Cravings.

I'm craving for some patpingsu!

Chuncheon's Dalk Galbi Street.

Whenever I think about Chuncheon, it's hard not to associate it with food. Sure we all know about Chuncheon's local specialty dish called Dalk Galbi, but who knew there's a street there named after it?

All the restaurants serve nothing but Dalk Galbi.

All the restaurants look promising, but this particular restaurant caught my eye.

What's great about this restaurant is that it was featured in a local and foreign TV show... It also appeared in newspapers saying it's the best...

This is how it looks when they serve it.

And this is how it looks right after cooking... It was absolutely delicious!



But their serving is a bit small so we ordered another dish.. This time it was Makguksu.. A spicy noodle dish that's also famous in the area.

The next time you visit Chuncheon, try visiting Dalk Galbi street. It sure as hell worth the travel.

Korean Food Project: Figure-Friendly Chapchae.

Chris came back home really early on Friday, and bugged me to prepare something noddle-y for dinner. I wasn't in the mood to eat or cook anything (the smell of food is kind of revolting these days), but he rarely makes a request like that so I dutifully obliged. I checked our perpetually understocked fridge and somehow I came up with a few veggies... perfect! Next, I rummaged the storage cabinet and found an old pack of chapchae noodles and thankfully, it wasn't expired yet. Chapchae isn't really a main dish here. It's more of a side dish served alongside stews and meat dishes. But together with rice, kimchi and a few other banchan, it can be considered a decent meal and ought to give him a noodle fix.

Since I'm bent to lose weight, I wanted to make my chapchae as healthy as possible; no meat, less oil and lots of veggies. And again, pardon me if my ingredients and methods are kind of different from the usual..

Here's what I used: 300 grams of chapchae noodles (soaked in water for 15 minutes), cabbage, carrots, bell peppers, onions and minced garlic. I veered away from meat and used re-hydrated mushrooms and shrimp - both are rich in flavor and enough to give chapchae a savory boost.




First, I sauteed the vegetables in 1 tbsp of olive oil. 2 minutes is probably good, you don't want your veggies to be overcooked. *Many presumes olive oil as light and low in calorie, but go easy on using it. Olive oil packs in a whopping 120 cal/tbsp.




I added the shrimp and mushrooms and stirred it for about 3 minutes.

Next, I added the noodles, a cup of water (you could use chicken or beef broth instead of water)

and half a cup of soysauce. Let it sit for about 5 minutes till the liquid evaporates. And lastly, season it with salt and pepper. *Like most Korean dishes, this dish calls for sesame oil, but I don't particularly like the flavor of that.

And here's the finished product.. A figure-friendly chapchae that's bursting with flavor!

I don't mean to brag but Chris said it's the most delicious chapchae he has ever tasted. He ate it with rice and few other stuff, while I only had a small serving of it and nothing else. He found it weird that I eat it by itself, he doesn't know that for us Pinoys, it's taboo to eat noodles with rice. ^^;

Korean Food Project: O-jing-oh Bokkeum

While cleaning the fridge yesterday, I saw a couple of slightly-withered veggies hidden amongst pile of banchan. They all looked like they need to be cooked right away or they'll be good as trash in a few days. I tried to think what I could make of it but I didn't have any meat, so off I went to Homeplus. They were selling squid at a really cheap price so I bought 2 large ones for 3,000 won. The veggies at home are perfect with the squid to make O-jing-oh Bokkeum (stir-fried squid in uber spicy sauce). I've never tried making this dish before, so excuse me if my methods are kind of odd and my proportions are unheard of.

You'll need: A quarter of a cabbage, bean sprouts, enoki mushrooms, carrots , onion, garlic and a couple of spicy green peppers. You can slice it any way you want to.

