Special Chocolate bought from Korea

I think you all who visit my blog are more interested in food than other things. :) In fact, I planed to write my trip to Korea day by day. But, I think that will be boring to you. Cause most of you did not watch any Korean TV programs. That means those places I went are related with Korean TV programs. ha ha ha~~ That's why I feel so happy to go to Korea. I am a TV girl~~ ha ha ha~

My 1st picture is chocolate with spicy flavor. Special? My 2nd picture is chocolate with ginseng flavor. ha ha ha~~~ Really everything related with ginseng in Korea? That's your feeling? ha ha ha. Me, too. In fact, there is still another kind of flavor, Guess?

Kimchi flavor chocolate. ha ha ha~~~ Amazing? But, it was all sold out. So I could not buy. :(

I forgot the prices of those chocolate. Not expensive. Maybe around 200 ~300 NTD for 1 pack. The taste of those chocolate? Not bad, I like spicy food. So, I shall say, good. ha ha ha~~ You can try next time when you go to Korea. :)

Convenient store in Seoul

Is there anything special in the convenient store in Korea? No. Of course, no. Why I write this topic? Stupid topic? NO. Cause it is really a convenient store. Why I think so? See the sign, Can you understand those English words? "Family mart" ? Not hard, right? There are this chain convenient stores here in Taiwan. The same English sign. Of course, in Taiwan, we still have Chinese words on it, same as there are Korean words on that sign. So, even I do not know any Korean words, I still can know what I can find in that store. So, is that "convenient"? ha ha ha~~
Usually, in other countries, I mean, outside Taiwan, to the places where are no Chinese words, the places I will go are chain convenient stores( 7-11, family mart and so on), Mcdonald's, starbucks coffee, and so on. Because, I know what I can find in those shops. Do you do the same thing as me? :)

Who is that idiot in my 2nd pic? Of course, me. What is that on my hand? My roommate's cake. She felt hungry and we went out to buy something to eat. Of course, to "family mart" . ha ha ha~~~

Why I took this picture? Cause there is a Chinese resturant. See, there are very small English words on one sign. My eye-sight is not so good to see that small words. I read in Chinese. There are Chinese words on that sign. ha ha ha~~~

But, I need to say, if you want to go to Korea, you need to learn some Korea words. Otherwise, you need to go with tourist group. Why? Cause most of words are written in Korean. I mean, if you want to spend you time in Korea and go to those places where local Koreans go, you must need to learn Korean words. Generally speaking, their English is not very good. But, maybe you can understand them. If you are native English speaker. The way those foreigners here in Taiwan speak Chinese is a little bit strange to us, but, we still can understand. If 2 foreigners who came from different countries and speak Chinese to each other, can they understand each other well at 1st time? :)

Kimchi

Kimchi is a kind of extremly famous Korean food. What is your first picture of Korea? Of course, ginseng or Kimchi. There are a lot of kinds kimchi in Korea. Usually, we can see vegetable kimchi. But, there are fish kimchi in Korea, too. If you like, you can go to Korea and make or eat by yourself.

How to make it? First, clean Chinese cabbage, then add some crude salt on it, layer by layer. I mean, add some crude salt on one leaf, then add crude salt on another leaf. Then, put your Chinese cabbage into water for hours. After couple hours, wash it off and let your cabbage dried. Air dried is fine. No need to be as dried as dried vegetables. See my pictures.

Do you think that kimchi is "vegetarian"? NO. Because Koreans add a little bit shrimp sauce & fish sauce in it. But, it need to be very careful to add these 2 kind of flavor. Why? If you add too much, the flavor of kimchi will be very strange. By the way, if you like pear, you can add some pear juice in it.

Frankly speaking, it is not hard to make kimchi. But, it is not easy to flavor. See my 2 nd picture. I only got sauce they already flavored for us.(already prepared) ha ha ha~~ I just needed to add those red sauce to my Chinese cabbage. of course, layer by layer. What is that white liquid in the cup in my 2nd picture? Milk with ginseng. Not bad to drink~~~

Ginseng chicken soup

This is a kind of famous food in Korea. Same as you know, Korea is famous for ginseng. So, can they not add ginseng in every day meal or any dishes?

