Food Storyist.

What is travel to me?

Travel is detachment from routine. I live according to my optimized schedule and boundaries. Settling in my newly adjusted life, I made a new daily plan for efficient time consuming. I move within the circle that I have drawn, weaving things around me in order of priority.

I stand on the personalized stage in the castle that I made myself. At first, I seem to rule my town, looking at what’s happening inside. Soon, I feel accustomed and bored. Later, when even sick of these familiar days, I feel impulse to escape from the prison surrounding myself. And I attempt to separate myself from it. 

I sometimes break the thick wall of my sturdy castle. The more I stabilize, the more the wall thickens. The harder I work, the more crowded the castle become. I feel stuffed and choked by its gravity of daily hectic and intricate life. Pressed and suffocated, I can’t afford to gear myself or unlock the heavy latch of the gate. Impatiently, I grab a hammer and bang the wall forcefully again and again until I feel the fresh air out of the boundary. I just burst out destroying all my routine.

I should have opened the gate after arranging stuffs inside the castle. That’s a subsequent thought as soon as I succeeded in an abrupt prison break from the cell I built by myself. Contrary to my wish, I am going to break the wall again, because I am not a ideally organized person. Unwillingly, but willingly, I am going to hammer it again, breathlessly oppressed.

Travel is an antidote of life mannerism. It inspires me. New experience in strange circumstance during the journey recreates my mind and my castle. It renovates the old castle with novel design and architecture technique. It’s unavoidable to build any form of one, that can be changeable or unchangeable. I hope that I have enough bravery to attempt.   

Korea View : Busan Downtown Night View at Seomyeon

Yesterday,

I went to Seomyeon  to hang out with my friend. We went to Seomyeon 1st street(서면 1번가), entered into one casual dining & pub called T-box. I post about this place later. Anyway, I had a great time there.

The gravitation power of Seomyeon is its locational advantage. It situated at the center of Busan. Wherever you are in Busan, even an edge of Busan, you can reach there within 1 hour.(I didn’t count the traffic at peak time.)

It’s huge, busy, and crowded. Thanks to its popularity, the commerce spontaneously developed. You can do almost everything here. Movies, restaurants, coffees, garaokes, pocket ball, billiards, shooting, dvd, pubs, bars, clubs, and whatever.

I take some snapshots at Seomyeon at center of 1st street.(서면 1번가)

My Memory : Grandma said, "I want SWEET PUMPKIN PORRIDGE."

I want Sweet Pumpkin Porridge.
said my grandma with a diaper, lying on the corner of her room.

It’s been around a month since she discharged from hospital. She stayed with a carer hired by government. She could hardly urinate and defecate properly. She took laxatives and diuretics every morning and evening. She also needed a help for supporting her to the toilet. In the end, she lost her energy to stand up and wear a diaper for hygienic reasons.

She had to eat porridges since her condition was not as normal, She needed soft food easily digested. And her gum no longer sustained her teeth on the right position. That came to porridge for her meal. Since then, our refrigerator was always filled with numerous kinds of porridge. 

I want Sweet Pumpkin Porridge.

said grandma, looking into the refrigerator, sustaining her body against her walking frame. And then she stared at mom, both frowned. Mom worries about grandma’s blood sugar level more than anyone. Grandma was diagnosed as diabetes about 10 years ago. Mom was concerned about negative effect from sugar and strictly banned buying any sugar added food for grandma.

But the situation was different. Grandma was dying. We could not assure whether grandma would stay alive until next winter or even summer. Mom thought for a while and promised her to buy pumpkin porridge but less sweet one sold by a store she trusted.

Pumpkin porridge was laid on the second layer of the refrigerator, the day after. Grandma should’ve been so glad to see it. But after the day, it was there, and few days more passed, it was still there. Grandma must not have found it yet. Because she could no longer reach to the kitchen anymore.
I decided to eat pumpkin porridge and took it to the microwave. It smelled so delicious. I felt guilty, because I seemed stealing her food somehow. So, feeling sorry for her, I retuned half of it to its place of the refrigerator. I brought warm yello bowl to my room.




