I appear each week on the Steve Hatherly Show on TBS eFM radio. My spot is on Friday at 2:30 and what do we talk about? Food of course. Steve is a good friend and a great DJ, but our opinions greatly differ on the topic of food. He constantly goes on about O-gyeopsal: pork belly with 5 layers of fat. I like the finer types of food.  Anyway, today we will be talking about the Amazing Korean Table cooking classes and what I learned that day from such great chefs such as Bok-Ryeo Han, Corey Lee, Massimo Bottura, and Pierre Gagnaire.   Here is a link to the site where you can listen to the stream through your radio. Please leave a comment on the TBS eFM forum page (Here is a link to Steve's page on the site.) Thanks, Dan

This was a hilarious show because we gave Steve a challenge to eat bundaeggi on the air. He had never eaten it before and he was adamantly opposed to eating it. We made a deal; if 15 listeners sent text messages to Steve to eat it then, he would eat 5. As soon as he said it, 20 callers texted in. Later we revised the questions so he would eat it if that day's show would topple the previous record of messages. In the next 10 minutes we got another 60 or so messages for a total of 82 for the day. Here is Steve eating the bundaeggi. Oh, and that's me on the air with him. You can listen to the Steve Hatherly Show 7 days a week from 2-4pm on TBS efm 101.3 in Seoul. You can listen to it online by going to http://tbsefm.seoul.kr Just hit the On Air button to get Internet streaming. And I found some other videos of people eating it as well. Here is Mary from www.maryeats.com And here I am as well. Dan

Today was my last regular Thursday spot on the Steve Hatherly Show for their food corner. Today I got Steve to try Bundaeggi for the first time. It was an absolutely hilarious show because he didn't want to try it. He made a bet with me that if he got 15 messages on the message board, then he would. Well, we got 82 messages. 82 messages! So, Steve ate 2, or tried to eat two. We didn't even have time to talk about the different food things that we were going to talk about. Today I was going to recommend the Lasagna at Sortinos. It's the best lasagna I've had in Korea because the layers of pasta are perfectly cooked and it is coated in a beefy tomato sauce. Also, Bread Talk in Myeongdong has great confectionary delights like it's Chocolate Granache and Bread with Pork Floss. Pork Floss is thinly dried pork that looks like snowflakes. It's so good. And I was going to talk about bibim naengmyeong from Bibimnaengmyeong from Ojangdong Hwung-namjip (오장동흥남집). Here's...

Heya, so I work for TBS eFM radio station on the show: Soul of Asia with Sara Kim. Recently we have recieved some foodie related questions so I wanted to share the questions and the responses with you. And if you ever have any questions for living in seoul, or foodie related things just e-mail us at tbsefm@gmail.com or post a message on our message board. Sara and I will work hard to answer your questions. Oh, and if you have any special events you would like for us to announce on the radio, just let us know as well. Dan Writer for Soul of Asia 101.3 eFM Listen online at http://tbsefm.seoul.kr Frank wrote: Are there any cooking courses or academies in Seoul conducted in English? Why, yes there is. Now if you are looking to take a cooking class, there are lots of different cooking classes around Seoul. You can take short 1-day classes or you can take a fully accredited course. And since you are in Korea, you should probably learn how to make Korean food. One I found to be very interest...

If you haven’t heard yet, Sam and Annabelle from Drivetime are having a special contest. They would like to have Annabelle to eat live octopus on the radio. She is vehemently opposed to this idea which makes this contest, oh, so more enticing. So to do this we need to have 100 people to vote “yes, to live octopus” on their message board. Go to the tbsefm website here. Hit the button to Drivetime and then hit "board" Write, "Yes for Octopus!" If you like Kimchi, you should vote, "Yes, for Octopus!" If you like Obama, you should vote, "Yes, for Octopus!" If you breathe oxygen, you should vote, "Yes, for Octopus!" Vote Yes! For Octopus!

The EV BOYZ in the TBS eFM studio! The EV BOYZ hold up the fantabulous host: Sara Kim. Sara Kim and a Little Traveler. What we didn't eat for lunch. Dukkbokki and chiggae have a very short lifespan. If they get cold, then you don't want to eat them. Conveyor Belt Sushi. Chocolate Pizza from Spanaco or something like that. It was chocolate with cheese and pecans and pistachios. It was alright. I can't say it's something I'd eat again, but...I wouldn't scoff at the idea of another slice. Close up. Cheese and Chocolate can work- it just needs to be good chocolate and good cheese. Cow cups. These remind me of my favorite cafe in Portland, Oregon. I think it was called, "Cow jumps over the moon." Coldstone's Mint chocolate chip is not my favorite. I think Baskin Robbins does a better one. I know that Cold Stone has much better icecream, but I think Mint Chocolate Chip needs to be a little less sophisicated. An Apple Bear and a Sour Cream Donut from Kris...

