Am I crazy, or do waffles seem more like a breakfast food? Does anyone else out there eat waffles for dinner? I remember this one time in Bundang a friend of mine had one of her final dinners in the country at a waffle restaurant. I guess I'm not the only picky eater out there.
I can't remember the last time I even ate breakfast. For the life of me, I'm just not a morning person. Even if I get ten hours sleep the night before I'm still tired in the morning. I'm addicted to cat naps.
Time is a precious commodity to me in the morning. When I was a teacher in Korea I had to be at work by 8:30. I used to wake up at 8:20.
I would start my morning the night before with a shower, even though I didn't have a proper shower in my apartment. All I had was a drain in the middle of a slightly sloped floor in my bathroom, along with a detachable shower head.
Sadly, a teacher who lived in Pyeongchon slipped, fell and died in the shower. They found him after he didn't show up to work for a few days.
When I was a kid, waffles were a big treat. My mom would get the waffle iron out and we'd have to cover the kitchen table with newspapers.
Happily, like other advanced technologies, waffle irons have come a long way in the last 30 years.
Good ol' Aunt Jemima was still there, "even if now she got a perm".
No milk to drink, but the water tasted fine.
The waffles were awesome. The syrup was superb.
Bon appetite,
rymr
Thursday 6 December 2012
Sunday 2 December 2012
The old hangout
I want to start this off by congratulating my cousin Kara-Lynn who just got married. I was far too busy with homework to attend the church service (anything to get out of going to church) but did find the time, in between nervous breakdowns, to attend the reception afterwards, at my old stomping grounds, the University of Manitoba.
The year was 1994. Most of my current classmates were still in diapers, not alive yet, or possibly in nursery or grade school. Smoking was still allowed in doors and packs only cost around 5 dollars.
There were two lunch rooms on the second floor of university centre, and the one where people were allowed to smoke was not a very nice place to eat a meal. The walls were yellow and the smell was...
The room being used for the wedding reception was the same room I used to have lunch in 5 days a week. It was right across from the 'smoking' lunch room, with a taco bell in the middle. In honour of the great mexican restaurant I have never tried, we would call it 'hanging out at Taco Bell', which we did a lot, in between classes.
Sadly, Taco Bell is no longer there.
A lot had changed at the University in the 10 years it had been since I was a student there.
Before anyone starts doing the math let me just say that yes, I went to the U of M for about 8 years, and no, I am not a Dr. (thank you very much, David Spade)
I'm just really good at procrastination, and I have a major Peter Pan complex.
It was an open bar for my cousin's wedding and I was able to enjoy a couple of bottles of free beer before dinner.
They started by serving some buns. I was very hungry and they tasted very warm and fresh. As always, I had mine plain, without butter.
After the bread they served this very strange looking yellow soup. In retrospect, I wish I had tried it, but I wasn't feeling very adventurous. Everyone I talked with said it wasn't very good, so I guess I didn't miss anything.
My cousin Kelly was there with his kids. They were served chicken strips and french fries, so momentarily I got very excited. This was immediately put to rest when I was told that only children were going to be served this.
I wanted to stand up on top of my table, cry and throw a hissy fit. For a moment I considered this option, and whether or not it would get me what I wanted. Worked when I was six. Besides, I'm more like a big kid than an adult anyway.
I should be able to have french fries with my dinner.
Not to be.
Instead, I had to eat what the big kids were eating at the grown up table. It was chicken served in a kind of sauce, with a potato side, peppers, and asparagus. (I didn't eat the peppers or the asparagus)
It was different, but I liked it. Afterwards I didn't get sick so I must not have been allergic to it.
I felt a little bit guilty about leaving early around 9:30, and while my uncle, the father of the bride, was introducing another public speaker. I just didn't have anymore time to spare. I needed to get back home to hit the books.
We drove home with the light on in the car, so I could study my notes in transit.
I wish I could've stayed longer to share in my cousin's big day.
bon appetite,
rymr
The year was 1994. Most of my current classmates were still in diapers, not alive yet, or possibly in nursery or grade school. Smoking was still allowed in doors and packs only cost around 5 dollars.
There were two lunch rooms on the second floor of university centre, and the one where people were allowed to smoke was not a very nice place to eat a meal. The walls were yellow and the smell was...
The room being used for the wedding reception was the same room I used to have lunch in 5 days a week. It was right across from the 'smoking' lunch room, with a taco bell in the middle. In honour of the great mexican restaurant I have never tried, we would call it 'hanging out at Taco Bell', which we did a lot, in between classes.
Sadly, Taco Bell is no longer there.
A lot had changed at the University in the 10 years it had been since I was a student there.
Before anyone starts doing the math let me just say that yes, I went to the U of M for about 8 years, and no, I am not a Dr. (thank you very much, David Spade)
I'm just really good at procrastination, and I have a major Peter Pan complex.
It was an open bar for my cousin's wedding and I was able to enjoy a couple of bottles of free beer before dinner.
They started by serving some buns. I was very hungry and they tasted very warm and fresh. As always, I had mine plain, without butter.
After the bread they served this very strange looking yellow soup. In retrospect, I wish I had tried it, but I wasn't feeling very adventurous. Everyone I talked with said it wasn't very good, so I guess I didn't miss anything.
My cousin Kelly was there with his kids. They were served chicken strips and french fries, so momentarily I got very excited. This was immediately put to rest when I was told that only children were going to be served this.
I wanted to stand up on top of my table, cry and throw a hissy fit. For a moment I considered this option, and whether or not it would get me what I wanted. Worked when I was six. Besides, I'm more like a big kid than an adult anyway.
I should be able to have french fries with my dinner.
Not to be.
