text:
Korea - Land of the Morning Calm
Posted 09 October 2007 - 11:42 PM
We're on day 3 of the trip....and I didn't get everyone up until 2 pm. I think the 3 a.m. finish might have something to do with it......
I was warned of this, but paid no heed. Well, okay, I probably did heed. Actually, I was looking forward to it!
I'll get the details up soon, but for now it's been samgyopsal, budae chigae, kalbi, panchan, mussels, Hite, Max, soju, and some fruity wine (sansachun which is similar to paekseju - a variation on rice wine) I'm growing attached to that comes in cute bottles.
Plus Grasshopper, McNalley's, Traditional, and Warthog......about 8 liters if I recall.
We're off to eat.
More news later.
Posted 11 October 2007 - 08:43 AM
After getting out of the house by 4p.m. we did some excellent duck (more later) and then followed this with Krispy Kreme donuts.
Later that night we did some excellent grilled beef (with bokkum bap after).
Today was excellent. We bussed out to Icheon (famous for their pottery, rice, and chillies) and did lunch with Doddie and Billy, doing the whole sliding table thing.
back in Seoul tonight, it was grilled pork, and then Yoonhi took Serena home, and Jason and I stepped out to Rodeo Drive in Apujeong for apple soju and sea snails.
It's good so far.....I just need to find some time of peace and quiet to write.
Posted 11 October 2007 - 10:57 AM
the quick review again, until I can start getting some real writing posted....
After getting out of the house by 4p.m. we did some excellent duck (more later) and then followed this with Krispy Kreme donuts.
Later that night we did some excellent grilled beef (with bokkum bap after).
Today was excellent. We bussed out to Icheon (famous for their pottery, rice, and chillies) and did lunch with Doddie and Billy, doing the whole sliding table thing.
back in Seoul tonight, it was grilled pork, and then Yoonhi took Serena home, and Jason and I stepped out to Rodeo Drive in Apujeong for apple soju and sea snails.
It's good so far.....I just need to find some time of peace and quiet to write.
Thanks for posting about your trip! I hope there will be pictures **beg** The dinner with Doddie sounds fun, and sea snails!!! Oh did you try the rice paddy snails, if so how did you like them?
Posted 11 October 2007 - 12:55 PM
I'm sooooooo jealous.
please take lots and lots of pictures
Posted 11 October 2007 - 06:47 PM
Milgwimper, no paddy snails yet, but anything is possible!
Sheena, it's good to hear from you. Doddy and I were talking about you over lunch, and I do have to go on a soondae splurge for you at some point here.
Now, let's see if I can get some posts to work...
Next: Day (night) 1
Posted 11 October 2007 - 06:49 PM
October 8
After a days flight, my nephew Jason was there at the airport to gather us up pack us away in his car. We were home in a half hour, washed, and looking forward to our first meal.
It was a Samgyepsal joint for dinner. Big slabs of meat, nice humpty dumpty mushrooms, ddtok, onions, garlic, kim chi on a very hot stone bonded with steel. The stone is actually kept over the flame, so that it remains sizzling.
This is eaten as sum (wrapped in green leaves lettuce, sesame, etc), and then the remnants on the stone are diced up, sesame oil added, and rice worked in with the oil.
Above, we have a typically heavy-on-the-mayo Korean salad, and our selection of greens for wrapping and flavouring.
Next its bokkum bap time. All the remaining bits are chopped up, and the leftover greens scissored into the mix.
Then a bowl of rice is introduced to the heat.
And then it all gets bokkumd.
This is allowed to cook in, and then was topped with gim (nori) which I forgot to shoot. The result is a finale that ensures youre not hungry. Plus, you get the really crispy bits from down on the bottom of the mix.
All of this was washed down with large amounts of Hite beer. Ive always been happy with the Korean brews, so no complaints there.
This place, close (walking distance) to Jasons place in Seocho-dong is in his top three for the town, which is a good mark, as, like all good Koreans he eats out a lot.
A whole lot.
Posted 11 October 2007 - 11:11 PM
Excellent looking food, and (as usual) some good eats.
More later.
Posted 11 October 2007 - 11:39 PM
Food Pix (plus others)
Please take pictures of all the food you get to try (and if you can, the food at the next tables)............................Dejah
Posted 12 October 2007 - 01:55 AM
Not an early start, but not too late. After the morning ritual of gossiping about family and friends, downloading photos, and waking up Serena, we headed out for budae chigae.
We went to Song Tan Budae Chigae, in Shinsadong just next to Apujung the Rodea Drive of Seoul. This is Jasons favourite budae chigae place. If youre doing lunch in Korea, try to get to your restaurant before noon. Itll be fairly empty. Come 5 minutes after, youll have to scramble for a table anywhere. As he says, if I was going to open a restaurant, Id do it in Seoul. Everyone eats out for lunch. And probably 50% of the people go out for dinner on any given night.
The budea chigae comes in a covered dish, all steam and condensation, but you can still discern the two slices of processed cheese and the canned cocktail weenies in the mix (for some reason we didnt choose to put Spam in, I dont understand why not).
For drinking, my attention was riveted on the odd, peach coloured bottle they were advertising on their signboard. Jason told me this was a lighter version of soju, more like a wine, really, fruit based, sweeter, and only around 14% alcohol.
Well, I had to have some, didnt I?
Jason gave the bottom of the bottle a good spanking (to mix it up) and then poured out the cups.
Its a good taste. Not the paint stripping flavour of soju, but rather a sweet (but not cloying) wash of fruit juice. Probably closer to a dessert wine than anything else.
I would probably draw glances askance if I swigged it from the bottle, but, then again, this is Korea. But it looks pretty in those little thimble cups, so I wasnt too badly tempted.