In Korea, usually there will be few small dishes of vegetables, fishes or seaweed and a main course. See my 1st picture, there are 2 dished, a cup of ginseng wine and a plate of noodles. How to eat this? See my 2nd picture. :)

The ginseng chicken is vey hot. You can add noodles to it and the temp of the soup will be cool down a lot. (To let the temp of soup cool down and let noodles to be warm enough to eat)Then, add that cup of ginseng wine. Do not add wine before noodles. Why? Cause the temp of that soup is almost near 100 C. Is that safe to add wine at that temp? :)

See the yellow one in my last picture? This is ginseng. Maybe 1 year old ginseng. Not very good ginseng. But, it is good enough for cooking, flavoring and food. The best age for ginseng is 6 years old. Remember, and next time you can go to Korea and buy ginseng.

Traditional "bed" in Korea

I stayed 2 days in this kind of traditional Korean room. Those pictures were taken in the room where my roommate in Tainan & I stayed. 5 people can stayed in this room. There are 1 living room, 2 bedrooms and 1 toilet in this house. My tourist guide told us to sleep in the living room. why? Because there are only 2 people, my roommate & I, sleep in this room. If we sleep in any bedroom, can we hear the phone ring in the morning? (morning call) ha ha ha.

Traditionally, Koreans sleep on the floor. Do you think that is cold? No. The floor is warm and also a little bit hot. :) There are hot water pipeline or heater under the floor. The air in the house is very dry. So, if you wash your clothes, do not need to put it outside your room for dry. You can put it on the floor and after couple hours, it can be dried.

See, there are almost everything in this house. You can cook by youself. But, you need to clean by yourself, too. Otherwise, you need to pay money for cleaning.

Traditionally, the house of Korean's is not big. See my 1st picture. This is taken inside the door. There are 1 big room in left side and 1 small room in right side. Is this house big for you? NO, of course. But, warm enough. :)

Korean B.B.Q.

I know, you all will like to know this first. Maybe some of you want to know Ginseng chicken soup. But, I find this is more interesting than ginseng chicken. :)

See my pictures then you will know by yourself. No need me to eplain more. :) In my 1st picture, the waiter was putting pork on that pan. Not copper pan anymore. Before, Korean use copper. But, some researchers found that copper will relase harmful materials during high temp. So, they changed.

See the right side of my 2nd picture. You will use those leaves to wrap you pork after the pork is well-done. It will be better to add some kimchi with your pork. :)

To me, I do not think kimchi is a kind of hot spicy food. Same as I said before, I like hot & spicy food. But, to you who do not like to eat hot & spicy food, kimchi will be a little bit hot & spicy.

In fact, according to my tourist guide, Korean food is not hot & spicy. It just looks red. They only keep the color of spice, not all the flavor of spice. :)

See my 3rd picture. A cute young man used scissior to cut our pork into small pieces. It will be easy to eat in this small size. So, now you can know, what kind of size did we put in a pan originally? This is special in Korean B.B.Q. Why? Maybe it can keep moisture and texture of the meat druing B.B.Q. I did not ask. That's what I think. Forgot? I majored in food science. Food processing is what I know. ha ha ha~~~

See the last pic. This is standard style of Meiyunn's smile. ha ha ha~~ Sunny & happily~~ ha ha ha~~ It will be happy to go out with me, right? ha ha ha~~ To eat with me maybe much happier? ha ha ha~~

If you are interested in a man in Korea, ask him to go out for a drink. I mean, if you are a woman. Or you can ask him to eat B.B.Q. and wrap pork for him and "feed" him. Did I do that? Of course, no. Do you know what they call me? a-chu-ma. That's means an old lady or married women. My touist guide called me this. He is one years younger than me. So, I am really an "a-chu-ma" to him. Or maybe 32 years old is really "a chu ma" in Korean society. ha ha ha~~ He is an overseas Chinese. Not Korean.