Instead, I had to eat what the big kids were eating at the grown up table. It was chicken served in a kind of sauce, with a potato side, peppers, and asparagus. (I didn't eat the peppers or the asparagus)
It was different, but I liked it. Afterwards I didn't get sick so I must not have been allergic to it.
I felt a little bit guilty about leaving early around 9:30, and while my uncle, the father of the bride, was introducing another public speaker. I just didn't have anymore time to spare. I needed to get back home to hit the books.
We drove home with the light on in the car, so I could study my notes in transit.
I wish I could've stayed longer to share in my cousin's big day.
bon appetite,
rymr
Sunday 18 November 2012
Goofy for Galbi
I have about a million food allergies, so sometimes finding something I enjoy eating, that doesn't make me sick is a challenge.
A funny thing happened to me on Thursday morning this week. I actually woke up without stomach pain. The last time that happened I was still a public school teacher living halfway around the world.
Last week at the Remembrance Day service I was at, the MC told the audience to buy a beer for a veteran. I took this heart, but did not want to encourage the consumption of alcoholic beverages, so instead I decided to take a veteran out and buy them lunch.
Hee Seop had spent 2 years in the military as part of his compulsory service while living in the R.O.K. He said he knew of a good restaurant where we could get some authentic Korean food.
It was called Sura, and it was located on Pembina Hwy.
Truly, this was a meal worth getting a little bit sick for, hours afterwards. We had bbq'd beef ribs called Galbi. The ribs were cooked in a sweet sauce and the meat was cut up into thin, bite sized slices. The main course, of course, was plain white rice, which went very well with the beef.
The chopsticks were metal, but they had these long plastic handles on them. Soju was available for the cost of $16.00.
Soju is a cheap alcohol that tastes like a watered down vodka. It is sold in tiny bottles, under a half liter in size, and if a person drinks two bottles of the stuff, that person will be quite drunk.
Soju is a big part of the business culture in Korea. A friend of mine used to say he used to practice drinking Soju at home alone because he thought it would help his career. Apparently lightweight drinkers don't get very far in Korea.
In Canada, if you see a man sleeping in the street, odds are that person is homeless. In Korea, it was all too common to see drunken Korean business men sleeping on the sidewalk or on a bench.
One time I saw two drunk Korean business men sleeping on the sidewalk together in Guri. One of them was using the other guy's crotch as a pillow.
I guess when the stuff costs a dollar a bottle, you can drink it like water. When it costs 16, not so much, though I did hear from Hee Seop that he and his friends still liked to play some of the Soju drinking games from the old country.
In one of them, players pass the bottle cap around and try to flick a piece of it off with a snap of a finger.
After that has been done, the same players try to guess the secret number printed in the cap.
In the game Titanic, an empty shot glass floats in a half full glass of beer. The shot glass is filled until it sinks and that person has to drink.
I was driving, so no drinking games for me.
I give the Galbi at Sura 2 thumbs up and 5 stars (out of 5). It didn't matter to me that my body almost violently rejected the food a few hours later (hell, most things do this to me).
The Galbi did remind me of the food I used to eat in Korea, so on that front, mission accomplished!
For an authentic taste of Korean food in Canada, I highly recommend the Galbi at the Sura restaurant, on Pembina Hwy.
Just tell them Neil sent you.
bon appetite,
rymr
A funny thing happened to me on Thursday morning this week. I actually woke up without stomach pain. The last time that happened I was still a public school teacher living halfway around the world.
Last week at the Remembrance Day service I was at, the MC told the audience to buy a beer for a veteran. I took this heart, but did not want to encourage the consumption of alcoholic beverages, so instead I decided to take a veteran out and buy them lunch.
Hee Seop had spent 2 years in the military as part of his compulsory service while living in the R.O.K. He said he knew of a good restaurant where we could get some authentic Korean food.
It was called Sura, and it was located on Pembina Hwy.
Truly, this was a meal worth getting a little bit sick for, hours afterwards. We had bbq'd beef ribs called Galbi. The ribs were cooked in a sweet sauce and the meat was cut up into thin, bite sized slices. The main course, of course, was plain white rice, which went very well with the beef.
The chopsticks were metal, but they had these long plastic handles on them. Soju was available for the cost of $16.00.
Soju is a cheap alcohol that tastes like a watered down vodka. It is sold in tiny bottles, under a half liter in size, and if a person drinks two bottles of the stuff, that person will be quite drunk.
Soju is a big part of the business culture in Korea. A friend of mine used to say he used to practice drinking Soju at home alone because he thought it would help his career. Apparently lightweight drinkers don't get very far in Korea.
In Canada, if you see a man sleeping in the street, odds are that person is homeless. In Korea, it was all too common to see drunken Korean business men sleeping on the sidewalk or on a bench.
One time I saw two drunk Korean business men sleeping on the sidewalk together in Guri. One of them was using the other guy's crotch as a pillow.
I guess when the stuff costs a dollar a bottle, you can drink it like water. When it costs 16, not so much, though I did hear from Hee Seop that he and his friends still liked to play some of the Soju drinking games from the old country.
In one of them, players pass the bottle cap around and try to flick a piece of it off with a snap of a finger.
After that has been done, the same players try to guess the secret number printed in the cap.
In the game Titanic, an empty shot glass floats in a half full glass of beer. The shot glass is filled until it sinks and that person has to drink.
I was driving, so no drinking games for me.
I give the Galbi at Sura 2 thumbs up and 5 stars (out of 5). It didn't matter to me that my body almost violently rejected the food a few hours later (hell, most things do this to me).
The Galbi did remind me of the food I used to eat in Korea, so on that front, mission accomplished!
For an authentic taste of Korean food in Canada, I highly recommend the Galbi at the Sura restaurant, on Pembina Hwy.
