Korea - Land of the Morning Calm

[milgwimper]

Peter the eater- Don't be freaked out there are many tasty not to out of the way Korean food.

Peter Green- Cheese ramen! LOL I laughed when I saw that, because it was one of the first things I learned after frying an egg, and baking cookies from a cake mix. We all gotta start somewhere right? Although I still eat the cheese ramen once in a while.

[Peter Green]

Peter Green- Cheese ramen! LOL I laughed when I saw that, because it was one of the first things I learned after frying an egg, and baking cookies from a cake mix. We all gotta start somewhere right? Although I still eat the cheese ramen once in a while.

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It's the combination with the canned tuna fish that really left me in admiration. I wonder if Shin Ramyun will come out with a budae chigae in a foil pouch soon?

[Peter Green]

Continuing the sea acorn squirt topic (which, I know, has the Western world on the edge of its collective seat right now)

Hey, I'm on the edge of my seat reading along . . . I'm just so freaked out by Korea and Korean food I don't have anything useful to add. On a less adventurous note, I have had P&C corn from Chilliwack.

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Thanks, Peter!

By the way, any idea what percentage sugar there is in P&C corn? Just mentioning brings up a picture of bags of that corn and big pots of boiling water.

I'm getting hungry again.

Cheers,

Peter

[kbjesq]

There are so many parts of this thread that I love, but I've decided that the best thing is the expression on Serena's face . . . in 99% of the photos, she looks like she's having the time of her life! (I give her 1% in deference to her disappointment over the yam fries).

Please make the last supper an extra long, detailed post. I really don't want this to end.

[ZenKimchi]

You freakin' did EVERYTHING! You tried some stuff that are still on my to do list. Too bad we didn't meet up when you were here.

[milgwimper]

Peter- the tuna in ramen is pretty good, and I will have to try making that again. DH has added canned saury to the ramen before too, and that was good, but another friend didn't enjoy it much. She thought it was weird to add tuna or saury to ramen.

Thanks so much in documenting your trip to Korea.

[Peter Green]

You freakin' did EVERYTHING!  You tried some stuff that are still on my to do list.  Too bad we didn't meet up when you were here.

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Maybe next time, Zen! Although a trip to Japan is Scud's #1 choice for Spring, Korea's a close second.

More to come, still (and we haven't quite done everything.......yet)

[Peter Green]

October 22 – The Master of Bokkum (it’s all in the mix)

Once home, we took up the classic division of labour that occurs at the end of all our vacations. Yoonhi started packing our suitcases for the dawn flight the next morning, and I lounged.

Hey, someone’s gotta do it!

Actually, I had the most difficult of tasks. I had to decide where we would take our last proper meal.

It wasn’t that hard a choice.

We went back to the place we did on the first night. There were three solid reasons for this:

First, it was good.

Second, you’re always concerned if the quality of that first meal in a foreign land is influenced by the fact that you’ve been form-fitted like a blob of jello into a space designed for pygmies for more than a day.

Third, it was a place that Jason and Serena were both content with, and this was also about family, not just my stomach (you won’t often hear me say things like that).

Fourth, it was good.

Okay, so once I’d taken care of the heavy lifting, and Yoonhi was confident that we were marginally legal in terms of our weight distribution (we hadn’t really bought much except for books, but books’ll put on the weight), we tramped down the hill past the Nambu Terminal intersection and wormed our way back into the restaurant zone.

First, I must admit to a mistake. I’d been referring to this as sam gyep sal (3 layer pork, describing the fat/meat/fat distribution), but in reality it’s o gyep sal here – 5 layers. I’ve tried asking the difference, and the best answers I’ve had are:

“Sam is three and O is five.”

“It’s the layering of fat, meat, fat.”

“It’s the layering of skin, fat, and meat.”

“It’s the fat, the meat, and the stuff that’s kinda fat, kinda meat.”

“O gyep sal is closer to the outside, so you can sometimes get the hairs, too.”

I was particularly enchanted by the self-flossing element of the o gyep sal description.

Having spent two weeks in-country, I appreciated now what Jason had said about the service. We’d had a lot of good service, but it was a little bit more here. Now, that may just be the “regular” factor, as Jason is one of the customers they see quite often, but things seemed to run a bit better, with more attention to the customers.

