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Taste of the Philippines: Balut

When I was preparing to travel to the Philippines this past summer I had a mission: find and eat balut. For those not knowing what this dish is, let me break it down for you.

Balut is is a partially fertilized duck egg, typically sold on the streets throughout the Philippines. It's believed to enhance sexual energy and be a healthy snack. In fact, my father-in-law used to eat them by the dozen.

When Jo and I were traveling around in July, we searched high and low for this treat, but never found it... until late one night after dinner. Since I was full and kept hearing horror stories of the taste (since it was a featured treat on NBC's Fear Factor), I backed out.

I've been kicking myself ever since then, because we had such a hard time finding the "snack" and my friend Philip managed to find and try it a week after I did. That's why on a recent trip to the Philippine market in Seoul, I insisted on buying a balut egg. Jo and I were with Tor and Becky and true to form, Tor was down for trying an egg, too.


I have to say that I was quite surprised by the taste. I really was expecting something disgusting, but found quite the opposite. The juice that comes out first is more like a well seasoned beef broth. Once I peeled back the rest of the shell, I could see the duck embryo, fully formed (with eyes, bill, feet, and feathers), and the yolk. The yolk was nothing special, tasting just like any other egg I've devoured in my life, but the duck, well, that was special.

Again, I was expecting something strange, nasty, grotesque. I was not met with that culinary disaster, but with something much more palatable. The duck embryo, tastes like duck. It was delicious. It was, however, very slippery and kept falling out of my hands. Everything about this eating adventure blew my mind!

If you're in the Philippines (or the Philippine Market in Seoul), give this treat a go, I think you'll enjoy it.

oh and...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!
May 2010

'tis the season

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM SOKO!
Christmas light display in Nampodong
I don't know how to begin this update...the holidays this year are particularly overwhelming SO here goes...

December arrived in Korea without the familiar snowfall and temperature drop. Hyunhee, my co teacher, invited Kym and I to her Christmas party. Secretly I think she hosted it for just me, seeing as it was her first. I had been talking about the magic of the holidays, well, pretty much since Thanksgiving. She is SUCH a sweetheart! Here I met her daughters and some of her Korean friends, they had a good laugh at my expense, clearly my Korean language skills need a lot of work. It was a pot luck event, naturally I brought baked brie and crackers, Kym and I were circling the food table all night. Not doing much to defuse stereotypes about westerners and obesity I'm afraid.

I sent a package of Christmas goodies off to #67 before their departure to Whistler and was thrilled to receive one back! It arrived on the day I was presenting my Christmas PowerPoint presentation to my grade 4s & 6s so I was actually able to incorporate tangible visual aids. However, I am not sure if they fully understood that these presents were for me from my family in Canada. Regardless plenty of ooos and ahhhs. I have also been reminded of how fantastic my friends at home are! The girls have sent me cheesy cards, my favourite snack foods and other little treats that I have been missing. My friend Anne actually sent my family a Christmas card because she is missing our house too - this brought me to tears. On that note, the holidays are usually a time for reflection and being away from most of my loved ones, it has been quite an emotional month. It is hard to believe that we have passed the four month mark. This experience has already proved to be everything I had hoped it would be and I am sure moving into the second half of the journey a new set of opportunities for growth, friendship and understanding will present themselves. I have said to my parents on a number of occasions how much I would love to be in two places at once, but for now I have made my peace with creating a new set of holiday traditions with friends in Korea. It is very comforting for me to think of you all cozy at home, with family and friends indulging in whatever makes the season special for you. Enjoy it!

Sending you my holiday best and warmest wishes from a safe and happy New Year. See you 2011!
Grade 4s at Seongnam Elementary

Travel Photo Tips: Yangshuo, China by Simon Bond

Yangshuo, China: "Next to you, all of life's obstacles are surmountable" by Simon Bond.

Korea How interviews England native Simon Bond, who is currently living in Suncheon, Korea. His work has been featured in galleries and publications around the world. Although he is most well-known for his perspective-bending glass ball photographs, the popularity of his collection on Getty Images is proof that he has an eye for great travel images as well.

Q: How long have you lived in Korea?
A: 4 years.

Q: What’s your job?
A: English teacher and a freelance photographer.

Q: Where did you take this photo?
A: Yangshuo, China.

