Foodie week

Last week was somewhat ruled by eating. I went out to lunch or dinner almost everyday. I've mentioned before that part of the reason I go out alot if because it's often cheaper to eat out than to cook. The other main reason is that other than bars, restaurants are one of the few places to sit and chat with people. So, here's what I did last week:

Monday - I was supposed to meet Liezle and Cindy for dinner, but Dan and Spencer tagged along and then we ran into 3 other guys. The place we wanted to try was closed, so we went to a chicken place and had the chicken salad with yogurt dressing. I'd had this before, but last time it also had frozen yogurt on top of it. They had run out of the frozen yogurt so we didn't get that, but it still tasted pretty good. Cindy and I split one and Dan and Spencer split one. The biys finished about 5 minutes before we did and tried to steal some, but we wouldn't let them.

Tuesday - I went to the doctor and got a hep A shot. It was an interesting experience because I told them I needed a shot and then sent me upstairs to a room. When I got there, the nurse was like, where pain? I said, no pain, shot and demonstrated on my arm. The doctor figured out what I needed and set up my next appointment too. Then I had to go to the injection room. It was pretty easy, but a little nerve racking because I totally could have been injected with something else and I'd have no idea about it. Oh well. After the doctor, Liezle and I had lunch at a coffee shop. We had chicken cibatta sandwiches. They were pretty good, but Koreans seriously love them some pickels - there were probably about 10 on my small sandwich. I also had lemon iced tea which tastes kind of like a Chik-fil-a Arnold Palmer - very tasty.

Wednesday - I had lunch with Jamie (pastor's wife) and Ilani (a girl who used to live under me, but is now staying with Jamie and Brandon - I will tell her story eventually, once everything is settled. Jamie and Brandon are awesome. They just had a baby and not only is Illani staying with them, but another woman (a Phillipino girl who was a mail order bride whose husband divorced her and only gave her $5000 for the rest of her life) and her little baby are also staying in their apartment). Jamie cooked chicken nachos and they were pretty good. She substituted lime powder for actual limes since you can't get them here in Korea. They also found that ranch dressing is a pretty decent substitute for sour cream. After lunch, Jamie, Ilani and I played "Ticket to Ride". I'd heard about this game, but this was the first time I'd actually played it. It was a pretty decent game. I think orur family would enjoy it as you can decide whether to get yourself points, or to screw other people over. Jamie and Brandon also have Catan (plus C&K and Seafarers), so another game night/day will have to come soon.

That night I had dinner by myself at the gimbap place because I was starving, but I was also meeting Cindy so we could watch the 11pm showing of Harry Potter. It was a bit weird because I usually don't notice people looking at me, or it's easier to not pay attention when someone else is with me. I could totally tell that everyone was watching me eat when I was by myself, so it was awkward. Afer dinner, I met up with Cindy to see the movie. She wanted to watch in 3D, which was ok because Korean 3D is pretty awesome. The problem is that all the Harry Potter movies are kind of dark. Add dark tinted glasses and parts were unwatchable. I had to actually lift them up sometimes to see what was happening. I will totally go again in 2D.

Thursday - I stayed at home and made pasta primavera - sort of. I used tri color rotini, a little mayo, salt & pepper and diced cucumber, orange tomatoes and red pepper. It was pretty good. I would cook more often if I didn't have to chop stuff up - and that includes the States too. Chopping is dumb.

Friday - I met Liezle and Hein (another South African who talks non-stop) for lunch. We were told it was a chicken teriayki place - fail. It was rice, cubed chicken (maybe cooked in a teriakyi sauce) and spices. It was good, but not what I was expecting. Liezle and I split one of those and then a chicken bibimbap which was very good. Mom, you would have liked this because you could add you own spice (or none at all). It was also served on really cute trays.

Chicken bibimbap. The rice is seperate too. They also served cold bean sprout soup, which was ok but a little oily. The green things on the bottom are these weird sweet pickles, next is honestly what I think are some kind of pig organ but are tasty and a little salty, next is the chili paste to spice up your rice and last is kimchi.

Teriakyi - Korean style. The side dishes are all the same except instead of pickles, I had onions that had been soaked in something. They were good, but too big of chunks.

Friday night a huge group of Jinju people were meeting up to get on a bus to go to Mudfest (a later post - will probably been next week b/c I have to get pictures developed first). I met Cindy, Dan, Spencer and a bunch of other people near the bus pick up at a place called Valance Burger. I'd been there before, but it's one of the few places to get American-ish food. Cindy and I split chili fries and I had a chicken sandwich.

Sunday (I skipped the weekend b/c that will be in the next post). After we got back from Mudfest, Cindy and I went to have dinner at a samgye tang place. What they do is take a small chicken and stuff it with rice, ginsing, Asian dates, garlic, scallions and persimmon and drop in it soup to cook. The meat is super tender and you have to pick out bones, which is a pain, but it's pretty good. This place is even better because they also add cinnamon sticks to the broth so the whole place smells good. And not like those gross cimnamon brooms at Christmas, but like apple cider and chicken. Koreans eat this on the hottest days of summer because they believe that eating hot foods in hot weather will cool you off. I'm not so sure about that, but it still tastes good.

It was very steamy and almost boiling still when I took the picture. I will go again and get other pictures that show more of the side dishes and how you eat them soup.