Home Cooking: Kimchijeon and Sigeumchi namul
I'm trying and I must admit, it's not bad, not bad at all.
Korean Food- Kimchi pancake / 김치전 / Kimchijeon and Spinach side dish / 시금치나물 / Sigeumchi namul
Thai Food- Tom Kha Gai / Coconut Chicken Soup
Normally if I saw something like this, then I too would think it was just another Korean ad that didn’t get a once-over by a native-speaker (or rather did, but just had his or her advice “corrected”). But in fact, it turns out to be part of a clever marketing campaign by Nike to promote a women’s race in Seoul in June (registration details available in English or Korean), in which you can make your own posters using the “I’m free to” logo with your own photos or the ones provided. Go to the site and try for yourself!
While I’m all for encouraging more Korean women to exercise of course, the cynic in me notes the unstated rule that only women wearing expensive Nike shoes with the Nike+iPOd chip inserted will be allowed to participate. But still, I do hope you enjoy making your own posters (some of the ones in the gallery are really quite funny), although unfortunately the 10 character limit in the slogans doesn’t allow one to write anything too profound. Can anyone improve on my own attempts?^^
(For more posts in the Creative Korean Advertising series, see here)
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I’ve seen about a bajillion ‘beer marts’ around and heard a lot about them, but I had never actually gone in one until the other night.
After visiting, it’s pretty much what you think it is: a beer mart. They sell beer. But they also provide you a nice relaxed place (hof-atmosphere) in which to drink that beer. There are also some snacks on sale (popcorn, chips, squid jerky), but we didn’t bother with those.
The beer selection is pretty much the same that you’d see at a Wa-Bar, which is to say it’s much more extensive than your typical hof or shop. The prices are fairly decent, too – definitely cheaper than in a hof or restaurant.
The reason to come here (or a place like it) is the beer. It was just really nice to NOT drink Hite or Cass. Not that I dislike either of those – it’s just that sometimes, a beer that you can actually taste is a pretty awesome thing.
Posted hours: 5pm-4am
Selection and price list (I probably missed a couple, so forgive me):
3.0k – Bud, Hite, Cass
4.0k – Tsingtao
4.5k – Heineken, San Miguel, Bud Lite, Singha, Kirin, Lowenbrau, Carlsberg, MGD
4.8k – VB, Hoegarten, Red Dog, Tiger, Beck’s Dark, Beck’s
5.3k – XXXX, Leffe,
5.4k – Woodstock
5.5k – Pilsner Urquell
6.5k – Sam Adams
6.8k – Guiness, 500ml Kozel Black
7.8k – 640ml Tsingtao
9.0k – 640ml Heineken
Directions: Seomyeon metro exit 2. Walk down a few blocks to Judie’s Taehwa and turn left. Walk down a few blocks, past the CGV, past Bubble. You’ll see the colorful sign on the 2nd floor on your right.
ALTERNATIVELY (a little faster if you’re coming from east of Seomyeon), get off at Jeonpo station on line 2, go out exit 7, take your first left, and walk a few blocks. You’ll see the King Beer Mart on the second floor on your left.
Roll up! Roll up! The IMF is coming to Yeongtong-dong in Suwon!
Don’t all run for your bank books just yet – it’s the International Music Festival, not the International Monetary Fund
Myself and herself, or I should say herself, has taken over the running of Sansudawon, a traditional Korean tea café in Yeongtong in Suwon. We are currently in the process of changing a few things. Most important of these changes are some new introductions to the menu, like curries, sandwiches, soups, and wine – including Irish wine a.k.a. Guinness.
The International Music Festival is a celebration of the new culture we hope to create and the new partnership that is already causing a slight gastronomical ripple in west Suwon.
Here are the details:
International Music Festival
April 23 5pm -11pm (or later)
Sansudawon and The OK Café will be hosting the first International Music Festival featuring musicians from Ireland, the U.S., Canada, and of course, Korea.
Entry is only 5000 won for over six hours of live music by accomplished musicians.
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Cho Sae Ri – 조세리 – Jang
Shin Hwa Jeong – 신화정 – Gayageum
Kim Min Seo- 김민서 – Dance
Choi Jang Hyeok- 최창혁 – Saxaphone
Graeme Ross-Munuro – Acoustic guitar
John Sagnella – Jazz
“Mississippi” Dave Marnoch – Folk-Blues
John Lee – Irish traditional music
Two Guitars – Instrumental guitar
Lance Reegan-Diehl & Meegan Kim
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YOU CAN FIND OUR FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE HERE
and if that’s not enough you can also ‘like’ The OK Cafe here
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Here’s a map for you once you get to Yeongtong
If you want to come and you are travelling from Seoul, allow me to make a few suggestions.
Firstly, don’t take the subway. It’s nowhere near Suwon station and even then the train will take too long.
If you come from the north side, you can take the M5107 from Seoul Station. This is a new bus service that has limited stops but is prompt, regular and comfortable, not to mention cheap. You can find it at the big bus stop kind of thing at Seoul Station. Take it all the way to Yeongtong and get off opposite to Homeplus.