After wed eaten down the hot dogs a bit, we ask for some ramyun for the stew. This came in the form of two Shin Ramyun packages. No need for false formalities here. We broke open the foil wraps, and dropped the two wafers of noodle into the broth. This drew up most of the fluid, so the ajimas (older ladies) working there poured in more broth, which is dispensed from a big aluminum kettle, the kind we use at home for making boricha (barley tea).
Theres a question. Ive been used to using the terms ajima and agashi for older and younger women, respectively (and respectably). Now that Ive progressed into the frostier years of my life, should I be referring to women that are younger than I as auntie? (The answer, in part, is to refer to them as imo auntie nowadays).
I asked Jason about the broth, as to its base.
Is this bonito, or chicken, or vegetable?
I think its pure MSG.
The chigae was quite good, the broth (even refreshed) thick with starch, and the deep, bright red that the Koreans accomplish so effortlessly in their food (and I can only get as close to a bad breakout of acne).
I hadnt talked of the panchan (side dishes). Crisp, marinated bean sprouts. Big cubes of daikon (mu) kimchi, fish balls (red with chili, of course) and water kimchi (mulkimchi) which Yoonhi took over as her own provenance (it went quick).
And purple rice. This is meant to be healthier for you, and was all the rage a few years ago. Its good to see its lasted through the fad stage (Ill talk about Korean food fads later).
We wrapped up the rice, and could feel the hovering presence of people that wanted our table. You dont linger over your food here. In one of the pamphlets I collected I read the same concern from the ambassador of Switzerland, H.E. Christian Hauswirth: Why do Koreans spend very little time at the table, when the rich settings with all the side dishes and specialties are made as real festive meals?
Just busy, I guess.
After lunch we packed back into the car, and headed across the river.
We were just getting onto Itaewon (the foreign enclave of Seoul, adjacent to Yongsan, the US base) when, as will naturally happen in Korea, we found a relative.
Isnt our nephews museum around here?
Well, its not really his museum, but hes the assistant curator. The museum belongs to Samsung, or rather to Mr. Lee and his family hence the name Leeum The Samsung Museum of Art. The name comes from the popular Korean habit of combining terms to come up with new not-quite-Anglo terms. An example is music video becomes mu+vi for muvi. In this case its Lee+/muse/um=Leeum..
Its a stunning collection of buildings - fronted by the War of the Worlds Spiders - built by three architects over a period of close to a decade. It had begun back in the mid-90s, but the IMF shut things down for a few years. Then, with prosperity back in hand (you dont keep the Koreans down for long .well, unless youre Japanese, but I wont get into that) they had returned to the work, inaugurating the three museums in 2004.
You start on the fourth floor of the first building, with a collection of some of the finest pieces of celadon to be had, tracing the evolution of the art from the early motifs through to the beautiful elaboration of the Koryo period, and then the degradation after the 13th Century, which in turn gave rise to the Buncheong {blue-green) style of the Joseun dynasty.
Its very stylized, with certain motifs - such as the diving crane and the angling fish - running through the centuries. And its very pretty. Theres something about that oft-copied green glaze over the craclature of the pottery that you cant help but admire.
But, whats a prunus vase?
There was one little oil bottle, in particular, that grabbed my attention, with a detailed pattern of branches and leaves that was stunning. However, even though wed done a marathon viewing of Oceans 11, 12, and 13 just the week before, I kept my kleptomaniacal urges at bay.
To descend, you drop down the rotunda stairway, reminiscent of a mini-Guggenheim. The architect has funneled the stairwell, expanding the top and contracting the base to give the parallax impression of greater depth. Its one of those Escher like things where you want to tilt your body to match the canted walls.
They do advise to please let your children not to run on stairways. At least not unless your child is Rod Serling.
The third floor houses more and varied pottery, and on the second floor they hold the paintings. I really like Korean paintings. Theyve generally got a lot more life to them than the Japanese and Chinese works of the same periods, spending more time on people and their activities. And, in Korea, activities is going to involve drinking, eating, and playing games. And drinking.
And when you get to the ground floor, its a Buddhist finish, with some very good examples of the metal work the Koreans are famous for.
Museum 3 was closed, in the midst of renovations, but Museum 2, which housed the contemporary arts display was up and running, so we took in the more modern Korean works. These included a number of very striking pieces, while there were enough others that gave me material to string together some stories to keep Serena amused (And this is the man eating cow on a rampage .).
There was one I Must Learn English - a collection of woodblock tiles each juxtaposed with adjectives and nouns in English. With this went a background audio track of conversational English lessons. Jason was pretty certain he recognized the people who were doing the voices from some of his work.
That was on the second floor. On the first they had a Warhol, and exhibits of Damian Hearst and Andreas Gurskys 99 cents.
We sat with the family in the coffee shop, giving Serena the chance to stock up on Black Forest cake and Yoonhi to get in an unwise cappuccino (Yoonhi should not drink caffeine after lunch).
The collection comprises some 20,000 pieces (theres another museum an hour away near Everland, the Hoan (?) Museum. They generally have around 200 pieces on display at any time, rotating 3% each year (but the painting move four times a year, due to concerns over their maintenance).
The primary material is the collection of celadon on the fourth flour of the first building. According to my nephew (I can actually trace the family lines on this fairly easily, but you have to know that its a large net you cast when you fish for family relationships in Korea), the pieces on display on that floor would cover the cost of the buildings (which came to around $300 million Hey! I dont have to differentiate between US and Canadian anymore! Cool!).
Up until spring of this year, the museum was by appointment only. In part, they didnt want the neighborhood (mainly residential) to be too disrupted by too many people, and they also had a long list of people who wanted to the chance to see it first.
From one museum we moved to another, closer and dearer to my heart. The Kimchi Museum. Thisd take ages to go through in detail, but the brief is that you get the historical background on kimchi (chilies were fairly recent the primary theory is that the Japanese brought them during the 1592 invasion, and that the Japanese had them through their trade with the Portugese); the function side of how to make kimchi (with lots of dioramas); and the chemical side, with explanations on what is going on in the ferment, and how all of this is good for you.
