Kimchi V2.0

Good Morning Kimchi!, the earth says Hello!

For some reason I've been talking about Kimchi too much these last couple of days so I decided to Blog about it (yet, again), Last year I finally visited the "Kimchi Museum" located in COEX, it was a must since I'm such a Kimchi fan, we visited the Kimchi Museum on our 1st day in Korea for the WKB Tour back in Sept '12, don't ask me why but I like Kimchi, at least the few varieties I've tried, I love cooking 김치전.

My 1st lousy 김치전

A meal without Kimchi is not a meal in Korea, no matter if it's International food that you are having there will be something Pickled in your table, Kimchi also contains healthful properties, Vitamins, it helps the digestion and its also helpful in preventing various types of Cancers, recently a studio showed it's also helpful with Weight loss, it's said that the "Korean spirit is embedded in Kimchi, the care and devotion it takes to make this dish is an embodiment of the Soul of the entire Country"

Ok, so, let's talk about a few kinds of Kimchi!

통배추김치 or Tongbaechu Kimchi 

This kimchi is made with Chinese Cabbage and it's the most common Kimchi in Korea (and around the globe!), it's usually made during winter and it's included in every Korean Meal. 

나박김치 or Nabak Kimchi

Radish water Kimchi is made with Radishes and cabbages, it's usually made during the early months of Spring and is popular for its cold and invigorating broth.

Image: chowdivine.com

오이소박이 or Oisobagi

This Kimchi is made by stuffing Cucumbers, made with different seasonings, the Cucumbers are marinated in salt and also contains a refreshing broth.

Image: ifood.tv

총각김치 or Chonggak Kimchi

Whole radish Kimchi, this kimchi is made from small turnips with red pepper powder and seasonings, This Kimchi won't sour easily, even during the summer time.

깍두기 or Kkakdugi

깍두기 or Kkakdugi

Diced radish Kimchi, usually bite sized cubes of white radish are used to make it, it goes good with soups like Seolleongtang (ox bone soup) *Did you ever watched Kim Sam Soon?, after the fight between Henry and Samshik they eat this soup and att Kkakdugi kkk* 

Seolleongtang 

I think 4 kinds of Kimchi are enough for now. , Each season has it's own variety of Kimchi, Kimchi is so important that there are Special fridges for it, because it has to have certain temperature, there's bread made with Kimchi, Hot Dogs with Kimchi, and an infinity of recipes for everyone to try out!, I recently saw someone posting about "Scrambled Kimchi eggs", basically scrambled eggs with Kimchi, so... Yea, you can add Kimchi to anything and call it "Whatever Kimchi" I suppose.... 

Autumn Kimchi

Winter Kimchi

Summer Kimchi

Spring Kimchi

2012 WKB Tour - Day 1

Hi everyone!, as you know last week I traveled to Korea for a tour among other WKB bloggers,  first I would like to thank KOCIS (KoreaNet) for inviting us on this wonderful trip and for recognizing our work as bloggers :)

A special thanks to Suh, Jeong Sun (Director – Global Command Contents), Han Jeon, Cathy and Grace for such a warm welcome!

I had a great time in Korea, remember I posted about Expectation/Reality?, well for a moment I turned into this Kpop fan and wanted to escape to stalk GD lol…but I’m glad I didn’t, I just got my CD and walked out of that Hallyusphere to enjoy what would be one THE BEST trips ever, I honestly wasn't expecting to have as much fun as I did and Since we did quite a LOT I’m going to have to make separate posts about the trip.

Schipol Airport - Amsterdam

My journey started on September 17^th at 10 pm, I took a 10 hour flight to Amsterdam and after a transfer time of 3 hours I took my final flight to Seoul, this time I flew with KLM and I’m glad I did because they offer great service J, my transfer time went by very quickly, after wondering around the Airport stores for a bit I went to my departure Gate and met 2 Peruvian guys who were traveling to Korea to go to an Electronics convention in Gwangju, this was also their 2^nd time in Korea. We were moved to another gate to prepare for boarding and there I met what I thought was a Korean Student, turns out he works for Samsung and was on a business trip, poor guy he got a book at the Airport and they gave it to him in Dutch instead of English and they didn't want to change it for him :(, we exchanged business cards (I feel so professional lol) and then it was time to board!... 10 hours later we landed at Incheon 40 minutes earlier than scheduled and I was ready to go, everything looked different this time, 2 years ago I went on winter and I was on my own at the airport, so I was very focused in getting into the right bus plus I was freezing. This time the weather was really nice, and there was a driver waiting for me already, we walked to the parking lot and in that short walk I realized how different this trip would be….