Out came the hot stone slab, the metal bands binding it glaring evilly at us as it lay patiently on the table top.

Then the kim chi took up a solid base position, ready to catch anything good that came its way, slowly dripping red juices into the drain tray.

The kim chi acted as a brace to the tofu, ddeok, and mushrooms that deposited upslope.

And then, of course, comes the meat. Glorious meat. Beautiful plays of red and white, the fat beginning to glisten as the heat worked through.

The fixings are now a comfortable accessory. Fresh greens for wrapping the meat reminded me of my in-laws garden in North Vancouver during the summer.

I’d heard of Cheju Do pigs before. Supposedly they’re especially raised on excrement to give them their particular flavour. When I talk to my Korean friends, this is the pig they want.

Given a short bit of time and the aid of the ubiquitous scissors, we had a perfectly edible grill of food in almost no time. Pictures don’t do this justice. You have to imagine that smell of pork fat, or garlic roasting, and the tofu and mushrooms playing into the symphony.

This was all so good we had to order another round of pork.

We never did quite figure out what some of the greens were. We thought maybe parsley, or some variant thereof. They had that smell of fresh parsley, but the size and the shape weren’t right.

Before too long, the second order of pork was gone. We figured it was time to move on to other things.

Jason called over the manager, a young man in that indiscriminate age after 30, where everyone looks way younger than me, even if they’re pushing 50 or 60. Jason asked him if he wouldn’t mind preparing the bokkumbap for us.

Normally, the prep is done by the ajimas who bustle about the place, laughing and gossiping. He used to do it all the time, but he’s busier and busier now running the place during his hours (it is a 24 hour joint, which is a mark of success in this town).

Seeing as Jason’s a regular, he readily agreed. Heck, he was so pleasant, he probably would agree if this had been our first time here. It seemed to be in his nature.

He set to the task with a certain glee that only comes when you’re playing with scissors. He cut apart the kimchi and bits of meat still left.

Then he gave a good seeing to the leftover greens (I shouldn’t really say “leftover”. We’d gone through more than 5 refills).

Then he got into some seious spring onion action, spiraling them with the back of the scissor blades.

All of which had just been getting the mix ready for the rice.

Tonight we were doing three orders of rice. Bear in mind that when we’d first arrived in Korea, we’d only managed two, and we were stuffed at that point.

Now he switched implements, giving up the scissors for a chugeok (rice scoop). I have not seen wooden rice scoops used for table side food prep before, I must admit. These were used to spoon on more kim chi, putting a good toupee of red atop the bald white pates.

And then the scissors came back and he cut up some gim (nori) to top the mass off.

But back came the chugeok, this time in stereo, the two of them working over the mass of mix, rice, nori, and kim chi.

This was like being back on the Nanta set. He had a great rhythm with the scoops as he moved through the food, mixing everything together.

An egg yolk was deposited with proper grace in the middle, giving that happy, sunny look to the meal.

And then he brought it all together in a grand bokkuming crescendo.

As he mixed, he was careful to scrape up the parts that were just on the edge of crisping on the bottom, in contact with the stone.

Some of it will crisp, but not just yet.

This is what bokkuming is meant to be.

He then turned his skills to patting, rather than mixing, working the now almost uniform mass into a smooth lump on the stone.

and then, as the coup de grace, he finished with more cut gim on top to dress it up.

Spoons out and reaching for the communal feast, we realized we’d forgotten something. But there was still time.

We ordered a bamboo soju.

This turns out not really to be made of bamboo. It tasted more like one of the fruit sojus we’d had before, maybe more like the apple juice and soju mix we’d had a week earlier at Café Ahn (AFS). The dispenser was cool, and we would’ve felt bad if we’d not had it, but overall regular soju is better.

There was lots of Chilseng Cider about. They always brought two bottles to our table as “service” and we ended up sending them back. As I’d mentioned earlier, it wasn’t what I though of when I thought of cider. I think of Strongbow and staring at the bottom of a bar room table from the floor and wondering when I got there (I know “how”. It’s the “when” I lose track of).