Note from the disturbing model in the photo above (cmon, it does look kinda ghoulish): in Korea, kitchen gloves come in red. They figured that they were just going to end up that way anyways, so you might as well go with fate.
Most important, you get to see a lot of different types of kimchi. My favourite for sheer beauty is the pomegranite kimchi. No pomegranates were harmed in the making of this, they just cut and pack the pickle so that the shape looks like a pomegranite (or a pod from Alien).
This was fun with Yoonhi there, as she can remember her mother making all of these. There was one long soliloquy of I remember this and this was so much work.
Years back Id scoured the area below the Tower looking for this museum, but had no luck. It had moved at that time, coming to rest in the Coex Mall, a huge thing of a mall that encompassed several wings, movie theatres, hotels, and an aquarium. Obviously, Serena was going to have to go to the aquarium.
First, though, the troops needed some sustenance. We made our way to the bottom of the Hyundae Department Store and picked up some ddok for Yoonhi and Serena. Everyone is giving advice on how to cook it, and we cant quite get it across that Serena is just going to chow down on them as is.
Rice gets worked into an amazing variety of tidbits here, with package after package of sweets on display.
Then the girls headed off for the undersea world, and Jason and I wandered through the food floor, checking out the produce.
The melons ranged in size from the recognizable big greens and cantaloupes to beautiful little tiger striped things. And there were piles and piles of green onions, sesame leaves, lettuce, and cabbages.
The mushrooms I really wanted to shoot, but I was waved down after initially brandishing my camera and told that photos werent allowed in here. I contented myself with tastings.
As a note, if youre down on your luck and starving, get to a Korean grocery store. Every two or three feet youll have someone pressing a food sample on you. Mushrooms, fish, sausages, meat, itll be just a toothpick away.
The beef is the crowning glory. The Korean beef (Han-u) is a thing of beauty. Like all such things, its not cheap running around $115 a kg for the stuff we were looking at. This was 5 Star beef, stunningly marbled with the white distributed evenly throughout the meat. I have to find some place where I can get this as yukke (the Korean tartare).
Jason and I, after a brief lustful glaring at the beer selection (more later) bought a couple of bottles of aloe vera drink (spank that bottom) and headed out into the mall to catch up to the girls.
The mall was what youd expect of a mall. There was a huge Hello Kitty (Sanrio) Store, and there was a Totoro shop right across (specializing in anime knick knacks). Lots of clothing shops, and lots and lots of restaurants. Jacky Chan has one of his in here, with Jackys likeable face plastered everywhere.
We got the run down on the omu rice fad that swept through a couple of years ago. Omelet and rice, but one place (Omuto, I think) came up with fusion omu rice and rose to fame with 30 different variations. Of course, once someone gets popular with an idea here, the vultures move in, and set up shop right next door with their imitations. The idea is that they can hopefully either waylay people before they get to the original, or else get the leftovers when the famous place fills up.
Its a neat little characteristic here, as this has, over the decades, led to streets of certain types of foods, and neighborhoods that become famous for their particular style as the work of one person is almost immediately replicated ..sort of like amoeba.
And, according to Jason, who would know, Kraze Burger is the current reigning king of the burger wars in Korea, playing on the organic and healthy card.
The mall also hosts one of the arenas for the world video game championships. I wonder if Scud could get a scholarship for this sort of sport?......
For dinner, having done pork in two of its manifestations (sam gyep sal and budae chigae) we opted for beef, dropping in at Tae Do Sik Tang. This was excellent (although not the $115 a kg stuff), and took us through grilling and eating with sum (leafy wraps) through to the bokkum bap stage at the end.
For the beef, you start off with a big hunk of fat to get the pan ready. I love this place.
Scissors are definitely part of any table setting in Korea, and nobodys going to whinge about being intimidated by them (I did have to suppress an urge to grab them, though, and go running).
The meat is well marinated, but not sweetly so like bulgoki. This is also a reasonably thick cut for Asia.
Jason took care of the cooking, setting to the cutting and flipping with a certain level of glee.
The beef went down with Prime Max beer delicious idea, and a cheerfully tubby little bottle of San Sa Chan another fruit based wine at about 12% - Korean rice wine for the next generation it says, but well drink it now ourselves anyways.
The bokkum bap saw the remnants covered up so the flavours could coalesce.
Wed peek a few times to see how it was going.
And when judged ready, the rice went in, and the mixing started.
And then things are finished with a flattening off of the top.
After dinner, in Korean tradition, we drank until 3 a.m. at Big Rock, with traditional ale, Warthog, and McNalleys. The Canadian presence really does come through in town, with a lot of Maple Leaves showing up around the place. Of course, that could just be a bias on our part, as our family members and the people we know are going to have the Canuck Connection (Vancouvers population swells each summer with the volume of home stay students that come over for English immersion).
When you drink in Korea, youre expected to order a food platter of some sort. Its just not right to drink without eating something ..and the platter is where they make their money. So they were somewhat concerned that wed just settled into beers with a vague promise of getting a platter later.
However, once wed ordered the second 4 litre tank of beer, they just brought a plate of mussels around for free. Another aspect of Korean bars is, if they recognize you, or just like you, theyll send around free stuff. This confused us at first, with bottles of Sprite and Coke showing up at dinner, and us trying to figure out where they came from.
Around 2 something things seemed to be slowing down, and we suggested maybe it could be a good time to slip away. We clawed the girl away from the fussball table, and called it a night.
Or is that a morning?
(note: edited because I'm not bright enough to check the Hangul before I write down restaurant names)
Edited by Peter Green, 12 October 2007 - 02:10 AM.
