Korean Designer Reimagines Food Storage, Preservation, Without A Fridge

Korean designer Jihyum Ryou reimagines food storage without a fridge.
In his project ‘Save Food From The Fridge’ Ryou uses traditional word-of-mouth knowledge and everyday objects to preserve food in an eco-friendly way, without the use of a fridge to keep the food fresh.
“Observing the food and therefore changing the notion of food preservation, we could find the answer to current situations such as the overuse of energy and food wastage.” Ryou wrote on his website.
“My design is a tool to implement that knowledge in a tangible way and slowly it changes the bigger picture of society. I believe that once people are given a tool that triggers their minds and requires a mental effort to use it, new traditions and new rituals can be introduced into our culture.”
Symbiosis of Potato+Apple
Ryou keeps apples and potatoes together, as apples emit ethylene gas. Ethyene gas speeds up the ripening process of fruits and vegetables kept together with apples. With apples, the potatoes are prevented from sprouting.


Verticality of Root Vegetables
Ryou also noted that keeping roots in a vertical position allowed the organisms to save energy and remain fresh for a longer time. He made a shelf that had sand, to helps them stand easily. The sand also helps to keep proper humidity.


Humidity of Fruit Vegetables / Fruitbowl with Knowledge
Fruits and fruit vegetables, such as zucchini, aubergine and cucumber, were given a shelf or perforated dish, with a water tray at the bottom, to humidify them and keep them fresh.




Breathing Eggs
With a shelf, eggs can be stored outside the fridge—so that the eggs don’t absorb odour of other food in the fridge. To test the freshness of the eggs, Ryou also included a beaker full of water—the fresher the eggs, the further they sink.


Dryness of Spices
To keep spices dry and prevent them from forming lumps, Ryou created containers with rice of the cork—as rice absorbs humidity.

 

Source: http://designtaxi.com

-Gisela V.

N Seoul Tower

Who hasn't heard of the N Seoul Tower?

Morning View / Evening View

Talking about the N Seoul Tower is like talking about Mexico's Zocalo it's Mexico's landmark, I saw the Namsam cable car in My Name is Kim Sam Soon and of course it was a part of my "To Do" list while in Seoul.

Seoul Tower, also called Namsan Tower or, more recently, N Seoul Tower, is located in the centre of Seoul on Mount Namsan. Seoul Tower was opened to the public for the first time on the 15th of October 1980. Namsan Tower is 236.7 metres high and, because it stands on top of the Namsam Mount.

Rising 777 feet (237 metres) above the summit of Mount Namsan, a beautiful mountain in the centre of the city, at a height of 480 metres above sea level, the Tower is the most conspicuous of Seoul's landmarks.

It serves as an integrated telecom tower from which TV and FM radio signals are transmitted for the metropolitan area. In 30 seconds two express elevators ascend to a height of 135 metres to the Observation Platform.
Architect: Jong Youl Chang

There are different ways to get to the Tower.

1.- By Cable car. You can get to the cable car station by getting off at Myeongdong Station (Line n. 4, exit 3) and walking for ten minutes from the subway station.
Hours of operation: 10:00-23:00 (3-minute ride to N Seoul Tower) 
Fare: Round-trip - ages 13+ 7,500 won, ages 4-12 5,000 won
          One-way - ages 13+ 6,000 won, ages 4-12 3,500 won

You can take a bus at Chungmuro Station (line n. 3 or 4) or at Dongguk University Station (line 3), which will take you to the parking area of N Seoul Tower or you can do it on foot by walking 30 minutes from exit 3 of Myeongdong subway station (Line n. 4).

Inside the tower you can find the Teddy Bear Museum (8,000 won), restaurants, shops, cafés can also be found on the inside.

The Tower admission fee is  8,000 won, I believe you can get a discount if you buy tickets for the Tower and the Teddy Bear Museum (I don't remember very well...)

See? Mexico City on the Top and Seoul's view on the bottom

I went to the Tower and the Teddy Bear Museum (TBM) twice, first I went by myself when I took the Seoul Tour Bus, it was a Tuesday so it wasn't really crowded, I 1st pass the Tower by day but decided not to get off the bus on that stop and came back in the afternoon (aroun 5-6) so it was getting darker and I must say, the view is better at that time. On my 1st visit I only checked the outside of the Tower since it was a perfect time to take pictures and visited the Teddy Bear Museum since it was getting darker and colder I decided to take the 8pm bus back.





