and then she said "neh".......

the days before and after YH/JH's wedding were perfectly clear, crisp, hot summer seoul days. on the actual day of their wedding? HI, IT'S MONSOON TIME. it poured, poured some more, then started drizzling to toy with everyone's wishes, only to pour down harder.

the kicker? the church they got married in rested atop a curvy hill, about half a mile further than any cars could get to.

the result? lots of drenched guests, plus many stolen umbrellas, including mine.

fortunately for the newlyweds, there's always been a saying in korea that if it rains or snows on your wedding day, you will live a long and prosperous life together. many congrats to both- see you in houston this fall!

i'm not sure why korean weddings require you to wear gloves, btw. perhaps you can notice the quintessential fobby "V" pose better in pictures??

murse attack

an uncontrollable, vicious virus has swept korea. the origin of this malicious disease is unknown, though many point angry fingers at fine european design houses, such as LV and gucci.

the infected victims walk around in broad daylight, with passerbys unsuspecting of their sickness. only those from outside korea can detect the seriousness of this epidemic. they need help! save korean men from murse!

et tu, chanel???!!

seoul foods: part 3

does anyone else around here eat raw spam?

i'm talkin' scooped straight out of the can with a spoon. i used to eat that when i was a kid, with a bowl of rice and a fried egg (sunny side up, of course). i'm totally craving that right now, as i write this entry about "gross" animal parts i've been eating lately...

talk about hardcore carnivorism, xxx style!

do-gah-nee-tahng. sullungtahng soup broth minus regular brisket. this costs three times more than regular bowl of sullungtahng, but it's SO worth it! the broth here was killer also... made gameeok in nyc taste like instant ramen.

gelatinous stuff from cow's knees (melt-in-your-mouth soft) and other tendons (so chewy, so savory)

soondae. pig's blood sausages with steamed pig liver. one of my favorite street foods. i think i've eaten this like six times in the past month.

yang-git-muh-ri gui. grilled lamb intestines (the white, scallop looking meat) and lamb liver. the flavor is very mild, not gamey at all. there's almost a sweetness to it.

gohp-chahng. the word gohp-chahng basically means small intestines. a lot of korean restaurants in the states serve this in spicy hotpot, but this was my first time eating it grilled. i was too busy stuffing my face after my first bite to take a close-up picture of gohp, which is the soft, puree like spread that lines the wall of the instestines. OHMYGAWD. why have i not eaten this before?! i want to spread this gohp thing on everything i eat.

i can just imagine it in my head right now- raw spam, fried eggs, and a small bowl of gohp. I DIE.

seoul foods: part 2

my parents came to korea for 8 hectic days, which explains my absence from the net. it's been three years since my parents and i were in korea together, so we took advantage of their short trip here and attacked what we do best- EAT!! :)

it's like a little tradition we have, me and my mom, to go eat 갈치조림 (braised spicy silverfish) at the namdaemoon market. this year was no exception.

tiny alleyway, always jam packed with the lunch crowd

mom and grandma waiting in line

the restaurant is so small, there's no kitchen inside. there's only two menu items and both gets cooked outside in the alleyway!

i realize this may not look appetizing... but you gotta trust me, the taste is unbelievable. on the bottom they put radish which gets braised soft like tofu, then on top is layers of silverfish, moist and buttery. and the spicy sauce... i take scoops of the sauce and mix it in my rice. total yumfest!

since the fish is extra spicy, a bubbling pot of steamed eggs and veggies balances out the flavor and the heat. this is also what i was eating almost every day (minus the veggies) when i got my wisdom teeth pulled.

the guy is cooking on the street... with more lunch crowd waiting for their seat as we walk out in 20 minutes flat. basically they have everything cooking already, so you just tell them how many portions, and it comes out in minutes. talk about a literal eat and run!

when i have a daughter, i'm gonna make sure to bring her here as well. she better not become a vegetarian...

we're not groupies, we're band aids

due to my previous job at the slave factory, i've met my share of celebrities. it's fascinating to meet singers or actors who you've been listening to or watching. call it curiosity, inkling, straight up obsession (oh george, where art thou) but majority of the time when i meet the so-called celebs, i'm always reminded that we're just all the same human beings, trying to live it through another day.

yoonie is getting married tomorrow in seoul, so this past wednesday the girls got together for a little bachelorette party that turned interesting, so to say.

our friend susie has a cousin, who surfs with the drummer from a popular korean rock band. 4 degrees of separation right there, minus marky mark... anyway, we ended up going to their studio space to hang out, listen to them practice for a korean tv show, then ended up going out to drink with the band. i've only heard of a couple of their songs, but they sounded amazing.

it ended up being a pretty fun night, going to dimly lit, small restaurants and bars you'd expect hipsters and music insiders to be regulars. i especially loved when a music show host/actress sang at a tiny jazz lounge. a total whiskey on the rocks and slow drags of cigs type of night.

seattlites and other west coasters, if you get a chance, check out vans warped tour, esp YB (aka yoon do hyun band) - and tell them seo sent you :)

band practice

that wall of flyers is made up of sxsw stuff! :)

DH's killer solo

sunny mars, a tiny underground jazz bar in hongdae

music connects people of all languages

DH singing radiohead

seoul foods: part 1

i freakin love crabs. loveloveloves it.

ever since i was a little girl, i'd be the last man standing at the dinner table, picking at every morsel of the sweet and delectable meat, reveling when i got out a nice big chunk of the claws. crustaceans have always been one of my favorite food items to eat, but out of all hard-shelled friends under the sea, my absolute favorite is kkot-geh, translated 'flower crab' that's available in korea. its appearance resembles blue crabs that's found abundantly in the gulf coast, but the two cousins differs in taste like steak and eggs from denny's and a well-marbled piece of ribeye from pappa's bros.

fortunately for me, it is kkot-geh season here in korea. i could just die a happy gal right now.

garak fish market, similar to tsukiji in tokyo

let's get crabby!

do you know how to distinguish male and female crabs? if you flip them over and look at their stomach, males have a pointier, penis-looking line where as females have a more rounded, boob looking line. go check next time you're at the fish counter!

crab pr0n. i'm really good at undressing live crabs.

final product: kkot-geh tahng (spicy crab stew)!!

have i mentioned that i am learned how to cook here? that's right, i'm going through housewife training. once i come back to the states, ya'll can come over and i'll make you all the korean food you can possibly want, including homemade kimchi! :) as some would say, my stocks just skyrocketed...

hello, kitty!

let me preface this post by apologizing for the lack of updates. ken specifically said that it was to be understood that i update this daily... blame it on the janky (& stolen) wifi connection, please. i promise to backlog soon!

so i finally did something fobby/touristy, besides taking pics of all my meals (i know, i know, flickr needs a massive upload too). jo and i went to check out the hello kitty art festival! yes, i paid $10 to see a sanrio character exhibit. and it was worth every dollar!

contrary to the picture above, the average age for the festival goer was at least 20yo.

seo, kitty & jo

a little history about our beloved kitty. she was born in 1974, which makes her 34yrs old (36 in korean age! HAH). she has a twin sister name mimmy. she enjoys playing the piano and painting. friendship is most important to her. she doesn't have a mouth, so that she can express her feelings through her body language. this next fact, i never knew- kitty has a freakin boyfriend! his name is daniel and he lives next door.

"dancing is so much better- when your hearts beat to the same tune" HAHA!!

we were both surprised at how adult the exhibit was. some of the art displayed was clearly meant for those who graduated from the sandbox decades ago. the art hall displayed interactive exhibits, themed rooms, sculptures, paintings, and other cleverly designed hk items. i especially loved the remake of classic paintings that featured hk, shown below:

van gough

monet

hwa-to pieces (korean card came 'go stop')

ridiculously clever and funny! how would any 6 year old understand this?

i was also very very tempted to take home one of these kitty boxes. i don't know what i would have done with it, but just look at it! so adorable. this kitty box > doggy bag any day.


all in all, a pretty fun afternoon at the museum. the only disappointing part was the sad little giftshop at the exit. after looking at hello kitty art for hours, i'm sure everyone was in the mood to buy anything and everything hello kitty (or is that just me?)... but the makeshift giftshop barely sold anything worth purchasing. maybe it's the evil corporate marketer in me, but if i was sanrio, i would have brought every merch to sell, not only hello kitty but the whole sanrio gang! oh well.

they did, however, have a hello kitty doll that was definitely asian. it was YELLOW. racist much???

my new face

jo and i reserved our SE asia tickets yesterday. woooohooo!!
7/1 - 8/10 ICN-BKK for about $430... not too shabby, yea? we're also doing a 3 day layover in taiwan. i'm stoked that we're finally getting our trip (semi)-planned!

so since vietnam, cambodia and laos all require visas, i went to get passport photos taken today. after they snapped multiple shots, i went back 30 mins later to pick them up my copies. and this is what i received:

uhhhh.... what???

WHO the hell is that person? that's NOT ME!!! they stuck someone else's head on my body! i don't even think that's my own smile. the photographer kept telling me i couldn't show my teeth, which sounded really funny to me.. so i was trying so hard not to lol. and since when did my face get so skinny?! and so flawless/porcelin looking?

if i get stopped at the border in cambodia b/c my visa doesn't match my own face, i'm going to be pissed. i hope the SE asians know about the koreazy photoshop skills....

patient-ly waiting...

the health care system in korea is fantastic. they're SO cheap!! and the entire country gets healthcare from the government, so you can pretty much pay less than $10 for a lot of things. i obviously don't have insurance but it's still pennies, compared to the states.

naturally, these are the appointments i have so far:
a dermatologist
an optometrist
a dentist
a general health care physician
an acupuncturist
& i'm kind of contemplating seeing an "diet doctor"... just out of curiosity

the only doctor i am not seeing is a plastic surgeon. so, not to worry, i won't be returning home with double eyelids or a pointy nose.

took out two wisdom teeth already. i didn't even have an appointment. it literally took less than 20 minutes to take a couple of xrays, give me a couple of shots on my upper and lower gum, then straight up, just yanked the suckers out. i could hear the doc yanking something out, and i literally almost fainted...

i desperately need some pain killers. and real, solid food. i've already compiled a list of foods i am going to attack when i can chew again. hopefully i'll be a lot less grumpy by then.

family

it's been a very uneventful, relaxing first week here in seoul.

back when i was in high school, i used to come to korea every summer for about a month. back then, summers in korea meant a lot of kclubbing (deep house! gangnam!! haha), shopping, eating out and just being busy to the point of exhaustion in brutal summer heat.

quite the opposite has happened this past week. perhaps it's because i don't really feel the desire to shop. i mean, i did just spend an entire weekend stressing over how to unpack my closet. plus it's never fun to shop when you have to buy everything in extra large... b/c the average girl wears a size 00. i don't feel the urge to go out either, since everyone is probably 21... while i'm being called 30 in korean age. if you think my self-esteem has gone down, you are probably correct... haha.

so i've been keeping myself busy with family. i was probably the most excited to see my baby cousin for the second time since he was born. it was a bit bittersweet that he is already running around... the baby chubs that i love so much never stays around too long :(

it's never too early to start brainwashing children... mwahahha

baby bathrobes!!!!! totally kills me (and my uterus)

a quick list

• i love my aunt's place- unlike many other korean homes, she has all the american necessities, such as a dryer, shower curtains and plush bath towels.
• i have been called fat 20 times in the past 20 hrs. no joke. my family hates fat people :(
  
• my grandma actually used the word "dweh-ji" which means... a pig. skinny korean girls, i hate you all.
  
• just to spite them, and the aforementioned skinny korean b's, i ate a big meal of delicious spicy chicken galbi + fried rice for lunch. that's how i roll.
  
• i am the darkest person i've seen so far.
  
• i look like a country bumpkin w/ no makeup and flip flops. holler.
  
• blame it on 'boys before flowers' but there are too many boys with curly, permed hair.
• i am currently watching gg with korean subtitles on cable tv. xoxo!