Just tell them Neil sent you.
bon appetite,
rymr
Saturday 10 November 2012
Food for Thought
I had planned on doing a video this week where I try apple pie again. However, with it being "Remembrance Day" on Sunday, I felt it would be inappropriate, or in bad taste to do so. Out of respect, I am going to do something different this week.
For 3 years I lived in a country that is still technically at war with its neighbor to the north, the Republic of Korea (south).
After I left Korea I joked on FB, "Go ahead north, fire away. I'm back in Canada".
I was trying to allude to the sense of relief I had.
One thing you have to get used to while living in Korea, are all of the Air Raid sirens. If a person has no idea what is going on, it can be very scary, and make that person instantly religious, as it did to me one fine afternoon, when I was caught off guard.
Silly me, later I thought, and we all had a good laugh about it.
There were three incidents while I was in Korea, involving the North, that stuck out.
The first was in July of 2008, when a South Korean tourist was shot and killed in North Korea, for straying too far away from a designated area.
The second was in March of 2010, (I was home in between) when a South Korean naval ship was sunk, allegedly (they could never prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, but...) by a torpedo from A North Korean submarine. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed, and nothing much became of it. (sadly, 46 sailors died)
The biggest incident occurred in November of 2010, when the North opened fired and began shelling the island of Yeonpyeong. The South fired back, and pretty much everyone I knew in the country, working as an ESL teacher, got a phone call from back home, with a crying mother on the other end, begging them to leave Korea immediately and come back home.
I was a little worried at this point. I was also really pissed off when I saw what the attack did to the value of the South Korean Won (it went down).
Living in Korea, I was often told to check in with the Canadian Consulate. At this time, I got lots of e-mails and phone calls from other Canadian friends on the same topic. There was an advisory from the Canadian Consulate in Seoul for all Canadian Citizens living in the country to have their passports ready, along with a few days of supplies, such as food and water. I think this was in case the North chose to invade. If they did, the Consulate had all of the check stop/rendezvous spots set up, in order to get you back to the consulate safely, and then back to Canada.
After the attack, this felt like a very real possibility. The foreigners were worried. The Koreans were not.
I guess if this is something a person grows up with, they get used to it. For me, it was a foreign concept that I just could not understand.
I feel a lot safer from war and all that type of stuff, because I live in Canada, once again.
Growing up here, I've never had to face war as part of my reality and living next to America makes me feel a lot safer. After that ship was sunk in Korea, one thing that really made me feel safe was the fact the Americans were sending an aircraft carrier. Unfortunately in this day and age, it's still true that if you want peace, you're gonna have to prepare for war. Just ask Neville Chamberlain.
.
For 3 years I lived in a country that is still technically at war with its neighbor to the north, the Republic of Korea (south).
After I left Korea I joked on FB, "Go ahead north, fire away. I'm back in Canada".
I was trying to allude to the sense of relief I had.
One thing you have to get used to while living in Korea, are all of the Air Raid sirens. If a person has no idea what is going on, it can be very scary, and make that person instantly religious, as it did to me one fine afternoon, when I was caught off guard.
Silly me, later I thought, and we all had a good laugh about it.
There were three incidents while I was in Korea, involving the North, that stuck out.
The first was in July of 2008, when a South Korean tourist was shot and killed in North Korea, for straying too far away from a designated area.
The second was in March of 2010, (I was home in between) when a South Korean naval ship was sunk, allegedly (they could never prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, but...) by a torpedo from A North Korean submarine. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed, and nothing much became of it. (sadly, 46 sailors died)
The biggest incident occurred in November of 2010, when the North opened fired and began shelling the island of Yeonpyeong. The South fired back, and pretty much everyone I knew in the country, working as an ESL teacher, got a phone call from back home, with a crying mother on the other end, begging them to leave Korea immediately and come back home.
I was a little worried at this point. I was also really pissed off when I saw what the attack did to the value of the South Korean Won (it went down).
Living in Korea, I was often told to check in with the Canadian Consulate. At this time, I got lots of e-mails and phone calls from other Canadian friends on the same topic. There was an advisory from the Canadian Consulate in Seoul for all Canadian Citizens living in the country to have their passports ready, along with a few days of supplies, such as food and water. I think this was in case the North chose to invade. If they did, the Consulate had all of the check stop/rendezvous spots set up, in order to get you back to the consulate safely, and then back to Canada.
After the attack, this felt like a very real possibility. The foreigners were worried. The Koreans were not.
I guess if this is something a person grows up with, they get used to it. For me, it was a foreign concept that I just could not understand.
I feel a lot safer from war and all that type of stuff, because I live in Canada, once again.
Growing up here, I've never had to face war as part of my reality and living next to America makes me feel a lot safer. After that ship was sunk in Korea, one thing that really made me feel safe was the fact the Americans were sending an aircraft carrier. Unfortunately in this day and age, it's still true that if you want peace, you're gonna have to prepare for war. Just ask Neville Chamberlain.
.
Sunday 4 November 2012
Water and Cookies
I have a sweet tooth, even if it is a picky one.
Cookies are my favourite.
In University (circa 1994/95) I used to wake up a lot with stomach pain. We turned it into a game/pool and people bet on different possibilities.
Two of my favourite suggestions were that it was an ulcer, or that I possibly had a tape worm. Luckily it turned out to be neither.
It was caused by an allergic reaction my body was having to milk. After all, what do you drink when you eat cookies? Nothing goes better with cookies than milk.
A few years later I did an allergy test and found this out. I haven't drank milk since. On a whole I try to avoid dairy products, but let's not go there...
Chocolate chip cookies are awesome.
Oatmeal raisin are another favourite.
At Christmas time I love ginger bread cookies, and during the last two years while I was away, I had my mom buy some and freeze them for me when I got home. They still tasted delicious.
