Hello Seoul Eaters. Lately I've had the fortunate opportunity to photograph the moment adopting parents meet and pick up their new children here in Seoul. As you know our site founder Daniel is an adoptee so he's asked me to share my work. It's been very interesting, rewarding, and emotionally charged work. The process takes around two years and I just get the apex of a two year build up of emotion, expectation, excitement, and nervousness. All that spills out in a one hour meeting where the new parents finally meet a child they've only read about and seen pictures of, and the foster parents give up a child they've spent years caring for and getting to know. Needless to say there are tears on all sides, and thankfully I'm not in any of the pictures because I'd be embarrassing. The pictures in the small room with big windows are the initial meeting, and the outdoor shots are post-adoption family shoots. Enjoy. For more photos check out my site .

Agio Italian Food in Insadong by Daniel Gray Agio Italian Food in Insadong by Daniel Gray Italian food in Korea is not like the Italian food that I had while growing up. Then again, the Italian food in America is nothing like the food in Italy.  The pizzas are brick oven baked on thin crust and the sauces are chunky. Sure there are some notable differences such as the preposterous amount of sauce and the side of pickles, but that's a cultural thing. Koreans need something salty and crunchy with their food- I think this is a good thing; it's a way to balance out the meal. The food at Agio is not bad. It's nothing special, but I would go there again. If I had a date (incredible as that might sound), I might take her here. There are some great things about this place. They make their pasta fresh and they have a brick pizza oven with wood fire. For me, it's old news but my Korean friends that I went there with really enjoyed it. The pizza was on a crisp ...

Korea Culinary Tourism Association KOTCA 1st Conference I am happy to announce that the first Culinary Tourism Association in Asia, KOCTA: The Korean Culinary Tourism Association will be having their first conference on Tuesday, August 30th at 4pm at the KTO Building near Myeongdong. At the conference we'll announce how Culinary Tourism can be used to promote Korean food overseas and how it can revitalize the tourism industry in Korea. Food is the attraction for many tourists to Korea and they need the proper direction and education in order to discover it. The KOCTA president, Jia Choi PhD, will announce our chapter to Korean press and the government ministry. She'll talk about the scope of culinary tourism and how it can benefit Korea. The keynote speaker will be Jang Tae-pyeong: a former Minister of Nongnimbu: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Erik Wolf, President of the ICTA: The International Culinary Tourism Association will speak via web conference. Eungumju ...

Here is a video of our food tour made by one of our guests. Thank you Mark, for making this. You did a great job! Cheers, Dan Come take a cooking class or take a Culinary Tour in Seoul! http://www.ongofood.com Pictures are taken either with my Panasonic DMC-G2 Camera with 20mm Lens or with my iPhone 4G Join the Seoul Eats Facebook Group Page to keep to date with the latest events.

The other night on my way back home I was passing by the Anguk area and I took some pictures of the interesting night life there. Here it is. Cheers, Dan Pink bunny Palace Blur Buildings Devilish Buddha???

This Restaurant has Closed Here is a taste of an upcoming review: Fajita Hotplate with beans, Hard Shelled Tacos and Corn Pudding at Mamacita's Mexican Grill and Tequila Lounge in Apgujeong. Ok, now back to work. Mamacita's Mexican Grill and Tequila Lounge in Apgujeong Mamacita's Mexican Grill and Tequila Lounge in Apgujeong Mamacita's Mexican Grill and Tequila Lounge in Apgujeong Mamacita! 135-189 서울특별시 강남구 논현2동 94-17 1층 02-511-7088 It is down the alley behind the Bennigans across from Cinecity.

Saturday was a food photo day and I went out with my friend to a couple different places. The day started at Paul in Yeouiddo: the famous Paris boulangeries and famous for their breakfasts. It was damn good, but...they didn't have croissants and many of the breads that Paul is known for. Apparently their shipment didn't come in. I'll write more about my visit to Paul later.  Mipa of the blog, Alien's Day Out , has been baking up Vegan treats for ages. Her blog is one of the most interesting and colorful reads in the Korean blogosphere. Each post is packed with bright pictures and witty commentary.  My friend Lily remembered reading that Mipa was selling her baked goods at a cafe in Seoul, so we decided (after a lengthy time shopping for camera equipment in Namdaemun) to head over for a light afternoon snack. I didn't know what to expect because Vegan baking (sans cream and butter) doesn't sound all that delicious. Boy, was I wrong. We ordered a nice spread: C...

Seoul is always under construction. I thought that this tower looked particularly intriguing.

Here are some shots of Christmas Cakes in Seoul. The ones in the cases are from Paris Croissant. They looked great, but were a tad expensive (37,000 for a cake). I ended up getting a cake from Crown Bakery. It was a yellow cake with chocolate icing. Not bad and at only 20,000 won, it was great. Merry Christmas! Dan Christmas Cake from Crown Bakery Chiffon Cake from Paris Croissant Cakes from Paris Croissant Cakes from Paris Croissant

Steamed Shellfish at Gol Mok Gil in Seoul, Korea My buddy Sean Choi from Groove Magazine is a Foodie's Foodie. He knows what's good in Korea and he often goes out of his way to find excellent, local Korean places. On Wednesday Night, he had a meet up with the writers of Groove Magazine and he was nice enough to invite me. If you might recall, I used to be their dining editor for a while, but I had to move on because I got too busy with work. Anyway, the place he took us to was called Gol Mok Gil (길목길). It's a bit of a pain to find, but it's totally worth it. The house specialty is Steamed Shellfish (조개찜 48,000 for large). Here you get a large variety of mussels, razor clams, scallops, and a variety of cockles. Great stuff and you get it all in a giant pot so it creates a rich clam broth which is later used to make a Knife-cut Noodle Soup. I also recommend you get an order of their potato pancakes (감자전). I later found out these came service- but I think they are i...