Posted 12 October 2007 - 02:39 AM
It was really fun meeting you Peter and Yoonhi and the lovely Serena. My son was enamored with her. I asked him what they chatted about and Billy said they were talking about hypnosis and stuff like that. Kids?! LOL
Here's an easy recipe for that ddok (rice cakes) that you picked up for Serrena.
2 tbsp oil
julienned carrots
julienned onions
julienned mushrooms
julienned cabbage
thinly sliced leeks
1 pack vienna sausages, sausages cut in half
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup cooking syrup
1 pack of ddok
Heat up the pan and add the oil. Add the ddok and stir for a minute. Add the rest of the veggies and stirfry for about 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and the soy sauce. Cook for a little bit and then add the syrup. Continue stir-frying and mixing everything up for about a minute. Serve hot with toothpicks for everyone to pick and dig in.
This recipe is like ddokbukki but not spicy. My korean best friend taught me how to fix this.
"Nobody loves pork more than a Filipino"
eGFoodblog: Adobo and Fried Chicken in Korea
The dark side... my own blog: A Box of Jalapenos
Posted 12 October 2007 - 02:41 AM
their love of drinking
their love of not wasting food - "bokkuming" everything or adding leftovers to soup.
I don't know what I like better, eating raw fish or adding the leftover bones and flesh to hot and spicy maeuntang soup. I love that picture of the budaechigae. It looks like they threw the remnants of a big mac on top of the soup and I still want to eat it. Nothing like throwing processed meat products, water, and kimchi together to make a memorable meal. Just stay close to a good toilet shortly afterwards if you know what I mean.
speaking of bodily functions....cross any awful hole in the ground toilets yet?
Posted 12 October 2007 - 05:09 AM
speaking of bodily functions....cross any awful hole in the ground toilets yet?
Nothing (outside of the Middle East, that is) can cast the slightest shadow upon the Chengdu washrooms.
Scud is still scarred by that.
P.S. - Kopchang, yang, and machang tonight, with way too much soju (okay, any amount of soju is way too much)
Posted 12 October 2007 - 12:02 PM
speaking of bodily functions....cross any awful hole in the ground toilets yet?
Nothing (outside of the Middle East, that is) can cast the slightest shadow upon the Chengdu washrooms.
Scud is still scarred by that.
P.S. - Kopchang, yang, and machang tonight, with way too much soju (okay, any amount of soju is way too much)
I have to agree with Yoonhi and take over the mul kimchi, although I love fresh perilla with grilled meat! ::Wimper:: The food picks look so good; my mouth was watering at each post. So many things I want to eat but can't get here!
I hope you can get a chance to eat the rice paddy snails I would like your opinion on those.
I love kopjang especially if they have been marinated and grilled! Yummy! Although I do like them in chongol too...You're making me hungry I need to leave! LOL
YES! Please do a soondae run! Although I do love deokbokki and odeng too...
Posted 13 October 2007 - 07:50 PM
Posted 14 October 2007 - 02:46 AM
Woot! We finally get to see some pictures!
It was really fun meeting you Peter and Yoonhi and the lovely Serena. My son was enamored with her. I asked him what they chatted about and Billy said they were talking about hypnosis and stuff like that. Kids?! LOL
Here's an easy recipe for that ddok (rice cakes) that you picked up for Serrena.
2 tbsp oil
julienned carrots
julienned onions
julienned mushrooms
julienned cabbage
thinly sliced leeks
1 pack vienna sausages, sausages cut in half
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup cooking syrup
1 pack of ddok
Heat up the pan and add the oil. Add the ddok and stir for a minute. Add the rest of the veggies and stirfry for about 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and the soy sauce. Cook for a little bit and then add the syrup. Continue stir-frying and mixing everything up for about a minute. Serve hot with toothpicks for everyone to pick and dig in.
This recipe is like ddokbukki but not spicy. My korean best friend taught me how to fix this.
Domestic Goddess thanks for posting your recipe! I love all versions of deokbokki. I will have to give these a try...Although lately finding deok has been interesting, and fustrating lately.
Posted 14 October 2007 - 03:35 AM
Hope Peter doesn't mind me hijacking this thread by posting another ddok recipe.
A VERY SIMPLE DDOK recipe
small bamboo skewers
1 package of ddok rice cakes (tubes ones, about 2-inch length)
1/4 cup oil
1. Take a bamboo skewer and skewer dokk cakes in the middle until you get about 4 or 5 on a stick.
2. Heat up the oil in a shallow pan. Put the skewered dokk and fry for about 2 minutes on each side.
3. Drain the ddok on paper towel and brush with ketchup (or gochujang) and enjoy your snack!
This is a favorite street snack for kids here in Korea. Lemme see if I can find a picture of it in my files.
"Nobody loves pork more than a Filipino"
eGFoodblog: Adobo and Fried Chicken in Korea
The dark side... my own blog: A Box of Jalapenos
Posted 14 October 2007 - 03:54 AM
I need to get back to Korea so I can catch up on the trends for bottled liquors - I miss sansachun. (But I don't miss Hite).
Erin Garnhum aka "nakji"
eG Ethics Code Signatory
Ten ways you can help support the eGullet Society
Posted 15 October 2007 - 05:40 AM
Domestic Goddess: LOL wow I haven't had ddeok and ketchup in a long time! Thanks! I sitll haven't gotten any ddeok in my pantry yet. *sigh*
I wonder if they still set Poke (not the hawaiian type) I think it was sugar abd baking soda or powder in liquid hot form. I know they sell it by cooling it and imprinting designs on it, but when I was a kid they used to sell it in a ladle all hot a bubbly and you ate it with one lone chopstick.
Posted 16 October 2007 - 06:02 AM
You're welcome, Milgwimper!
Hope Peter doesn't mind me hijacking this thread by posting another ddok recipe.