I’m trying to remember now what chigae we had. I asked Yoonhi, she looked at the photo and said “red”.

Not the greatest help.

I was sort of overwhelmed by the bokkum bap, and my notes were falling apart. I’ve checked back with Jason, though, and he confidently asserts that it’s ddenjang chigae. Normally, this’d be brown, but it’s just a lot more spiced up here.

I’m not going to argue.

The bokkum bap was down to the last bits, the crispy shards of rice that you scrape off of the stone with your spoon.

I can safely say that was the best bokkum bap I’ve ever had. Jason was right, this guy is a master.

Bloated, with rice popping out of our ears, we waddled out of the shop, the last bottles of soju not-quite empty on the table.

Serena stopped by the door for her complimentary cup of ice cream. They keep a cooler there for their customers, although I’d told Serena it was just for her.

And then, tearfully, we bid adieu to this happy place.

Man, that was good.

I wonder when I can get back?

I was too, too stuffed. All I could do was look wistfully at the happy throngs in the kop jang place we’d eaten at earlier in the trip. It was probably in the top 5 of the trip, and was in the running for last meal (except that Jason’s not big on kop jang).

It’s a fond memory already, though. The salarymen out on the stools, the burners blasting, and cow innards strewn about, charring away while soju was put away in stunning quantities.

Dr. Hyun’s Digestive Disease Clinic, just up the street, must be a Korean’s worst nightmare.

Back home we debated the relative attractions of Armagnac vs mushroom dongdongju. Both are good, but the dongdongju was definitely a lot easier to drink.

Yoonhi says she still prefers Armagnac.

We agreed to disagree.

We had a plane to catch.

Next: The Last Breakfast

[Cadbury]

Once home, we took up the classic division of labour that occurs at the end of all our vacations.  Yoonhi started packing our suitcases for the dawn flight the next morning, and I lounged.

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It's not lounging, it's keeping out of the way and therefore out of trouble!

[Peter Green]

October 23 – The Morning Calm

Dawn.

There’s something wrong about seeing the sun rise.

Especially when you’ve been on a wicked dongdongju and Armagnac binge the night before. (At times I’m saddened never to have had the opportunity to travel with Hunter S. Thompson).

I never have problems with waking up (well, outside of an extremely messy evening in Glasgow with my Welsh friend, but that’s another story), I snap to somewhere just before dawn, and have to wait for the gathering light to dispel the cobwebs of night.

Everyone else just lies there snoring.

I went out to the patio, shuffled into some flip flops, walked over to the edge and looked out on the scene 20 floors below. The city was moving. Seoul is the town that never sleeps. I could see bodies stumbling out of some of the alleyways down in the distance, and cars veering about on the road (although the Koreans have become much more responsible in their drinking – more later on that).

It was sad to be leaving. It felt that there were things left undone, meals uneaten. I’d not had any of the small live octopus yet (although I’d done them in ’98), and I yearned for that puckering, cloying feel in my mouth.

I’d barely done justice to ddeokboggi. And there’d been no ojingobokkum. What price a night in Garak market, drinking with new friends and observing the etiquette of the soju bottle?

And then, in the midst of these ruminations, the cell phone alarm went off.

So much for the morning calm.

We packed out and drove through the early morning to Incheon, the terminal for Seoul. Coming in the other direction we could already see the traffic backing up on the expressway, the bridges filling up and coming to a halt. It was not even 7, and traffic was grinding to a halt, in a city where work begins at 9 or 10 for most people.

The airport welcomed us with a cold embrace. All glass and steel, it took us in and processed our papers with cold efficiency.

We returned our phones. An inexpensive insurance policy well worth the cost for the few times we needed them.

And after concluding that business, we had to have breakfast.

In general, I despise airport dining.

Yes, there are exceptions. I don’t mind Souvannabhoum (Bangkok), and some of the Chinese airports had things to recommend, but in general I find airport dining expensive for what it is, and the service of extreme questionability.

Incheon wasn’t looking very good.

We went upstairs to the restaurants to take a last meal with Jason. He and Serena chose to dine at the buffet (the cost for each of them close to the price of our meal the night before), while I grumbled over the price of a cup of coffee and the exorbitant charges for the most mundane of meals.

