Learning to Cook Korean

When Cory and I first arrived in Korea one of our Korean friends taught me how to make 2 popular Korean dishes,
bulgogi (marinated meat)

and duen jang jiggae (stew).

I don't actually cook Korean food at home often, but I really want to take some Korean cooking skills with me so that now and then we can some authentic Korean and perhaps introduce the flavors to friends and family! (Get ready, everybody!)

My new school is on the American school schedule, so I am finished with school until August ... and Cory noticed a Korean cooking class I could join. It was just a one time class, but I learned 2 more Korean dishes, so I am adding to my repertoire!

I learned how to make another meat dish - I'm not clear on it's Korean name, but the teacher translated it as beef meatloafs ... lol. It is similar to a hamburger patty with totally different ingredients mixed in with the ground meat. Inside the patties you stuff chestnuts, pine nuts, and Korean dates. We also made a yogurt dressing that gets drizzled over them when they are done, and boy was it yummy! Definitely NOT your idea of typical Korean food!



We also learned how to make japchae! It IS a very common Korean dish made with vermicelli noodles, soy sauce, veggies, and seafood if you like.


It was a GREAT experience, but my Korean cooking skills are just getting started! Another Korean friend of mine taught me how to make the ever-popular kimbap! For us Westerners, we think of it as a sushi roll. However, don't call it sushi here or you are in big trouble. Neither Cory or I like kimbap, but now I know how to make it, and somehow that makes it taste better! Maybe because I know what's in it!

Thanks, Sophie, Lee, Bella (picture above) and Bo for helping me learn to cook authentic Korean food!

Park Ji Sung

Most of you got it correct. Park Ji Sung (Ji Sung Park for you who put the family name at the end) is a *coughworldfamouscough* soccer player for Manchester United. The Koreans are so proud of him because he's Korean and plays for arguably the best sports franchise in the world. If you say "Park" and "football" in the same sentence here in Korea, everybody knows instantly who you're talking about. And probably half the time if you asked your buddy, "Hey, you wanna play football at the park?" the Koreans nearby would get super-excited and commence blabbering about Man U. (I personally hate Manchester because they consistently stifle my team's title chances. But now is not the time for that bitterness.)

If you still don't know who he is, I'll post a picture here of him playing for his home country in a World Cup Qualifier I had the opportunity to go to this past week.


He's wearing number 7 in the picture, I don't know if you'll be able to see him. He is somewhere in the left side of the line between the green shirts and the suits.

Be sure to come back for the next household names quiz. Later folks.

Conflicting Proverbs

Actions speak louder than words.
The pen is mightier than the sword.

Look before you leap.
He who hesitates is lost.

Many hands make light work.
Too many cooks spoil the broth.

A silent man is a wise one.
A man without words is a man without thoughts.

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Clothes make the man.
Don't judge a book by its cover.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Better safe than sorry.

The bigger, the better.
The best things come in small packages.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Out of sight, out of mind.

What will be, will be.
Life is what you make it.

Cross your bridges when you come to them.
Forewarned is forearmed.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
One man's meat is another man's poison.

With age comes wisdom.
Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings come all wise sayings.

The more, the merrier.
Two's company; three's a crowd.

(I received these in an e-mail from an e-zine I subscribe to called "Gopher Central - Clean Laughs." They offer lots of different daily mailings for free. You just have to read around some advertisements for cheap crap.)

Household Names

I've got to admit that I have been HORRIBLE at posting lately. Jen has done a good job filling in my gaps with excellent content about our recent activities. I feel like I haven't had anything decent to write about lately. But I've got a couple ideas in the works about different things.

Today though, I just wanna introduce a new feature here on "The Great Adventure" called "Household Names." You've seen the Konglish Quiz over on the right side of the page (and sometimes cried about me not adding another one often enough), but it seems like the list of eligible Konglish questions is getting short. And because I was talking to my co-teacher the other day about famous Korean people, I came up with this alternative idea (which will also last just a short while). But maybe if I use both ideas at random in the future, I'll be able to keep the questions coming.

Sometimes, a student or my co-teacher will ask me if I know so-and-so, and I'll say no. Her/their response to this is usually the Korean equivalent to "O MY _______!!! Are you freaking serious?!!??!"

"Um, yeah, I have no idea who you're talking about."

"Wow! You must be an arrogant American who isn't concerned with anything further away than your own nose!" Okay, so they don't really say that, but it's my perception.

Sometimes, I do know who they're talking about but only because I've lived here for a couple years. So I wanna test the international knowledge of Korean culture.

I've posted the first quiz over on the right side of the page; it's called "Household Names." Feel free to vote and be sure to come back on Saturdays to check out the answers to the quizzes. Park Ji Sung could quite possibly be the most famous person in Korea. But who is he?