April same year. We've been trying to see as much as we can while we are here.  For now it's more visual, when I catch up on time, I will talk more about the experiences. 

Delivered Jajangmyun

Our first delivered jajangmyun...

Streets with no sidewalks in Seoul

Our first walk around Cheongdam-dong...

Dosan Park

Dosan Park in Gangnam-Gu

Around the Han River. 

Han River

On one of Sean's runs on the Han River.

We had Japanese noodles.

My morning sickness wouldn't let me eat Korean food.

Cheonggyecheon Stream, Seoul, south korea, Korea, Lifestyle in Korea, Expat, Living abroad

Cheonggyecheon Stream

Living abroad, living in Korea, living in seoul, Seoul, Korea, South Korea, mixed families, mixed kids.

mixed families, living abroad, expats in Korea, Korea, Seoul, Cheonggyechon stream, mixed kids

Cheonggyecheon Stream

Cheonggyecheon Stream

Here, we were trying to find Insadong and we walked into some park, don't know the name. We tried to exit from it as fast as we could.  There were a whole lot of drunk old men, yelling stuff at Markus in Korean... it was just weird & smelly.

Dongdaemun Gate (East Main Gate)

Dongdaemun Gate (East Main Gate)

This is a bakery on the Subway station in Cheongdam-dong stop, line 7. I just really, really like that sandwich they make. Is just ham & cheese, but it has something on it that makes it very tasty. I think is cream, like condensed milk cream... yummm.   It was what I ate for the first couple of weeks for breakfast.  I just could not have kimbap or kimchi early in the morning... or at all... still. : /

Gyeongbok Palace

National Folk Museum at the Gyeongbok Palace

lanterns, Buddhas birthday, Buddhist, Seoul, South Korea

Seoul, South Korea, Buddhist, Buddhism, tradition, Buddhas birthday

Lanterns lit for Buddha's Birthday, Korea

This was at at the Bongeun-Sa Buddhist Temple. It was Buddha's Birthday & It's celebrated with a week long festival.

Noryangjin

At the Noryangjin fish Market. 

Trying to upload pictures and write about what we've been doing since we got here 6 months ago, takes a LOT of time. Now I have a newborn home, besides my 2 year old boy, that's well into his terrible two's stage, ad I gotta go... lol.  I will continue my postings as soon as I get a chance to do so... hopefully soon : )

xoxo

T.