BUT my favourite, and I mean FAVOURITE kind of cookie to snack on is the wafer cookie, especially if it has a chocolate filling. (not a big fan of vanilla)
As a kid, my mom used to buy these 24 packs for $2.50. The ones with the blue wrapper were vanilla, and the ones with the green were chocolate.
For the longest time they were my favourite, until I discovered something in Korea.
At a GS convenience store in Anyang I came across a small blue package containing chocolate filled wafer cookies for 2000 won (about 2 bucks). The package was about the size of a chocolate bar.
Ever since then, I have been hooked on "Loacker" brand wafer cookies.
2 years later, after I returned home to Canada, I went months without them. I decided to do a little research and I looked the company up on the web to find out if they sold their products in Canada. I sent them an e-mail, and they got back to me the next day, telling me exactly where I could purchase the cookies I wanted, in Winnipeg.
The day after that, I went on a field trip with my mom to St. Vital. It took us about a half hour to drive to the store, which was in a mall. I felt like a kid going into a toy store before Christmas, and I got to pick out my present. Took me less than a minute to find them and we bought ten packs and headed home. (total cost, 30 dollars)
It may be Halloween right now, but I am not tempted by any chocolate bars or treats. As long as I have my "Loacker" wafer cookies I don't need any other kind of treat.
They are so good they taste great, even without the milk.
bon appetite,
rymr
Cookies are my favourite.
In University (circa 1994/95) I used to wake up a lot with stomach pain. We turned it into a game/pool and people bet on different possibilities.
Two of my favourite suggestions were that it was an ulcer, or that I possibly had a tape worm. Luckily it turned out to be neither.
It was caused by an allergic reaction my body was having to milk. After all, what do you drink when you eat cookies? Nothing goes better with cookies than milk.
A few years later I did an allergy test and found this out. I haven't drank milk since. On a whole I try to avoid dairy products, but let's not go there...
Chocolate chip cookies are awesome.
Oatmeal raisin are another favourite.
At Christmas time I love ginger bread cookies, and during the last two years while I was away, I had my mom buy some and freeze them for me when I got home. They still tasted delicious.
BUT my favourite, and I mean FAVOURITE kind of cookie to snack on is the wafer cookie, especially if it has a chocolate filling. (not a big fan of vanilla)
As a kid, my mom used to buy these 24 packs for $2.50. The ones with the blue wrapper were vanilla, and the ones with the green were chocolate.
For the longest time they were my favourite, until I discovered something in Korea.
At a GS convenience store in Anyang I came across a small blue package containing chocolate filled wafer cookies for 2000 won (about 2 bucks). The package was about the size of a chocolate bar.
Ever since then, I have been hooked on "Loacker" brand wafer cookies.
2 years later, after I returned home to Canada, I went months without them. I decided to do a little research and I looked the company up on the web to find out if they sold their products in Canada. I sent them an e-mail, and they got back to me the next day, telling me exactly where I could purchase the cookies I wanted, in Winnipeg.
The day after that, I went on a field trip with my mom to St. Vital. It took us about a half hour to drive to the store, which was in a mall. I felt like a kid going into a toy store before Christmas, and I got to pick out my present. Took me less than a minute to find them and we bought ten packs and headed home. (total cost, 30 dollars)
It may be Halloween right now, but I am not tempted by any chocolate bars or treats. As long as I have my "Loacker" wafer cookies I don't need any other kind of treat.
They are so good they taste great, even without the milk.
bon appetite,
rymr
Sunday 28 October 2012
Mixed Pickle
"I didn't order this shit to bug you, I really like it."
So says my friend the vegetarian. Apparently he actually enjoys eating the Indian dish, mixed pickle.
We had planned the day well in advance. I was going to try some spicy Indian food, and he was going to film the results. I was going to start off eating something mild and then build my way up to something spicy. Instead of wading into the pool, I ended up diving in head first.
It did not go well.
The only consolation was that we had 2 minutes of very good footage as I struggled to eat the very spicy dish. Biting into it I thought it was going to be mild. It wasn't.
Unfortunately, the footage we got was not usable. It was upside down and we both know so very little about computers that we don't know how to fix the problem.
I really didn't want to try it again. I''ll admit it. I'm a wimp when it comes to eating spicy food. Maybe that's why those kimchi guys were laughing so hard last week.
Seeing is believing so don't take my word for it. Reluctantly I did a second take and this time we had the camera right side up. I hope you enjoy.
Plus I know I've pissed off a lot of people over the years, so some people just might enjoy seeing me squirm a little.
Take care, and bon appetite.
Rymr.
here is the link to the video: http://youtu.be/iZqdvR-SpMA
So says my friend the vegetarian. Apparently he actually enjoys eating the Indian dish, mixed pickle.
We had planned the day well in advance. I was going to try some spicy Indian food, and he was going to film the results. I was going to start off eating something mild and then build my way up to something spicy. Instead of wading into the pool, I ended up diving in head first.
It did not go well.
The only consolation was that we had 2 minutes of very good footage as I struggled to eat the very spicy dish. Biting into it I thought it was going to be mild. It wasn't.
Unfortunately, the footage we got was not usable. It was upside down and we both know so very little about computers that we don't know how to fix the problem.
I really didn't want to try it again. I''ll admit it. I'm a wimp when it comes to eating spicy food. Maybe that's why those kimchi guys were laughing so hard last week.
Seeing is believing so don't take my word for it. Reluctantly I did a second take and this time we had the camera right side up. I hope you enjoy.
Plus I know I've pissed off a lot of people over the years, so some people just might enjoy seeing me squirm a little.
Take care, and bon appetite.
Rymr.
here is the link to the video: http://youtu.be/iZqdvR-SpMA
Sunday 21 October 2012
"Very Spicy Samgyeopsal"
(Editor’s Note: I don’t want to get sued so I’m not going to
name the ‘Korean’ restaurant I went to yesterday. Plus the owner was very nice and we had a
great conversation about Korea. He
introduced me to one of the kimchi chefs, who was from Anyang, the place where
I was a public high school teacher for two years.)