And for the sauce: I used gochujang (red pepper paste), gochukaru (red pepper powder), soysauce and some honey. This recipe calls for sesame oil, but I don't really like the taste of that so instead, I used extra virgin olive oil and toasted sesame seeds for flavor. I'm not really sure of the proportion, but a tablespoon of each is a good bench mark. I didn't want it to be too spicy so I didn't put a lot, but you can add more according to your liking.

Mix it all together in a bowl till you come up with a paste like this.

The hardest part in making this dish is cleaning the squid cause it could get pretty nasty. You really have to wash it well to get rid of the smell. Then you have to remove the skin, the backbone, innards, and the creepy looking head (but save the tentacles!). When it's all clean, slice it into rings and stif-fry it in the pan.

When the squid is nearly cooked, add in the veggies and the sauce mixture. Stir continuously till all of the squid is covered in sauce. Don't overcook it or you'll end up with a tough squid.

Add a dash of toasted sesame seeds before serving.

I served this for dinner and Chris really loved it! It may not be as good as the ones they serve in restaurants (God knows how much MSG they use to make it really tasty), but it's a delicious, cheaper and healthier alternative for that. I ate only a small portion of this and Chris finished it all in one sitting. How's that for a compliment?!

Rainy Kind Of Wonderful (part 2).

At the other side of Cheongsong, not far from the reservoir, we visited this place called Juwang-san National Park. Juwang Mountain is part of Taebaek Mountain Range. It's summit is only 721 meters high - the smallest among all national parks in the country. 'Small' as they say, but the way I see it, it's massive. It houses several valleys, waterfalls and caves. I bet it's going to take the whole day if you wanna explore all the good things this park is famous for.





Juwangsan is known for it's beauty, but more so it's also a subject of many tales and legends. Important people in history seek refuge here during the ancient times of war and struggle.

There are lots of interesting rock formations to see there, but I got to say this hand-shaped rock is the most remarkable of them all. Right beside it is a Buddhist temple. See those colorful lanterns on the trees? They hung it to commemorate Buddha's birthday.




It's not really steep so it's good for hiking and stuff. Too bad we came at a bad time. It was hard to climb with umbrella and all that mud sticking in your shoe, so we chose to spend the rest of the afternoon at some traditional restaurant at the foot of the mountain. It's where I tasted the most delicious Dongdongju (Korean rice liquor).




I never really understood why Koreans like to drink Dongdongju and eat Pajeon when it rains till that day. Dongdongju doesn't really make you drunk, but it makes your body nice and warm against the cold rain. And as for Pajeon, they say it's the perfect sidedish to go with Dongdongju, and I couldn't agree more!

Our Foggy Day Adventure in Yeongdeok.

After our stint in Gyeongju, we drove to Yeongdeok next. Yeongdeok is a small, rural county lined with mountains and beautiful coastlines in the North Gyeongsang province. We've been here last summer, but only to eat their famous King Crab. This time around, we wanted to explore more and see the beautiful sights there.

Yeongdeok is about an hour and a half away from Gyeongju. We arrived around 9 pm and it was raining so went to the first inn we saw to rest. It's right in front of the coast, and it's also near this colorful bridge.



In the morning, the view from the floor-to-ceiling glass is spectacular. Outside, the view is even better. We only had to walk a few steps to reach the coast. It was a bit foggy and the sky was all dark and gray from the rain - not exactly the kind of weather you associate with beaches and stuff. But you know what? I did enjoy the weather. It's nice to see and experience it for a change.



Here's Chris enjoying the view.


We had an early lunch at a restaurant nearby. Or menu was crab soup and Mul-hui (mul = water, hui = sashimi).

After that we drove towards the mountain and the view got even better.

We arrived at the Sunrise Park (해맞이공원) around 12 noon. This tower is the first thing that caught my attention. We climbed towards the top, and boy... it was so cold and windy up there!

Below the tower, there's a stairway that'll bring you closer to the water.

