Korean Ginseng ~ KoreaTaste Gift

Hi everyone!,

As some of you already know, I'm a huge fan of Korean Food, I love eating it and cooking it, and KoreaTaste started their blogging contest on february, which was entered by default since I was already a member of the site, this only encourage me to blog more about food!

Last month the winners were announced and I got 3rd place (YAY!), and also got selected as a winner for being a "new" member, 2 weeks ago I received an email regarding my gift being sent and this Thursday I got a huge package on the mail!

The package had a Thank you letter from KoreaTaste, a Box of Seaweed (5 packages), 1 Box of Korean Red Ginseng Tea (it contains like 100 teabags) and a bottle of Korean Red Ginseng extract, of course I didn't know how to use this, so I asked some friends and checked some videos online to know more about it.



First, the Teabags, the ginseng comes in some sort of powder, there's no need of a Teabag or a Tea-spoon (is that how it's called? lol), you just pour it in warm water and that's it, I thought it was going to taste bad (I read about the bad taste somewhere), but no, the taste is a little bit sweet and it's very refreshing, anyway, I found out that Korean Ginseng is good to lower high blood pressure, helps Boost the immune system, helps treat Diabetes Mellitus and helps developing Brain efficency and also it has some effect on the eyes... I read you have to take about 600ml a day (2-3 cups) and after 2 weeks you have to take another week off of the tea, it's not recommended to drink it at night because it can cause insomnia, and I already have enough insomnia to add this to it :P. I just started taking it this weekend, so, let's see how it helps in the next couple of weeks!

The Korean Red Ginseng Extract helps:

 Relieve stress and fatigue since Ginseng works as a natural adaptogen in the body that allows the body to accommodate to stress in a natural manner (it is also said to work with the nervous system as a natural tranquilizer)

Boost mental efficency since it containg many gensenosides that are able to boost efficency in the brain and reduce mental fatigue.

Boost libido, this is one of the most widely-known bennefits of Red Ginseng ~Something I don't think I'll get to test~ lol

Boost immune system because of Ginseng's high amount of Vitamins and Minerals, it is believed to strength the body's immunity and it can also wok as a natural detoxifier.

Lower blood pressure. It is benneficial to those who suffer hypertension (Like me!)

Control blood sugar. Red Ginseng reduced cortisol levels in the bloodstream and helps promote insulin production. Helps manage or preven Diabetes.

Treat Arthritis, because of its anti-inflammatory properties is a great natural alternative to reducing the severity of rheumatoig arthritis.

Promote Bodily balance, all ginseng varieties are classified as adaptogens aka herbs that work addressing any imbalances you have in your body (includes infections, insomnia, stress, digestive issues, etc.

And I don't think I have to tell you what the Seaweed is used for, right? :)

There you have it, I guess I'll be posting more about this since I just started taking the Ginseng Tea and this week I'll try the Red Ginseng!

감사합니다!

I would like to thank KoreaTaste for the opportunity to blog for them and for the Healthy presents I got! 

-Gisela V.

**Source: http://voices.yahoo.com/benefits-korean-red-ginseng-10509853.html

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

Korean Recipe: Japchae

I can honestly say Japchae is one of my favorite Korean dishes and just like Bibimbap is something quite easy to make.

Image: Maangchi.com

Japchae is made with potatoe noodles and vegetables, this dish is served during traditional Korean Festivities and if you have ever had Korean Food in Mexico you'll know this dish is part of the Banchan they usually serve you!

This recipe is very easy to follow, so here it goes:

1.- Cut the cucumber into thin slices, remove the seeds, marinate with salt and squeeze out the excess water,  pan-fry them for a minute

Image source: www.chow.com

2.- Cut the onion  into long, thin slices and pan-fry them
3.- Cut the carrots (lengthwise) into thin slices, season with salt and pan-fry them
4.- Cut the beef and mushrooms into thin slices and pan-fry them
5.- Beat one egg and fry into a thin layer, then cut it into thin layers.
6.- Boil cellophane noodles, the noodles should be soft but firm (Does that make sense?, check out the package instructions for better understanding!)
7.- Rinse the noodles in cold water, add soy sauce, sugar and seasame oil. Stir fry the mixture in a large pan using vegetable oit.
8.- Add the vegetables to the pan, mix and season with soy sauce, salt, sesame salt, sugar and sesame oil.
9.- Add the egg slices.