Wooden chop sticks???
A Korean restaurant should not have wooden chopsticks. The concept just seems so ridiculously
insane. Now, the novice, who wouldn’t
know what the hell they were talking about (even if they meant well) would not
have a problem using wooden chopsticks at a Korean restaurant. The only problem is they would be wrong.
It is so wrong.
In Korea the chopsticks are long, thin, and metal. The chopsticks I was given were short, thick,
and made of wood.
I went to the restaurant with my Korean friend Hee seop, my
partner in the Red River College Mentorship program which pairs up an
international student with a local one.
I thought this was a good way to give back considering I had been helped
by so many people while I was in Korea and I was interested to find out what it
was like for a Korean to live in Canada.
I picked up Hee seop from the College at around 2 pm. I had looked up the location of several
Korean restaurants and many of them were located in the same area along Pembina
hwy. It’s a good thing I had Hee seop
with me or I might have gotten lost. I
thought the best way to get to Pembina hwy from William/Princess was to go down
Main Street to get to confusion corner (I’m not even sure if that’s possible)
I asked Hee seop and he said the quickest way to get to Pembina Hwy from the College was to go down Donald St, so that’s what we did. A few minutes later we were driving down Pembina.
(In my defense, even though I’ve technically lived in
Winnipeg for over 30 years, I’ve only lived in the city for the last 8 months,
consecutively. Hee seop’s been here for
over a year. That’s way longer than I’ve
been here. Therefore it’s not shameful
at all to get directions from him.)
On the way into the restaurant we were approached by a local
filmmaker who was helping out with a documentary about these Koreans who travel
around the world and get people to try kimchi.
If you don’t know what kimchi is, it’s made out of a cabbage that they
ferment somehow, I think. I’m not really sure.
I chose to do Korean pottery and not the
“learn how to make your own kimchi” seminar.
I never really liked kimchi, but I have had it before so I
am allowed to say that. It is a little bit
spicy, depending on the kind it is and whether or not the person eating it is
used to eating spicy food. At my public
school in Korea there were three things that were a part of the meal every day:
rice, soup, and kimchi. Of the three,
the only one I ate was the rice and I had to learn to like rice and only did so
because I was so hungry and when I get that hungry almost anything will taste
good.
I never had
kimchi in the school cafeteria once.
Mostly I ate just rice as fish was all too often the side dish that went
with rice. (I learned from Hee seop that rice is always considered the main
part of the dish, and that rice isn’t a side dish. In Korea it’s considered ‘rice and chicken’,
and not ‘chicken and rice’.
Since the filmmakers doing the filming were from Korea I
felt obligated to help them out. After
all, I had been a government employee for two years and their taxes had paid
for my salary.
I must have been doing something funny as I chewed the
kimchi. It wasn’t overly spicy or as
strong as some of the kimchi I had tried in Korea. I wasn’t sure why they were laughing at me as
I ate. Apparently this is a joke that I
just don’t get.
They seemed pleased with the footage they shot of me and I
am hoping that I make the final cut and appear in the documentary. It might even make it onto one of the big
networks, like MBC, or KBS.
The food in the restaurant wasn’t bad. I’m sure if a person didn’t know any better they might have confused it with authentic Korean food. I didn’t.
It only took a few minutes for the meat to cook. In Korean BBQ they cut the meat up into tiny,
thin pieces to make it cook faster.
Part of the experience of authentic Korean BBQ is that the
meat is cooked at the table it is served at.
There’s a small bbq pit like hole in the table and there are hot coals
placed inside the pit with a grill over the pit. Above that a vent can be lowered
down to suck up most of the smoke.
I used to love going to Korean BBQ while I lived there.
I once went to my favourite Korean BBQ place in Anyang with
the gym teacher at my school. He was
used to eating lunch with me at school in the cafeteria where I mainly ate rice
and shied away from a lot of things because I was worried they were too spicy.
Apparently, the name of my favourite restaurant in Korea was
“Very Spicy Samgyeopsal”. It was written
in giant Hangul letters on the outside of the restaurant. Even though I’d been in Korea for three
years I’d never bothered to learn how to read the alphabet, even though it was
very easy because it was written phonetically and only took a few hours to
learn.
“Very Spicy Samgyeopsal” is an awesome restaurant and I give
it 5 out of 5 stars. For a very
afforadable price the thick samgyeopsal is the best I’ve ever had in my
life. For a truly authentic Korean meal,
that is the place to go to.
Unfortunately it would cost about 2000 dollars to fly there, so it just
might not be worth it.
Til then I’m gonna have to continue my search in Winnipeg because (name of ‘Korean’ restaurant withheld to prevent a possible lawsuit) isn’t it.
Sunday 14 October 2012
The CFL can still go...
After the 2011 Grey Cup I swore I'd never go to another CFL game ever again.
When the Bombers lost to Saskatchewan at the Banjo Bowl this year I couldn't stop laughing at what I thought was the dumbest decision made in the history of pro sports. My brother, who is still a Bomber fan, threw something at me. I guess he didn't think it was funny.
When I was a kid my dad had season tickets behind the visitor's bench in the front row on the 45 yard line. I'm old enough that I got to see Warren Moon play live as he destroyed the Bombers, and the fans were denied a free meal at 'The Old Spaghetti Factory".
Ray Jauch was the coach and he lived down the street on Assiniboine. His son went to the same school I did, and he was very nice and new everyone.
