Korea

This sign cracked me up.

Well, when you need to find one or do you go to the original.

There is a trend here that younger couples wear the same clothes or matching outfits.

 The guy might have his own matching purse or carry his girlfriend's purse.

Let's all remember to be...

The street we live on

Watermelon here is super expensive, that is $18,800(on sale from $21,800) won or $18.80 US currency for a watermelon. I don't know why it cost so much or why it baffles me that a watermelon can cost $18 (another idea to learn!). We live by Gachon University it is a medical school. The main street by us, Bokjeong-ro, is about a mile and a half long and filled with stores, markets, coffee shops and two french bakeries. The first time Murphy and I walked around was at 4:00am, after our first night here. We have done a lot of walking around at weird times(2:00am, 4:30am,5:30am) getting over the jet lag.The names of restaurants are kind of funny like Donky Chicken, Pork Fork, Pizza School, Momma's Burgers, Thunder Chicken or our favorite Johnson(yes it is just Johnson). The one thing I don't know, if there are more coffee shops or pubs? There are 1-2 coffee shops on each block on each side of the street and half the restaurants call themselves pubs. There are 6-7 markets on our little street, they all carry the same things but price really varies. It was a little overwhelming at first with everything being new and not knowing what anything says or the funny looks we had at 2:00 in the morning, father and son walking down the street. We have been here a week now, we still find all sorts of new various and sundry items and it is starting to feel a little like home.

1st Trip to the food market

Our first produce finds....delish!

We explored the Garak Market (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garak_Market) today on a typical balmy day as it is monsoon season right now. All I have to say is wow! The pictures we took do not do it justice, it was HUGE! We hopped on the subway(an adventure of it's own) five stops and one train change later we where at the market. As lost Americans we went the wrong way and wandered around the block(which was two downtown Denver blocks put together) and in the gate for restaurants or grocery stores, bought a flat of grapes. We dodged big trucks and stumbled our way to the smaller stalls. As a chef in a new setting, seeing all of the produce was overwhelming! Items I knew and somethings I had no clue, but what really caught my eye, were all the different mushrooms. We'd look at one stall and there would be 5-7 different mushrooms the next stall would have 3-4 different kinds,some I worked with (thanks to the big budget at Vi and the chefs there!) and others no clue. Karen, was impressed and excited about the garlic. 6-7 20lb bags of pealed garlic. The smell was intoxicating! We bought a 1-1/2lb bag then the ladies ground it for you. The prices where  cheap! In the above picture 3kg(1kg=2.2lb) of potatoes 2 dollars, 2kg mushrooms 2 dollars the garlic was 5 dollars and is going to be worth every penny. We spent 25 dollars on everything on the table(Murphy told me not to forget about the carrots), they are the size of my wrist and about 6-8 inches long and again 2kg 2 dollars. I will be going back there at least once a week for all our produce and we didn't even find the meat section! Below is a slide show of our adventure!

Steak Sandwich

A pretty quick sandwich to make, we are all about the quick meals right now. The kitchen is all packed so we will be eating sandwiches and other non-cooking meals. Packing is a little over whelming at times having piles of things you think you need to ship and think you might need over there. All it really comes down to is how much stuff do you really need, in the last ten days we have gone to Goodwill with a car load of stuff eight times. There is another box already filling up right now to donate, it feels good getting rid of this stuff we once thought was important but never really needed. Anyways I will stop rambling and end with a simple statement, this sandwich rocks.
Ingredients-
1 Red Onion cut into strips.
1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 Cup Spreadable Cheese, I used Boursin you can use what ever you like.
2 Lb Beef Strip steak(or tenderloin) cut into strips 1/2 inch wide 2 inches long
4 Buns I used Ciabatta Bread
1 Tbl Oil

Lemon Garlic Aioli-
1/2 Cup Mayo
2 Lemons squeezed
1 Tbl Diced Garlic

Directions-
1. In a medium mixing bowl add mayo and garlic, juice one lemon and mix. Taste it you may need to add the other lemon or half of it. It should have a good lemon and garlic taste adjust it so you like it.
2. In a large saute over medium heat add oil, once hot add onion and saute for 5-6 minutes then add the balsamic mix it up well and cook for 4-6 more minutes.
3. In a medium saute pan over medium heat add 1 TBL oil once hot add beef and saute for5-7 minutes.
4. Spread cheese on the bun add beef, onions and drizzle aioli over the beef and onion...enjoy!