My second visit was in the Morning, this time I did go up to the Tower and enjoyed a lil bit of the view, we (This time I was with a group) also re-visited the TBM but we were in a hurry so we only spent like 1:30hrs in the Museum and Tower, the only regret I have is that I didn't get to take the Namsam Cable Car..I wanted to do that so badly :( but I guess I'll do it on my next visit to Seoul.

On the outside of the tower there's a Roof Terrace well known for the"Locks of Love", apparently it was shown in a TV show, where the main character attached a lock to the fence, ever since thousands of couples go there an attach their Lock of love with their names and a loving promise. On the inside of the tower you can find something like this, instead of locks there are tiles, you can buy them at the Gift shop, add a picture and just write whatever you feel like it.

Locks of Love / Lover's Message Tiles

On the inside of the Tower (before the Ticket booth) there's another shop, it's all about Kpop, I don't know much about Kpop so I just snaped a few shots of the merchandise (Shh! don't tell anyone because pictures there wasn't allowed!), I guess next time at least I'll know a couple of those groups :P

 

Kpop Merchandise / Me with a Huge Teddy Bear

-Gisela V.

Korean Folk Village

I visited the Korean Folk Village in the Gyeonggi Province on December 2010, I realized I never really posted about it so, this was a good time to do it. 

Here's some of the History of the Village:

About 30 folk villages were relocated and recreated in the approximately 200,000 pyeong (660,000 square meters) vacant land around the area of 107 Bora-ri, Giheung-eup, Yongin City, Gyeonggi Province on August 5, 1973 and opened to the public after completion on October 3, 1974. 

The Korean Folk Village isopen all year-round and nearly 1.8 million domestic and foreign tourists visit here throughout the year. The Folk Village is a venue where visitors can learn Korean culture in a short time. 

All year round there are Folk Performances performed twice a day like

-Fasmer's Music and Dance

-Acrobatics on a tightrope 

And a traditional wedding  (Mar-Nov)

(This might be canceled due to weather)

Entrance Fee 

Adults: 15,000 Won

Adolescents/Seniors 12,000 Won

Chil 10,000 Won

For more info visite the KFV website here.

But why don't I show you more about it with pictures? (I sure love pictures!!)

After the Music/Dance performance

You have to write a "wish" in those papers and make a knot to put it there

I took this picture because my mom is a huge fan of this Dorama.

At the entrance of the KFV

This lady was making silk out of the worms,,,very impressive, she was really nice and explained those can be eaten as well.

The Dance....awesome how they make that lace move only with the head.

This man was walking on that rope dancing and jumping... I failed to take a video thou :(

Are those filled with..... Kimchi? Soy paste?... I couldn't help but wonder....

Another one for my mom... The KFV was set for Dae Jang Geum

How to ger Silk Fabrics... Next t the lady we saw before n_n

And after that... we had a nice lunch at a restaurant inside the KFV!

Banchan.... loved it <3

There was a couple in one of those tables (sitting on the floor) next to us and the Ajosshi probably listened that I wanted Makgeolli and was kind enough to offer me a cup of Makgeolli.... Priceless... Thank you Sir!!! (You kind of made my day that day)

Well, I hope you get a chance to visit this Village, I know I want to go back and re-visit.

-Gisela V.

Last week's Calendar for the Korean Film Cycle

Hey everyone!,

Here's the last part of the calender, hope you had a chance to catch some of this movies.
Later on I will post some of the synopsis in case you didn't see them.

And by the way... Happy Valentines day or Happy Red day in Korea (I was going to write about it..but everyone is talking about it already!)

-Gisela V.

Korean Food in Mexico 5

Restaurant: IYO Galbi

Location: Estocolmo Street (Close to Avenida Reforma)

Price Range: 150-300MXP (Per person)

A couple of weeks ago I went out with 2 friends (I haven’t see them in about a month). They were nice enough to come with me to try this Korean Restaurant I spotted a few months ago but I haven’t been able to visit…until that day.

The Specialty of the house is Galbi (Galbi generally refers to a variety of gui or grilled dishes in Korean cuisine that is made with Marinated Beef or Pork. Galbi literally means RIB)

When we got there, we didn’t know the size of the portions so we asked for 1 Stew/soup each and 2 Pieces of Galbi…. HUGE mistake, it was way too much food for just the 3 of us.