And then I found what I was looking for on the back page of the menu…..

March snail in broth to chase hangover – diseulgi hejangguk.

(My hangovers mover very slow, so I suppose having snails chasing them is a fair match)

Ever since Milgwimper mentioned them, way back in post #3, I’d been thinking about them, and cursing the Fate that kept them just out of reach.

And here, delivered unto my very lap, were they.

Oboy!

While Jason and Serena were happily tucking in to the exotic (remember where you are, after all) Western items in the buffet, I sat on the edge of my seat waiting for this final send off.

It was a pretty enough set, with six pieces of panchan and rice. There were tobikos in the broth, other mushrooms, and thinly sliced mu, along with the ever-present green onion.

The diseulgi are little, tiny chewy little bits, reminding me of the little snails we’d buy in Vancouver at T&T and eat on the balcony looking out over English Bay.

I’m hungry again.

Satisfied that I’d touched upon the last of my “must eat” items, we said our goodbyes to Jason, and passed through immigration to the other side.

Lessons for leaving Korea.

If you’re going to buy kim chi to take with you (which may or may not be a controlled substance) don’t do it at the airport. We had some money to burn, and more important, we had space in our hand carry. But when I looked at the food stuff stores, I gasped.

$21 for a small tub of kim chi? Give me a break.

So, we bought nada.

On the bright side, our bags weren’t heavy.

Lan Tai (Hong Kong) was another matter. We came across the dried snack food store and loaded up on stuff. And more books.

Put I’ll cover that in the loot posting, next.

Next: Loot

[milgwimper]

Peter-Yay I am glad you got to taste the snails. I hope next trip you get ot taste them wrapped in a newspaper cone. How was the soup? I have to agree with that the prices are terrible at the airport. Last time I flew out of there we hit up one of the sandwich places with the thin sliver of meat, cucumber,egg, and some other things I can't remember. It was on a toasted white thinly sliced bread, but it was so good. Although previous to that I had a hangover going to the airport, and the only offering was jjajang myun. Bleh It was expensive too, and having a hangover on the plane was not fun. Thanks so much for the travelogue, and I can't wait to see what you hauled back!!! Although I will be sad this post will end as it has been quite entertaining for me, and I am sure others as well.

Having never tasted the two liquors I can't compare them. Maybe sometime in the future I will be lucky to try them. Hmmm I guess I could see if the next vacation could be to France.

[C. sapidus]

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That looks delectable. So, is bokkumbap something that one can make at home?

Peter, I will be sorry to see this end. Mad props for your engaging narrative, formidable appetite, and wonderful pictures. Pages and pages of “evil” chile-red food – what could be better?

Our local Korean restaurant closed a few years ago, but I have always enjoyed Korean food. Please, someone write an up-to-date guide for cooking Korean food in American kitchens (and if anyone hears of a good Korean cookbook, please speak up).

Thank you!

[Peter Green]

That looks delectable. So, is bokkumbap something that one can make at home?

Peter, I will be sorry to see this end. Mad props for your engaging narrative, formidable appetite, and wonderful pictures. Pages and pages of “evil” chile-red food – what could be better?

Our local Korean restaurant closed a few years ago, but I have always enjoyed Korean food. Please, someone write an up-to-date guide for cooking Korean food in American kitchens (and if anyone hears of a good Korean cookbook, please speak up).

Thank you!

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Thanks, Bruce!

Yes, you can make bokkumbap at home. We do. And it's never as good as this. I'm thinking I need to get one of those stones for cooking. They crisp the bottom layer just right, whereas the frying pan method we take always seems too wet.

I wonder if I could use my tagine?

And I would add my voice to yours. What the world needs now is an up to date Korean cooking guide! The older books are good, but they're way to out of date. What I saw happening in Korea today is exciting, it's different, and it's pretty much undocumented in the West.

And, no, I'm not going to give up my day job. I've got bills to pay.

Hopefully, in a matter of three or more posts, I shall put this baby to bed.

Then what'll I do?

[Peter Green]

Peter-Yay I am glad you got to taste the snails. I hope next trip you get ot taste them wrapped in a newspaper cone. How was the soup?

