You know that Christmas is coming to Korea because the Christmas Donuts, cakes and lights are all out. Oh, strawberries are out now in shaved ice desserts. (Yeah, I know it is December.) Merry Christmas Everyone! Dan

Christmas is here in Seoul and that means lots of lights. Here is a video of the downtown lights. Come take a cooking class or take a Culinary Tour in Seoul! http://www.ongofood.com Join the Seoul Eats Facebook Group Page to keep to date with the latest events.

Faucher Family Christmas Lights in Delaware Dude! See! Delaware is famous! The Faucher Family in Delaware have built extravagant Christmas lights setups for 25 years now and every year my family would drive though the neighborhoods of Wilmington, Delaware to see all the lights. The brightest was this house and now they are being featured in Gizmodo!  They use 1,000,000 lights. It costs them $82,320 to light their house for the month according to Houselogic (find out how they do the math at their site). Merry Christmas everyone and yay for Delaware! Come take a cooking class or take a Culinary Tour in Seoul! http://www.ongofood.com

here are lemon bars that I made for Colettes Christmas bash. Banana cranberry bread Kris Kringle cookies: white chocolate , macadamia nuts and candied cranberries made by the wonderful Tracy. The lovely Colette Mistletoe The best peanut butter icecream cake ever! My christmas haul of turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, roasted potatoes, corn, pumpkin, limabeans and deliciousness. The lovely Maggie

Here are some Christmas events held in Hotels. For expats, having dinner in a hotel is still considered high class in Korea, so if you have a date and you haven't made plans yet, then you better get cracking. Dan These were originally listed in the Korea Herald For families Hyatt Regency Incheon: Restaurant 8 is on the vanguard of going all-out Christmas, with its "live Christmas market dining," available on Christmas Eve from 6 to 11 p.m. and on Christmas Day from noon to 10 p.m. It is designed for the entire family to enjoy a range of Italian, French, Asian, Korean and Japanese dishes along with European dessert. By walking through the scrumptious selection of cuisines, customers can also interact with the chefs and watch them cook. There will be live music: piano, guitar and saxophone, while entertainment for kids includes, what else, a magic and balloon show. The market dining is priced at 100,000 won for Dec. 24, 80,000 won for Dec. 25 and 50,000 won between 3 p.m. ...

From 3-6 on Christmas Day. 40,000 won

(For more on Toque Diner, click here) Christmas Eve and Christmas Day special menu! Christmas Eve Course - W35,000 + VAT Menu: 1. Open Oysters Po'Boy (fried oysters with remoulade sauce and watercress) 2. French Onion Soup (crouton soaked in homemade French Onion Soup gratinated with Onion Jam and Fried Onion) 3. Caesar Terrine on Seafood Mousse "Disc" with Romaine lettuce 4. Braised Beef-Ricotta Ravioli in Beef Tomato Sauce with Arugula 5. Chicken "Tenderloin Steak" with mushroom Veloute 6. Chocolate-Pear Crepe with Creme Anglaise - Reservation times limited to 6:30PM and 8:30PM Christmas Day Turkey Brunch - W35,000 + VAT Menu includes: Turkey, Stuffing, Gravy, mashed Potato, Cranberry sauce, marinated Veggie Salad, Scrambled Eggs, Bacon Sausage, Oen Sandwich, Cheesecake, Pumpkin Pie, Scone, etc. - Reservations will be taken from 11:00 AM to 10:00PM (buffet table will close down at 10PM) - No set reservation time, but the 12 to 2 PM period is usually the busie...

Christmas is relatively still a new holiday in Korea and it most Koreans do not go out and celebrate it with the same zeal as someone from Europe or America. Businesses have been trying to market the holidays as a major gift giving celebration time, but most Koreans have not taken the bait. The most common gift given among friends during Christmas are Christmas cards. You will see stores all over Korea selling these cards and they are relatively cheap- usually 800 won to 1000 won. They will write a message and give them as a present and for most people this is a thoughtful and welcomed gift. I think this is pretty amazing because I gave a close friend a card in America as a gift, I would not have that friend anymore. And speaking of Christmas cards, I just heard that if you are sending a Card overseas to a loved one, that the Korean post office will give you a discount on shipping. I think this is so adorable and it is one of the nice ways that Korea is trying to help the expatriate co...

Gluhwien Tonight I'm going to be hosting a quiet New Years celebration. People would probably like to know what is on the menu. My theory on appetizers is that it should be able to be eaten with the fingers with minimal mess and disturbance of conversations. Appetizers should also have a liberally based theme. Also all of this should be done without breaking the bank. The drink that everyone is aching for is gluhwien- the warmed mulled wine. I view gluhwein as a warm Sangria and I think the best food to mix with this would be "slightly Mexican." I have been doing a recipe search for Gluhwien and one the first nugget of information I found is that it literally translate to "Glow Wine"- I think it is perfectly named. Here are the some of the recipes I found. This is from ShanghaiExpat The recipe I use is a little bit different than kilted-txn but is a tried and true recipe passed on through my family. Hmm...I cannot wait to drink this over Christmas! 3/4 cup ...

While I was at the Millennium Hilton in Seoul, I came across this bizarre exhibit. I wouldn't say it was exactly politically correct, but the idea was kinda inline with the Christmas spirit...I guess. I don't think most of these would fly in the US, especially Papua New Guinea Santa with the machete. Santa the golfer and Santa with a sombrero was cute. Now you might be asking, where is Mrs. Claus. There was only one and she wasn't the traditional Mrs. Claus. Instead it was this: Weird, huh? That's so Korea.