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...

Chef Shawn as a Cabbage Patch Kid

日本の皆さん、韓国へようこそ。僕のお料理ツアーや食のツアーにたくさんの日本人が参加して、その多くの観光客がおいしい店を僕に尋ねてくる。僕はグルメで、ウエブサイト www.seouleats.com を2年間ほど運営しているから、お食事におすすめのスポットをいくつか知っている。ここで紹介するのは、観光客におすすめのスポットだ。ソウルティーズ(長い間ソウルに住んでいる人々)なら、僕のおすすめが香い韓国料理ホリックのためではなく、初心者のためであることがわかるはずだ。 **このリストの使い方：店が有名である、あるいは、英語を話せるスタッフがいる。ほとんどの場合、現地で写真を見せるとその店の場所を教えてくれる。また、BBB(02-1588-5644)や観光案内協会(02-1330)に電話をして教えてもらうことが可能。 1　Myeongdong Gyoja (명동교자)　ここは、ソウルで一番有名な手切りヌードルのお店だ。近辺にはこのヌードルをまねた店が数えきれないほどある。この店の辛くて赤茶色のキムチは、唇がヒリヒリするほど辛い、でも、客をリピーターにすることに間違いはない。僕のおすすめは、Gyoja(餃子)、 Calguksu (包丁で切ったヌードル)、それから、 Kongguksuだ。 Konguksuは、冷たい豆乳のスープヌードルだ。 www.mdkj.co.kr 02-776-5348
 場所：: Myeongdong Gyoja： Myeongdong 駅出口5番。はじめの交差点を左に曲がり(Woori Bank)、右折する(Who.A.U. Clothing Store)。 2 Jang-o-rang 　淡水うなぎの蒲焼は、夏の韓国の名物だ。特に、焼肉醤油タレやピリッと辛いチリソースであぶったり、さっぱりとお塩であぶったりするとまさに海陸の産んだ傑作だ。Jang-o-rangは、韓国でも最高のうなぎの食事処の一つで、うなぎチップスを味わえる唯一の店でもある。足を運んでもらえれば、きっと僕の言っていることがわかるだろう。この店では、うなぎの蒲焼に舌鼓を打ちつつ、甘いラズベリーワインのbokfunjaをかたむけ、じっくりと堪能してほしい。 場所：出口５番を出て左に曲がり、二つ目の信号を右折。主要道路に沿って歩き、左折して、Hongda...

I didn't even know that I had Japanese fans! One fan decided to translate one of my posts so her Japanese friends could find the best eats in Seoul. Thank you so much Junko! If you would ever like to contribute stories, pictures, comments, or videos to Seoul Eats, feel free to contact me at seouleats at gmail dot com Thanks, Dan (The post that follows is the one that is above this post is what Junko translated)

Have you ever wondered if Kimchi goes bad? When we moved to our new cooking studio in Insadong there was a big container of kimchi that was inside of a lukewarm refrigerator for an unknown period of time. We didn't know if it had turned yet, but we could smell it for about a half an hour each time we opened the refrigerator. We were worried that it would have become alive and started to wander around the room. We expected mold and bubbling liquids or possibly it would simply explode. The day came to throw it away and we hired a brave ajumma to help us with cleaning and to do the job for us. Before she took it away, I snapped some pictures. Here are the pictures of what kimchi looks like when it goes bad. Kimchi gone bad Kimchi gone bad With exception of the smell, it didn't seem much different from regular kimchi. I took a bite of it and it was sour- very sour- effervescent sour, but I didn't get sick and die from it. Pretty amazing stuff, that kimchi stu...

Rest Well Matt. Rest Well. Recently a friend of mine, Matt Robinson passed away on July 16th after years of health complications. He was a good person, an excellent actor, and a diligent writer. I had to a chance to get to know him during his time in Korea. In Korea, he was an active member of the theatre groups and writing groups here. Sadly, in Korea he suffered quite a bit due to his health issues. What I remember most about Matt is that he was the man that brought the expat community together. When Matt got sick, many community groups including SCI, Seoul Comedy Improv, got together to do fundraisers to help pay for Matt's medical bills. Matt never asked for help, but because of his good heart, the community wanted to help him. I remember sitting with Matt during National Novel Writing Month in November 2008. The goal of National Novel Writing Month is to write 50,000 words. Matt was the rock that was in the cafe almost everyday writing. I had a chance to discuss and r...

Via the The Waygook Effect Desk warming is when public school native teachers in South Korea are forced to come in to school over winter or summer vacations. There are no children at school and nothing productive for them to do. It is a tad frustrating, as you can see from how Hitler reacts. This is totally the funniest thing I have seen in ages, I was ROFLing and I must have watched it 6 times. It reminds me of the time when I worked at Elementary School years ago and I had to sit at a desk with nothing to do. The facebook comment is hilarious and the subtitles are right on! Hilarious! Thank you Waygookeffect for making my day! Dan