My favourite player was Dieter Brock, who would wind up starting for the LA Rams of the NFL before being forced to retire due to injury. Before leaving the CFL, the Bombers traded him to Hamilton for another Bomber legend and favourite player of mine, #2, Tom Clements (Brock wore 5)
When the Bombers played the Ticats in the Grey Cup that year, a lot of people in town had "Brock Buster" t-shirts with his old number 5 in a crossed out circle. It was awesome when the Bombers won to capture the Grey Cup for the first time in a long time.
Other favourite players of mine growing up were, Willard Reaves (38), Tyrone Jones (35, I met him), Trevor Kennard (3, met him too), Bob Cameron (6, played forever), James Murphy (21), James 'wild' West (58), Chris Walby (63), and Rick House (31), among others.
I used to join in with the drunks (at the time I didn't know they were drunk, they just got rowdier in the second half, after consuming a lot of beer) as we hurled insult after insult on the visiting team. It's probably the reason I'm still such a lippy/sarcastic person.
One of the most memorable games I went to was the game where Matt Dunigan threw for over 700 yards to set a league record. It was a fluke that I was there because my dad didn't have the season tickets anymore and we all had just sort of stopped going to the games and caring about the team.
We sat in the really cheap seats in the end zone, and bumped into my grade 6 teacher, Mrs. Gunther, who was happy that a former student had said hello to her. We were young and wasted and the experience seemed surreal. It was almost like we were watching someone play techmo bowl. It didn't seem like we were watching a real game. There was just no way someone could pass for that many yards in a real, single game.
It was funny that the subject of the Dunigan game up while I was at the game on Saturday. Even stranger was the person who was talking about it. Craig Hodginson was someone that I had gone to high school with and hadn't seen or talked to, in over a decade.
Out of the 25, 426 (I can't auto fail my blog) people watching a game where the 4-11 Bombers were defeated by the (whatever Calgary's record is, I don't have time to look it up right now), to eliminate the Bombers from the post season, I thought it was pretty funny that I would bump into "Hodgy", as he had been called in high school, way back in 1994.
Now 'Hodgy" (I won't refer to him as that in my article for class) is all grown up. He's married, has two kids and is a physical therapist. He also gave me a super awesome story (thank you so much Hodgy/Universe)
It certainly was a coincidence, but not the biggest coincidence I've ever had. That took place in 2008 in Korea at a baseball game with my parents who were visiting from Canada. Before the game we went to Burger King for lunch and after we were done my dad stepped outside to have a cigarette. I sat at the table with my mom as she finished her meal.
My dad turned and started to talk to someone. The funny thing was I knew the person he was talking to, but hadn't seen or talked to him in at least 6 years. It was Norm, someone I had gone to University with and that I knew was also in Korea, working as an English teacher. I just hadn't seen him in the 6 months I had been there. I thought it was funny that this was how I met him and he was the first person my dad chose to speak to going to a baseball game in Korea. (Norm was happy to talk to my dad because my dad had a goldeye hat on and Norm recognized a little piece of home. It was actually funny to hear Norm tell it from his point of view. He was on his way to a baseball game when an old man asked him a question. He recognized the hat and started to talk to him. At this point I came over and said hello.)
There was no way I could have known that Hodgy was going to be at the game. I did not pick where I was going to sit. My seat was chosen randomly and it could've been anyone who happened to sit a few rows back in the same section where Hodgy has shared season tickets with his dad and one of his friends for the last 15 years.
Small world.
I left for Korea in November of 2007 and I know for a fact that I have not seen or talked with him since. I'd lost all contact with Hodgy long before I left for Korea. We had never been all that close to begin with. We ran with different crowds in high school, and rarely would our crowds mix. In grade 12 we would sometimes hangout at the same party with friends of friends but that was about it.
The most direct contact I had with him was we were both on the soccer team in grade 12. We were also the two fastest beer chuggers at our school, and we had a lot of good drinkers who were very competitive. Hodgy was the undisputed champ and had never been beaten until I beat him at a party after the grad car wash. We had a rematch and he got his title back but for a brief moment I was the champ. In University we both competed on the same beer olympics team placing second in the competition, but by that time I had lost my touch and could no longer chug a beer in under 3 seconds like I could in high school. Back then my time was about 2.3 seconds to chug a beer. Damn I was fast.
Oh, I think I was supposed to write about why I swore that I was never going to go to a CFL game ever again, after the 2011 Grey Cup. It wasn't because the Bombers lost, it was because I couldn't even watch it.
The CFL does not care about its fans if they live outside of North America. They do not stream or provide any access to games for people who live there.
In 2007, the first time I was in Korea, I was able to watch the Bombers lose the Grey Cup game live by paying 10 buck to stream it online. In 2011, this was not possible. I sent the league an E-mail asking them about this but they never got back to me. They even got rid of all of the illegal feeds making it impossible to watch the game.
*Oh, I did eat while I was at the game but I didn't try anything new. I was really looking forward to having a big pretzel but I was very disappointed. For 5 dollars all I got was a cold piece of bread with lots of salt on it. I didn't even finish it. After that I bought something for 5 dollars and thought I was going to be trying something new. I'd never had a 'nip' before, but it turns out it's just another word for cheesburger.
Can anyone explain to me why they call it that?
Two thumbs down.
**Thanks for the free ticket, I guess. (I still would have liked to have watched the Grey Cup last year, even though we didn't win)
When the Bombers lost to Saskatchewan at the Banjo Bowl this year I couldn't stop laughing at what I thought was the dumbest decision made in the history of pro sports. My brother, who is still a Bomber fan, threw something at me. I guess he didn't think it was funny.
When I was a kid my dad had season tickets behind the visitor's bench in the front row on the 45 yard line. I'm old enough that I got to see Warren Moon play live as he destroyed the Bombers, and the fans were denied a free meal at 'The Old Spaghetti Factory".
Ray Jauch was the coach and he lived down the street on Assiniboine. His son went to the same school I did, and he was very nice and new everyone.