Even thou this is very easy to make, it involves too many steps and if you are lazy like me (sometimes),  you can also go to a Korean Store and buy it there :)

If you have any Korean Food recipes to share let me know!!, I'm always up to try to cook something new.

-Gisela V.

Bi-bim-bap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who doesn't like Bibimbap?....



Just last week I made some homemade Bibimbap and I realized I never posted the recipe here, this is pretty simple to make and you can basically just use left-over veggies, rice, an egg and Gochujang.


Bibimbap is a combination of Red pepper paste (Gochujang), Steamed rice and vegetables, this creates a very pleasant harmony, I was lucky enough to eat Jeonju's Bibimbap at  the Gajokhwoigwan Restaurant, Jeonju is famous for its Bibimbap and it's the only place where I've tried it with a raw egg yolk... anyway, here's the Recipe!




Ingredients (4 Portions):

800 grs. Steamed Rice
200grs.  Bean Srputs
100grs.  Spinach
3            Shiitake mushrooms
1/3         Carrot
3  tbsp   Sesame Oil
2  tbsp   Minced garlic
             Salt
2  tbsp  Vegetable Oil
3  tbsp  Gochujang (Red pepper paste)
4          Eggs

Wash the rice 3 times to remove the starch and place it in a thick pot with 3 cups of water, boil over high heat for 15 minutes and then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 more minutes, put a lid on the pot and don't open it until the rice is fully cooked!!

Parboil the bean sprouts and season with same oil, salt and minced garlic.

Bibimbap @ my Korean Air flight!

Boil the spinach, then rinse in cold water to avoid overcooking it, squeeze out the water and season with sesame oil and salt.

Grease the pan with sesame oil and parch the mushrooms.

Cut the carrot into a small, thin strips and pan-fry them.

Fry the eggs making sure the yolk doesn't break!!!

Finally, place the rice in a BIG bowl, add the veggies, add the Gochujang and place the egg on top of the rice and veggies.

As you can see it's pretty easy to make, if you don't have those veggies don't worry, go ahead and use whatever you have on your fridge, this is a perfect food for those days you feel like there's "nothing" to eat at home ;)

Have you ever had Bibimbap? How was it?

-Gisela V.

Where to Eat in Seoul?

If you are in Seoul there is NO way you are going to be hungry, food can be found everywhere!, from a Fancy Restaurant, to Street stalls to a MiniMarket where you can grab some Kimbap or a canned Coffee...

But there are some places you might don't want to miss!

The 1st one I would like to talk about is "Bulgogi Brothers" 

Pic source: bulgogibros.com

Type: Korean Restaurant
Location: Seoul Finance Center
1-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul. Basement
Website: http://bulgogibros.com

I had one of the biggest dinners at Bulgogi Brother's, it was a never ending feast, the staff is very attentive, the meat we ate was top quality (as everything else) and out waiter even cut the meat for us^^

We ate Beef, Ribs, Mandu, Salad, Banchan, Cold noodles, Corn and pretty much whatever they brought to our table, we spent over 2 hours eating, if you visit Seoul you might not want to miss this place to have your share of Bulgogi!


My 2nd recomendation is "The Place Dining"

Pic source: www.nseoultower.co.kr

Type: Italian
Location: N Seoul Tower 2F
Website: http://www.nseoultower.co.kr/eng/visit/restaurant3.asp

Even though this is not a place to go get your Korean Food and most people would recoment HanCook (also located at the Tower) this is restaurant serves excellent food and an AMAZING view, just for the view you'll know this place is worth it, it won't matter if you go by Day or Night, Spring, Autumn or Winter you'll have Seoul as your background, this place is ideal for a romantic date.

