Smoked Duck with bean paste soup and banchan So, I am getting older (I'm 36 now and I have spent nearly a decade in Korea) and my old eating habits have caught up with me. I don't know exactly how it happened. I mean I had problems with my weight before but if I put my mind to it and exercised, I could work it off. Since I have gotten married and our family had our first child, I have had problems controlling my weight and it is seriously starting to scare me.  Maybe it is stress or maybe it is from the lack of pressure ( I mean I have it all right?: Wife, Baby, Home, Job...the newest Apple products:) The main thing that I have found out is that the daddy gut is a real thing and it is something that I am taking serious measures to cure. I have been exercising more and watching my weight. In the last 3 months I have lost 4 kilograms which is about 8.8 pounds so that is down from a very depressing 93 kilograms or 205 pounds. Never in my life have I been over 200 po...

I am very interested in hearing what you have to say about this restaurant. I have been here main times and I have written reviews on it for various publications but my reviews are not timeless. With out new review plugin you can write your own review. Here are some pics that I took tonight. Tell me what you think. Le Saint-Ex 119-28 Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul 02-795-2465 Friday hours 12:00 pm–3:00 pm, 6:00 pm–10:00 pm

  Silly Christmas Hats And on the 2nd Day of Korean Christmas, my true love gave to me an animal-headed Christmas hat and a Santa that bows at me.

Ok, I am getting the summer time lulls and right now I want to do something a bit more fun. Here are some memes that I have made up for something I call Korean Drama Wisdom. You can follow it on my tumblr page:  http://koreandramawisdom.tumblr.com/ I post them if I see something funny while watching dramas. Ok, get on with your lives. Share if you'd like. By-the-way, I am taking a vacation for a couple of days. I need to recharge the batteries. Food posts will be forthcoming soon. I am looking for an editor to help me get some of the posts out faster. If you are interested, let me know. Payment will be in good food and experience. Dan  

It's a day of snow in Seoul. One of many I don't know. It came late last night and blanketed the walks. It awaited us in the morning as we woke. One cup of coffee to get going. A hot shower for strength. I layered myself for the impending freeze. I wish I had more practical shoes. Walking in the snow in sneakers is like balancing a tray of martinis. The glass designed for elegance and to maintain micro crystals of ice isn't too practical I imagine I will tumble my contents on the icy walk, splitting my head and sending splinters of pain into my backside. I walk flatfooted. I walk without friction. I walk while counterbalancing the slosh of ice. I ignore the buzz of my phone and walk like a server carrying a tray of martinis to guests- fearing ridicule.

Big things are in store for Seoul Eats and O'ngo Food Communications this year. One of the things that we would really like to focus on is community participation. I would like to invite you to share your restaurant experiences with us on our website. It could be about a restaurant you love, your kinda love, or you hate (but please be honest and objective). You can easily submit your opinions using the form below.For the launch of this new program, one lucky reviewer will win a dinner for two at a fine dining restaurant and I will pick up the tab (150,000 won value). Or you can do a private food tour with me where I will take you to some of the best eats in the city. I will pick the winner by February 7th (just in time for Valentine's Day). The winner will be chosen at random among the list of published reviews.I hope that you'll participate and best of luck in the contest. Dan Come take a cooking class or take a Culinary Tour in Seoul! http://www.ongofood.com Join the Seo...

Two hours of my life I am never getting back.  Before we get to that story, I feel as though I should explain my absence for the last couple of weeks. Unlike Korea, the Christmas and New Year’s holidays are a big deal here in the states and this year there was even a bonus. Since the holidays fell on a Sunday, well we picked up Monday as the “observed day” and everyone got a three day weekend!  This would be awesome except I’ve been waiting on my filing from the secretary of state so I could call the IRS so I can get a bank account set up, etc.  Now, with the three day weekend I was waiting longer than expected for the filing since Monday was the holiday and we all know what happens when we take a three day weekend: the work piles up and with everyone basically treating the Friday before New Year’s as a half day. So there are actually only 3.5 working days between December 23rd and January the 3rd. Yippee for everyone except for me. So I basically gave up on getting anything major done...