From Gangnam there’s a red bus, number 5100. This stops outside the ‘Teenie Weenie’ brand shop which is near to Zara and Dunkin Donuts on the Kyobo building’s side of the road. Don’t go onto the bus island, it’s on the street. Again, take this all the way to Yeongtong and get off at the Homeplus.
There’s also a bus from Sadang, number 7000, and it’s also red. You can find the bus stop immediately after walking out of subway exit number 4. As was the case with the other buses take this all the way to Yeongtong and get off at the Homeplus.
The Homeplus is huge but if you do miss that stop your best bet is to wait until it circles around to Kyunghee University and get off there. Either way, the map will show you the way from both locations.
One experiences some unusual things while living in Korea. While bullfighting isn’t an unusual sport, it does bring to mind a centuries-old tradition that seems better left in the past. Five days a year, the festival brings forth that tradition, combining it with the modern touches Korean festivals all seem to have and a healthy government budget.
Arriving in Cheongdo requires a combination of 21st and 20th century traveling. The 300km/h KTX can take you to Daegu, but you’ll need to hop on a third-class Mugunghwa train to actually reach Cheongdo station. Once there, walk to the street and hop into a waiting taxi, or trek a couple hundred meters to reach the weather-worn bus terminal – a reminder that the festival hasn’t affected other aspects of the county.
It’s about halfway through the bus ride to the festival that the festivities becomes apparent. The colorful banners, the traffic cones, and traffic that comes with a festival all combine to create the atmosphere of a Big Deal. Despite the crowd of several thousand, it still seemed there were far more volunteers than needed – having literally a dozen people to direct two lanes worth of traffic seems unnecessary at best and dangerous at worst.
Getting in (5,000 won admission) was easy enough, as was finding a brochure, which was offered in more than enough places. The pamphlet’s English, while mangled in a few places and offering the website in Korean, was done well enough to pass muster.
The bullfighting stadium was not unlike a football stadium in grandeur, albeit smaller in size. 10,000 seats in tight rows and narrow aisles encourage people to stay put – and empower the steamed corn seller to magically move about the crowd. My friend the Qi Ranger also attended, and his video on the event is entertaining:
With no introduction to the sport, the foreign tourist could be forgiven for not knowing the rules. Instead of a matador showing their prowess of a cape, two bulls square off in the 30-meter dirt circle. Their handlers, which bring these beasts to the ring, do so through a rope that pulls on their nose ring. While it does little to placate the animal’s spirit, it is necessary to bring the pair head-to-head. With that accomplished, the bulls push, shove, and strike with trained proficiency. The trainers remain in the ring, and may shout, scream, or smack their own bull as they desire. The bull that backs down or runs away is the loser.
Even as the trainers have spent untold hours with their 700 kilogram animals, there seems little strategy or predictability to the sport. If there was a seeding system or some sort of ranking, it was completely lost on me. The sport becomes something like American football – watching the hits, tricks, and sly plays in between the commentary, timeouts, and pauses between contests.
The animal-lovers may shudder at the thought of two bulls attempting to gore each other or force the other to back down. That their horns are significantly dulled helps to reduce injury and chance of death, but probably does nothing to reduce pain. The animals aren’t exactly docile either – while some matches feature more pushing and shoving than anything else, at least one of the trainers found himself at the wrong end of the opposing horns. (He was fine, and the other bull was disqualified.) For those that preferred to eat meat rather than watch it fight, frozen hanwoo was for sale, albeit at a premium price.
That foreigners made up a significant percentage of the crowd – perhaps 5%, perhaps more – wasn’t overly surprising. The exoticness, combined with the billing of a top festival, offered an excellent opportunity to enjoy one of the first nice spring weekends. The mechanical bull made a nice appearance, while a convenience store sold enough alcohol to make a real bull woozy. On the permanent stage, an older Korean gentleman performed trot music in a neon yellow bikini top (not pictured – you’re welcome).
While there was ample English signage for the necessities and translators on-call, there were a few language problems. A number of local products were on sale, but from a distance there was little to draw in the foreign eye. While few foreigners are likely to buy a box of local peaches or flat persimmons at the premium price they command, the marketing efforts would still be appreciated.
As part of a weekend out, it was an entertaining afternoon offering plenty of activity. The dozens of tent restaurants outside the ticketed area had some customers, although the permanent Korean restaurants inside the stadium grounds had far more people. In between rounds of bullfighting, plenty of traditional Korean singing and dancing kept the crowd’s attention. The accordionist pumping out a techno song was the more unusual of the offerings, but was a welcome change of pace. Had I more time, a sign offered hints at the area’s other offerings: Unmunsa, a Buddhist temple; the Cheongdo wine tunnel; Cheongdo Eup Castle. The nation’s largest seokbinggo (an ice storage facility) was also around, for those who enjoy the more esoteric sights.
The brochure announced the coming of “permanent bullfighting” in September 2011 – a welcome opportunity to take in a unique Korean spectacle.
For more information about bullfighting in Cheongdo, go to http://청도소싸움.kr/ (Korean only).
Ratings (out of 5 taeguks): How do I rate destinations?
Ease to arrive:
Foreigner-friendly:
Convenience facilities:
Worth the visit:
© Chris Backe – 2011
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Source: Busan Mike
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