Q: What’s the story behind the photo?
A: This photo was taken on a distinctly unpromising day for landscape photography. I remember the day was grey, and visibility was nothing special. We’d paid for a riverboat cruise from Guilin down to Yangshuo.

In the afternoon we got taken to another river, and it was there I took the shot. The photo was taken at full zoom on a 70-300mm lens with a Canon 40D, making the focal length effectively 500mm (this is to do with the conversion to focal length you need to make for cameras with crop sensors).

Q: Why did you include the people in the photo?
A: We were on a bamboo raft and had just got to a riverbank and I saw a scene within the scene in front of us. The two people in the bottom right of the photo added a lot to this image as the people give the mountains in the background a sense of scale.

The two people standing as they were also reminded me of a photo I’d taken in the UK two years previously. I think this helped me “see“ this photo faster and indeed I only really had time to take one or two shots before these people had gone. I feel for me the photo has a romantic side of two people standing together against the backdrop of the grandeur of these mountains.

Q: How did you get that layered look with the mountains in the background?
A: I think the layered look was helped by the fact I’ve used a telephoto lens here, with the mountains being some way in the background this allows them all to be framed in the one photograph as the angle for the point of view is quite narrow. I’ve taken photographs in S.Korea that have this layered mountain look, and that has also been with the aid of a telephoto lens. It also has to be said that the geography in this area of China helps a lot when creating this layered mountain look, as there are many karst mountains here.

Q: Do you have any tips for taking better travel photographs?
A: When it comes to travel photography it’s often a good idea to research the place you’re going to visit, and then plan the type of photographs you’d like to take.

If you can possibly plan your trip so you’ll be there when the weather is at it’s best. The weather is not all important though, as it should be possible to take good shots in the rain or the sunshine, just you’ll have to think of some different types of photos.

In an ideal world you’d also have several days in a place to consider the photos you’d want to get. Perhaps there is somewhere that works for a photo much better at sunrise, in which case coming back to that location at the optimum time is desirable.

As was said in a previous post, it’s also a good idea not to stay in any one location for too long. If you are on a time limit getting that good shot and then moving on is important because what you’re really looking to do with travel photography is to tell the story of a place and this is often achieved through a variety of shots.

One last thing I should mention is be quick on the draw like a cowboy in a good western movie, because once that “moment” is gone you’re not going to get it back.

Q: Wow, thanks for all that great advice. What’s your favorite travel quote?
A: “Photography, as we all know, is not real at all. It is an illusion of reality with which we create our own private world.” ~ Arnold Newman

You can see more of Simon Bond’s work here:

Simon Bond

Blog: 369 Photo
On Flickr: Mr. Bond
Website: 369photography.co.uk (under construction at time of writing)

In case you missed it: check out the previous Travel Photo of The Week of Seoul, Korea by Gregory Curley.

 

 

Life in South Korea: Blood Type

Wow I am late with this post. I am just working out my uploading system, as it takes longer to upload here in China. So I forgot to do this last post. Well better late than never. I wanted to do this video for a awhile as one of the things I noticed most when I got to South Korea was that amount of questions people asked. People asked me how much I weighed. The strangest question to me was: "What is your blood type?"
Enjoy the video!

Homemade Eggnog



6 eggs
2 extra egg yolks
4 cups whole milk
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons of sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 cup bourbon/ or rum


1. Start by whisking the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a large pot until well-blended. Keep on whisking while you slowly pour in the milk until it is completely mixed-in.
2. Next, turn your stove burner to the lowest possible setting and place pot on burner. Continuously whisk ingredients for 25-30 minutes or until the mixture reaches 160°F and will coat the underside of a spoon. (Be patient... it will take a while to heat up and then it thickens quickly, so keep an eye on it and remove from heat as soon as it gets thick!)
3. Next, remove the mixture from heat and strain it into a large-sized bowl, making sure to get out any pieces of cooked egg.
4. Now stir in the bourbon/rum, vanilla, and nutmeg, and transfer your mixture to a covered dish.
5. Refrigerate the mix for at least 4 hours before proceeding.

Finally, when you're ready to serve your eggnog, grab the heavy cream and whip it well. Now just fold in the chilled mix, pour, serve and enjoy!

Makes 12-14 servings.