Food and Culture seem to be the main draws for tourists to come to Seoul. Here are some photos that I took while I was taking a stroll through Changdeokgung Palace on my lunch break. Compass Changdeokgung Palace's Secret Garden Secret Gate Monkey See.. Lake in the Secret Garden Lone Persimmon Changdeokgung 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.

I am not a superstitious person, but sometimes weird stuff does happen to me. Last year I dropped a knife on my sandaled foot and the knife went right between my first and second toe. I also found a picture of an old friend hidden in a book I thought I had lost in a bag that was in a box marked CDs. I also called my telephone company to complain about a problem with my Internet. I was in a ripe mood and I wanted to blame the poor telephone operator for all of the problems in the world, but she calmly and professionally calmed me down. When I gave my name she excitedly asked me if I had taught in Gyeongju. I said yes and I discovered this was one of my favorite students and now she has a good position at the company. Life is full of unexpectedness. I went to a tarot reader and these are my cards for the year. The woman said stuff like, you'll be successful, you'll earn lots of money, blahblahblah. The one thing she said that caught my attention was that she said that I needed to...

Seoul Eats   Seoul Eats It has been the worst of times, it has been the best of times. I have made new friends, lost some old friends and reconnected and reconciled with others. I have learned new strengths and discovered many weaknesses- 2012 is another year to improve on. I fell into some old bad habits, yet made some good new ones. I have some regrets but I am hopeful for the future. I spent some money, but made some as well. I helped some that needed help but I could have helped more. I have been haughty and arrogant to some yet humble to others- this year I will try to be more stable. I start the year looking forward while learning from the past. I am thankful of friends I have and I look forward to new friends in the future. Happy 2012!

4 Whopper Patties topped with pepperoni, mozzarella, marinara sauce, and Tuscan Sauce on a humongous sesame seed bun is Burger Kings's NY Pizza Burger. Sound disgusting? Sound Fattening (2,530 calories, 144 grams of fat and 3,780 milligrams of sodium)? Well Slashfood loves it. Check out what they say here.  Would your kitchen pass a New York City Health Inspection? The NYT has a story on one writer's experience. Chiquita Banana's Sticker Design Contest via Slashfood Use Spiker to turn your Welch's Grape Juice into wine in 48 hours. Via Gizmodo Death Buy Lemonade from Cartoon Brew TV on Vimeo . Death Buy Lemonade video by Kyu-bum Lee. Cute! Via Serious Eats

I found this Classbrain.com . I found it pretty interesting so I wanted to share it with you. Dan YULE LOG Did you know the burning of the Yule Log was taken from ancient sun worship rituals? Yule Logs are supposed to be cut from red oak trees and burned all of Christmas Eve and into Christmas Day. It is unlucky to buy your own log and lucky ones usually come from your neighbor’s woodpile. It is also customary to light the new log with a scrap of last year's log. The scrap is kept under the homeowners’ bed to protect the home from fire and lightning during the next year. ICE SKATES Can you believe the very first ice skates were made from animal bones? The oldest pair ever discovered was found at the bottom of a lake in Switzerland and date back to 3000 B.C. Leg bones from large animals were used as the blade and the skates were tied on with leather straps. The Dutch word for skate is ‘schenkel’ which means leg bone. The largest outdoor skating rink is the Fujikyu Highl...

I'm sad to hear that because the chef seemed to be a great guy and from what I read, he made great food. So what went wrong? Oh, just in case you missed it. Here is the link to the story that Fatmanseoul wrote. http://www.seouleats.com/2009/10/fatmanseoul-goes-italian-at-giacomo.html I think one of the problems was location and the other problems were the problem that most restaurants have. Poor planning. Often Groove Magazine and I are asked to go to restaurants that desperately want media attention. Often they contact us 2 months after they've been opened. I am often reluctant to go to these places for I can feel the desperation from the owners and the restaurants. For the first two months they invite friends and they do the wait and see approach. They hope that people will start to take notice of them and they wait. Soon after they change signs and start making leaflets to hand out to people. Then they try to ask their friends about how to market. Then they offer spec...