Having never tasted the two liquors I can't compare them. Maybe sometime in the future I will be lucky to try them. Hmmm I guess I could see if the next vacation could be to France.

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Milg,

The soup was wet. It was good.

There, I've got Hemingway out of my system.

I'll raise the question later when I get in the piece here on soju, but I've gotta ask it.......

Is Korea the only place that just out and out refers to hangover food in their advertising?

I mean, the Thai talk about the sort of things you should eat to get over the ravages of excess, and every country has their remedies, but Korea is the only place I've ever been too where restaurants advertise themselves as "hangover food specialists", or the equivalent thereof.

I don't think even the Irish do this.

Cheers,

peter

[Peter Green]

Postscripts I

So, what did we bring back from this trip?

Well, as I said, it wasn’t a huge shopping splurge this time around. We concentrated on things that we figured we’d need, and things that just seemed fun.

If you remember the blog I did a month or so ago, you’ll remember the pantry shots. After that, I promised Yoonhi I wouldn’t be adding more stuff.

I lied.

Here’re those crabs I was talking about a little while ago. Rather than fresh and raw, these ones have been sweetly spiced, and then crisp fried before being packaged as bar snacks. We dragged one bag out the other week to a get together. I ate them, but I didn’t see too many other takers.

I’d found a packaged duck at the food expo that looked too good not to buy. I’ll try to get around to doing something with that after American Thanksgiving.

And, of course, we brought back ginseng. Lots of ginseng. I wonder if Yoonhi’s hinting at something?

We’ve got our bori cha (barley tea) and another tea, whose name we’ve forgotten. There are my shredded chilis that I picked up in Icheon (“it’s for the looks”), and there’s my new flyswatter, with a pull-out rechargeable battery. Plus, I have a wide selection of rice scoops and spatulae to work with now.

And I had pears. For a brief, glorious couple of days I had fresh pears. They barely lasted to the weekend. At least I had a bit of one of them.

We brought back the packages of crab, like you saw up front, and the little fishes (in the blue labled box in the front), and some dried octopus heads just to the right of that.

In Lan Tai we also found packages of roasted chestnuts, so we bought some of these to play with (and as snacks).

And, of course, we brought more miyok (seaweed) for soups and stocks.

But, front left, I have a box of beautiful quinces that Doddie sent to Jason’s apartment. I’ll get to that next.

Next: quinced

[Peter Green]

I'd intended to post the quinces I did up, the ones that Doddie got for me from Icheon, but then it did seem I was getting a bit too far off topic.

Sooooooooooo.......

I've put the post in the WGF Thread. I was going to put it in Dessert, but you can read about how that worked.

Next: Soju Culture

[insomniac]

Here’re those crabs I was talking about a little while ago. Rather than fresh and raw, these ones have been sweetly spiced, and then crisp fried before being packaged as bar snacks. We dragged one bag out the other week to a get together. I ate them, but I didn’t see too many other takers.

I'd fight you for those crabs

[Peter Green]

Here’re those crabs I was talking about a little while ago. Rather than fresh and raw, these ones have been sweetly spiced, and then crisp fried before being packaged as bar snacks. We dragged one bag out the other week to a get together. I ate them, but I didn’t see too many other takers.

I'd fight you for those crabs

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Choose your weapons.

[milgwimper]

Here’re those crabs I was talking about a little while ago. Rather than fresh and raw, these ones have been sweetly spiced, and then crisp fried before being packaged as bar snacks. We dragged one bag out the other week to a get together. I ate them, but I didn’t see too many other takers.

I'd fight you for those crabs

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Choose your weapons.

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I think this is turning into a three way battle! But those crabs would be might tasty in my tummy.

Oh did you get some cookbooks in korean too? If so would you mind posting pics of it and what made you, or Yoonhi decide to get them? I am still on the Korean cookbook kick. Yes I would love someone to publish an excellent korean cookbook with not just the standard stuff. Hmrumph!

Oh try making bokkeum bap with a well seasoned cast iron pan. Nice crusty bottoms and everything. YUM!

I have been perusing Kitchen naver and found a squash hoddeok recipe I am dying to try. Yum..