Pic source: www.nseoultower.co.kr

And my 3rd recommendation of the day is "Hwanghu Samgyetang-황후삼계탕"

Type: Korean/Samgyetang
Location: Seoul-si Jongno-gu.  Insadong 10-gil 5
Website: N/A

Samgyetang is Chicken Gingseng soup, this soup is cooked slowly with 19 medicinal herbs... You know this is good for you if it has 19 herbs, right?, when I visited this restaurant I had the “Insadong Samgyetang" due to its slow cooking method the soup is cooked for several hours and it makes the chicken very tender so you can just tear it in half and find it to be filled with rice, this food is served in the summer for its nutrients to replace those nutrients lost through sweating during the hot summers in Korea. 

So, there you have it, 3 different options to eat in Korea, you can choose between a MUST bulgogi restaurant, a place with THE view or the Healthy choice, I hope you get to try one of these places and ejoy it as much as I did!



-Gisela V. 

Korean Snacks

My precious!!

Hi everyone!

It's time to talk about 1 of my favorite things about Korea... that's right FOOD...specifically: Snacks!

Almost 3 months ago I traveled to Korea with other bloggers, the trip was awesome but we didn't really have much free time to do some shopping :( , on my last day I woke up really early to pack everything and to go a nearby supermarket to do some snack-shopping!! 

The supermarket was only a few blocks away from our hotel so I had enough time, I took my time there and I chose some stuff I had already tried like Pepperos, Ramen and Chocopies!, I also HAD to buy Doritos for my sister since she asked me for this when I told her about buying snacks. 

So, this is what I got :) 

마이쮸  - 포도 aka Grape Taffy

This like most Taffys is good, I thought it was gum, but it wasn't haha but it was a nice sorprise :) It cost me about ₩600

떡볶이  -  In a bag! 

I am a huuuuge 떡볶이 fan, I've tried it with Ramyeon, with hard boiled egg and I've always loved it, so when I saw this bag of 떡볶이 "chips" I got EX-CI-TED and I was dying to try them, I was waiting for something spicy but it was sweet, like a caramel with an spicy punch at the end, at first I was disapointed but then I got used to the flavor and ended up liking it O_o and at times I crave it :( ..I honestly don't remember the price of this one, but I'm sure if I find it in Mexico it will cost me over ₩8,000... I once saw a bag of Korean Cheetos in Mexico and it was $80.00 MXP... Outrageous! 

찹쌀 가루  -  Glutinous Rice Powder

This one is used to make Rice Cake, I should've made rice cakes to make 떡볶이 but I was too confident on myself and tried to make Mangachi's 무지개떡 aka Rainbow Rice Cake even though it's an easy to follow recipe I had to improvise a steamer since I don't have a real one, and this is where things got messy.... I won't talk about it because it makes me sad :( but I'm sure this is a good product if used correctly kkkk. 

타코스  -  Tacos

I just got this one because it said "MEXICO", so I had to try them, the taste is like a Cheese Dorito, I like the shape of this and the cheesy flavor... but I was hoping the shape was like in the picture where you can add a filling hahaha

맛 김치  -  Flavored Kimchi

This one isn't a snack, but who cares!, I just got it because it was Kimchi and I was totally into buying everything I saw.... It was a small bag, it contaings 300grs of Kimchi and it was enough to make 3 servings of Kimchi Pancakes :) , it wasn't very spicy but it was OK... althoug I think if I was living in Korea I wouldn't buy this one and would try to get one with a more "home-made" taste (???)

도리토스  -  Doritos

We ALL know Doritos, right? ... My sister saw them at a Korean store in Mexico and asked me to get a bag for her since it would be like 4 times cheaper than the Korean Doritos in Mexico, there's something about Hangul writen in products that makes us want to buy them.... I just wish they had a Korean flavor to offer.... maybe there is a Korean flavor but this store only had Cheese... Taste exactly the same as 도리토스 in Mexico.... but look cooler haha.

