The Julie/Julia/Gisela Project: December 2011

Friday, December 23, 2011

2 year aniversary!!

On december 18 2009 I started this blog!!!

Thanks for reading me and keep me company n_n

-Gisela V.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Finally, here's the recipe for Tteokbokki!

As some of you know, Tteokbokki is a famous street food you can find in S. Korea.
It's hot, spicy and yummy :)

Ingredients

500g of rice cake
2 slices of dried fishcakes
1 sliced spring onion
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon of Gochujang
(Some people uses a hard boiled egg...it's really good with it n_n )

Begin by boiling a small amount of water in a saucepan, about 1 inch deep. or about 150 ml. Once boiling, Add the Gochujang paste and stir well to make the sauce. Reduce to a medium heat and add the vegetables, allow to simmer for a few minutes, sweeten with sugar and then add the rice cakes. After about 6-8 minutes later, finish by adding the fish cakes and spring onion and simmer for a further 2-3 minutes, Serve in a dish and sprinkle some sesame seeds over the top.

Fish cake


Finished Tteokbokki

Hope you like it :)

-Gisela V.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Korean Tea Ceremony - 다례

I was reading this article and made me want to write about TEA!

Last year when I visited Seoul, we went to a Traditional Tea Ceremony, so here's a little explanation on how it's done and some pictures about it.

According to Wikipedia "The Korean tea ceremony or darye is a traditional form of tea ceremony practiced in Korea. Darye literally refers to "etiquette for tea" or "day tea rite" and has been kept among Korean people for a few thousand years.The chief element of the Korean tea ceremony is the ease and naturalness of enjoying tea within an easy formal setting."

Friday, December 9, 2011

1 Year Anniversary

Last year by this time I was getting my suitcase ready to go to Seoul, it was Wednesday and I was scared, 24 hours flying and would be in S. Korea!

I wish I was there again, specially since it's snowing now u_u

But hopefully I'll see you next year Korea!!

I can't believe that 1 year later I still have lots of pending posts :/

-Gisela V.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Wild Korean Review

Are you studying Korean???

Well, as many of you know I am, fortunatelly for me I met Sanghyun Ahn and Jo-Anna Lynch last year and WHY would you care if I met them?, well Sanghyun Ahn is the author of Wild Korean "A fieldguide to Real Conversation" - For Beginner to Intermediate Levels.

On my 1st day in Seoul I met Jo-Anna Lynch and she was kind enough to take me to her Korean Class, I was ment to attend a Begginers class with Sanghyun but as you know, I am WAY to shy to be truth so I didn't want to go on my own, instead I went to Jo-Anna's class ...it was a HUGE mistake and I know that!, her class was mostly in Korean and I understood nothing u_u , later I find out Sanghyun was writting a book and ever since I've been waiting. Around August it was announced the publication of this Book and I was really excited for this and asked to buy one, a few weeks later I received a Free copy of the book.

At this point I had just started my begginer lessons and I was just learning to read Haengul, due to some family problems (as some of you know...) I had to stop taking my lessons and I had to re-take self-studying, The Wild Korean book has been a great way to do it and I'm glad I still remember how to read Haengul because you won't find any romanization in here, The good thing about NO romanization is: You can't be lazy and will make you study harder and will improve your reading.

If you know ZERO haengul, I would definitely recommend to learn the basics and to read, this way you can get the most of this book.

The book will start with the basics being "Nice to meet you" the 1st lesson and being followed by "I am", "I'm from"... this is obviously really helpful if you want to Visit Korea and want to impress everyone with your "Korean Skills" ;)

If you already read Haengul, then make sure to get this book as it will help you transitionate from Begginer to Intermediate :) , hopefully soon they will release another book for more advanced levels.

The ilustration on the book is made by hand by Douglas Holden and gives the book a funny perspective on each Lesson.

In addition to the book, you can follow their blog Wild Korean in here Sanghyun or Jo-Anna will answer your questions, post links to helpfull resources and from time to time will post a Joke in Korean (See? another way to impress your Korean friends with a joke!!), Downloadable audios can be found here as well.

Some basic information on the book:

Writen by Sanghyun Ahn

Edit by Jo-Anna Lynch, Megha Dubal and Megan Morrow

Ilustrated by Douglas Holden

Price: ₩15,000 (Currently they are running a Special Promotion from 2011 November 1st ~ 2012 January 31th, 1 Copy + Free Shipping for $15USD!!!)

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wildkorean1

Email: wildkorean1@hotmail.com

I want to invite all of you to get this book and keep your lessons going on!

-Gisela V.

Paris!

Oh la la!

So…we are back from Paris…actually it’s been almost a month since we came back *Insert SAD face*, even thou I was not crazy for Paris it was definitely a place in my “To Go” list and I’m glad we went there,,, it wasn’t a Crazy (in a Drunk-Fun kind of way) trip, it was a Family Vacation, only My mom, sis and I…. it was full of first’s:

1^st Time flying together

1^st Time for my mom to leave the Country

1^st Time for my sister and I to actually be in charge…. (scary)

1^st Time to meet the bro-in-law….. O_O (Ah veda!)

1^st Time to finally see/meet everything my sis has been talking about for AGES

1^st Time to be afraid of traveling (don’t ask why…)

I don’t want to make this a HUGE post so,,, I’ll do my best

The Good

*Family Vacation!! Yay!!!

*Paris!

*Tour Eiffel

*Boulangeries (read…Huré)