A VERY SIMPLE DDOK recipe
small bamboo skewers
1 package of ddok rice cakes (tubes ones, about 2-inch length)
1/4 cup oil
1. Take a bamboo skewer and skewer dokk cakes in the middle until you get about 4 or 5 on a stick.
2. Heat up the oil in a shallow pan. Put the skewered dokk and fry for about 2 minutes on each side.
3. Drain the ddok on paper towel and brush with ketchup (or gochujang) and enjoy your snack!
This is a favorite street snack for kids here in Korea. Lemme see if I can find a picture of it in my files.
I never mind you stepping in, as I know I won't get Yoonhi to post recipes, and I'm too old and lazy to sniggle them out of her.
Post more, and then I can try (all our Korean cookbooks are in Korean. I can read them, but darned if I can understand them).
Posted 16 October 2007 - 06:05 AM
Peter: I just wanted to let you know that the samgyupssal pics are killing me here! But please keep posting!
More pictures tomorrow, I promise!
We just spent the last couple of nights on the East Coast and Seoraksan, and I could sneak away while the rest of them are hungover to get some writing done over kimchi chigae and dongdonju (unfortunately, I burped and gave away what I had been up to to Yoonhi).
Once I can get the photos up, and the links loaded, we're back in business.
Except now, my nephew has a bunch of his friends that thing we really need to go out for beers and chicken.
Posted 16 October 2007 - 12:25 PM
Can I just have the headache now and get it over with?
Posted 16 October 2007 - 07:39 PM
I shouldve brought more coffee.
It was 1 p.m. in the afternoon, and not a creature was stirring, just only the mouse. The pig and the cows were still zonked out, but Id put in a couple of hours trying to catch up on writing.
By 2 p.m. there was some movement, although it was painful to watch. And by 3ish we were out the door and off for lunch.
Our desitination was Nolboo Family Duck. This is a chain of restaurants, each doing something different. This is quite a different tack from the usual places, as youd expect.
You can recognize the places by the maniacal goateed face with the odd hat. Once youve been to one place, you see him everywhere, leering at you from the hoardings. On the way here, walking through the mall from the underground, wed passed one of their restaurants doing soondae, and another doing bibimbap (mixed up rice). As the days passed, he would laugh at me from all across town, every time with something different to tempt me with.
The place is oddly located (at least for me) sort of out in the middle of nothing, across from the express bus terminal (near the Marriott) and on top of a parking arcade (which brought it uphill to street level) and its shopping arcade - but once you step inside it looks great, and had won the 2001 design award for Seoul restaurants (I do know how to read a plaque, you know).
Clean lines, an upstairs and downstairs, lots of dark wood, and a wonderful façade of medicine chest drawers to remind you that what you were eating (and drinking) was healthy.
Everything in Korea is healthy for you. Trust them. Chicken, pork, beef, soju, beer, rice, veggies, donuts, it all has the stamp of approval as being good for you.
Why are these guys so rail thin?
Koreans dont hide their beverages. Any place you go into is likely to have a fridge somewhere in line of sight with the goods for viewing. Here youll notice that the king of beverages beer has been demoted to the bottom shelf. Soft drinks rank slightly above, soju holds down the middle ground, and the variants hold the high ground.
Id held a firm respect for soju in the past. Anything that can cause me that much pain deserves respect. But, like the other evening, I was captivated by the variety of alternatives, with sweeter, fruit based flavours. These are more like fruit wines, and can be quite addictive.
We went for a bottle of Bok Bun Cha, a blackberry wine. Blackberry has become extremely popular in Korea since it was decided that it was healthy for you. Plus, it didnt hurt that, at the World Championship Poker games in Vegas a couple of years ago, the winner was chowing down regularly on bowls of blueberries.
Gambling benefits aside, blueberries have become extremely popular based on the health thing, and, this being Korea, that means theyre going into booze. I found it wasnt too bad, a bit like Vimto, but not something I had to be in a rush to have again soon. My preference has to be for the pear based drinks.
Our panchan was good if not really spectacular. The white radish (mu) was memorable, with a water that tasted of salt, a slight horseradish/wasabi/mustard trace, vinegar, and sugar. The other kimchis were normal, mu kimchi,
cucumber kimchi, pickled cucumbers, salad with mayonnaise (Koreans love to load up their salads with mayo), and pickled garlic.
But, you dont go to a restaurant for panchan. We came here because it was Jasons favourite duck anywhere. Our other nephew, Clark, was here a year ago, and he raved about this bird, too. Myself, Im fond of a good duck (and you can see the China thread for more than you want to see of ducks) and I was looking forward to this.
The bird is roasted for four hours in a double clay pot; stuffed with rice and a variety of wonderful things (which well talk about soon) and sprinkled with pine needles to get the smell right. It comes out a glowing brown, rather than the crisp golden of a Beijing duck, and its soft.
A bird like this, you dont eat it up all at one time. We peeled back the skin and flesh to reveal the glutinous rice that had been stuffed inside. This was supplemented with sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds, pine nuts, and chestnut.
As I was coming to understand about Korea, health in cooking is very important. Or, at the very least, you should believe what youre doing is healthy. I dont take much convincing, myself. But they had also added some ginseng, some figs, and a bark that had a texture like burdock root, but was very bitter.
We called over the expert wait staff (20 something, barely) and asked, and they went into a meltdown. They called over someone older (22 something), and he advised us that it was that Chinese herbal thing you put in the rice. We were much older and wiser for that.
But forget about such distractions. This is a great duck. The meat is soft, pulling away from the bones (and theres a large metal spittoon for the remnants to go into), and the flavour of the bird is permeated by the stuffing, while the same holds in reverse for the rice, steeped in the rich gaminess of my favourite waterfowl.
There was more panchan brought around as time went by. A nice sunimon style salad of thin rice noodles topped with a salsa of chilis and green onion, and broccoli with a healthy pile of gochujang to go with it.