Incheon Airport

We got on the car and I just enjoyed the view and the smell; this time Korea had a smell…I don’t think the 1^st time I noticed a smell but this time definitely had it and it was a combination of Korean food and something in the air, we passed the 63 Building and the Noryangjin fish market (I've always wanted to go there for some fresh food), I recognized some buildings and street, somehow I just felt at home (is that weird?~~I think it is...) 

It took almost 1 hour driving to arrive at the hotel…the IP Boutique Hotel in Itaewon (Seoul), an area full of Coffee Shops, Bars and Clubs, the hotel is very nice and modern, the restaurant has an outdoor area and the lobby has SWINGS!!!!!! The rooms are pretty cool, each one is different as they all have something painted in the wall, the 1^st room I was in had a giant Strawberry and the 2nd one had a pair of Converse, when I arrived Maria from Indonesia was already at the room (we were roomies!), she went out with Grace (Our Tour Guide for the trip) to buy some books while I took a much needed shower and got ready to go out for some sightseeing, around 14:30 I met my friend Jeannette who works for BrandKorea and we went to Caffe Bene for Coffee duh! (this coffee shop is really popular as I saw like 30 the 5 days I was in Korea O_O) and at 3 we went back to the hotel to meet with Maria and Grace.

IP Boutique Hotel - Room 1 (top) - Room 2 (bottom)

The 1^st thing we’ll do was visiting COEX to go to the Kimchi Museum and I’m glad we did because we passed by a Records store and I got to buy my GDragon CD ~One of a Kind~ and I got a free poster…I felt like such a k-pop fan lol

The Kimchi museum is actually pretty small, but they have all kinds of Kimchi, there are seasonal Kimchis, you can pretty much Kimchify (I know that’s not a word) everything, there’s Kimchi fish O_O who knew??...I was taking a video of this place and we found a cute kid in there, he asked Jeannette to take his picture and then explained he was there because he was something like the Kimchi Ambassador of his school and knows way too much about Kimchi…He was really sweet and even thanked me for blogging about Korea (awww!!!), he then took me to the Kimchi Tasting room and made me taste 8 different kind of Kimchis….ahhh that was some GOOD kimchi, he said that his grandma makes the Kimchi for his family and explained something to me but in Korean...so...I don't really know what he said :( (Sorry Kid!!). If you want to visit the Museum, you can also take a class and make your own Kimchi, just go to the museum’s website and check out the activities!

Seasonal Kimchi

When we were done with the Kimchi museum we decided to take walk to the Temple across Coex, it’s the same temple I visited 2 years ago(remember how I lost all those pics?), it’s the Bongeunsa Temple, well….this time I didn’t lose my pictures, this place is very special for me, the 1^st time I visited it I decided I wanted to take my mom there on my next visit to Korea…. I never thought she would not be with us when that happened….I just miss her so much and even though she (somehow) was with me on this trip, it was just sooo hard not to think about her when I was there…*I miss you, moomin*

Bongeunsa Temple near COEX

Namsam Tower

Right after the temple it was time to go, we had to go back to the Hotel to pick up Ema and Annabel from London to go visit the N Seoul Tower, they write the blog Korean Class Massive and both of them are pretty funny…. Anyway, we went to the N Seoul Tower and took the Namsam Cable Car….yup yup, like Kim Sam Soon (My name is Kim Sam Soon) and Goo Yoon Pyo/Gum Yan Di (BBF), the view was AMAZING!! But the cable car was way too crowded for my liking so I couldn’t take nice pictures :(, we went upstairs and enjoyed the view while waiting for our table to have dinner at Hancook, a Korean restaurant located inside of the tower, but turns out the place was packed and we had to wait 50minutes to get a table…and it was time we didn’t really have so we had to eat dinner at The Place Dining by the tower, although Italian food would not be my 1^st choice for my very 1^st dinner in Korea it was a very nice, especially if you go with the one you love as the place has a very romantic atmosphere and the place was filled with couples having Champagne and pretty cakes :)

After dinner we rushed back to the Hotel to meet Han Jeonand Cathy who visited us to prepare us for what would be expecting us the next day.

