Oh Happy Day!

Yes, this picture pretty much captures my joy and excitement at being back in Korea! I'm here in Seoul for just one week to get my Thai work visa processed and to spend time with some dear friends who I've missed so much! Food, friends, and weather 15 degrees cooler than Chiang Mai... what else can I ask for?

As soon as I got off the plane, I hopped on the train to get into Seoul, and instantly started taking pictures of evvvvverything!

I don't speak much Korean, but I love being able to read some signs! Above is a pharmacy, pronounced "yak," which I know must come from Chinese, because it's "yaa" in Thai, so I assume they have the same root. Yeah, yeah, boring side note you may say, but I'm so into languages, and every time I learn more about one, it enhances the way I learn about another one. I'm fascinated!

A typical kimbab restaurant. Open 24 hours a day, usually just about $1.50 per roll (rice and veggies rolled inside a sheet of seaweed, and sliced into little rounds). I felt a little like a tourist, taking pictures of all these everyday sights. But the truth is, it feels so good to be back here, and I just want to capture the things that make me know I'm back in Korea and cause me to smile. Thailand has bits of Korea all over the place (K-Pop playing in the mall, influences from Korean fashion, Thai girls talking about how cute Korean guys are, some Korean restaurants, tourists who are unmistakably Korean, etc.), so this country and all the great memories I have are never far from my mind. I knew I missed Korea, but it wasn't until I was plopped squarely back in that I realized how great it would feel to be back!

This week I'm staying with my friend Mipa, vegan baker/blogger/businesswoman extraordinaire. (Click here to see her blog, or here to see or order from her online vegan bakeshop.) She gave me a warm welcome back to Seoul, taking me on an outing around her neighborhood to see the markets and have lunch at a vegan buffet. Here's just one of the market stalls selling fresh veggies.

The Chinese market had these fun-shaped steamed buns.  Yummm.

Here's the vegan buffet restaurant we went to: Ahn Hyun Pil Healthy Buffet. (Check this page on Mipa's blog for location and info.)

It normally costs 9,000 Korean Won per person, for all you can eat, which is a pretty good price. But we had a special "welcome back to Korea" discount. As we were walking to the restaurant, I happened to notice some colorful pieces of paper ruffling on the sidewalk - 7,000 Won! So we put that money towards our bill and each only had to pay 5,500 Won (about $5) - woot woot!

This was my first plate of food, with our shared plate of greens, cabbage, seaweed and add-ons like fermented natto bean paste and some vinegary soy beans. Everything was so fresh and simple and natural. Nice hardy purple rice, different kinds of kim chi (cold cabbage, baked cabbage, radish), mushrooms, mountain greens, tofu, and jeon (kind of like a thin savory pancake).

I realllly missed kim chi. And the stuff served here was certainly not a let down. I have to say that everything on my plate was super flavorful.

And fun too! I liked wrapping some tofu or wheat-meat along with rice and natto bean paste inside the leaves. And not only did we both go back for second plates...

... but we got a little dessert of warm bread with a sweet and nutty spread, sprinkled with soybean powder.

It was pretty good, but Mipa and I are planning to make our own homemade bread soon. We've already made a few meals together, and man, I am lovin' it! This was our scrumptious dinner that night (which I just watched Mipa make, hehe): curried veggies and tempeh, brown/purple/wild rice and kim (sheets of salted seaweed).

And for breakfast we made these awesome oatmeal banana pancakes (recipe on this blog site):

With fruit and tea on the side, eaten outside on Mipa's sunny patio, it was a great start to my second day in Seoul!

Home Cookin'!

I actually did some cooking at home recently. In my NEW home, that is. Just moved into a new apartment on the campus where I'll be working as an English professor starting in June. Since the campus is a little outside the city of Chiang Mai, there isn't as much easy access to restaurants and street food. I will definitely miss the back gate of Chiang Mai University, with the nightly street vendors and plethora of restaurants, but I am happy to have the chance to cook at home again. On my first night in the new place, my flatmate took me to the nearby market to buy some vegetables and rice.