To wrap things up they brought out a drink of sugar and cinnamon, with the sweetest grains of rice floating in the liquid soojongha. (And I forgot to take a picture). Clark remembers his grandmother (Yoonhis mom) keeping the rice for this jarred out in the back, soaking up sugar water, and he would sneak out and grab extra rice for his dessert.
And we finished with lychees stuffed with pineapple.
Lunch out of the way, we did the mall.
This was a study in contrast. At first we did the traditional Korean underground station mall. This can be translated out to young womens clothing. Thats it. We may have seen four or five places that did something else, but they werent common. And this goes on for, well, it felt to me like eternity. At least there were occasional restaurants to break the monotony.
These malls, attached clinging to the corridors off of the subways like cholesterol from your arteries, are all about traffic. Im always confused about how such places sell enough to stay in business, even with the average Korean female buying a new wardrobe every season. But, with the sheer volume of people flooding through, youre almost guaranteed to make some sales every day. Heck, we bought stuff sun visors and hair bands for Serena.
Finally we broke clear and made it back into the upscale section Shinsaegae Department Store and its environs. There we immediately fell into a food floor, which is always a good thing.
In prime place was a large amount of roots and barks and dried mushrooms. All things that will do you good (gotta remember your health). And there were stands selling ice creams and kim bap and, and, and
With the mountain goods on hand, Yoonhi took it as an opportunity to try and figure out what the bark was that theyd used in the duck, but to little luck. This was going to remain a mystery, at least until we could get back with some of our Korean friends back home (and theyll just tell us its the Chinese medicine thing you put in rice).
I insisted on dragging Yoonhi into the grocery section proper, to show her the marbling on the beef. She wasnt quite as enthused as Id been, but did admit it looked really good. I would love to get some of this in yukke (raw beef).
We wandered about a little bit more, taking in the multicultural aspects of modern Korea the coffee shops, Italian gelato joints .and then we stumbled upon Krispy Kreme.
We had to stop in. And, yes, they still give away free samples, hot from the assembly line. As we bit into ours and felt them evaportate in our mouths, Jason and I were pretty sure theyre just a lightly bonded fat in the shape of a donut. Theres no other way they could be this light.
Given that they were advertising hardbodies at one of the fitness studios in conjunction with the donuts, and given that there must be a health angle here somewhere, we ordered a dozen to take home.
Well feel better for it, I know.
But the effects of the night before, although not as obtrusive, were still haunting the edges of our existence. Wed debated catching a movie, but decided to hold off for now, as Id probably just go to sleep.
But, having dumped the donuts and some other shopping at home, we headed out to do an Itaewon run.
As much as the rest of Korea has changed, Itaewon still looked the same. Its good to know some things are destined to stay dingy and run down, and the strip looked just as I remembered from a decade ago. We picked up some candied ginseng, argued with a vendor who knew better than we did how old Serena must be, checked out hockey jerseys for Jasons team (the new ones dont come with removable crests, darn it) and then got out of Dodge.
And then it was dinner. Chuncheon Dak Kalbi, one of Jasons regular spots, across the street from one of his prior residences in taechidong near the Hanti subway station (yok).
The ajima (auntie is the easiest translation) running the place was happy to see Jason, and went into full interrogation mode, cheerfully grilling him on who we were and where we were from.
Her chicken came out coated in the marinade of hot pepper, with lots of sweet potato, ddeok, cabbage, and sesame leaves in the pot.
As this was going to be way too evil for certain little girls, we ordered here the old stand-by: omurice.
She wasnt thrilled.
Serena is definitely not an omelet and rice sort of girl, which is a shame, as the dish looks very good (and would feed way more than one little girl).
But, her issues with food are her problem. The chicken cooked up, with active stirring on Jasons part, and we dug in with the appropriate level of abandon. The chicken was yielding, soft like a good gung pao chicken, but this had that brutality of Korean gochujang about it that just works your mouth way, way up. A good glowing burn that builds as you eat more and more.
We dropped in some noodles jolmyun. These are the stretchy ones, that have an elastic band texture to them. You have to pull and tug, as they desperately try to hang onto the food.
And, finally, we had to bokkum the remnants to get our rice the way we wanted it, with the flavour of the chicken and the remnant broth worked through.
I should make a comment here (you know you cant stop me). As you drive down any major street in Korea, youll be impressed by the number of restaurants lining the street. Itll seem like youre never more than five or six steps to food where ever you stop.
Okay. Sound good? Now go into the street just behind, the one running parallel. Everything is beer, soju, whiskey, and food. The only relent will be the small 7-11 type marts, but their main purpose is to sell food and drink, too. Miles of food. Everywhere you go in Korea (South that is) youll find these back up streets. They service the business of the front streets, either as a place for lunch, or as delivery of food. At lunch time and early evening youll see trays and stacked metal containers of food racing across the streets into the main buildings.
We dropped in on one place to get the girl her gelato (now, theres a Korean treat, eh?). Chocolate chocolate was her choice.
Myself, I was holding my appetite for something crispier.
Along with all those restaurants we mentioned, there were also the carts. Thesell take up position at the street entrance. And, oddly, therell often be more than one of them, but all selling the same thing.
What we were after here were sausages made by wrapping seaweed (gim) around the noodles, rice, and offal stuffing that would usually go inside of soondae - gim mari. These are then crispy fried.
After frying, the sausage is cut up and served with ddeok bokki (which is good enough to eat on its own) a stew of rice cake (ddeok) and gochujang. All tidily served in a nice plastic dish with plastic wrap, you hunt down your tidbits with a skewer.
Ambling back down the street to the car, we took in the other shops. Lots of chicken in this area, besides the Chunchong Dak Kalbi and its vultures, there was fried and grilled chicken, fast chicken, and slow chicken. But there was also a lot of pig on hand, and beer. Lots of beer. One place, the Cool Hof, was advertising the coldest beer in town, and we could see chilled kegs on the talbes inside.