For non-alcoholic eggnog, simply follow the instructions for steps 1-3. In step four, simply substitute 1 cup whole milk for the bourbon/rum and proceed with the remaining instructions.

courtesy eggnogrecipe.net

* I found nutmeg at Kim's Club... so far, that is the only place. I got my cream at Home Plus. (If you can't find nutmeg, try using cloves or cinnamon. Start with just a 1/4 tsp and work your way up based upon taste.)

A 1,000 day party (Seoul) - WARNING: personal details and NSFW

Friday, December 17, 2010 was my 1,000th day in South Korea. For the nitpickers out there, I spent exactly one night on Japanese soil doing a visa run; not counting that day makes my 1,000th day Saturday the 18th instead. No biggie.

This milestone, however, was just a pretext for getting some awesome friends together for the Lady in Red's birthday. The plan was to get some lunch in Gangnam, head to a friend's birthday party, then check out a poetry night in the Noksapyeong area.

That all went well, with one shameful exception: Butterfinger Pancakes, you disappoint me. Sure, I knew arriving with a party of 10 on a Saturday afternoon would likely involve a wait, and there was - an hour. Over we went to Krispy Kreme for some coffee and conversation - including some great catch-up conversation with blogging friends and their wonderful spouses.

Arriving back at Butterfinger Pancakes, we were told to wait 5 minutes. This, of course, comes after I said we'd take smaller tables instead of getting everyone around one big table - Butterfinger Pancakes doesn't exactly have a lot of room for huge tables. After 30 minutes watching several other groups enter - and other groups get seated - we moved on to Dos Tacos. After some hesitation, we found plenty of room in their basement (for those in Gangnam, enter the basement by walking down the stairs next to the ground level's entrance). A shout-out to Steve from the Qi Ranger and his beautiful wife Jo, Dustin from Rip City to Seoul / Neh Magazine and his cute lady Whisper, Roboseyo and Wifeoseyo, my co-worker Celeste and her friend Maddie - thanks all for coming out.

This is what you get when you try to play Scrabble with those timeless 'Happy Birthday' candles.

Round two was elsewhere in Gangnam at another birthday party - a friend of the Lady in Red's turning... um, 27. Happy birthday, Diane - a cheer for combining youthful energy and sass in a effervescent outfit.

Round three involved heading up to the nascent Kyungidan area (that's near Noksapyeong station and within walking distance of Itaewon in case the name is unfamiliar to you Seoulites) for some poetry. Not just any poetry, mind you, but an event billed as the 'Jingle My Bells Erotic Poetry Christmas Party'. Presented by some of the same people as the recent Encyclopedia Show, it's a good sign for the artistic community that Carmen's filled up quite nicely despite being a fair distance from the subway / bus stops.

It's here where the story turns NSFW - click away if there are kids around to see your jaw drop.

As you might expect an erotic poetry party to be, more than a few choice descriptions would be censored or left unpublished elsewhere.

After the event started, David presented some of his darker and more morbid words - the latter poem actually got a brief encore by request of the host.

She should be legendary, but Heather Hong has to settle for titillating a crowd of a few dozen for now. While one of her poems was a welcome repeat from the first Seoul Encyclopedia Show (it's hard to forget the line about 'I want to sweatf*ck your talisman'), another featured the sentiment that 'love handles mean f***-me-harder'.

Looking a bit like one of the Boyz II Men, Andre suggested a gentleman's approach in his first poem - 'I'm confessing and suggesting that you bless me' was one line repeated multiple times - and a more aggressive approach in the second. 'When a man is using his tongue...', went one line, when 'Where?' rang out from the crowd.

I'll write a separate post about things I've learned over the past 1,000+ days, but for now, suffice it to say that it was an awesome Saturday. It may not have featured some exotic Korean destination, but it was definitely fun and full of friends.

Creative Commons License © Chris Backe - 2010

This post was originally published on my blog,Chris in South Korea. If you are reading this on another website and there is no linkback or credit given, you are reading an UNAUTHORIZED FEED.


 

to slowly retrieve what was lost

1. deactivate facebook account

2. leave apartment squeaky clean

3. turn cell phone off

4. pack only the necessities

5. memorize the 108 bows

6. concentrate completely on what i will absorb the next 4 days

7. let go

Ps. Don’t be worried, might sound like I am disappearing, but some sort of longing for quietness and separation is something I need to seek. I will be safe, here. And I will be back soon.  Meanwhile, send me an email. Next best form of distant communication.

Sincerely,

britt

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