돌자 반  -  Seasoned/Rosted Seaweed

As you can see in the picture I ate this with steamed rice, it gives a nice sort of sweet flavor to the rice, for those who don't like to eat plain rice this can be a good option... I still have some and I'm just waiting for the oportunity to cook some Korean Food and rice to finish it. This one was about ₩2,000 and if I compare it with the price of the same bag in Mexico I can say it cost less than half of what I'd pay here.

팔도 비빔면  -  Bibimmyeon

I heard of this before, but I had never tried it... I didn't add the veggies or the egg and it was just like eating Ramyeon with Gochujang paste... I liked it and I ate them again in Rome :$  I don't usually buy Ramyeon at the Korean Markets in Mexico because it might be a bit expensive, so I usually buy my Ramyeon at the Supermarket... I should have gotten more of these....

비틀즈  -  Beatles (Yup, like The Beatles)

I wasn't exactly sure what this was, but my mom liked The Beatles so...why not getting it?, it was fruits pretending to be The Beatles...

I'm guessing these are the Korean version of Skittles (Beatles....sound alike), same texture, same flavor, all in all it was good and I'd definitely buy them again!





As you can see, I got a LOT of snacks, I also got BBQ Pringles (we don't have that flavor in Mexico) and my sister and I liked them very much, I got different kinds of Peppero, Ramyeon and
Tea, I got a Green Tea with Brown rice, I didn't realize it had "Brown Rice" and got 2 boxes because my sis loves Green tea, turns out this wasn't the kind of Green tea she likes...so... more tea for me!, I'm currently on my 2nd box of Tea!

Anyway, almost 3 months later I have barely nothing left :( , so if anyone would like to send me some Korean Snacks I would pretty much appreciate it and I can send Mexican Snacks in return haha.

Do you guys have a favorite snack?, What is it?

-Gisela V. 

WKB Tour - Day 4

We woke up early and had breakfast at the Guest House :) I can only remember eating rice, soup and banchan but I don't recall exactly what it was, I was still sleepy and I didn't have any cameras with me to document my food haha, we packed all of our stuff and were told our bus had arrived.... OUR BUS!....because we are cool like that we didn't have a VAN...nop we had a WHOLE bus forthe 11 of us... it was like being a Rockstar (Ok no) hahaha... I still remember Grace feeling shy telling us we were not taking a small bus or a van but a bus.... I know we all liked it :D

Last group pic  @ Hanok / Bus!

Before taking the bus we were invited to have some Tea with the Guest House'owner at the main House (room?...construction?), we got there and she told us a little bit about the history behind the Hanok, his ancestors and the Tea wewere drinking, if you read my last post you probably read KoreanClassMassive'spost about the Guest House (pretty informative, huh?), we were told that the tea we were drinking was a special mix made by the owner itself :) , we all had a cup of Tea and then a tour through the House... it's impressive how it's made, you can find divissions on 1 floor that will make it 2 very short floorsO_O (You know what I mean, right??....errr....sorry), after the Tour, we took some Pictures, Group pictures and pictures of us receiving a Green Tea bag as a gift from the owners we were ready for our bus and it was time to get ready for the Cameras again. You can be ready for lots and lots of shots of us going in and out of that bus....I can imagine a remix with a catchy song of us getting on/off the bus (Oh GOD why!! haha)

We had some time to rest at the bus while we were driven to Jeonju's FilmStudio Complex, this studio was opened in 2008 and consists of 2 indoor studios and outdoor sets, the place is BIG O_O ,saddly the indoor studios didn't have any sets done and were underconstruction, so we didn't really get to see an actual finished set, also...we weren't really allowed to take pictures inside. This studio is the first studioin Korea to be established by local government, some of the movies recorded in there are Ssanghwajeom (2008), Private Eye (2009), Jeonuchi (2009), BattlefieldHeroes (2010), and My Way (2011) [Apparently the Movie My Way is pretty famous,so I guess we should check it out], admission is FREE and operation hours are from Monday-Friday: 9:00-18:00.
 
Besides the 2 indoor studios, there's another building with Props of some of themovies, fake guns, knives, clothes, original scripts, fake rocks O_O, etc.... 

 

To bee honest I was not in a very good mood when we were at the Studio because some stuff there reminded me of my mom O_o and it's hard to be OK around somany people :S ....at a moment I tried to refuse to say something at the Camera because I just wasn't feeling it u_u luckily Ema (KCM) came to the rescue at that moment and joined the hmm..."interview"?  ~Thanks Ema!~

When we were done at the Film Studio we got back in the bus and went to a very cute Coffee Shop close to the Studio... this is only memorable because I had the weirdest drink you can have at a Coffee Shop... you know how I like to trynew things, right? ... well this trip was no exception, so when I was reading the menu I found the Coffee Coke.... yup.... neither of us really knew what that was (Not even Grace or the Camera crew) so I decided to order it... aftersome time I got a big Coke glass with a shot of espresso and contrary to what everyone though I wasn't hyper the rest of the day... :) ...just as a sidenote....people says the BAGELS from that shop are quite good ;)  ;)
 

Very yummy food

Once we finished our drinks we went to a convenience store to buy some drinks and we were off to Gunsan to take a Ferry to take us to Seonyu. We arrived to Gunsan to have lunch, we went inside a big building that had giant fish tanks O_O, turns out the whole building is full with Raw Fish restaurants,we went up and there was a room reserved for us (How VIP of us!), at 1st we sat on the "floor" Korean style and about 5 mins later we realized the seating wasn't very Korean Style, more like western style on the flood or as Jessica says "We had drop-down seatingon the floor, meaning that our legs could hang below us in a hollow space underneath the table. It is like sitting on a chair, but with no back,and it is very comfortable". Once we sat the food started arriving... itwas a never ending feast, Raw Fish, ALIVE OCTOPUS, sea food I was unable to identify but was brave enough to try, Sashimi, Tuna, Seaweed cones with fisheggs and vegetables, a soup we didn't get to try, Shrimps, Tempura....lots of yummy foods, the Alive Octopus is something I've read about and I still can't believe I tried it.... everything was OK until Ema and Annabel told me this story they saw on TV about people eating alive octopus and then having weird stuff growing on their mouths..... sometimes I feel things growing on my mouth.... Thank you Emabel!!!, we had to rush out (that's why we didn't get to try everything) because we had a Ferry to catch, apparently we were taking the"Fast" ferry and it would only be a 40-45min ride... I'm not a big fan of the sea in general, but the 1st half was very fun, some were trying to feed the seagulls, we were taking pictures and just being random until we were to tired to keep doing it and we all ended up seating just waiting to arrive at the Island.

When we finally arrived we were told a driver was waiting for us... it was thispretty cool truck and most of us decided to ride on the back on this tiny chairs to enjoy the view :) the weather was nice, not too hot not too moist, just perfect :) the ride to our accommodation took about 10 mins, it was next to a rocky beach and there were this wooden little houses, We would share rooms (2 people per house).

 

Amazing views of the Islands

We left our stuff and were ready to go back to the truck and it was time to takea tour through the Island, after a short drive we arrive at a bridge that connects with Janga Island, we walked and walked and walked... Did I mention Yeon and HanJeon took bikes instead of the Truck?... HanJeon went M.I.A and about 30mins later Yeon found us, he was pretty tired and you could tell he was regretting taking the bike with the Camera hahaha, we walked some more, up the hill, down the hill, pictures here and there and just when the sun was setting we were done, we walked back (I helped Yeon and took the bike back for a little while) and then took the truck back to our Houses (what?? it was my house for over 12 hours!! haha). Since we are bottomless we were ready to eat again, we chilled for a bit and then HanJeon, Yeon and Sun Ho started the fire for a BBQ, I went out and offered some help but they refused and instead offered me some meat and drinks...just a few minutes later Ema and Annabel joined me just in time forthe 1st batch of barbequed meat and little by little everyone gathered and weall had a nice dinner, barbequed meat, rice, Kimchi, Lettuce, Pork, banchan, etc... 