However, as tempting as it might be, it was a work day for Jason the next day, and he needed to be in reasonable shape. So, instead of heading home at 2, we were back at the cheerful hour of midnight.
Besides, we had more beer to drink at home (Sapporo) and there was one last treat to eat.
Posted 16 October 2007 - 08:05 PM
Posted 16 October 2007 - 09:05 PM
"Nobody loves pork more than a Filipino"
eGFoodblog: Adobo and Fried Chicken in Korea
The dark side... my own blog: A Box of Jalapenos
Posted 17 October 2007 - 12:31 AM
Thanks so very much! I am now cleaning off my keyboard...*sigh* What wonderful pictures. The duck reminds me of my Korean grandmother's cooking. Hmmm the bark like thing will most likely remain a mystery. Unfortunately I had the same experience too when asking about chinese herbs placed in food.
YAY ddeokbokki! I love ddeokbokki! Your picture of the ddeobooki looks really good, and spicy. Was it sweet? The dak kalbi looks scrumptious! I love the fact they put perilla in with the dak kalbi. I love that stuff perilla. So much so I had vision of myself with wads of the perilla leaves as pom poms...okay now that you all know I'm a little touched in the head lets move on...
Either Peter and has family are gifted with really great metabolism or maybe they are walking a lot? The last time I was in Korea DH said I dragged him to all the street food stalls and restaurants in korea. Well he was exaggerating but not by much. I was a little afraid to see the scale when I got home but I had lost 7 pounds from all the walking. Hmmm wonder if we can market the eat walk in korea diet. Where everything is healthy!
Posted 17 October 2007 - 06:53 AM
Fried chicken was a Thursday night thing, my husband and I would go out and get a plate, a pitcher of beer, and I'd eat as many pickled radishes I could until I got a stomachache.
The Family Mart was always our last stop before catching a cab back to the burbs around 4 am on Sunday morning. We'd stock up on tuna mayonnaise rolls and Pocari Sweat to fortify ourselves for the long drive back to Incheon.
There was a fabulous duck restaurant we used to go to in Ilsan, where you grilled duck galbi-style, and they bury sweet potatoes in your ashes - at the end of the meal we would fight over them! There were always bonfires burning outside and we had to wait at least a half-hour to get in. It was called Canna An. MMMmmmm, duck fat.
We also used to go to a killer pork place in Sinchon, in the back alleys (isn't that always where the best restaurants are?) called Don Mania, and the adjumma there made the best kimchi - no shrimp, and she aged it for 6 months before she served it in the restaurant. She always gave me a little doggy bag to carry home, because I loved it sooo much.
Erin Garnhum aka "nakji"
eG Ethics Code Signatory
Ten ways you can help support the eGullet Society
Posted 17 October 2007 - 08:51 AM
It' s gong to hurt tomorrow....
No, wait, it hurts now
Posted 17 October 2007 - 04:12 PM
I'm coming out of the deepest, darkness lurkdom to say t h a n k y o u for posting about your trip to Korea! It's the cheapest ticket there I've found yet. Keep it coming!
If you ever need a second daughter, I call dibs.


text:
The Fitz Files
Illustration: John Shakespeare
Forget the rugby, the cricket, the drugs in sport, the suspensions and all the rest for a bit, OK? Think instead on Kurt Longford. A good man, a 27-year-old who lives in Narrandera with his single mother, Kurt is autistic, on a disability pension, and has not necessarily always found it easy to fit in. Generally, however, sport has been the exception and this year, after a long time with the Bidgee Hurricanes, he joined Wagga's rugby league club Brothers, slotting into their reserve grade side and usually coming on from the reserves bench near the end. No, he's not a world-beater, but he's dead keen, plays his heart out, never misses a training session or a game, and his fine mother, Pauline, is thrilled at Kurt being with them, as she knows that both the Brothers players, and even the opposition, look after him.
And he doesn't mind a chat, our Kurt. He can remember everything about every game he's ever played, who was in his team, and the other, and exactly what happened. And to his dying day, he'll remember what happened last Sunday . . .
See, late in the game, the Brothers bolter, Buddy O'Neill, bursts through one opponent and dodges another before the men from Junee – Laurie Daley country, after all – close in on him like mad things and hit him hard. Still, somehow, Buddy gets away the miracle pass to . . . someone who is looming on his left, and charging like a runaway steam train.
It is KURT LONGFORD!
Kurt hauls the ball in, steps left, steps right, and despite the defence again closing hard, smashes over the line and gets the ball down.
Try! Try! TRY!
The Brothers' boys go crazy in congratulations, as do the Junee Diesels. In fact, all 25 men on the field crowd round to shake his hand, give him a hug and a pat on the back. Kurt walks back for the kick-off, suddenly the tallest man on the field, as in the stands it is not just his mother who is weeping. For the whole grandstand is rising in acclaim, as he salutes them in turn.
At the end of the match, won by Brothers, Kurt leads the team victory song in the dressing rooms and then it takes him no less than an hour to get to the car park, as everyone at the ground wants to talk about his try, and he wants to talk to them. At length! That evening, at Wagga's Vic Hotel, the Brothers and Junee players gather around, roaring out I love to have a drink with Kurt while his mother waits in the car outside to get him safely back to Narrandera.
The next day, the Wagga Advertiser publishes a superbly crafted article by Stephanie Muir featuring the star of the day.
Good on you, Kurt, and congratulations. Great try!
Here is one for all those getting fed up with the sense of entitlement oft exhibited by modern "Gen Y" sports people, where, despite everything being laid on with a trowel for them, with hot and cold running assistants on every front, still nothing is good enough – and they still don't put in.
