Bread Cake

Sometimes, when teaching in a foreign county, you have to fudge the details a little bit.

I'm in the middle of English summer camp at the moment. Today was "cooking day." At the request of Coteacher, I had to come up with something "western" for the kids to "cook" that didn't require cooking equipment or expensive western ingredients. 

My first instinct was to make sandwiches, but deli meat is nonexistent. I gave Coteacher PB&J as an option, but she said peanut butter was too expensive (nut allergies seem to be less of an issue here).

So I thought fine, lets just have them pile a bunch of random stuff on top of bread.

 Behold, the invention of "bread cake."

Some of the students got very artistic with it. 

Others, less so...

At the end of the lesson, I had convinced them (and my Coteacher) that "bread cake" was a staple of the American diet. 

I might be going to ESL teacher hell.

Mmmm, Lunchtime

Also, today I finally managed to snap a picture of my school lunch. I have to be sneaky about it because I eat in the conference room with all the other teachers and the principal. That's why it's vertical. I had to look like I was texting. They already think I'm weird. No need to confirm it.

Behold, the setting for my daily game of What Did I Just Put in My Mouth?

As far as I could tell,  today's contestants were (clockwise from top left):

-Kimchi (duh)
-Steamed(?) sesame spinach
-Mysterious black stringy substance (that one will remain an enigma forever)
-Spam(?) with barbecue(?) sauce
-Soup with tofu and octopus bits
-Rice (also duh)

On the ratings scale, I'd say this lunch was a 5. I've had way better, but I've also had way worse. What's for lunch pretty much makes or breaks my day. Special Food Wednesdays (a city-wide tradition) are the single most anticipated meal of my whole week. Sometimes it's "western food," but sometimes it's just SUPER KOREAN food. Last week we had crab soup. There was an entire claw sticking out of my tray like a creature from the deep.

Either way, it's always an adventure.

Myeongdong: A Shopper's Paradise/Nightmare

I was talking to a friend from home recently, and she asked me about the shopping here. I told her it would make her head explode.

Korean shopping is a whole different experience. Take, for example, the shopper's paradise/nightmare of Myeongdong.

Oh, Myeongdong. How I love/hate thee. Every time I go to this black hole of shopping, I come away having spent way more money than I intended to.  A 5 dollar shirt? Don't mind if I do. 10 dollar shoes? Sure, I need a new pair of flats. Wait... is that a Forever 21 over there? And it's... oh my god, it's 5 floors tall.

Myeongdong has all its bases covered. Getting a little hungry? No need to sit down (which would take away from crucial shopping time). "Here, you go," Myeongdong says, "have a hot dog covered in french fries on a stick. If you want to be healthier, have a kebab of grilled chicken and leeks, sprinkled with an addicting amount of salt."

"Or a piece of fried dough filled with cinnamon and sugar, still crackling from the fryer. Or have an ice cream cone the height of your head."

In case you do decide you want to sit down, there are plenty of coffee shops and restaurants to choose from. If you're in need of a little company, you can even go to one of the dog or cat cafes, where for a small fee you can play with the resident creatures to your heart's content.

As I keep learning (over and over again), there's no such thing as a "quick trip to Myeongdong." It's like Ikea. It just sucks you in, and you can't help but love it.

The Joys of Modern Cooking

Behold: the fruits of my Korean online shopping labors. Even though my new toy effectively decreases my counter space to zero, my cooking options have just increased exponentially. I am about to become the iron chef of microwave cuisine.

Korean cuisine, you are my Everest

One issue that keeps coming up when I tell people about The Epic Adventure (see what I did there?) is this: "Isn't the food...like... weird?"

The simple answer is no. It's not weird. It is, however, very spicy and contains a lot of meat. The meat thing might not be an issue to most Americans, but if you know me in real life, you know that I have been a vegetarian for the last 8 years.

"But Meg, what are you going to eat?!" When in Rome, my friends. When in Rome.

This brings me to the meat of this post (pun absolutely intended). I have begun the slow process of easing meat back into my diet.  At this point, I am proud to announce that on Saturday, while at a bar to watch the Celtics crash and burn in game 7 against the Heat, I ate... wait for it... A CHICKEN WING! That's right, friends.  I, Megan Peet, held a chicken wing in my bare hands... and ate it. It was even the kind that had a bone in the middle.

Aside: It may very well be true that all chicken wings (the food, not the poultry anatomy) have a bone in the middle. Forgive me. I am new to your meat-eating ways.

 Naturally, the people I was with were aware of what a momentous occasion this was, and watched me take my first bite with baited breath. I think they were secretly hoping that I would have some dramatic reaction, along the lines of gasping with pleasure and/or projectile vomiting. To those friends (you know who you are), all I can say is that I'm sorry I'm such a champion. Much to their disappointment, absolutely nothing happened.

As sad as they were, this was a very reassuring piece of information to me. The knowledge that I can eat greasy, fatty meat without my stomach being all "OMFG I HATE YOU" is one less thing I have to worry about.

Now to the other issue at hand, which is developing a tolerance for Korean spices. Now, I'm pretty good at tolerating spicy food-- for a white girl (a comment that provoked a chuckle from an Indian friend of mine recently).

My goals in this department are twofold:

1: Become more tolerant of the presence of hot chilis in my food

2: Develop an amicable relationship with that Korean staple: Kimchi

I would like to take this moment to introduce my two new friends:

I've started drizzling a few drops of Sriracha sauce on just about everything I eat. My aforementioned friend said this was definitely the way to increase spicy tolerance. I believe her. 

Also, last night I made Kimchi Fried Rice.  My theory is that the best way to get acquainted with a new food is to cook with it. When you cook with something, you become accustomed to the way it smells, the way it feels, how it reacts when cooked, and how it interacts with other foods.  

I think (hope) my fried rice turned out. It certainly smelled tasty. I haven't actually tasted it yet. It's currently sitting in a tupperware container so I can eat it at work tonight.

Before you ask, no, I didn't add any meat to it. 

Baby steps, people.

Update: The fried rice is delicious. I drizzled some sriracha on it before I brought it to work, and I still found myself thinking "This isn't even that spicy." Look at me go!