Sometimes My Friends Are So Considerate

Dan brought me 2 Vita Cocos when he came to visit.

I have been craving Vita Cocos since I got here. There is nothing like having a soju hangover and nothing to cure it!

He is such a sweetheart sometimes and he knows it.

So Ridiculous

I had an experience on the subway. This guy sitting in front of me was wasted. Very common story here. So he is on the phone with his friend and starts screaming, cursing his friend out. Saying the most vile things in the Korean language on the top of his lungs. The entire car goes dead silent. This was the most obscene thing I have personally witness in Seoul thus far.

So this guy is shouting obscenities at the top of his lungs. The entire car is looking on horrified. Another older gentleman is getting fed up and says "Ya!" (like hey or yo) def getting pissed. I was vacillating between walking to a different car in horror and staying there laughing in his face. I know what my reaction would be in NY, I wouldn't even bat an eye.

In NYC, people would continue on as if nothing happened because stuff like this happens every 45 seconds. I mean I have seen people urinate. I have seen men openly masturbate, not once but on three occasions (the best was when I was in high school going clubbing with my friends and this guy was masturbating into a tire in an open car repair garage, we bugged out). I have personally been fondled on 7th Street (one of the worst experiences of my life but I do realize I am one of 60% of women who get violated in nyc). I have also heard of women stripping down naked in subway cars for the sake of performance art. So yes, you live in NY longer than 6 years, you have seen it all.

I was surprised at how shocked I was by the situation. I think because vulgarness is relative. In Korea, people, to quote my friend Dan "keep it classy". Yes, we get wasted, yes I have seen women fall out of their chair drunk and slide underneath tables, yes I have seen numerous men not able to walk on their own and need the assistance of 3 friends to drag him into a cab. But the aforementioned suspects are harmless, they never really cause a scene or impose their belligerence on other people. Because for a large city, Koreans, for the most part, act right. I have never even overheard a cellphone conversation because people are so polite (besides the usual shoving because this isn't actually considered that rude here).

So this goes on and on for minutes that felt like hours. Awkwardness ensues. And the cherry on the sundae was when after being hung up on by his friend three times, recalling him 3 times just to curse him out again, the guy gets so mad he spits on his own phone! I don't know if this guy is living in a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory world where things can travel through air in waves and land on the other side (who can forget Mikey and the TV incident). But the guy actually spit a huge loogey on his own phone thinking it would land on his friends face. I almost died.

Finally he calls back his friend (that he imaginary spit on) to ask him where they should meet up and he ever so politely tugs on a woman's shirt to ask her how to get to Samsung (not on our subway line by the way). She obviously does not talk back to this guy and he got off the next stop so nonchalantly to terrorize another subway. So yes, I realize this isn't so ludicrous if it happened in the States but in Seoul, he was the most outrageous person I have seen thus far.

Rainy days are for Chicken Soup

Sunday May 23, 2010

The weekend's been rainy which was a nice interlude to the unbearable heat. I like soup on rainy days, wet food on wet days. Koreans do a rice stuffed cornish hen soup called Samgyetang.

This has always been my favorite Korean dish. It holds a dear place in my heart because it is a comforting soup and also because this dish is my grandfather's specialty. If you know me well, you know I am obsessed with my grandfather and he is the great man of my life. Many of my American friends (and when I say American I obviously mean the non-Korean ones :-) have tried my grandfather's version. They enjoyed it even though the flavor of the soup (dried red dates and ginseng) and the texture of the rice (chewy and congealed) are not tastes that the American palate is so used to. I think this is a testament to how well he does it.

My friend told me of a place that does this dish right. It is a huge restaurant that usually has lines out the door and down the block. No menus are needed, they are cornish hen specialists. You know immediately to either get one of the rotisserie hens in the windows or the soup. We all got the soup.

The cornish hens were about half the size of the ones you get in America because they weren't growth hormoned up the wazoo. The flavor was more hen-ey (? Ok so I'm not a food writer) and the texture more tender. The soup flavor was sublime and I almost felt healthier because the ginseng was so prominent.

The restaurant has a nice touch of offering all guests a shot of ginseng soju as soon as you sit down. I didn't think I would like it but it was kind of tasty. The negative health effects of the soju were offset by the healthy benefits of ginseng. It felt like you weren't drinking.

After eating this meal, I really felt like I was in Korea because it is nearly impossible to find a good Samgyetang restaurant in the east coast. It is an extremely labor intensive dish and not very viable to be profitable in the States.

I was almost praying it wouldn't be better than my grandfather's. It pains me to say this, but it was. It will be a more than adequate replacement when I am craving a taste of family cooking.

Obligatory Kimchi:

Free Shots!

Ginseng display:
Gloomy view from my bedroom:

To Soju or not to Soju?

Thursday May 20, 2010

I went out for my first dinner alone wandering my local streets. I stumbled into a noodle place.

I settled on Bibim nyeng myun which is cold noodle dish mixed with a red pepper paste sauce. I consider myself to have a high tolerance for spicy and hot foods. Whenever I get soon dubu (soft tofu stew) in Ktown and they offer you 4 levels of spice, I always go for 4. So I thought spicy noodles would be perfect for my first meal.

I was oh so wrong. Spice in Korea is on another level. I can't speak for West Coast Korean restaurants but for the most part, Ktown Korean food is also catering to anAmerican crowd. That is my only explanation for why I can handle the Korean food in Ktown but not these measly bowl of noodles.

One bite and my salivary glands started to immediately work overtime, water did not do the trick. For that I felt I needed soju.

I had trouble bringing myself to order a bottle.

Do I want to drink alone?

Will I finish it?

Is some old Korean man going to come up and yell at me?

Yes I love to drink and lets just say I have had many nights where I've had a few too many (that is a gross understatement). However, I have this thing against drinking alone. Perhaps because I went through a period where I was borderline alcoholic (what college student hasn't?), I like to have this rule of always drinking in the company of others. This is how I personally define alcoholic and someone who simply likes to party. Really not the correct definition, I know. I also have a big thing about wasting alcohol therefore I don't order drinks unless I feel like I can finish.

I broke both my rules and ordered a bottle mainly because I was worried that my tongue was about to singe off the back of my mouth. When the bill came I knew I made the right choice. A bottle of Soju was 3000 Won which in the states roughly equates to $2.50. Insanity.

I finished almost all of it. No one even looked at me strangely. Success.

I have trouble in countries where the alcohol costs less than a soda (ie France where a glass of wine can cost less than a glass of Coke). I sense troublesome adventures brewing already.