What is life without food?

It's the weekend! Which means we get to sleep at a normal time for a couple days. Working remotely has been challenging and being awake all night finally took its toll on Portland's Thursday night (Seoul's Friday morning). Luckily, I'll be able to adjust my schedule this coming week.

It's been a few days so I'll take this moment to update you on food adventures.

Gaeseong Traditional Dumpling House

개성만두 궁

This was incredible. The dumplings are made in the front window. We both got the pork dumpling soup and every bite was a joyous burst of flavor in my mouth. 5/5

Myeongdong Street Food

명동

The Myeongdong shopping district is filled with street food vendors that line the street. We ate our way through the area before buying new shoes. Wouldn't be a trip to Korea without foot pain. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Jingogae Short Ribs

진고개

The most tender, melt-in-your mouth short ribs I've ever had. They even grilled it at our table for us so no risk of us messing it up. We enjoyed this meal with Mike (a KAD from the tour last year) and his fiance Brittany. Unfortunately we were all so excited about the short ribs, none of us took pictures of anything but the banchan (side dishes).

Myeongdong Street Food (for just one thing)

명동

Upon further exploration, I stumbled across something that could not be ignored. 허붕 (ho-bung): honeycomb on ice cream inside a bungeo-ppang (붕어빵). 🤯

Oojeong Restaurant

우정식당

This hidden hole-in-the wall is in Namdaemun Market. Picture looks foggy due to all the steam! My bibimbap sizzled to the last bite and Wes got dweji jjigae (pork stew).

Comments

우리 한국에서 있어요~ // We're in Korea!

36 hours Our first 1.5 days already feels like a week. Returning to Seoul brought feelings of familiarity and belonging. I'm no longer scared of trying to speak the language and there's a huge sense of ease when it comes to walking the streets. I'm home but not. We decided to work remotely to save on PTO so we could be here for an extended time while experiencing what day-to-day life is like. Finally got settled in an Airbnb, our home for the next 10 days, which is plucked right out of a Kdrama alley. Living in the afternoons/early evenings, working overnight... we're surviving night 2. The sun is rising and the city is starting to wake up. And I'm ready to go to sleep. Day 1: 2 chickens Lunch at 큰집 닭한마리 (Big House Chicken, Yongsan). We ordered 닭한마리 (1 Chicken) which ended up being a huge shared boiling soup with a full chicken. For dinner: chicken no. 2, hand breaded and fried with love @ Eongteoli Fried Chicken , Itaewon. Frie...

round 2

oh hi again. we're about to take off to Incheon and I've already cried twice today. I shared this on Instagram but wanted to share here as well. big feels for this trip... in a lot of ways I feel more ready to step foot in Korea for the third time in my life but in many many many ways I feel less so. the rollercoaster that is life never fails to surprise me. especially in these nearing mid-life years where I have such freedom to choose my path forward. thank you for being my friends, family, and chosen family through it all. and thank you to Wes who's encouraged me to be myself always while pushing me to be more. I guess I'm ready for takeoff.

Nature Stuff

FINALLY I SAW NATURE (& some other things) If you're a Kdrama fan, maybe you've seen Jirisan? Drove to a ranger station so I could pretend to be a hiker that needed saving by Jun Ji Hyun. On the drive to Gwangju, the fog settled in. Only slightly terrifying. Especially when a downed trees just showed up out of nowhere. Anyways, we made it to Gwangju safely. The next day we went to the Bamboo Forest in Juknokwon. It was likely the cleanest air we've been able to breathe since arriving. It was so peaceful. THE OTHER THINGS Food of course. Noodles and dumplings Sushi with friends of friends. Bibimbap topped with beef tartare. Korean beef bulgogi. Short ribs at an obviously after work drinking establishment. Bibimbap topped with beef tartare in the Shinsegae mall food court. Dakgalbi with cheese, ramyeon, ttoek, sujebi,...

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