My favourite player was Dieter Brock, who would wind up starting for the LA Rams of the NFL before being forced to retire due to injury. Before leaving the CFL, the Bombers traded him to Hamilton for another Bomber legend and favourite player of mine, #2, Tom Clements (Brock wore 5)
When the Bombers played the Ticats in the Grey Cup that year, a lot of people in town had "Brock Buster" t-shirts with his old number 5 in a crossed out circle. It was awesome when the Bombers won to capture the Grey Cup for the first time in a long time.
Other favourite players of mine growing up were, Willard Reaves (38), Tyrone Jones (35, I met him), Trevor Kennard (3, met him too), Bob Cameron (6, played forever), James Murphy (21), James 'wild' West (58), Chris Walby (63), and Rick House (31), among others.
I used to join in with the drunks (at the time I didn't know they were drunk, they just got rowdier in the second half, after consuming a lot of beer) as we hurled insult after insult on the visiting team. It's probably the reason I'm still such a lippy/sarcastic person.
One of the most memorable games I went to was the game where Matt Dunigan threw for over 700 yards to set a league record. It was a fluke that I was there because my dad didn't have the season tickets anymore and we all had just sort of stopped going to the games and caring about the team.
We sat in the really cheap seats in the end zone, and bumped into my grade 6 teacher, Mrs. Gunther, who was happy that a former student had said hello to her. We were young and wasted and the experience seemed surreal. It was almost like we were watching someone play techmo bowl. It didn't seem like we were watching a real game. There was just no way someone could pass for that many yards in a real, single game.
It was funny that the subject of the Dunigan game up while I was at the game on Saturday. Even stranger was the person who was talking about it. Craig Hodginson was someone that I had gone to high school with and hadn't seen or talked to, in over a decade.
Out of the 25, 426 (I can't auto fail my blog) people watching a game where the 4-11 Bombers were defeated by the (whatever Calgary's record is, I don't have time to look it up right now), to eliminate the Bombers from the post season, I thought it was pretty funny that I would bump into "Hodgy", as he had been called in high school, way back in 1994.
Now 'Hodgy" (I won't refer to him as that in my article for class) is all grown up. He's married, has two kids and is a physical therapist. He also gave me a super awesome story (thank you so much Hodgy/Universe)
It certainly was a coincidence, but not the biggest coincidence I've ever had. That took place in 2008 in Korea at a baseball game with my parents who were visiting from Canada. Before the game we went to Burger King for lunch and after we were done my dad stepped outside to have a cigarette. I sat at the table with my mom as she finished her meal.
My dad turned and started to talk to someone. The funny thing was I knew the person he was talking to, but hadn't seen or talked to him in at least 6 years. It was Norm, someone I had gone to University with and that I knew was also in Korea, working as an English teacher. I just hadn't seen him in the 6 months I had been there. I thought it was funny that this was how I met him and he was the first person my dad chose to speak to going to a baseball game in Korea. (Norm was happy to talk to my dad because my dad had a goldeye hat on and Norm recognized a little piece of home. It was actually funny to hear Norm tell it from his point of view. He was on his way to a baseball game when an old man asked him a question. He recognized the hat and started to talk to him. At this point I came over and said hello.)
There was no way I could have known that Hodgy was going to be at the game. I did not pick where I was going to sit. My seat was chosen randomly and it could've been anyone who happened to sit a few rows back in the same section where Hodgy has shared season tickets with his dad and one of his friends for the last 15 years.
Small world.
I left for Korea in November of 2007 and I know for a fact that I have not seen or talked with him since. I'd lost all contact with Hodgy long before I left for Korea. We had never been all that close to begin with. We ran with different crowds in high school, and rarely would our crowds mix. In grade 12 we would sometimes hangout at the same party with friends of friends but that was about it.
The most direct contact I had with him was we were both on the soccer team in grade 12. We were also the two fastest beer chuggers at our school, and we had a lot of good drinkers who were very competitive. Hodgy was the undisputed champ and had never been beaten until I beat him at a party after the grad car wash. We had a rematch and he got his title back but for a brief moment I was the champ. In University we both competed on the same beer olympics team placing second in the competition, but by that time I had lost my touch and could no longer chug a beer in under 3 seconds like I could in high school. Back then my time was about 2.3 seconds to chug a beer. Damn I was fast.
Oh, I think I was supposed to write about why I swore that I was never going to go to a CFL game ever again, after the 2011 Grey Cup. It wasn't because the Bombers lost, it was because I couldn't even watch it.
The CFL does not care about its fans if they live outside of North America. They do not stream or provide any access to games for people who live there.
In 2007, the first time I was in Korea, I was able to watch the Bombers lose the Grey Cup game live by paying 10 buck to stream it online. In 2011, this was not possible. I sent the league an E-mail asking them about this but they never got back to me. They even got rid of all of the illegal feeds making it impossible to watch the game.
*Oh, I did eat while I was at the game but I didn't try anything new. I was really looking forward to having a big pretzel but I was very disappointed. For 5 dollars all I got was a cold piece of bread with lots of salt on it. I didn't even finish it. After that I bought something for 5 dollars and thought I was going to be trying something new. I'd never had a 'nip' before, but it turns out it's just another word for cheesburger.
Can anyone explain to me why they call it that?
Two thumbs down.
**Thanks for the free ticket, I guess. (I still would have liked to have watched the Grey Cup last year, even though we didn't win)
Monday 8 October 2012
Happy thanksgiving: Death to Turkeys!!!
Pre-Game
I love turkey. living
without it in Korea almost drove me mad.
The only time you could get it was at Christmas time or during American
Thanksgiving. It was one of the things I
missed, like Salt n Vinegar chips, certain chocolate bars, and slurpees. There’s no bigger tease in the world than to
go into a 7-11 and for there not to be a slurpee machine. I mean, what’s the point of having a 7-11
without a slurpee machine?