Oh on the hangover thing I know other cultures must have recipes for curing hangovers but I think Peter you are right about restaurants being hangover specialist etc.

Your haul reminds me of my parents, when we went to Korea for vacation. We had a full suitcase, but it carried just enough clothes to do some laundry then it also carried other suitcases that folded up. By the time we left we all had very full suitcases.

Edited November 19, 2007 by milgwimper (log)

[Peter Green]

Milg,

We ended up not getting any cookbooks, strangely enough.

Yoonhi kept looking when we were at the museums and the bookstores, but she didn't see anything that caught her eye. She says that most of them aren't as good as Ms. Noh's book, and that the internet Naver site seems to be a better source (and it's free).

I'm going to go rooting through our other friend's brain, though, when she comes over for American Thanksgiving this weekend. We'll see what she says.

Cheers,

Peter

P.S. - I'm just waiting now for a fact check on my soju piece. This is almost over.

[insomniac]

Choose your weapons.

as a Sun Tsu afficionado ( war is the art of deception) .......look out Peter....what's that behind you...?

grabs crab pkt and legs it...

ps. just googled Naver for Korean recipes and found quite warlike translations after hitting Kitchen then Smith(?).... 'a pot of water a cup in Libya, life crisis'.....hmmm, do they have a webcam in my kitchen??

[Peter Green]

Choose your weapons.

ps. just googled Naver for Korean recipes and found quite warlike translations after hitting Kitchen then Smith(?).... 'a pot of water a cup in Libya, life crisis'.....hmmm, do they have a webcam in my kitchen??

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You've discovered the I Ching of cooking!

[Peter Green]

Soju Culture

We’ve talked around the subject a lot, but we haven’t really gotten to the heart of the matter.

Soju.

It’s clear, it’s pretty much odorless, and it’s not really strong, generally running around 20% for what we were drinking.

There are two major brands:

Jinro’s chamisul is probably the most popular (“ “), but we were also drinking

Cheoumcheoreom (“Like the first time”) from Doosan. Both of these are running at the 19% mark, and are consumed in the hundreds of bottles per night at most places (morning and afternoon, too, for that matter).

I’d like to talk about how it corresponds to the Japanese shochu, being a distillate of rice, potato, wheat, etc. That would be the traditional Korean soju, brought to the Peninsula by the Mongols, who, bright young things they were, realized that hard liquor was the best thing Persia had to offer when they conquered it.

I’d also like to talk about how traditional soju can be up to 45% alcohol by volume.

But we never saw any traditional soju.

What we saw were the two brands mentioned above. They’re basically diluted spirits, filtered in bamboo charcoal (at least in Jinro’s case).

Jinro’s the big boy. They go back to 1924 and have always been the name associated with soju.

Doosan is another matter, with liquor being just one of their products, right there on the list after Diesel Engines & Materials and Defense Products, and before Food .

As a note Food includes their ownership of the rights to KFC and Burger King for South Korea.

And the Defense products are cool! Short-range surface-to-air missile systems, self-propelled anti-aircraft gun systems, Korean infantry fighting vehicles, multiple rocket launchers, naval guns, torpedo tubes, altitude & orbit control systems. Think of it, you could adapt several of these to serve soju!

Anyways, let’s get back to the not-so-hard stuff.

We’re here to talk about etiquette.

First, you drink soju in shot glasses. These don’t hold a lot.

Second, you never pour for yourself.

Third, you always play “spot the empty glass” (or near empty) and fill it up if you see it.

Fourth, if your glass isn’t empty and someone’s going to pour, drink up!

Fifth, when you pour, think about who you’re pouring for. If it’s not too formal you can get away with just touch your shoulder or chest. If it’s the president of your company, hold your wrists.

Sixth, when you take the drink, if it’s someone below you, use one hand, if above you, use two hands. If it’s someone really high up, turn your head away from them when you drink.

Seven, spank the bottom of the soju bottle before you pour.

Eight, never pour the very last drops out. This stuff is fine, but it’s tradition not to pour the “dregs”.

Nine, when you open the first bottle of soju, everyone toasts. We don’t believe this has to happen after every bottle, otherwise you’d be toasting every couple of minutes.