Seoul Eats, Zenkimchi, and Fatmanseoul featured in Jeremy Kressman's story on Gadlings.com Korean Foodstuff's Fair in Singapore. Zenkimchi makes a foamy cappuccino in a microwave without a steam wand. Pretty Autumn pictures from my nemesis. Molten Lava Persimmon Cake from Gyopowife. Do you know Madam Kim? Funny Korean Halloween T-shirt. I look Korean, but I have the ears of an English speaker so I overheard this while on the subway. The person was talking on his phone. "So this old woman right next me has her elbow right in my crouch. No, she's not elbowing me, I think she's copping a feel." Have a great day! Dan

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo . Birds are Secretly Composers

I found this really cute movie on Youtube and it's about a precocious boy and his food adventures in Korea. It's poignant, cute, and touching. Check it out. Here is something that I wrote just for fun about my childhood in Korea. http://deconstructingkorea.blogspot.com/2008/11/national-novel-writing-month-799-words.html

I know. This has nothing to do with food, but Facebook needs to stop tweaking stuff. The new layout is annoying and it's hard to find stuff that I was able to easily find before. For example, I tried to post in their marketplace but it is not possible in Korea anymore. They asked for feedback on their new marketplace and this is what I wrote: You can't list in South Korea and it's not easy to figure out how to list stuff. I mean you click on list something and then you get a pop up to fill in the real information. It doesn't seem easy to browse either. Facebook needs to stop tweaking stuff because it's becoming a major turnoff. It'll make people want to jump ship as soon as a new social networking site becomes available. I mean, I use it a lot less then I used to because it's too hard to figure out. Dan Facebook needs to listen! Is there any new social networking sites out there that are better? I mean myspace is dead, Friendster don't got no friends an...

What makes a perfect burger? It should have a bit of pork, but mostly beef. Beef should be a bit marbled. I mean it doesn’t make sense to get a very expensive filet mignon or a sirloin to make a burger because it’s too lean. You need fat and marbling for flavor. The meat can be a bit grisly. You don’t want to have something too soft because then there is no body and it’s just like eating baby food. Seasoning. You should use salt and pepper. Onion and Garlic add savory accents to the meat. If you want to get fancy, you can add some other herbs. I like a bit of rosemary at times, if I am feeling exotic. It is a strong herb and it can mask the flavor of the meat that you spent so most of your money on. I recommend using rosemary if you are making a lamb burger. Lamb is a bit musky in flavor so rosemary pairs well with it. Ground lamb and beef works well together especially with a yogurt, cucumber dressing. Now back to burgers. You will probably need a binder- something to stick everything...

In my writing class the students were supposed to brainstorm about disturbing trends in Korea and I said that Black Bean Tea was a disturbing trend. Then I went on to expound on the ghastliness of corn tea (it tastes like soggy popcorn!) and that this will lead Korea to make teas from everything: from flower teas, bundaeggi tea, water tea, book-tea, and even pen-tea. The last one was a mistake. My class exploded with laughter and I was left red faced. Dan

Alrighty, here is the deal. I'm going to do National Novel Writing Month this year. I am determined to write 50,000 words in a month. I'm up to about 2500 so far. I know it's a long way from the goal, but I only really started like two days ago. Plus I've changed my strategy: Instead of handwriting it and then typing it on the computer, I'm just going to type on my computer. Also, I changed from typing on my Alphasmart 3000 to my iBook G4. Oh, and I've got Leechblock - an extension for Firefox to work so I can't get distracted. So what this means is that I might not be able to blog as much. Don't worry. The novel that I'm writing is about food^^ You can see it on my other site: Deconstructing Korea. Wish me luck^^ And I need food bloggers and photographers to help me keep Seouleats going! If you would like to write or contribute, please e-mail me at seouleats@gmail.com Dan