Here is a teacher from the Franciscan Foreign Kindergarten ( www.fransciscanfk.com ) flipping her seafood pancake during a Korean cooking class. She is super excited! Dan

During opening week of our culinary school in Insadong, the Franciscan Foreign Kindergarten of Seoul came to our place to do a team building cooking class. They first got to see a demonstration from Chef Shawn and then they got to cook their own lunch in teams. The team that made the most delicious and best presented dish won a prize. It was a very exciting day and we gave each team 45 minutes to cook and present but most teams were done in 30 minutes and they had time to clean up their areas (by-the-way, thank you^^). They were a great team of teachers that were very excited and we were happy to do this for the group. Thank you Franciscan Foreign Kindergarten! http://www.franciscanfk.com/ Chef Shawn Demonstrating how to make the dishes And they are off! Points for presentation FFS: Franciscan Foreign School Working Hard

One of the more interesting sights in Seoul are the locks on the fence of Seoul's N-Tower. They are a touching, yet bizarre way of showing undying love. I think it's very steampunk. Check it out here. I was Happy...Forever Nothing screams, "I love you!" like handcuffs Overseeing all this is the naked man Spacey.

O'ngo Culinary School, Seoul Korea The new O'ngo Food studio opened last week and we enjoyed a week of classes and visitors to our new space. Last Thursday, we had a team building exercise class with a Franciscan Kindergarten in Seoul. They worked in teams and did a cooking competition. Over the weekend, we did tours and custom classes. One of the most interesting tours I did was with 9 members of the clergy from Alabama. This group was a ton of fun and boy could they drink. This Thursday, we are going to start a Thursday Night Dinner Party (August 12, 2010) at our cooking studio at 7pm. You can come at 6:30 to watch us in action preparing the meal or if you would even like to help make some dishes. The menu for Thursday is going to be a Mexi-Korean Party. The tentative menu is going to be: Red Chili Chicken Tacos (Dakgalbi Tacos) Mexican Pulled Pork Sliders Korean Melon Salsa (Chamwei Salsa) Mexi-Korean Mixed Rice (Spicy Bibimbap with Mexican accents) Watermelon...

Clear Plastic Gloves filled with water will apparently scare away bugs The other day I was at a local Hwae House (Korean Raw Fish) and I saw these gloves hanging near the kitchen. I inquired into why they were there and the owner said that they keep flies away because flies are scared of the hand (strangely, I don't know anyone that can kill a fly with their bare hands) and of their reflection in the water. Interesting... Dan

Belgian Waffle Majesty Liege Waffles Yeouido, Seoul Being Saturday and all, I thought a small hole in the wall Belgium waffle joint would tickle your fancy. So I present to you Belgian Waffle Majesty in Yeouido. I was immediately intrigued by the individually portioned dough batter left to rise and then compressed into the hot deep grooved waffle pan. I did a tiny bit of research and there are 3 different types of what we know and love to be Belgium waffles. (1) the American version of the liquid waffle batter which are lighter and made with baking power. (2) the Brussel waffle which is what the American version was modeled after, made from a liquid batter as well, but made with yeast. (3) Last, the Liege Waffle, which is made from a dough that is left to rise before compressing into the deep groove iron waffle pans. The best part of the Liege Waffle is the chunks of sugar in the dough that are left to caramelize into a crispy outer coatings, no syrup/whipped cream necessary. Just eat ...

By Lindsey Huster Monastery cuisine conjures images of the most meager and bland food on Earth: rice porridge, sparse vegetables and no fruit (reminiscent of Oliver Twist). For my summer vacation, I traveled to Mihwangsa Temple, hoping to prove such notions were false. Mihwangsa is located in the Jeolla province. The monastery is nestled on Dalmasan (Dharma Mountain), a ridge that stretches for 10 kilometers towards the sea. The three-day-four-night experience shook up a few misconceptions of monasteries, especially when it came to Korean food. A basic precept of all Buddhism is non-harm to sentient beings. This of course applies to food. Monks maintain a strict diet of vegetarian food, although it is more accurate to say vegan since rarely any animals products are used. My first meal at the monastery was bibimbap, which included a small amount of gochujang paste, two handfuls of rice, and plenty of mountain vegetables, but without the usual fried egg. The same could...