Hey there! So if you answered "yes" to either of the questions in the subject line, then have I got a deal for you! As some of you already know, I am FINALLY leaving Korea next year and have been making plans for my next big adventure -- I will be participating in The Rickshaw Run in India with Carleen Krug (aka I Eat My Own Muffin) and two others as part of team Rickety Cricket. The Rickshaw Run is a race, for charity, in a tin can, piece o' crap rickshaw from the southern tip of India all the way to the north -- 5,000 km or 3,100 miles in two weeks (April 17-May 1, 2011). Check out the site for more details: http://rickshawrun. theadventurists.com/   We need to raise at least $1500 for the organization's charities of choice, which are located in India and Nepal. However, our team goal is to raise $10,000 or more! Anything that we raise over $1500 will go to a charity organization that we choose. The organization's two charities for the Spring 2011...

Always an overshare; hopefully never an undershare   I have two mothers; my birth mother resides in America, while my Korean mother sits conveniently beside me at work. Besides helping me with any questions and cultural conundrums I may encounter, she provide much of my dietary sustenance Daily, I am offered and bestowed copious amounts of cookies, candy, fruit ... anything that happens to be in her lunch and also within eyesight of my desk.  There is nothing that won't be offered, regardless of it's ability to be shared.  Oranges halves, cookies, kimbap will be split in efforts to procure suitable offerings for me and  others within close proximity.  Most of our encounters end with my feeling full- first of food- but also of the uncertainty that comes from lack of cultural insight and context. How do I return the shared food favor that is second nature to Koreans? What constitutes as shareable fodder, and who do you share with? ...

Chef Edward Kwon is a charismatic chef that has big plans for his restaurants in Korea. His restaurants are very successful here and he holds tight to his culinary philosophy. For one, he refuses to serve pickles with his pastas. When customers complain about that he or his staff go over and explain that pickles don't fit in with cuisine. He's a brave soul, fighting for what he believes in, and his food is quite good. I had his mushroom veloute and it was a marvelous soup- it was more cappuccino (foam-wise) than soup. It's a big soup, enough for a meal, even without Korean side dishes. (Oh, and he refuses to serve side-dishes with his meals as well.) The other dish I got was an open-faced chicken sandwich served on a brioche bun dressed with truffle aioli. I think all of what I just said seems like it would belong in NYC rather than in Seoul. Although, they were a bit heavy on the truffle aioli. It was a flavor experience I often had to travel on a plane to get. His new...

Chulgo-un Book Cafe Here's a secret. Some of the places that I really like to go to, I won't post for a long time because...I don't want them to get too crowded. I'm not saying that a post on this blog makes any place famous, but, you know, one person tells another person and they tell another, etc- soon my quiet little place becomes not so quiet. Anyway, I know that restaurants and cafes need to stay in business. In Hapjeong, my favorite cafe is the Chulgo-un Book/Cafe. It's a quiet little cafe on the second floor. The coffee is ok. They have beer and wine, but the reason I go there is for the tranquil, bookish, artsy environment. This is where I go when I need to step back from it all and do some writing. Oh, and they have tons of books, so I like to go and browse for new ideas. It's out Hapjeong Exit 5 and walk down the street adjacent to the main road. It's about two blocks down. 즐거운 book/cafe 02.6081.4770 Open from Noon-Midnight Interior S...

Steve, the owner of Roofers, should be given a medal for supporting the expat community. He was the original owner of Indigos and the Orange Tree and he helped build a sense of community in Haebangchon. He has been a constant supporter of the arts and many of the community theatres, musicians, and other performance groups have performed at his venues. Steve's newest venue is Roofers in Itaewon. No, there are no drugs in the drinks. It's just on the top floors and the roof. Here you can often catch different performances and get good food. I have heard that they are starting to do brunch on their outside roof on weekends. I would characterize Roofer's food as homestyle comfort food using fresh ingredients. It's not the fanciest food in the city, but it's filling and tasty. The burgers are quite good- one of the best. I haven't had their brunch yet, but if the old Indigo is any indication (the chef is the same from the old Indigo); it will be pretty good-not...

(look at that beautiful fluff!) After the Gookhwabbang Ice Cream diary entry , a good friend of mine from Chicago (chi-town!) asked me if I thought the Taegukdang (태극당) Monaka Ice Cream was better than the Gookhwabang? To be honest I had never heard of this infamous Taegukdang, so I naver.com'ed it and also asked my mother about it, and lo and behold it's an old timer, but surprisingly still very very good. My mother told me during the 70's when Taegukdang moved locations to the current spot, and when milk wasn't a staple in the Korean diet, she would crave the sweet milky flavor of this Monaka Ice Cream. Monaka is a Japanese wafer like biscuit with a variety of fillings, this Monaka Ice Cream has an extra creamy and milky interior. Initially the square block format was novel but the more I bit into it, it reminded me of a crispier ice cream cone. It's pretty much the same texture and flavor (not a sugar cone) once again, simplicity is delicious! So to answer my fri...

