Korean Food in Mexico #2

                             

Fi-na-lly!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't take this pic, I forgot to take a pic from the outside..

I've been meaning to go to a Korean restaurant for MONTHS!! and there was always something that kept me from doing it... and last saturday I finally did it (yay!), I went to "Young Bin Kwan", it was the 2nd time (for me) in that restaurant, the 1st time I went it was a nice quiet, good pricing, great waiters, place to go eat with friends or family, so I went there hoping for a great meal buuuut... I found something different, this time there were displayed pictures of some of the meals by the window, the 2nd floor (with a nice view) was closed and the 1st floor was extended, when we got there there were just a few tables occupied and they took us to a HUGE table were you can put easily 12 people even thou we were only 2... then they hand us the Menu and it's different....It's in Korean and not everything is translated and the most shocking thing is they increased the prices O_O OMG!!! last time I went you could get a soup (don't know the korean name...sowy!) for about $100 pesos (9USD) and this time was $450 pesos!!!!! and that's ALOT considering that we ment to pay a $500-600pesos bill... my mom even asked me if it was in pesos or Korean Wons (lol) and I have to admit the idea went trough my mind aswell hahaha.

So we took our time to decide, my mom asked for a Bokumbap (Fried rice with shrimps) and I asked for a BulGogi (Korean Marinated Beef)

The Bokumbap was good but a little greas, it had some diced suchini, carrots and shrimp, I can just say it was OK.

My marinated beef

My BulGogi was pretty good (a little too sweet) but the meat was really tender and it only came with a bowl of steamed rice...again a little dissapointing considering the new prices, right?

Anyway, I as really excited when they brought the side dishes!! because last time they gave us some really good side dishes, they gave us pickles with sesame seeds, some small fishes (don't know the nam either) and other goodies!

But this time it was the well-known Cabbage Kimch (Baechu Kimchi) :

This pickled and fermented Napa cabbage is the most popular and recognizable form of kimchi. Baechu kimchi  is not only good as a side dish to almost every Korean meal, but it is also the foundation for many

soups, stews, stir fries, and rice dishes. the Kimchi was good but I think it had too much liquid chilli (O_o) but overall it was good... and with the plain rice it was really good!

Korean Seasoned Spinach (Sigumchi Namul) :

This seasoned spinach “salad” is a light Korean side dish that can also be used in other Korean main dishes like chapchae (stir fried noodles), kimbap (rice and seaweed rolls), and bibimbap (rice with mixed vegetables).

Next we have Korean Stir Fried Korean Noodles (Japchae) :

Chapchae is one of the most popular noodle dishes in Korea and believe me,,,it's really good

Korean White Radish Kimchi (Dongchimi) :

A summer kimchi that is vinegary rather than spicy, dongchimi falls into the “white” or “water” category of the many different types of kimchi. Although dongchimi requires a few days of brining, it is very simple to make and lasts for a very long time in the refrigerator, I don't know if this is the real dongchimi, but it was gooood!

Namul :

 

Vegetables seasoned with sesame oil, vinegar, salt, garlic, green onions, chili peppers and soy sauce. Broccoli is often seasoned in sesame oil and sprinkled with a few sesame seeds when served as banchan.

There was also a plain salad with a dressing... how Korean os that?

Overall it was a GOOD meal, expensive but good!, if you want to try Korean food I recomend you this place or the one across the street (hopefully I will make a review on that one later!).

-Gisela V. 

This is the information of the restaurant:

RESTAURANTE: YOUNG BIN KWAN, S.A. DE C.V. - YONG BIN

ESTADO:    DISTRITO FEDERAL

MUNICIPIO: CUAUHTEMOC

COLONIA: COLONIA JUAREZ

DOMICILIO: CALLE VARSONIA 13

CP: 6600

TELEFONO: 52089399

Noryangjin

                                                            

                                                                   
Yesterday while cooking seafood at home I realized I had never written about a Korean Market and/or
streed food, considering my love for food/cooking I  think it's a good idea to talk about something

Lots of fish!

else that isn't noodles, right?, what better than to start with Noryangjin a Fish Market

Noryangjin Fish Market is operated by The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries it is
Seoul's largest market for marine/seafood products. It houses over 700 shops in 66,000 square meters,

shops offer fresh, dried fish ans squid from 15 fishing ports around Korea!!, it also includes restaruants, an auction floor and an agricultural section.

The market opened in 1927 on Uiju Boulevards, it has over 80 years od history! and it's connected
to the Noryangjin Station by a bridge, you can find over 830 seafood items for wholesale and retail
purchases. This markep opens around 3am O_O

You can buy fresh seafood and get it sliced into sashimi in the restaurants located at the Market
for about KRW 12,000 *yum!*.        

-Gisela V.