Itaewon at night

Later that night I went out to find a payphone to call my friends JoAnna and SangHyun and just explore the area a little bit and I ran into Ema and Annabel, we ended upwalking around Itaewon and found a “very” interesting street with several Love Motels O_o. After our short walk we went back to the hotel and that was it for our 1^st day in Seoul….

See?? We did a bunch of things in just 1/2 day...God, I miss Korea u_u

-Gisela V. 

Kimchi and its Properties

Hi Everyone!

My Kimchi ingredients (some of them) & Makgeolli

2 years ago I made my 1st Kimchi (and last...hehe), some of you remember some of you are new here, so it was a whole experience to 1st buy the ingredients and then the process of making the Kimchi, saddly I was busy enough reading the instructions on how to make it (and making it) and I didn't take any pictures of the process.... Since it's kind of complicated to make it (If you are not Korean or don't know the ingredients/process by heart) I decided that was my 1st and last and if I was craving Kimchi I'd go to Korea Town to either eat it or buy it... I've found pretty good Kimchi's around K-Town so it's easier to buy it... plus If I make it it will be way too much and I'm pretty much the only one in my house to eat it.

A few weeks ago I endend up in the Emergency Room because I wasn't feeling very well and turns out I suffer Hypertension [term used to describe high blood pressure], after some pills, a shot and a few hours in observation I was able to leave the ER with some new Life-rules... 1st I have to take 2 pills every 8 hours for the rest of my life (It kinda made me feel OLD :( ) and then, I can no longer eat Salt (at least not for a few months), I can not drink Soda, alcohol, sweets, etc... nothing fun, right?... It was time for a change and I better follow my doctor's order if I want to live long and prosper (lol).

But yersterday I met up a friend to go eat at the Cultures Festival (more on that later!) and since my cravings for Korean food were too much we decided to eat at the Korean Stand... we had 김치, 밥, 김밥 and 잡채 :) (small portions of course)... I love Kimchi...and that one was specially good so I bought another portion to take home and then I felt guilty.... as if I was cheating on someone...why? Because Kimchi has salt...lots of salt since it's fermented so I decided to ask my friend Google how bad was my situation "Kimchi-Hypertension"... to my sorprise it's not bad at all, so why don't we check some of the properties of Kimchi?

Kimchi Stew

Kimchi is made of various vegetables and contains a high concentration of dietary fiber and it's low in calories. One serving contains 50% of the daily recommended amount of Vitamin C and Carotene. It also contains Vitamin A, B1, B2, Calcium, Iron and lactic acid bacteria. Kimchi was even named one of the Top 5 "Wold's Healthiest Foods" by Health magazine because it helps aiding digestion and prossibly reducing Cancer growth.
 
Kimchi has lots of functionality, especially the kimchi diet has been known to cause weight loss and to prevent constipation and colon cancer. Kimchi, a good source of lactic acid bacteria as probiotics, reduces serum cholesterol levels in relation to anti-atherosclerosis. In addition, anticancer effects of kimchi have been recently reported and related to its components such as antioxidative nutrients, phytochemicals and lactic acid bacteria.

When real foods are preserved/fermented, the result is high quantities of vitamin C, MSM, and phytochemicals that are missing in the industrial diet. When coupled with good fats like olive oil, sesame oil, coconut oil, raw butter, (plus eggs and fish, under the right conditions) then high high blood pressure never really becomes an issue.
Of course, any salt that is used should be sea salt. Table salt is bleached to make it white, and "purified" to remove everything but sodium chloride, which eliminates vital minerals like potassium. So using sea salt does make a difference.

So there you go... I can still eat Kimchi without feeling soooo guilty u_u 

If you have any recommendations on WHAT (Korean food) can I eat to help my blood pressure I will be very thankful :)

-Gisela V. 