After we finished our food and chatted for a lil while, we were all pretty tired (it was just like 8pm) but I can say this was the best meal of the trip, I had so much fun talking to everyone, sharing stories and just chilling while listening the waves crash... we cleaned the table a little bit and went down the beach to play with fireworks :), once we were done with the fireworks we went back towere we had dined and were just talking... and guess what! about 20 mins later Yeoncame out and offered some Ramyeon....because apparently that's what you do whenyou go to the Beach / Mountains / Trips (????)... the worst is... we all ate somemore haha, after our ramyeon it was time to go to bed, we felt it was like 2amand it wasn't even 10pm!, we said goodnight and finally went to sleep, we set up our floor-beds (I was told sometimes those rooms can fit even 8-10 people O_O), I shared a room with Jessica and Grace, we all fall asleep as soon as our heads touched the pillow and that's how we ended Day 4 of our Tour.

Sorry for thee lousy pictures, I'm not good taking night pictures

-Gisela V.

2012 WKB Tour - Day 3

Hi everyone!

I'm back!, I didn't forgot the blog, turns out I've been sick since last week but I it all got worst over the weekend u_u,on monday morning I went to see my doctor and I got 4 days off of work X_X... and even thou I still don't feel 100% good I missed the blog and was worried for not blogging...

On my last post I talked about our Day #2 and how it was filled with activities.... Watching some of the photos that Korea Net uploaded on Flickr we realized we have lots of pictures wearing the same oufits and is by reviewing all the pics that you realize how much we did on this trip....

Thank You Korea Net for the pretty pictures!

Day 3 had an early start.... We all had our backpacks ready for our trip to Jeonju and so we met the Cam crew at Seoul Station at 8am and boarded our bus for a 3 hour ride from Seoul to Jeonju, honestly I was impressed by the price of the ticket...looks like it's pretty cheap to travel around Korea :O, this was my 1st roadtrip in Korea and even thou I was really tired after just 3 hours of sleep I'm not the kind that can easily fall asleep on a bus so I enjoyed the view for over an hour until we got to a Stop station (is that the name??)... it's basically like a BIG parking lot with Restrooms, Coffee Shops, Mini Marts and we even catched a duet performing in there... In Mexico a Stop station is usually restrooms and that's it O_o ...in Korea you can find snacks, food and drinks in here. We stopped at Cafe Bene for a drink and we were off for the rest of our ride.



Around 11am we reached Jeonju and it was HOT and moist O_o but as soon as we got there we got taxis to get to our next destination.... FOOOD!!! Jeonju is well known for the Bibimbap, in May 2012, Jeonju was indicted as a Creative City for Gastronomy as part of UNESCO's Creative Cities Network, this recognize the city's traditional home cooking, so you can only imagine how good we eat while in Jeonju (nom nom)

At the Taxi I was lucky enough to ride with the Yeon (yay!!), of course he wanted to ask us about how we felt in Jeonju, but I thought it was too early to such questions since we had just arrived, so I took his place as interviewer and started interviewing Dorothea (Germany) while Yeon filmed it :) it was the perfect chance to focus the camera on someone else haha, after a short ride we arrived at Gajokhwoigwan Restaurant were we received a brief explanation on Bibimbap from a teacher of Jeonju University (If you want to read more, I recommend checking this very informative post)

I can honestly say this is the BEST Bibimbap I've ever tried... the Gochuanj past is really spicy and we all had to drink lots of water but I love Spicy food so I had no problems with it being spicy :) , plus this was the 1st time I tried the Bibimbap with the raw eggyolk, this adds certain creaminess to the dish that a fried egg can not provide... not only did we have a huge serving of Bibimbap, we also got over 10 side dishes. My fave were the Gyegranjjim (Steamed Egg), Kimchi, The Pajeon and the Lotus Root that I've never tried before, by the end of our lunch we were ready for a nap (lol) but it was time to go Check in at our acommodation