I tasted SWEET PUMPKIN SOUP.

One spoon. It tasted sweeter than ever. I felt like I was soaking an enormous amount of sugary pumpkin candies. There I found few white rice balls, that was chewy and comforting.

Soon, I recalled grandma grunting for sweets forbidden. Everytime she held up snacks, she always asked me, “Is it sweet or not?” with a wanting look. I had to tell her unfortunate truth. “Grandma, almost every snack contains sugar in it. So you must think there’s no snack you can eat.” Grandma put down a cracker on a cover of which said ‘health-friendly, containing a hint of real pumpkin.’

Another spoon. It still tasted sweet. It looked healthier with dim yellow pumpkin fractions. But strangely, I hardly feel the texture of it.

Again, I heard grandma crying, lying on her bed. She said, “I can hardly feel my leg. It doesn’t move as I want.” It was the moment her walking began to be awkward. My parents discussed and concluded that she would better stay at the hospital cared by professionals. She stayed almost one month in the patient room.

Another spoon. It tasted less sweeter than before. Its extraordinary sweetness must have numbed my taste-buds. Studying blander yellow liquid, I found red beans inside. I crashed a red thing with a spoon.

Again, I recalled grandma wailing and said, “My legs hurt so much. My back hurts.” again in her room, but lying on the floor since she preferred a lower place where she could crawl on. She was home not because she had recovered, but the hospital had no treatment left to fix her. She had to bear her excruciating pain by herself relying only on pills. She had some sleepless nights, moaning in the darkness.

The last spoon. It tasted blank. Nothing left in the bowl. It showed white bottom with a hint of yellow spots of pumpkin. I scarcely felt things but a bit tiredness. I could not find the sweetness that had once impressed me.

Grandma summoned me to her room with a low voice. I didn’t respond. She called me again with a bigger voice and I didn’t answer. She furiously shouted at me again and again as she bursted out her anger. I wanted to shut my ears. I did’t want to hear it.

But She seemed never to stop calling me. I trudged to her room with a glum look. She smiled at me, with a feeble smile and asked me to fetch a wet-cloth to wipe herself. And I automatically moved.

like an empty vessel that used to have pumpkin porridge.  

Here, I am asking myself whether I write honestly.

I used to write downright because I thought it was only for me. I just blurted out real me through the text. That made a rough article and somewhat useless things like jokes, happening, and a wisp of thinking. But, at least I was very happy with it, since I could express my anger, hatred, disappointment, depression, suppression, jealousy, deadly feeling and more like that. It was flooded with my emotions without considerate thought. But I could be totally being myself.

I don’t know straight forward because I think there are viewers around me. I can’t scribble, nor tell my secrecy from my heart. It produced accurate and well-arranged articles, and they satisfy me admiring masterpieces. but sympathetically, I am not as much delighted as I used to be. Writing started to burden me, requiring more sophisticated pieces. Adding more decorative words, advanced english vocabulary, it gets off the point. My feelings are all buried, confined by phony adjectives that I invented. The way I do at the moment.

I don’t want to write fabrication or fiction, that I never intend. I am eager to jot down my sincere thought and bare heart. But, I know, in terms of quality, it’s important to elaborate writings for making it more valuable. So, from now onward, I swear that I will blow my heart into my writing and only improve necessary parts within extent of not harming or contorting real meaning.

(Also, I need to improve my english to illustrate myself more specifically and precisely.)

They Beauty of Korea food : With 100 best-loved recipes.

I bought a new cookbook about Korean Cuisine.
I wanted by an authorized book with proved standard recipes although I have several Korean food recipe books. I could find this book after a long search of one. It is called

They Beauty of Korea food : With 100 best-loved recipes.