It was hard to go down cause the way was muddy and slippery. I was scared to death I'm gonna trip and roll towards the icy waters... ^^;

This is where you should be when you want to have the best view of the sunrise.
Too bad we're too late for that. : (

The place is so beautiful there are endless opportunities to take pictures. Standing in the middle of wildflowers, with fog and the beautiful sea at the back, it felt like I was in the middle of a beautiful dream...

After a while, the rain grew stronger and fog became heavier so we decided to leave the Sunrise Park and go to our next destination. See how foggy it was? It was almost impossible to drive at that time.

We were supposed to see plenty of gigantic windmills (력발전단지) at our next destination, but unfortunately the fog was so thick we couldn't see any. I was disappointed cause I heard it's pretty cool.

The rest of the afternoon was spent driving beside the coastline and watching the waves grow bigger and bigger. When we grew hungry, we went to the Crab market to eat. Our menu was steamed King Crabs just like what we had last year.

You can have the crabs anyway you want to, the staff there will cook it for you. But both us agree that steamed is the best way to enjoy the natural taste. It was soooo delicious! And the taste is forever seared in my memory. This picture looks a little nasty, but my mouth waters just by looking at it!

Chris paid 50,000 won for four crabs, and we got this shells for free! It's a little hard to eat this. You need to use a toothpick to get the meat out of the shell, then you dip it in gochujang and pop it in your mouth.

I'm sure you all agree that a delicious meal like that is the best way to cap off an amazing journey!

Take Your Tastebuds For A Rollercoaster Ride In Gyeongju.

As much as I hate to admit it, I think I'm packing on some serious poundage these days. Maybe it's just PMS bloat, my new haircut, or probably the clothes that make me look a bit chunky. But whatever it is, it's freaking me out, and I can't stop myself from measuring my waist like crazy every single day.

I'm actually pretty good at sticking to my diet when I'm alone. Whenever I feel like binging, I just think of the revolting smell of animal fat in fried chicken or the glistening crust of pizza smothered in oil ~ nothing kills my appetite than that. But when I'm with Chris, it's a different story. It's hard to stick to any form of dieting when all your partner could think about is FOOD. I can't count how many times we argued at HomePlus cause he fills the cart with the things I hate the most. Chris calls it food, I call it lard, trans-fat, and heart-attack-waiting-to-happen wrapped in shiny packaging. He's not like that before, but after he contracted a bad case of flu and lost a lot of weight, he became obsessed with eating. The poundage he lost or that I gained is always a bad news. There's nothing more depressing than seeing myself looking like an elephant while standing beside his skinny-scrawny physique in pictures.

Chris knows how much I deprive myself of food at home, so whenever we travel, he makes it a point to bring me to restaurants that serve really good Korean food (but not the ones that will torture my arteries in the process). And the best thing about Korean food is that you can eat it without guilt. Well, except for their grilled meat dishes, cause the very smell of those is already filled with fat and cholesterol. :)

This is the Sambap restaurant in Gyeongju that Chris brought me to. For those who are planning to visit Gyeongju, I highly suggest you visit this place. I forgot the name, but if it helps, it's located right in front of Daereungwon. There are many Sambap restaurants there, so be sure to look for that tacky arch to know you're in the right place.

An elaborate, sumptuous feast with dishes you can hardly count - how could anyone be disappointed?

This is how you eat Sambap: Get a piece of their blanched vegetable (some are raw), then put meat, rice, and some spicy sauce. Wrap it all together and eat.

This salt-cured fish is one of the side-dishes they served. It reminds me of bagoong. You have to be very careful when you eat this cause it has so many bones. It's also very salty - as in deadly salty it could make your tongue flinch.

And this is chot kal or salted fish innards. In the Philippines, we usually throw the innards, but here they make it as chot kal. It looks disgusting but it has a very interesting taste. One word of caution though.. you must eat it this with a mouthful of rice cause it's salty as hell.

And if you still got room for dessert (which I doubt unless your stomach is as big as a bathtub), try visiting a Chal Bori Bbang store - it's scattered all over Gyeongju. Chal Bori Bbang are mini pancakes made from sticky barley. It's really, really delicious but not in a sugary-sweet kind of way. A box of 20 costs 10,000 won.