김치전 (Buzz Korea)

Kimchi Jeon

I made Kimchi pancakes or 김치전 this morning, made just enough batter for 3 small pancakes because I wanted to try... Although I feel is more something I could enjoy on a hot day with a Beer or some Makgeolli :)

I will not add quantities because it's really up to you and how much do you want to make :/

You'll need:

Choped Kimchi (and the juice)
Flour
Choped Onions (I used green onions)
Salt
Sugar
Vegetable oil

Heat up the oil in a frypan

In a bowl add the Kimchi, onions, a pinch of salt (If your kimchi is salty dot add any more salt!!!), a pinch of sugar, 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water and mix them well.

Put the mixture on your frying pan the size you want it, you can make a big one ad then cut it in squares, for presentation I made them small.

Wait about 2minutes (or until golden) and turn them over.

Wait a bit to eat it, you don't want to burn your mouth with it!!

And there you go the 김치전 is ready!

-Gisela V.

삼각김밥 (Samgak Kimbap)

Samgak Kimbap or Triangle Kimbap is a popular food sold in almost any convenience store ir Korea.
Is really like your regular Kimbap but with a Triangle shape :)

I would recommend this for the kids, somehow kids always find "different" shaped food more fun to eat.

I didn't have any recipes for this, so I was only able to do it with what I remember they had when I tried them, so here's my recipe!

-Tuna
-Kimchi
-Steamed Rice
-Seaweed
-Mayo (I didn't use any, but I should have)
(Note is not complicated to make, but I would recomend to have a Triangle shaped mold if you don't wanna suffer like I did hehe)


You just need to follow the next steps:

 

Triangle shaped rice (This is where you'll use the mold)

 

Add the chopped Kimchi and the Tuna (w/mayo)

 

Shape the Seaweed and it's ready! 

As you can see. is quite simple to make and fun to eat for kids :) 

-Gisela V.

Korean Food in Mexico ...3?

마뽀갈비  Restaurant

1st of all let me apologize for the lousy pictures, I didn't bring my camera with me and I only had my ipod...SOWY!!!!!!!!!!

마뽀갈비 or Ma-Po-Gal-Bi is the name of this restaurant located in Varsovia and Londres (close to Av. Chapultepec) in Mexico City.


This is my 2nd visit to this place and is mostly because it's good... the 1st time I went with my mom and we had
Yukgaejang (Hot Spicy Stew Soup) and Bibimbap 비빔밥

The stew was really spicy and you know that Spicy = Good for me :) it had lots of Nappa Cabbage and meat, the stew was boiling, at first my mom asked for this but I ended eating it :P

YU-M-M-E-R-S!!!!!!!!!!

The Bibimbap is a warm white rice topped with namul (sautéed and seasoned vegetables) and gochujang (chili pepper paste) plus a raw egg but everytime I ask for this my egg is fried.... according to out Guide in Korea it's because most foreignes won't eat a raw egg.... if you want to you can request the egg yolk raw.
If you have never tried Korean Food I would  recomend this to start. 

See? Fried egg!

In addition to this they also brought Banchan 반찬 or Side dishes and a Tofu/Soy Bean paste Stew that apparently came with the 비빔밥 and a bowl of rice

Soy bean paste, Tofu, Zucchini, Onion, Garlic and Ta-Da!

Banchan from the 1st time - The "hot-cake" look-alike is a Kimchi pancake

Of course... Water! 물

Of course of this 2nd visit I didn't want to try the same thing, so we ordered Kimchi Jigae 김치 찌개 (Kimchi Soup) and Bulgogi 불고기 (Marinated Beef), although I really liked the food (And the company), The bulgogi had a weird taste at the end because they put it over a hot pan with foil and I hate food with foil taste :S ew!... the Kimchi Jigae was pretty hot but overall was pretty good.

This time we got the Banchan and lettuce + 2 portions of white steamed rice :)

Banchan...See the green/brown thing between the Kimchi and the Cucumber?... nor me or the waiter kne what it was...apparently it was fried sea-weed with sugar... O_O I...didn't like it u_u

  

밥 - Rice

Kimchi Jigae

불고기

Lettuce