Not all of them are like that, however. This week the Australian Wheelchair Rugby League competed in the World Cup in London, where they came a very creditable fourth, after losing narrowly to Wales in the play-offs. No matter. With a day off, the entire squad decided to go into town to enjoy the sights of London, and got off the tube at Victoria Station. Alas, extraordinarily for such a sophisticated city – no less than the 2012 Paralympics city – this major station proved to have no wheelchair access or lifts. No matter, our wheeled warriors just got on with it. Abandoning their chairs to the able-bodied officials to carry, each bloke crawled up the stairs on their hands and knees, inch by gruelling inch, right to the top. Not a whinge, not a whine, they just got on with it, still delighted they were overseas and representing their country with honour. Bravo, you brave bastards.
Who wrote this in a moment of quiet reminiscence? "We trained hard, but it seemed every time we were beginning to form teams, we would be re-organised . . . We tend to meet every situation by re-organising; a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralisation."
Was it a Wallaby, batting four wins from the past five Tests; a member of the Australian cricket team with no wins from the last nine Tests . . . or another?
Actually, I am informed by a reader it was Gaius Petronius Arbiter, pro-consul at Bithnyia, at the time of Nero, about 60AD.
But I tell you what, it has some modern resonance.
Adam Scott's triumph this week in the Barclays tournament, and his ascension to No. 2 in the world, has prompted reader Ian Crawford to recall the time when Scott was just a keen teenager who used to come into the golf buggy shop where he worked, off the main street in Sanctuary Cove.
"A mate who ran it and I," he recalls, "set up an old paper towel tube cut down and fixed to the wall at ground level, to fill in time practicing our putting. We used to putt from all directions along a well weathered concrete floor with an old nylon carpet as a major hurdle. To see if we could land balls in the very tight fitting. Boys will always be boys. And the sun never sets!
"Years of youthful delinquency in billiard halls gave me a good eye, and putting was always my forte. To see young Adam pick up our grungy old putters and try his luck – like being at a roll-up stall at a fairground, was something else. And if he hit a winner his joy was no different to that he displayed at the Masters! A truly genuine guy."
In grim sporting times for Australia, Scott is now, officially, our Shining Light.
My thanks for your many warm messages of congratulations re my legal win over Tom Waterhouse in the defamation proceeding this week. And my sincere thanks to Fairfax and my editors in backing me from first to last on the exercise, and never wavering. You can read about it here.
Phil Tufnell, talking on ABC Test cricket coverage about the spread of cricket into Europe: "They'd be good appealers, the Italians, wouldn't they!"
Former AFL footballer and now commentator Dwayne Russell on Jude Bolton, who announced his retirement from the Swans at the end of the season, after a supremely successful career: "Looks like Jane, plays like Tarzan!"
Olympic cycling gold medallist Anna Meares tweeting on Tuesday: "Wonder what the response would have been if Lance Armstrong was demoted to 9th for doping . . . AFL . . . Seriously? What a joke."
Outgoing US Ambassador Jeffrey Bleich, a few months ago, to the chairman of the Greater Western Sydney Giants, Tony Shepherd, on his first impression of Aussie Rules: "It looks like a prison riot, into which someone threw a ball."
Matthew Hayden: "The fact that Michael Clarke was promoted at 21 to be the next captain was a mistake. What we've seen recently, for example in India, is a bunch of guys just doing what they wanted to do, that just reeks of a poor leadership culture . . . "
Mike Tyson: "I want to live my sober life. I don't want to die. I'm on the verge of dying, because I'm a vicious alcoholic. I'm a bad guy sometimes. I did a lot of bad things, I want to be forgiven. I haven't drank or took drugs in six days, and for me that's a miracle. I've been lying to everybody that thinks I was sober, but I'm not. This is my sixth day. I'm never going to use again."
Shane Warne reminisces: "We had this ridiculous thing Steve Waugh brought in. It was just silly. He said that everyone in the first hour has to wear the green baggy cap. I said to him 'I don't have to wear my green baggy cap to say I enjoyed playing cricket for Australia. I want to wear my white floppy, I feel more comfortable in it.' He said 'no, we're all doing it.' I said 'rightio'."Warne continues: "So we used to do it and I used to sit there and sulk at first slip for the first hour wearing this silly baggy green cap." Sacrilege!
Gallen — ludicrously — maintaining it was his father who used his Twitter account on Monday to respond to criticism from Brian Smith and other Twitterati that he had been running scared of Easts player Dylan Napa, and in any case owed his strength to peptides: "haha u people are so sad u have no meaning in life so u follow mine LOOSER."Shades of Warnie's mum and the diet pills. Oh, and Paul? It's spelt "loser."
Andrew Purchas, chair of the Gay Rugby World Cup launch at Parliament House on Wednesday: "The Bingham Cup 2014 will give Sydney the chance to witness the passion with which gay communities from around the world have taken to the rugby pitch. It might also dispel a few myths along the way by showing Australia that gay men can and do play tough contact sports like rugby." The launch was attended by John Eales, Nick Farr-Jones and Bill Pulver among others. The tournament will involve 40 teams and see 2000 players and support staff visiting Sydney for the event.
Essendon. Had a $2 million fine imposed on them and were kicked out of the finals and lost draft picks for their underhand activities, while coach James Hird was suspended for 12 months. All without the AFL attaching "cheating" or "doping" to their names!
The Balmain District Football Club Under 14s girls team, the Unicorns. A credit to their coach, Jason Bogati, and manager, Angela Young, they won their grand final last Sunday, finishing the season undefeated.
Dan Duffy. The Australian greenkeeper who cut his teeth, and the grass, at North Sydney Oval, has been named English Premier League Groundsman of the Year.
Nathan Lyon. Despite having the honour of being chosen last January by retiring Mike Hussey to lead the Australian cricket team in the team song after a victory, he has not had that opportunity after any of the nine Tests since.
Jude Bolton. The great servant of the Swans announced he would be hanging up the boots at the end of this season — hopefully at the conclusion of a grand final victory.
Burraneer U8 Gold Rugby team. