Gochujang now available in American supermarkets!

In this article I happened to spot on the sidebar while I was checking my email introduces Annie Chun's Gochujang. It's an interesting concept, but who knows how it will taste... can someone stateside test it for me and let me know?

Another "Best Class" and another pizza

This month I had another "best class", my first in two months. They were pretty psyched for it.


This is a typical Korean pizza. If you're not in Korea, this could look rather strange to you. Koreans like to add strange sauces and vegetables that we wouldn't normally associate with pizza (like corn), but stragenly I've come to quite enjoy pizza in this Asian version...


And clearly, the kids to too...

CouchSurfing

As I mentioned before, this week was my first experience couchsurfing. It rather unfortunately coinsided with a visit from my university friend from Japan who also stayed at my house, and so the two guests back to back made for a rather exhausting week. But, that being said, it was definetely the most interesting week I've had in a long time. As I mentioned in my blog last week I was feeling as though I just had nothing to talk about here. But, all these international guests got us doing some more interesting things this week! Basically, every night was staying up late, drinking and eating and chatting about all sorts of things.

Our Couchsurfing guests were a couple from France. I was so inspired by their story. They traveled to New Zealand, where they cycled and did WWOOFing for 5 months. Then they flew to Bangkok where they continued to bike from Bangkok to Laos to Vietnam. Then they continued to travel for another month, sans bike, and from there made their way to Korea where they will be staying until the end of November, then traveling around Europe a little before heading back to France.

It was great hosting, though, now that I've had someone comment (and after updating my profile as suggested by our surfers) I've already gotten two more couch requests. They were both for the week of Chuseok, so I had to decline since I will be in Jeju. I think couch surfing is fun, but I don't think I want to do it all the time. One surfer per two months might be fun for a change of pace, but doing it several times a month I think would be quite stressful.

I highly recommend using couchsurfing while you're home, or while you're traveling. To learn more, check out www.couchsurfing.org.

Have you tried couchsurfing? How was your experience?

too much inspiration!

I was complaining last week that I had nothing exciting to write about, but now I've got so much to write about and no time to write! I hope I find some time before I leave to Jejudo on Wednesday to write some more!

Busy week

This week is a busy one at our home. My friend from Japan had planned to come and stay at our house while he's in Korea for 4 days. Then on Saturday I received a CouchSurfing request from a French couple who are doing some world travel. Of course we couldn't have guests overlapping, so I told them they could stay until the day my friend arrives. So, the couchsurfers arrived Monday night and they will go to my friend's home on Thursday morning. Then Thursday evening I'll meet my friend and bring him home until Sunday afternoon.

The one good thing about all these guests is that it makes us be much cleaner people! We scoured our house top to bottom before they arrived, and now that they are here, we wash our dishes after meals and pick up trash and laundry around the house rather than leaving it til later. If only we could be like this when we don't have guests!

ps. if you're wondering what CouchSurfing is, it's only the coolest idea ever. Check it out now!

Chickens! and other views in Yangsuri...

It's always fun to explore Halmoni's yard in Yangsuri. Today, not only was the dog around, but the chickens had been let out of their coop which I've never seen before!


I thought this guy was pretty stylish, so I took a lot of pictures of him...


With this many chickens, there's always fresh eggs to go with our meals.


On our way back to the train station to go home we saw these guys from a distance. The boyfriend wanted to get a closer look so he took me off the road to try to chase them down...

It started out as a path, but it quickly turned into a big bramble patch. We never made it close enough to see the birds up close.... I just left with shoes full of mud and scratches all over my legs from the brambles.

But we did see this beauty while we were down there...

The Gopchang Post

After a few drinks on Saturday night me and my English buddy were convinced by our Korean significant others to try gopchang (곱장) Saturday night. It's something I've been meaning to do for.. well, ever... since my neighborhood is famous for the stuff (when I ask the taxi drivers to go to hwanghak sagori they usual cock their heads for a minute thinking and then ask... 'you mean the place with all the gopchang?').

The uncooked gopchang

So, what is gopchang? Well, it's intestines of course. They can come from sheep, cow or pork. I'm not sure which one we ate, but I imagine the taste might be quite similar.

The ajumma making our gopchang outside on the grill

How was it? Well, the flavor was great! I think the thing that would turn off most people who aren't accustomed to eating it would be the texture, which is quite a bit chewy at times. Also, some restaurants can have a very strong smell as well, which I sometimes smell around my neighborhood since there are so many gopchang restaurants.

Our gopchang, ready to eat. You can see some ddeok and veggies fried in. It was slightly spicy, but not very much.

Anyway, I highly recommend trying some gopchang at your local restaurant, or making your way to Hwanghak-dong near Sindang Station where you can choose from many storefronts and street tents that make the stuff.