 

This book was written by Institute of Traditional Korea Food. As the Korean government has been making an effort to promote Korean food. They started a project called Research and Development Project for Standardization of Korean Cuisine.

This book was made for standardizing recipes so that any foreigner can easily cook Korean food. It describes specific techniques from the preparation to the final garnishes. It also contains several stories related to Korean foods. so you can have better understanding of food origin.

This book consists of three chapters including an overview of Korea food, The basics of cooking Korean food, and Standard recipes for 100 Korean food. All the things are explained with numerous pictures.

1. an overview of Korean food

 

2. Basics of cooking Korean food

3. Standard recipes for 100 Korean food

The ingredients and quantity, recipe(Preparation, recipe), tips with pictures.

This is not a trendy and best selling Korean food at the restaurant. They are Korean home food which Korean people have grown up with. Food which Mom made at home, and which was only prepared for special occasions. If you look for a book about basic Korean food, this is exactly the book with precisely measured by the measuring materials.

Where to Buy online

The Beauty of Korean Food at the Amazone(Bookstore Out of Korea)
The Beauty of Korean Food at the Yes24(Bookstore In Korea)


* I am writing this post to introduce this book to foreign Korean food lovers. Not for my sake.
   If this post is against the copyrights law, I am willing to erase it.
   Please inform me of it. Thank you so much. 

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Travel : What is Travel To Me?  (0)	2012.02.24
Korea View : Busan Downtown Night View at Seomyeon  (0)	2012.02.20
My Memory : Grandma said, "I want SWEET PUMPKIN PORRIDGE."  (0)	2012.02.18
Honest Writing : Do I write honestly?  (1)	2012.02.16
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Korean Culture : Grandma and Korean Food on Lunar New Year  (0)	2012.01.19
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Luner new year..

A big holiday, that just happens twice a year, seems to end soon. Every Korean say goodbye to their parents and siblings. They go back to their normal lives again. It was a short time, but it just help refreshing their body and mind from their routine circles.

Koreans often say that
“Traditional Holidays are all eating.”

It means we welcome relatives with food at home. We also visit relatives’ house to say hello and wish their fortunes this year surrounded by uncountable kinds of food on the large table. All we do during holiday is Eating, Talking, Eating, Talking, Eating, and Talking, haha sometimes. Drinking.

I took some pictures of food that I ate on new year day.

Let's Look Closer.

Tteokguk
Sliced Rice Cake Pasta Soup

Tteokguk is a soup with diagonally sliced rice cakes simmered in beef broth, garnished with pressed meat, sliced fried egg white and yolk People enjoy tteokguk.
It includes white rice cake, beef, fragrant seasoning, green oninon.

Japchae
Potato starch noodles stir-fried with vegetables

Japchae is a dish mixed of potato starch noodles with numerous stir-fried vegetables. Japchae is almost always served on holidays and traditional ceremonial days.

It includes potato starch noodles, egg, mung bean sprouts, skinned bellflower roots, cucumber, beef, brown oak mushrooms, jew’s ear mushrooms.

Dakjjim
Simmered Chicken.

Dakjjim is a dish of chicken simmered with seasonings with various vegetables such as carrots, onions, and potatoes. I includes chicken, carrot, brown oak mushrooms, onion, gingko, egg, edible oil.

Namul
Blanched and Seasoned Wild green
Namul is blanched wild green with seasoning.


 

Hapari naengchae
Assorted cold plate with mustard sauce and jelly fish

Hapari naengchae is a fresh salad dish made of various vegetables and jelly fish in a mustard dressing. It stimulates the appetite with its hot, sweet and sour taste.
It includes cucumber, carrot, egg, fish flesh, jelly fish and mustard.

Bulgogi
Korean barbecue

Bulgogi is a dish, barbecued beef that is pre-marinated with various seasonings.
It includes beer, onion, spring onion, pepper, and seasoning sauce based on soy sauce.

Do They Look Delicious?