Hey TBSeFM Listeners! As a special treat have a very special announcement. Soul of Asia has obtained two tickets for the Swell Season concert from the lovely Claire Leadbitter who helps manage the band. We are going to give these tickets away as a set. The concert is on Saturday, January 17th. In order to win, you have to post a message on the Soul of Asia message board saying why you think you should win these two tickets. The best letter will be chosen by the band on Thursday, January 15 so you have plenty of time to get your pens working to write the best message stating why you should win these two tickets. Be creative, be bold, tell us a story, just write a message and post it on our message board. We’ll be reading them all week and we’ll choose on our winner on Thursday, January 15th. So go to http://tbsefm.seoul.kr and go to the Soul of Asia message board and leave us a message on why you should win these 2 tickets. You can enter as many times as you wish and be sure to post an...

Daniel  says listen to Danya Gunnell talk about motorcycling in seoul on the radio http://tbsefm. seoul.kr hit the "on air" button. Dan

Hey everyone, the Internet Phenomenon, the darlings of Korean Media, the Beastie Boys of Korea will be on Soul of Asia tomorrow: Monday, from 11:05-12. They will be talking about their Korean experience and we'll be playing their songs. If you have questions you can message us at #1013 or call at 02 778 1013. Tuesday, we will have legal advice with Mr. Noh. Wednesday, Danya Gunnell will be on to talk about motorcycling in Seoul and how a taxi driver broke her leg. Thursday, we have the amazing Michael Hurt. Friday, we'll have Timothy Lee from AIMS who will talk about his organization that helps North Korean defectors. And Saturday, we'll have Ana talking about her experience as a Filipina in Korea. I hope you listen in and if you have any questions for our guests, you can e-mail us at tbsefm@gmail.com, message us at #1013 or call us during the show at 02 778 1013. Thanks you and I hope you are having a wonderful New Year! Dan Gray Writer for Soul of Asia tbsefm@gmail.com

Hey everyone, I would like to invite you to a New Year's Eve event that TBS efm is hosting. The radio station is hosting a party that is open to all- especially foreigners in the city. It is going to on Wednesday, December 31 from 7-10pm-so it would be a great place to pregame before heading out to another New Year's Day party. It is going to be held at Nam San Gukakdang (Classic Korean Music Hall) in Nam San Korean village. Directions are below. They will have live music, free T-shirts, and lots of free beer. Yes, you heard me correctly: free beer. And they will be giving away 10 iPods! I think they'll be giving other things away too. There is going to be an after party and lots of cool bands. Kim Yong Woo, Lee An, Kim Mok Kyung, Windy City, Mithy Mouth, The Choi Chi Woo Band, We need Surgery, Fan Death, New Town and Achtung and Dynamic Duo will be performing. It's going to be a totally rocking Christmas Eve. The registration period is over, but I have been given a bu...

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas. Yesterday I spent the evening making lemon bars and persimmon bread. The lemon bars were not as good as before- the crust just wouldn't set hard enough so it ended up like a lemon brownie. It didn't really matter though because everyone ate them all. The lemon curd was quite awesome thanks to my microplane. Hubble just got a haircut and he is cold because it is winter. He is curded up on my bed basking in the sun. He looks normal again and I've vowed never to groom my dog again. Other things. If you get a chance, listen to the Steve Hatherly show on TBS eFM radio. You can listen to it online at http://tbsefm.seoul.kr His show is on from 2-4 everyday. On Thursday, you might even catch me on his show talking about food. Today I talked about baking, restaurants in Itaewon, and Hotels. One tip I did mention was that you can substitute maple syrup for vanilla extract. You can and it works really well. Here is a website that I fou...

I started up a group on Facebook for 101.3 eFM. You can search for 101.3 eFM Seoul on facebook to find it. I started the group like last Monday and there are already 132 people in the group. Not bad if I say so myself. I started a discussion entitled, “You have been in Korea too long if…” And I have received a lot of posts on the topic here are some of the best ones so far: This one is from John Simmons: You have been in Korea too long if: a trip to the movies has you craving dried squid. And, here is another one, Pink is your new black. These are from Verena Blaho: You have been in Korea too long if…you cut everything with scissors and you don’t mind toilet paper on the table. These are from Ashley Cheeseman, You take a deep exaggerated in breath and tilt your head to the side when you’re thinking negative thoughts about something. And you bow to everyone you see from a distance as a greeting. And here are some from Young Hong: 1. You have ramyun or a spicy soup when you have a ha...