She also let me use all her utensils and cooking stuff, which is great because I don't have much! But what much do you need? A pan, some oil and soy sauce, fresh veggies, rice....  I actually bought the rice at this little shop down a dark alley behind the market that had huge barrels of rice for sale by the "leet." I got one leet (I think it's a take on the word "liter") of brown rice for about $1. Don't worry, it wasn't as scary as most dark alleys would make you assume, but the convenience store only sold big bags of white rice so I really didn't have a choice! Not having a rice cooker, we used this pot, with water in the bottom and a lid on top, to steam the rice.

While the rice was cooking, I prepared the veggies. I don't know the English name of this green vegetable.

And in Thai, I only know the name of its relative: phak sayotay. This particular one I'd never tried before, but my roommate said it's similar, just a little more bitter.  Hmm... bitter, who likes bitter? I decided to give it a try. I'm pretty sure it comes from the greens of a pumpkin plant; the little curly-q's are the giveaway. Chopped straw mushrooms and Chinese cabbage were the other two main ingredients. First, I sauteed some garlic in oil, then added the mushrooms, then the cabbage and greens.

I added some water to help steam and soften the vegetables. That also helped to make a bit of a sauce. Then I added some soy sauce. And to balance the bitter a little bit, I added a teaspoon or so of raw sugar. Here's my roomie, Ajaan Aoy, giving me a hand.

The brown rice was taking over an hour to cook, so I eventually abandoned that plan and just ate the veggies with some leftover white rice, because it was getting so late.

I like the vegetables to be just a little crisp; definitely not mushy. It's a pretty simple meal: rice and veggies. A nice inaugural cooking experience in my new home. Were the greens bitter? Yes. But I loved it! Ajaan Aoy told me that, biologically speaking, eating something bitter enhances your appetite. This could very well be true... or else I was very hungry! Either way, each bit I took of the bitter greens tasted better than the previous. Having the sweet sugar and the salty soy sauce made for a really nice flavor medley. I could try making this again with the added component of spicy. Maybe saute some chilis with the garlic... mmm...

I was quite satisfied with the dish as it was. And the next day, I definitely ate the leftovers with the brown rice that eventually cooked!

Something Good For the Soul (besides good food!)

Yes, I do love food. And as many of you know, I love to take pictures of food. But if you know me in person, hopefully you know I love many other things in life too. So I thought I'd write a few posts to share about some other meaningful aspects of my life here in Thailand. I was in Chiang Mai for the last few months, working with a study abroad program for American college students. One part of the semester is the students' internships. Some go to a rural elementary school just outside of the city. A number of students there come from fairly poor families, and some don't have families at all. We first got introduced to this school through some Maryknoll missionaries that helped kids who were living at the city's dump or who were orphans, by providing a hostel for them to stay in. This is the school they went to. Even though the missionaries are no longer connected to the hostel, we work directly with the school. Our students go four days a week to teach English, play games, and basically just be there to remind the kids that they're loved and valued. I got to go to the school one or more times every week to help the college students out a little. They didn't really need much help! I just kinda tagged along so I could see the kids! Especially these girls:

These girls are just two of the students at the school who never cease to make me smile. When the college students and I arrive at the school, it's not long before I hear their voices shouting "BUA!" That's my Thai name, and of course I love when they yell it! This picture was taken on the last day for their class (fourth grade) to be taught English.  First we taught them various vocabulary and phrases, like wheels/go round and round; baby/waa-waa-waa; horn/beep-beep-beep; wipers/swish-swish-swish; doors/open-and-shut. Then, naturally, we taught them how to sing "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round." I'm sure you can imagine how organized and orderly it was. Well, it was for the first 20-30 minutes, and then all parties involved let lose a bit. It was their last class after all! Things got a little crazy! And so fun!!

I think some people's energy got a bit zapped.

But only because they gave so much love! That's the way it is with these kids; you give and they give back. Last year, on the last day of classes, I was giving out lots of hugs, and even though it's not typical Thai culture, I gave the girls big kisses on their cheeks. They thought it was pretty funny at first, then a bunch of them came running back to get their own kiss on the cheek! So I thought it was pretty cute this year, when I came back, that they remembered me as the one who gives kisses. I don't honestly know which girl comes from what background, which ones live with loving families and which ones live at the hostel without much access to motherly hugs and kisses. Either way, when they hug and hold me and bury their heads in my chest, it doesn't really matter. Because I love them as much as they love me.