Fair Tteok from Yann Kerloc'h on Vimeo . Last year I did the marketing for the Rice Cake Fair and Competition and one of the things that I really worked to do was to get media and press on the event. We had local press and the normal foreign press but more importantly I invited international bloggers and chefs to the event to make this truly global. One of the people I invited was Yann Kerloc'h and he made a video on the fair. He did an excellent job and I applaud his hard work. If any of you participated in the event last year, you might catch yourself in this video. Thanks Yann! Dan Here's what Yann had to say: A group of foreigners living in Korea were invited at a competition of rice cake making during a fair in Seoul. Some were good cooks, some were not. And one thought it was easy... I enjoyed filming this mix of sports competition, art and gestures. I filmed with two friends at two cameras. I made the editing knowing that a main "character...

On Thursday, I helped organize an event for the chef's association in Korea , LTB. At the event the chefs learned how to make makgeolli from scratch and then made their own batches of makgeolli. The event was a big success and the Chosun Ilbo, Korea's largest newspaper, did a story on the event. Now before the event, I had an opportunity eat at the venue, Congdu Restaurant (Located in the Seoul National History Museum). The concept of the restaurant is healthy, new, and almost everything is made from beans. Green Menu Soybean milk Soup We started out with a soy bean milk soup (kongguksu) flavored with green herb (mugwort) with angel hairlike threads of crunchy turnip noodles with a citrus dressed salad. This dish was very refreshing and refined. Then we had a pumpkin soup with a hint of soybean and garnished with roasted walnut and a chestnut. This dish was very subtle. The main course was very Korean as well. We had the green menu (25,000 per person) and the opti...

Korean Cuisine seems to be a mystery to many people. This is why I've been working hard to create a cooking institute for expats and tourists to come to Korea. These days we have been offering basic cooking classes, but the main reason I wanted to open a cooking studio was to research how people perceive Korean food and how we could adapt it to different palates. It's not about the money, because we make very little money off the cooking classes. When you factor in the tour, the ingredients (food in Korea is quite expensive these days), rent, and salaries for staff- there is little left over. The concept of the cooking studio is research. We all grew up in different countries and the tastes and textures we are familiar with are quite alien to what Koreans find delicious. Let's look at kimchi. It's fermented. It's fiberous. Its sour, garlicky, spicy, and salty taste isn't the acidic, "palate cleansing taste" that many think is similar to ginge...

Beginning Cooking Class B: Bulgogi, Cucumber Kimchi, and Marinated Tofu Our beginning cooking classes are focused at those new to Korean cuisine and would like to learn basic, popular dishes. These classes rotate every 4 days and they start with a local market tour at 10am. The market tour begins at Eumma Market (Daechi Station, Subway Line 3, Exit 3). After the tour you will go to the O'ngo Cooking Studio to learn and then make your own Korean dishes. The classes are taught in English by Chef Shawn Park. The market tour starts at 10:30am. Classes are 60,000 won ($55.00) per person. Price includes Market Tour, Transportation to the cooking Studio, Cooking Lesson, Food, and beverage. Sign up by contacting Daniel Gray at 010 6661 7769, seouleats@gmail.com Payment for classes can be sent through paypal (dnlgray@gmail.com),  in person on the day, or by Korean bank Transfer: Payment for the tour can be paid for via Korean Bank Transfer at Woori Bank 1005-480-990616 ( 최지아 온고푸드커뮤니...

Water Frollicking

In Seoul, one of the most popular rice wine houses (makgeolli) is in Haebangchon. It is simply named "H." Here you'll see a man have an orgasm while drinking Korea's milky rice alcohol.

Chef Shawn has been testing tteokbokki at the O'ngo Cooking Studio in preparation for our class tomorrow. The first version is the traditional soupy version topped with some sesame leaves. He added pineapple for sweetness. The second version is more of a crispy variation with red chili paste. I liked the second one more. Tteokbokki: Rice Cakes in Red Chili Paste Sauce Topped with Sesame Leaves and has Pineapple Crispy Rice Cake with Red Pepper Flakes and Sesame Seeds They are like Tatertots, only better.