Jeju Island

It's time to talk about something I wanted to write for quite some time.... Jeju Island!! :)

I -yet again- knew I wanted to go to Jeju since I saw it on My Name is Kim Sam Soon and hopefully I will go  there soon n_n

Or Island of the Gods as is also known, Jeju-do is the only special autonomus province of South Korea  is located in the Korea Strait (The Korea Strait is a sea passage between South Korea and Japan) southwest of Jeollanam-do Province and it became a separate province in 1946. It's capital is the city of Jeju.
It's one of the top honeymoon destinations for Korean Newlyweds because is very similar to Hawai due frequent rains and temperate climate, this Island is a volcanic Island dominated by Halla-San  (Halla Mountain), a volcano 1,950 metres high and the highest mountain in South Korea.

Gotjawal Forest is an area that remained untouched until the 21st century, as its base of "'A'a" lava ("stony rough lava",) and made it difficult to develop for agriculture. Thanks to this the forest remained untouched for a long time and it has a unique ecology, this forest is the main source of groundwater because the raingwater penetrates directly into the groundwater aquifer through the cracks of the 'A'a lava under the forest.

Gotjawal forest is considered an internationally important wetland under the Ramsar Convention (The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat) by some researchers because it is the habitat of unique species of plants and is the main source for the residents, although to date it has not been declared a Ramsar site.

According to the legend, 3 demi-gods emerged from Samsing-hyeol wich is said to have been on the northen slopes of Mt. Halla and became the progenitors of the Jeju people who founded the Kingdom of Tamna. It has also been claimed that three brothers including Ko-hu who were the 15th descendants of Koulla, one of the Progenitors of the Jeju people, were received by the court of Silla at which time the name Tamna was officially recognized, while the official government posts of Seong-ju, Wang-ja and Do-nae were conferred by the court upon the three. While this was the golden period of Silla, the exact data is as yet unknown. However, there is no concrete evidence of when the "Three Names" (Samseong-Ko, Yang and Pu) appeared nor for the exact date of when Ko-hu and his brothers were received by Silla.

In 1931, Jeju-myeon was raised to the status of Jeju-eup or 'township' which gave the island one township (today's Jeju-si area) and 12 'myeon'. On August 1, 1946, Jeju Special Autonomous Province was removed from the 'island' system under South Jeolla province and designated as an independent province with 2 counties, North County and South County, one 'township', today's present Jeju-si area, and 12 'myeon'.

The people of Jeju have developed a culture and language that are distinct from those of mainland Korea.

Jeju is also famous for hosting many conferences and international meetings, including the World Scout Conference in July 2008. Jeju has its own convention center called International Convention Center Jeju.

The most popular tourist spots on the island are Cheonjeyeon and Cheonjiyeon watterfalls, Mount Halla, Hyeobje cave and Hyeongje Islad. Depending on the season, Jeju hosts many festivals for tourists including a penguin swimming contest in winter, cherry blossom festival in spring, the midsummer night beach festival in summer, and Jeju horse festival in autumn, among others.


Jeju was chosen as one of the 28 finalists for the New 7 Wonders of Nature at www.new7wonders.com
(I didn't know it was nominated for be part of the New 7 wonders of Nature, it definetly has
my vote :) )

If after all of those pics you don't feel like going to Jeju Island...there's something wrong with
you!!! (lol).

-Gisela V.

Hanbok

After a few post about K-pop, B-boys and noodles I was starting to feel this blog needes something more umm... Cultural??, I've been wanting to write about the Korean Traditional dress for quite some time and finally the time has come (hehe), today we will learn a lil bit about the Hanbok

The Hanbok literally means "Korean Clothing" and is the traditional Korean Dress and it's characterized by it's vibrant colors and simple lines, it has its roots as far as the Three Kingdoms Period (57 B.B. - 668 A.D) according to evidence found in wall paintings in tombs dating this period.

The top part is galled JEOGORI, is a blouse-like with long sleeves with the men's version being longer, streching down to the wait. Women wear CHIMA (skirt) while men wear PAJI (baggy pants).

Clothes for the upper classes were made of bright colors and indicated the wearer's social status.

Fabrics!!!

Fabrics!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                         
Due to the diverse weather conditions, clothes have been made from: hemp, ramie, cotton muslin, silk and satin. In Autumn many women wear clothes of gossamer silk because it have a rustling sound while walking that is similar to walking trough dry leaves.

Colors!!!

White represents purity, integrity and chastity (it used to be the mos common color for common clothes). The upper class and court figures wore clothes in red, yellow, blue and black becasue this colors symbolize the 5 traditional elements in Oriental cosmology (fire, earth, water, metal and wood), dyes were made from natural materials such as flowers or bark.

Women's Clothing!!!

Chogori for female have changed over time more than those for males. The earliest versions went all the way to the hips and were tied at the waist, by the late Chosun Dynasty (1392-1910), they only went as far as the arm pits, with a longer front panel to cover the breast.

Dongchong (paper collars) help accent the woman's neck.

Chima is a rectangular skirt with a high, pleated waistband. It is tied abobe the breast with long sashes.  It hides the female shape by flowing over the rest of the body, this srtongly influenced by the Confucian society.

Durumagi is worn over regular clothes for warmth during cold weather. It was originally worn by government officials and royalty as everyday attire.

Foot gear, jewelry, headdresses or hair pins complete the outfit.