All those delicious food equates to insurmountable amount of calories to burn right? The good news is, there are always mountains to climb, and plenty of rivers, waterfalls, valleys and parks to visit after. So don't be afraid to take your tastebuds for a rollercoaster ride when you're in Gyeongju!

Gyeongju And Tales Of The Three Kingdoms.

Even as a kid, I've always been interested in history. It's something Chris and I share in common. This interest probably fuelled my passion for travelling, cause the more I travel, the more I get to learn. And of all the places I've been to in Korea, Gyeongju is the most interesting. Not only is it rich in culture, it also has a very long and colorful history. I'm gonna brush up a little bit of Korea's history. Skip it if it isn't your nap time yet. : )

Gyeongju is the capital of Silla Dynasty. It's one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea and the longest sustained dynasty that ruled for almost a thousand years. The other two are Baekje of Cheolla province and Goguryeo of the North (present day North Korea). Although Silla reigned the longest, it wasn't actually the strongest - the strongest being Goguryeo who was founded by Jumong and whose territory extends from present day Jilin, China to Vladivostok, Russia. Silla, although the weakest of the three had several great rulers. One of the most notable person that ruled the Kingdom was Queen Seon Deok. She was the first woman who ruled the Kingdom, and was known for her wit and courage as Silla then was plagued with rebellions and war from Goguryeo and Tang Dynasty of China. She didn't produce an heir so when she died, the throne was passed to her cousin Jin Deok who later became the 28th ruler of Silla and the second woman to rule the Kingdom. Silla's Golden Age came during the reign of King Muyeol who succeeded the throne from Jin Deok. He made an alliance with Tang and defeated Goguryeo and Baekje (the alliance with Tang resulted to Korea losing a big part of their land). Tang expanded it's rule in the North and wanted to establish territories in Baekje, and Silla realizing that, staged a battle that lasted for 10 years to expel all Tang's forces out, and later forming "Unified Silla". It is during this time where Korean arts and the Buddhism culture flourished and can still be seen all over Gyeongju today. Later, descendants from Baekje established Hubaekje, and rebels from the North created Hugoguryeo. Together with Silla, they formed "The Later Three Kingdoms". Unified Silla weakened in time till finally, it surrendered to Goryeo - a successor of Goguryeo. Goryeo also defeated Later Baekje, forming one ruling dynasty in Korea. Goryeo's reign lasted for almost 500 years till it was defeated by Joseon - the last dynasty to rule Korea.

Whew! I didn't know it's tough to summarize the convuluted Korean history in one paragraph! Anyway, let's go back to Silla. When Kings and noblemen of Silla dies, their remains are buried in large tombs. In this picture, you could see some of those large ancient tombs. This place is called Daereung-won.

And this picture is taken at Gyerim Forest Park, just beside Daereung-won. You could see a lot of ancient trees here.

Queen Seon Deok took pride in creating this ancient observatory which dates back from 7th century called Cheomseongdae (Star-gazing Tower). It's one of the oldest scientific installations on Earth. Can you imagine that?

Ok, I didn't watch the popular "Queen Seon Deok" drama (I'm not really crazy about Korean dramas), but I'm guessing not all of the stories there are true. But for what it's worth, I did visit a place where the drama was shot. Here are some picures of those.

Other places I visited in Gyeongju that connect to the ancient dynasty are Anapji, Seokguram and Bulguksa. I wrote an entry about it last year. Read it if you've got time to kill.

If Gyeongju's historical sites are a little too much for you, you could visit this Lake Park in Bomunho.

And when you're legs get tired from pedalling those little duck boats, go treat yourself with a bowl of Patpingsu.

I know this post is boring to some, especially on a Monday morning. For my next posts, I promise to veer away from hardcore history stuff. Hope you all have a chill Monday!