Today I am writing about my first Canadian Thanksgiving in 3
years, so I guess I should talk a little about what I am thankful about.
I am very thankful to be back in my home city, even if I
enjoy complaining about every little thing too much.
I am thankful to be living in a country that is not
currently at war with another country that borders it to the north, and has
nuclear weapons aimed at its capital.
I honestly can’t remember the last time I went to a family
dinner with my mom. A lot of the kids I
remember are now all grown up (I think).
Some of my cousins even have kids of their own. (Don’t think I’ve met
any of them)
I think the last time I went to a family thanksgiving with
my mom my brother still had hair (or was he going with the come over then?) and
I still had a crooked nose and a big gap between my front two teeth.
Post Game
The turkey dinner I had today was excellent and cooked to
perfection, reminding me of why I used to like thanksgiving so much. 30 years ago, when I was growing up, there
were only 2 days out of the year where I got to eat turkey. They were at Christmas and at
thanksgiving.
The other day I was reminded of one of those Christmas
dinners that we spent out in Altona with my grandparents, who were both Mennonites. There was not enough room at the dinner
table, so the women had to wait in the other room as the men (including young
boys like me at the time) got to eat first, even though the women had done all
of the cooking and had set the table.
I did try something I’ve never tried before today and it was
cranberry sauce, in honour of the occasion.
Apparently, some people like to eat it with their turkey. Now that I have tried cranberry sauce I can
safely say that I am not one of these people.
It was way too tangy and sweet.
It was so bad that I started to make that same face that I made last
week when I tried the pie, but I was able to restrain myself. I had to explain it to the chef once again
that it was not their cooking that was the problem but that it was me. (it’s
not you, it’s me)
I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. Death to turkeys!!!
Sunday 30 September 2012
4 bites in 22 minutes
It’s not just that I’m a picky eater. I have legitimate problems with my
stomach. When I did an allergy test I
had so many bumps the woman who had administered it just shook her head and
told me she wasn’t sure what I was going to eat.
There was no single defining moment where I became a picky
eater, but I can remember being stuck at the dinner table long after everyone
else had finished. My dinner was cold,
making a bad situation even worse. Every
few minutes I would call back to either my mom or my dad and ask the same
question: Had I finished enough yet so that I could leave the table?
Waking up on Saturday morning, my mom was already making a
pie. Around lunchtime she finished.
I saw the thing after it had been cut open. It looked like a dissected torso. Most of it was solid and the outside cover
looked like pale flesh, and gushing out of the open end was some kind of
liquid, like blood from a fresh wound.
I kept putting it off until around 8:17 on Sunday
evening. I wasn’t sure what the proper
utensil was since I had never tried pie before so I decided to use a
spoon. Cake is eaten with a spoon and
pie is like cake so a spoon must have been the right choice.
Up close I could see the liquid unsettling itself along the
outer edges. The spoon fell out of my
hand as the strength left my fingers. Do
I really have to do this? I thought. How
much of it do I have to eat before I can leave the table?
I took a sip of water for courage. I dug in with my spoon. I couldn’t help but stare at it in the spoon
before I took another sip of water. I
look away. I start laughing. It starts to dawn on me. I’ve done it.
I’ve actually managed to recreate the experience of being a child because
that’s exactly how I feel. I feel like
an 8 year old kid staring at a cold plate of macaroni covered in tomato
juice.
I know it’s going to be cold. The pie has been in the fridge for over a day
now. I take one last sip of water before I take the plunge.
YYYYYUUUUUUUUKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That was so disgusting!
I spit my first bite out into the garbage.
The question comes back.
Do I really have to do this? My
mom tells me just to throw it out from the next room. The tase left in my mouth is kind of sweet
and not disgusting. It was just
something in the texture/taste of the filling, the apple part that just
disgusted me so much. The challenge now
becomes clear.
How much of this pie can I force into my stomach?
I’ve never been more proud of myself in my life. I did it!!!
I managed to swallow my first bite.
Dare I go for two? (I think using
the spoon reminds me of taking medicine for a cold as a kid, or being fed as a
baby)
I press down hard with the spoon to pry open a large piece. Chunks of apple ooze out of the other openings. It’s just the part inside that makes me so disgusted. They look like guts. I think people who like apple pies must like blood or be murderers. I’ve never been so disgusted in my entire life. I can do this.
In order to have courage, you must first be afraid.
And I am afraid.
There I go. 2 bites
swallowed. I think I’ll try for 4 more
and that should be good enough.
I have a brilliant idea. I get a fork and press it into a piece. This way I don’t have to chew the pie in my mouth.
The third bite goes down easy. Wow.
This is making that perogie thing look easy.
I’m about to cheat on my 4th bite and just eat
crust when I change my mind. I drag over
some of the wet filling and as I do I drop my spoon. I also let go of my fork.
I mush a pile of apple guts and cry as I do. (I just notice the clock. When I started it was 8:17. It is now 8:37. In all that time I was only able to swallow 4
bites of pie. One more and I’m
finished.)
O.K.
I did it.
With that awful after taste still lingering in my mouth I
can proudly announce that I have now tried apple pie and so when I say that I don’t
like it and that it really sucks, I can honestly say it now having tried it.
I will now go to the other room and try to assure my mom
that it was pie in general that I did not like and not just her pie. (although
at this point I’m sure my mom knows I can’t stand her cooking)
I explain it to my mom the way I explained it to the
Koreans: it’s not just your food I don’t like and am picky about, it’s all
food.
P.S. My mom seemed to be a little bit hurt and got on the
defensive about her home made pie. She
said that she still liked it and that it was good and that if anyone wanted to
try it she would love to give them a piece.
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