Ten, you can take a love shot with your significant other by crossing forearms and drinking. This can be modified to wrapping arms around each others necks and drinking.

Eleven, if there’s someone you want to get to know better (not in any romantic sense) you can offer him a drink from your empty soju glass, sharing one glass back and forth. This indicates an interest in becoming better friends (usually among men – again, there are no romantic overtones to this).

As expected, there are a huge number of drinking games. Here are two (which are the only ones we remember):

All soju caps have numbers. Someone gets the cap when it comes off, and then it’s a game of guess the number, with high and low the guidance. Whoever guesses the number drinks.

Then there’s the cap tap. When the cap comes off, pull the bottom part of the metal away a bit, and dangle the cap by this “hanging chad”. Take turns flipping at the cap until it separates from that umbilical of metal. If you separate it, you drink.

Or you can cut through all of this cute stuff and just drink.

Ordering soju……..nowadays the standard come hither is “yeogiyo!” which just means “over here”. If you’re calling a female nowadays it’s “imo” (sister). Otherwise go with “yeogiyo!”

Once you’ve got their attention, the proper term is “soju (or Cheum or Chami or whatever brand you’re drinking) han byeong juseyo!” There was another way of asking that didn’t make you seem like such a hardened alky, but we didn’t use that much.

Alternatively, in the smaller, less formal places like the han-u joint we were at in Mapo, you just go to the cooler and grab bottles as you need them. They’ll ask you how many you had later one.

We’ve talked a bit hear about the new trend of mixing soju. We did apple juice and soju in AFS/Café Ahn in Apgujeong, and soju and yogurt drink at Nori People

The general rule here seems to be take whatever they give you as the set, and add two or more bottles of soju to that. This will get you in the righ frame of mind for…..

Final note, if you’re in Namdaemun market (which is tottering on its last legs) you can get special soju jackets and vests for those particularly rough nights out. These come with bright reflective orange strips so that when you pass out in the street the drivers can spot you before they run you over.

[insomniac]

First, you drink soju in shot glasses. These don’t hold a lot.

Second, you never pour for yourself.

Third, you always play “spot the empty glass” (or near empty) and fill it up if you see it.

Fourth, if your glass isn’t empty and someone’s going to pour, drink up!

Fifth, when you pour, think about who you’re pouring for. If it’s not too formal you can get away with just touch your shoulder or chest. If it’s the president of your company, hold your wrists.

Sixth, when you take the drink, if it’s someone below you, use one hand, if above you, use two hands. If it’s someone really high up, turn your head away from them when you drink.

Seven, spank the bottom of the soju bottle before you pour.

Eight, never pour the very last drops out. This stuff is fine, but it’s tradition not to pour the “dregs”.

Nine, when you open the first bottle of soju, everyone toasts. We don’t believe this has to happen after every bottle, otherwise you’d be toasting every couple of minutes.

Ten, you can take a love shot with your significant other by crossing forearms and drinking. This can be modified to wrapping arms around each others necks and drinking.

Eleven, if there’s someone you want to get to know better (not in any romantic sense) you can offer him a drink from your empty soju glass, sharing one glass back and forth. This indicates an interest in becoming better friends (usually among men – again, there are no romantic overtones to this).

As expected, there are a huge number of drinking games. Here are two (which are the only ones we remember):

All soju caps have numbers. Someone gets the cap when it comes off, and then it’s a game of guess the number, with high and low the guidance. Whoever guesses the number drinks.

Then there’s the cap tap. When the cap comes off, pull the bottom part of the metal away a bit, and dangle the cap by this “hanging chad”. Take turns flipping at the cap until it separates from that umbilical of metal. If you separate it, you drink.

Or you can cut through all of this cute stuff and just drink.

I THINK I'm ready for the exam.....slightly worried about the paper (hope I've done enough revision) however very confident about the practical,.... *hic*........... 실례합니다

Edited November 20, 2007 by insomniac (log)

[Peter Green]

I THINK I'm ready for the exam.....slightly worried about the paper (hope I've done enough revision)  however very confident about the practical,....  *hic*........... 실례합니다

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Here're some hints on doing well on your drinking tests:

1) always proof your answers

2) it's important when the question involves mixing to get the right solution