The place is almost hidden, the street is not very Popular and is mostly known for O’mandu a cute shop where you can find Steamed Bread. The restaurant itself does not have much decoration but it gets cosy when people starts cooking.

There are plenty waiters so you are constantly asked if everything is Ok… which is a good thing, but then when you order they will get curiosity on how you take the food and will stare… it was a little awkward for me and my friends but we were enjoying the food and eventually stopped paying them attention.

Here’s what we ordered:

Watter is complementary n_n 

양념날비 (Marinated Beef Ribs) ($200.00MXP / around 18USD)

쭈불 첨판 (Grilled Octopus and Bulgogi with vegetables) (Size: Big)

And each of us had:

Charly: 된장찌개 (Soybean paste Stew)

Beric: 곰국 (Oxtail Soup)

Me: 콩국수 (Cold soybean noodles)

Plus all the 반찬 , 2 portions of steamed rice, salad and Lettuce…. Oh!! And Watermelon as dessert! 

양념날비

쭈불 첨판

된장찌개

곰국

콩국수

Everything was super good, the Grilled octopus was way too much and ended up taking most of it home (yay!!), the Ribs were sweet and soft….with some rice, kimchi and lettuce it was really good...

My soybean noodles were so-so…. I guess it's because I'm more into spicy food, I didn’t try the Oxtail Soup, but Beric said it was good but needed some more salt...of course he didn't notice they put a small bowl with salt and chilli paste next to him until much later, anyway he was more into the grilled Octopus :)

 

As for Charly… he liked his stew and at the end he added some of my noodles to his soup, he didn't want to try the 쭈불 첨판 because he does not like sea food.

반찬

Closer view of the 반찬

The lil stove and lettuce in the background

Hungry much??

Refreshing watermelon

All in all… it was a pretty nice meal with friends and lots of food. 

I will definitely go back to IYO Galbi.

 

We ended up paying (Well… Charly and Beric haha) $1,000MXP (About 80USD) for out feast :D

Charly had to go so Beric and I went to Omandu and bought some cute-looking steamed bread and Aloe water…

This meal only reminded me that Korean Food is better when shared with people you love.

By the way....meet Charly and Beric

-Gisela V.

3a Semana Ciclo de Cine Coreano / 3rd Week of Korean Movies in Mexico

 Here's the calender for the 3rd week of Korean Movies in Mexico

-Gisela V.

Korean Food in Mexico 4

Restaurant: ???? (The place does not have a name outside and I can't remember :( )

Address: Praga 54 Zona Rosa.
Price Range: 100-200 MXP (10-20USD)

Ever since I tried 짬 뽕 near Insadong in Seoul I've been wanting to eat it again, the thing is... Where to eat it in Mexico??... I found almost hiden place near Korea Town in Mexico, the restaurant is in a low-transit street, is really small and does not have a Sign on the outside. 


I finally tried it with my mom and sister and this is what we had:
 
짬뽕 (Champong) Spicy Seafood Noodle ($80.00 Pesos - 7USD/₩7.00)

Champong is a popular noodle dish that is prepared in a red, spicy seafood broth containing hearty vegetables and variety of seafood.  This dish presumably has its origins in Japan with influence from China. Champong is considered to be mild to high in spiciness so expect to sweat while consuming this dish.
 

I highly recommend this dish...it has Seafood, noodles and is spicy, this bowl can be shared between 2, I didn't know it was such a big bowl so I ordered one just for me.... at the end I had to take the rest "to go" (I took about 1 lt home)

My sister had 새우볶음밥 (Shrimp Bokkeumbap), Fried rice with Shrim. 

She also received a bowl of thick sauce made of chuang (Black soybean paste)... she didn't eat it because she is very picky with food...so I had it! :) 

($90.00 Pesos - 8USD/₩8.00)

My mom had  잡채 Japchae, Sweet potatoe noodles called Dangmyeon stir fried in sesame oil with vegetables and Shrimp, it also contains Soy sauce, a little bit of sugar and sesame seeds, it was server HOT and just as the Champong it was TOO much for her haha.

($100.00 Pesos - 9USD/₩9.00)

We also received 반찬 

Kimchi

Yellow pickled sweet Radish!!

 

As always we ended up super full, had almost half of everything to go and eat it the next day n_n. 
We spend about $300 pesos with the Drinks plus they gave us Free Water.


Hope you can try this place sometime. I know I want to go back and try some other dishes... Whenever I go more than 1 time to a restaurant I try to order different dishes. 


-Gisela V.