Michael said that he didn't have any money to buy presents for people this year and Sara answered, "Are you going to creative and give slippers made out of maxipads are you." Now you see why I love working with Sara. She's a cartoon character. She's not human. Listen now! http://tbsefm.seoul.kr/ Dan

Today I would like to talk about fad diets. Korea is hyper vigilant about weight and fad diets come and go like street fashion. Some of the interesting fad diets I’ve heard of here have been the yogurt diet, the grape diet, the watermelon diet, and, recently, the black garlic diet. Oh, and the timeless one is the kim, kimchi, and rice diet. Now, I believe that the next big diet- and it’s already starting to build up steam is the banana diet. Apparently, a pharmacist in Japan started it for her fat husband and he lost 37 pounds on this diet over the course of a couple weeks. They wrote a book and have since sold over 730,000 copies of it. Then a famous opera singer, Kumiko Mori, in Japan then did this diet and lost 15 pounds in 6 weeks. This was on September 19th and the next day the craze began. And I mean craze! Like there were articles in every magazine and there are little plastic lunch box things that are in the shape of…bananas. It’s just crazy! Well, because of this diet there is...

These are from John Simmons: You have been in Korea too long if: a trip to the movies has you craving dried squid. And, here is another one, Pink is your new black. These are from Verena Blaho: You have been in Korea too long if…you cut everything with scissors and you don’t mind toilet paper on the table. These are from Ashley Cheeseman, You take a deep exaggerated in breath and tilt your head to the side when you’re thinking negative thoughts about something. And you bow to everyone you see from a distance as a greeting. Well if would like to add to the list then join the facebook group 101.3 efm and start posting your own.

Now if you have been in Korea for a while, it might be time for you to open up a bank account- hiding your money in the freezer is not the best way to save for retirement. It’s not a safe place and it won’t gain any interest. The first thing you have to do is choose your bank. When you choose your bank, you should pick one that is foreign friendly and well established. These days many banks have at least 1 English speaking personnel on staff, so shop around to find one that seems to be staffed with English speakers. I am sorry, but I am not allowed to tell you the names of the major banks on the air, for legal reasons, but you can go to the Soul of Asia message board for that information. Ask around. Ask what banks your co-workers use. That’s a relatively good start. So if you are ready to open an account, you must visit the bank in person and take your alien registration card and passport. If you did not receive the card, yet, then you’ll have to wait until your card has been issued b...

I am looking for people who would like to share their experiences of Korea in the form of a 2 to 3 minute personal dialogue. The topic would be in the form of an entertaining or insightful anecdote. Think David Sedaris or Firoozeh Dumas style. For example I have 1 person telling a story about how she took a big oven from city hall to Bundang on the subway while onlookers took pictures and gawked. Another person is speaking about how her experiences as she trained for a marathon as people shunned her for showing her bare arms. The stories should be entertaining, detailed, and insightful. They will be broadcast on 101.3 efm from 11-12pm on Soul of Asia with host Sara Kim. They will also be collected for a future podcast on topics relating to Korea.

Since I have been in Korea, I have received some very strange complements. Now if I was back in the states, I would have thought some of these people were trying to start a fight with me. For example, I was in the elevator and this woman dressed in a pink suit and perm came up to me. She glazed longingly at my face and she seemed to study every inch of my forehead and then she said, “You would be really pretty if you had thicker eyebrows.” Now if I was back in Georgia, I would have thrown down, but because this was an older woman; I just couldn’t. I was offended and dumbfounded, and this woman didn’t even have a clue! She thought she was helping me. These kinds of questions are disturbing and it can totally deflate your ego because often times they are things that can’t be changed. I’ve heard, “You would be much prettier if you got a different hairstyle; You could get a boyfriend if you were a little taller; and as a greeting by some friends: “Have you gained weight?” It just got me th...

Zen, Un Gyeong, me, and the crew of the Andrew Zimmern Show. Zen is to the left here. Look how sexy he looks! Zen is to the right expounding on deliciousness of Pizza School Pizza Call in and ask him any question you'd like. You can even message in requests from the cell phone at #1013 You can dial in to the station at 02 778 1013 Zen is my personal hero and I'm so happy that he has agreed to appear on the show. Let's show him the love! Dan

We have some special guests this week on 101.3 eFM the all English radio station for expatriates. The show is on Monday through Saturday from 11am-12pm. I am the writer for the show and the fabulous Sara Kim is the host. Thursday we have Paul Hussey of the Itaewon/Hannam Global village. Zenkimchi and Fatmanseoul will be on the radio this week. Zen will be on Friday talking about...Zen and Fatmanseoul will be discussing what it's like to be an expatriate female in Korea. Now if you love me or Sara, please go to the site and leave a comment. Here is how you can do it. 1. Find Soul of Asia. It is the last show under the Arts & Culture Section and Click on it. 2. Click on Message Board on the left hand column 3. Hit the "write" button under the hits column and then type in your name and any password. It will ask you to register. Say yes. 4. Leave your comment and click on the "write" button. Here is the site: http://tbsefm.seoul.kr/