We again took taxis and this time I rode the passenger front seat, the driver was this nice Ajusshi that couldn't resist and ask me where was I from... in Korean O_O Yeon played the translator role and after I said Mexico he started talking about Football and how Mexico had won the Gold Medal in the Olympics n_n

Inside of the Main Building at the Guest House

When we finally arrived at -what would be- our Hanok for 2 days/1 night... the Hakindang Traditional Hanok Guest House, this was once the home of Baek Nak-Jung (King Gojong granted him a government position out of admiration for his filial piety), this Traditional house was once an Upper class home from the Joseon-era and was built in 1905, you can read more about it from Korea Class Mavise blog here.

There were 3 rooms just for the girls (7 of us) but since Hanoks have this removable walls it was like a gigant room, we didn't have much time to wander around since we had to leave for a Tour through the Jeonju Hanok Village, after getting lost for a little bit (This was the perfect chance to take pictures!!) we finally met our Tour Guide, Jeonju Hanok Village has 700 traditional Korean houses, some are Stores, Restaurants, Tea Houses or just Homes for the residents.

We visited the  Gyeonggi Palace and the Jeondong Catholic Church.


The royal portrait housed in Gyeonggi Palace, Jeongjeon was a portrait of the founder of the Chosun Dynasty, Taejo Lee Seong-gye.  This portrait shows the king in royal attire, when attending to public matters, with a royal robe and crown.

This palace built in 1410 (10th year of the reign of King Taejong), houses the royal portrait of King Taejo, also named Bonjeon. Gyeonggi Palace was destroyed by fire during the Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1597, but was rebuilt in 1614 (6th year of the reign of Gwanghaegun) and has been preserved to this day







Right after the Gyeonggi Palace we were exausted so we were treated with a Pattbingsu, we went to the Dessert Factory ~ Grandma's best and it was indeed a pretty good/refreshing pattbingsu with sweet red beans and bites of Tteok, this was the perfect way to chill and recharge batteries for our next destination...

Pattbingsu

Tea Ceremony and Fabrics Dyeing!, these I've done before, you can read about the Tea ceremony here and the Fabric Dyeing I did it when I was in school a LONG time a go, the difference is... I didn't use natural colorants before, in here we got to Dye the fabric with a Yellow tint made of Onion skins but flowers are

also used for different colors.

After the Tea Ceremony and waiting for our fine pieces of art/handkerchiefs to dry, we were off to have dinner and soon we found an -OMG WHAT AN AMAZING MEAT!- restaurant were we had Bulgogi, Bibimbap, Rice, Side Dishes, Makgeolli and Moju (A local drink made with Makgeolli and Soju, with a very sweet taste like cinammon and now one of my fave Korean Drinks) ... we ate and we ate a lot...I remember being completely full but the meat was soo good but we didn't get to finish it (yet again!)... we then took a walk (great idea after that dinner) and we were off to the Pansori presentation.

Pansori is a genre of Korean Traditional Music, the vocals are performed by a Sorikkun (singer) and a Gosu (drummer playing a drum called BUK), I couldn't understand a single word of it but just by the way it's performed you can get the feeling of the piece being interpreted... it was a lovely Moonlight concert and the perfect way to wrap up our day, at the end we got to meet the Pansori Performer and we all got a Book with her CD :)





That night I realized I'm very well Oriented as some of the other members of the Tour didn't know how to go back to the Hanok O_O

When we arrived at the Hanok some of us didn't want to go to bed at 9pm (Can you believe we did so much before 9pm?) so we decided to go out for a bit, plus we had just met Asif (WKB living in ....), we were looking for a place that someone recomended to HanJeon (Photographer / KoreaNet) but I don't think thats were we ended, we went to a place were you can drink Makgeolli and they serve it with side dishes.. That has a name but I can't remember right now and google is not helping me... :( so yea, after dinner we went to the Hanok just to go out and eat again O_O and that was it for our 1st day in Jeonju....

I feel tired just reading this but I would definitely do it all over again!

-Gisela V.