On a whim, I broke out ye olde Wikipedia and took down the population numbers for U.S. and South Korean cities. I matched them as closely as I could and plotted them out on a map. This is the result. I don’t know if it means anything to anyone, but it was a fun little exercise.
You know how I am skeptical of all the diet fads, especially the health claims attached to Korean cuisine. Korean cuisine, when done right, is quite healthy. But sometimes promoters are too eager to attach wild claims (Kimchi cures SARS) or use some flaky diet scheme to give the cuisine credence.
Here is an infographic I was handed about various popular diets, like the Paleo Diet. It weighs their pros and cons while distilling them to their true essences. Enjoy.
Via: RetrofitMe
Share it if you get it. (Hint: Think CCR)
This is a blog supplement to my article appearing in The Korea Herald this week.
Wow, it’s taken me two and a half years to get around to sharing one of the finds that was one of the reasons for starting the Food Journal.
During the short stint where I tolerated–lived–in Seoul, I lived down the street from a great pizza place and a smattering of Chinese grocery stores. This was near Bongcheong Station on the Green Line. The pizza place is, unfortunately, gone. Yet the Chinese groceries are still there. I went by there recently to do research and picture taking for an upcoming SEOUL Magazine article.
The bigger store, which isn’t saying much, is a lot of fun. It’s like exploring the Asian markets back home. It has all the exotic stuff that makes you think, “Ahh… Asia!”
It has freezers with Chinese sausage and coolers with Chinese beer and fresh cilantro. The spice selection is great, as well as the bottled sauces and liquors. The big find, for me, was the dried corn in various forms. One of the forms is a course grind, similar to grits and polenta.
When I saw this in 2005, I picked it up. It was only 2,000 won. I cooked it like traditional Southern grits and–well, it worked!
If you can get your paws on these, this is how I cook them, based on The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook.
Garlic Cheese Grits (serves 2)
1 cup Milk
1 cup Water
1 clove Garlic, chopped
1/2 cup Ground Corn Meal (Grits)
Salt (to taste)
Black Pepper (to taste)
1/4 cup Cheese, grated (Cheddar, Monterey–any semi-hard cheese–not Parmesan, Brie or–geez–sliced cheese)
A Big Ole Hunk o’ Butter
1. Combine the Milk, Water and Garlic and bring to a boil.
2. Rinse the Ground Corn and add it to the pot with a healthy pinch of Salt.
3. Reduce heat to medium and STIR!!! Stir constantly for around five minutes, until it starts smelling, um, corny.
4. Reduce heat to simmer, like barely a flame. Let it sit for fifteen to twenty minutes. Stir every few minutes or so to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
5. Turn off the heat. Add the Cheese, Black Pepper and Butter.
6. Eat.
This is a public service announcement, um, announcing, that the Weblog Awards have opened nominations.
Hmm, I wonder who could qualify for “Best Asian Weblog.”
This is one of those few areas where I’m political about food. Yes, I make fun of vegetarians a lot, but I respect them a lot more than meat eaters who want to pretend that their meat doesn’t come from a live animal. I myself have helped slaughter turkeys and have helped break down a pig. I thought the experiences would turn me off to eating meat. In fact, they helped me respect and appreciate where our food comes from.
Meat is more than something in a plastic-wrapped styrofoam container.
My favorite chef blog, Chris Consentino’s Offal Good, pictorially documents the process of cow to meat using humane slaughter techniques. My initial feeling is to warn you that it’s not for the squeamish. Then again, if you can’t handle what was sacrificed for your hamburger, you don’t deserve that hamburger.
I’d change hosting providers, but I’ve already paid for a few years hosting already. This is an alert to anyone hosted by Globat–they are doing it again. Here’s the email they sent out to everyone.
Dear Joe,
On Monday of this week, we sent you an e-mail with our new GloVault(tm) product upgrade offer that also included 3 free months of Web hosting and a price-freeze guarantee all for just $49.95. There is nothing you have to do to participate in this upgrade. It is all being done automatically! You will receive notification when you can use the wonderful new features of GloVault and your account on file is charged the one-time $49.95 upgrade fee.
If, by any chance, you have decided NOT to take advantage of this upgrade offer and the 3 free months of Web hosting, please click on the link below before midnight on August 16, 2007:
https://www.globat.com/optout_gv.php?52922.f3d3f73345
(If link does not work, please copy and paste the entire link into your browser.)
Thank you again for being a loyal customer.
Best regards,
Lou Rio
Vice President of Operations
Globat.com
(877) 245-6228 for US Customers
(323) 874-9000 for International Customers
(Emphasis added)
Yes, if you don’t do anything, they will automatically charge your account for this upgrade. I fell for it a while back because I habitually ignored emails from Globat. They spam you all the time. Then one day I found some money missing from my account and spent a good bit of time tracking down who did it.
I have heard of people putting together a class action lawsuit against them for these tactics. They are notorious for doing this. I am placing the alert out there to tell any Globat customers to check their email, in case they’ve assumed it was more spam. I have written them, saying that I no longer want to receive emails like this. They wrote back, apologized, and promised to no longer send me automatic upgrade offers.
Their memories are short. Mine isn’t.
An essay that I wrote on Korean food and essays and photos from other foreigners in Korea, including some that you have seen on this site, is now published in the book Korea Up Close. You can buy your copy at Seoul Selection right now. If you look closely, you can see a quote from me on the back cover.
This has been an amazing achievement by Craig White and the folks over at Galbi Jim.
Koreans pride themselves on eating some pretty spicy food. Even though not all of it is as spicy as what I’m used to, coming from near the New Orleans area and the home of Tabasco, some of it can really smoke my ears.
I get asked by Koreans regularly, “Can you eat that? Isn’t it too spicy for you?”
We need to remember that chili peppers come from the New World. That’s my turf.
Nonetheless, even though I have been known to enjoy eating a straight raw habanero every now and then, I ain’t squeezin’ no habanero juice in my eye like this guy from Mexico City.!
I explored the Anyang Central Market today. Had lots of fun. I wish my brother was here to explore it with me. He’d go nuts.
I made a few good finds, including some great smoked pigs’ feet (jokbal 족발) and a great deal on tangerines.
But I found these guys on the left at a few seafood stalls. They look like monkfish but smaller than the usual kind I see.
They were split open spread eagle so buyers could see the livers and the roe sacks.
I’ve had monkfish before, and it’s great. I know it’s a great delicacy in New York restaurants. I’ve heard people say that its liver is considered the “foie gras of the sea.”
I asked the vendor how much it was.
“Three for 5,ooo won.”
I couldn’t resist that. Three of these little buggers for $5?
I was about to ask her how to cook them when I remembered, even though I can ask in Korean how to cook them, I likely won’t understand the answer.
So now I’m asking YOU.
Give me some ideas on how to cook these little monkfish. What can I do with the livers and roe?