This is just a LITTLE BIT about the Hanbok, as you can see I only covered the Women's clothe in this article because there are others I will cover with other Posts like Children's Clothing, Men's
Clothing, Official Clothing and Ceremonial Clothing, but it's too much information to just 1 post lol.


-Gisela V.

Garden5

- A place where culture,shopping and fun coexist -

I was surfing the web when I found GARDEN5, a "huge" mall well known for being the the location where
hit drama ‘IRIS’ is shot. The set for IRIS is opened to the public, and attracts many visitors, sounds like a good place to check out if you have enough time while visiting Korea or if you are a shop-a-holic n_n

Garden5 is a mega-size culture and shopping complex with over 8,400 specialty shops. The idea for the complex began in 2003, when over 6,000 merchants came from the Cheonggyecheon district. It is divided into 3 sections: specialized shopping arcades, a logistics center, and a revitalization complex. The specialized shopping arcades, where over 8,400 shops are located, are again divided into three blocks: Garden5 Life, Garden5 Works, and Garden5 Tool.

Garden5 Life is a retail shopping arcade consisting of a fashion complex and other complexes appealing to the young or the young at heart. With the recently opened NC Department Store, Garden5 Life is emerging as the shopping Mecca of Korea.
Garden5 Works is an apartment-style factory for processing businesses.
Garden5 Tools is a shopping arcade for industrial material, such as hardware and pipes.
The roofs of these three blocks are connected to form a huge roof garden named ‘The Four-Season Park,’ which is the size of three soccer fields. At the park, ‘The Central Garden’ and mega-size sky-parasol are located to allow visitors to enjoy nature in the city.

One of the reasons why Garden5 draws attention is the set of the drama ‘IRIS,’ the set, located on the tenth floor of Garden5 Tool, attracted over 1,000 tourists in Autumn 2009 alone. On the set, many sights seen in the drama can be seen, such as the president’s office, the command room of NSS, and the offices of the agents. Because Garden5 is known as the location of ‘IRIS,’ an ‘IRIS Tour’ program has been developed for foreign tourists.
Thanks to such a tour program, there are many foreign tourists visiting Garden5 not only on weekends, but also on weekdays. The set opens from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday thru Sunday.
Admission is free.

Uncertain Future

Moon Young-soo, a senior SH executive in charge of Garden5, was confident of morphing the silent shopping center into a bustling one by the end of the year. But many experts are certain that it will take longer than Moon’s optimistic prediction for Garden5 to become self-sustaining.

Location
Exit 3 of Line 8 Jangji Station
Website
http://www.garden5.com (I tried to surf trought the website, but never took me anywhere O_O )


Anyway, if you are an IRIS fan this is the place to visit :) ,  if there was a tour to visit all the My name is Kim Sam Soon locations I would definitely take it!!!!!!! 

-Gisela V.

한글날 !!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Hangeul Day!!!!

 "A wise man can acquaint himself with them before the morning is over; a stupid man can learn them in the space of ten days."

-Hunminjeongeum Haerye

Hangeul Proclamation Day or Korean Alphabet Day - is a Korean national commemorative day marking the invention and the proclamation of hangeul  (한글날), the native alphabet of the Korean language, by King Sejong the Great. It is observed on October 9 in South Korea and on January 15 in North Korea. In North Korea, the day is called Chosun gul Day.

Here are some cool Google Logos :)

-Gisela V.

2PM

2pm

2pm.jype.com

It's time for another (Kpop) Music Blog!!!!! and just to feel inspired I'm listening to 2PM, to be honest I'm just starting to learn about this Kpop bands, because I always confuse the members since there are bands even with 11 members O_O and all I see on FB or Twitter are girls talking about their ABBS (lol)... So I was searching for some info about this band and this is what I got.......




2PM is a South Korean boy band originally had 7 members but currently there are only 6 members since Jay Park quit the band

The current members are Junsu / Junho / Nichkhun / Taecyein / Wooyoung and Chansung.

2PM os one of the 2 subgroups branched out from the 11member boyband "One Day" the other group is 2AM. 2PM achieved their first N.1 song with Again and Again (Catchy song n_n  )

All the members auditioned for 2PM (except Nichkun who was scouted) and some of this autitions where held in other countries (Jay Park auditioned in the USA).

A documentary called Hot Blood Men was filmed while 2AM and 2PM were in training to be part of the group "One  Day", in September 4th, 2008 and they started the promotion of "Only You" in October 17th, 2008.
On April 2009 the group released their second album "2:00PM Time for Change". On September 4, 2009 the controversy rised and articles began to surf on the interner about Jay Park's personal Myspace account in wich he expressed his dislike for Korea, later on he issued an apology regarding this and on September
8, 2009 Jay Park announced he would be leaving the group to return to the United States.

On November 10, 2009 the group's 1st FULL lenght album 1:59PM was released.

On February 25, 2010 2PM and JYP Entratainment CEO Choi Jungwook offered a press conference and announced that 2PM would be promoted as a 6member band and a new leader would not be chosen to replace Jay Park.

Currently the band has been confirmed to be the opening act for the Wonder Girls for 9 shows in the United States for their summer tour.

-Gisela V.