By the way, according to my tourist guide, in Korea, if I am one years old than him, I can not be his friend. I will be his senior. They respect senior, even senior done things wrong, junior can not correct him. Is that reasonable in your point of view? anyway, it's culture thing.

Respect all kinds of culture is my principle. :)

First day in Korea

My flight time to Korea was 22:30 PM on 28th Jan. (In Taiwanese local time) When I arrived at Seoul, the time was 1:55 AM on 29th Jan. (In Korean local time) The time difference is 1 hour. Korean time is 1 hour fast than Taiwanese time.

So, when I arrived at Korea, I couldn't see anything outside airport. All dark. What are members in my tourist group? only 10 people. 2 families(4 people in a family), my roommate in Tainan & me. There are a 7 years old son & 4 years old daughter in one family. So, you can know what I would need to suffer to go with them in 4 days. ha ha ha~~

Korea is a mountainous country. Not high mountain. See my 1st picture. That picture was taken not far away from the hotel I stayed. See, the slope is a little bit high. I like flat ground. It's convenient to walk in a flat ground.

My 2nd picture was taken in front of the hotel I stayed. The car behinded me was the car I need to take for 4 days. See the clothes I wear, you can know it's not so cold in Korea. Remember one thing, I come from Taiwan. Taiwan is in subtropical zone. So, if I wear such clothes, maybe you who come from cold countries can wear less. :)

Of course, there are air conditioner inside rooms. Warm air, not cold. Usually here in Taiwan, we just need cold air, not warm air. ha ha ha~~

Toilet in Walkerhill Casino in Korea

This is my first time to go to a casino. I do not spend any money there. Of course, not earning any money there,too. I am not that kind of person who likes to go gambling. Of course, you can not take any pictures in a casino. But, is that big deal to take a picture in a toilet? ha ha ha~~ I think that most of you who visit my blog know that I took some pictures in China. If you do not know, visit my blog in Sep. I like to "compare" toilet. ha ha ha~~~

This toilet is special in "washing" & "wind". (Also, it's warm. ;) You can not "sit" in cold.) ha ha ha~~ See the English words and grapics in my 3rd picture, then you can know the meaning by yourself. I know this is not new. There are also this kind of toilet in Taiwan. But, in public place? rare , much rare. Can I call casino a public place? ha ha ha~~

This "special equipment" is on the wall. You can simply push the button while you are "sitting" ~~~ From now on, my blog will be related with my trip to Korea. How many pictures do you think I took in my 4 days trip? 400. ha ha ha~~~ I will let you know Korea from a Taiwanese point of view. :)

If you like, please go to visit my blog and give me some advices. :)

Dinner at our Chinese Lunar New Year's Eve in my home

See my picture. In tradition, we Chinese like to sit around a round table. Round shape means reunion in Chinese. So, you know the meaning of sitting around a round table for dinner now. Same as I said before, I flied to Korea on that day. So, I ate my dinner fast & washed dishes for my families, then, quickly went out to catch my subway & bus to airport. :) Why I need to wash dishes for all my familes? well, my mother is a little bit old. My elder sister is married. (Thought she is back and stay in my home for this new year break) My elder brother is not married. So, I do not have sister in law. Who will need to do dish wash? Of course, this un-married younger sister. This is also our tradition.

My family is not so traditional Chinese family. If you stay in southern part of Taiwan during new year's break, maybe you can find really traditional Chinese family. :) Then you can know more about Chinese traditions.

I just flied back to Taipei yesterday. In the very earlier morning. The time for our airplane to take off is 2:55 AM in Korean time. Total flight time is around 2 hours. So, when I arrived at Taiwan is around 5:00AM in Taipei time. Very earlier morning. So sleepy. ha ha ha~~ So, I almost sleep all day long yesterday. Not so much. There were still couples hours for me awaking. ha ha ha~~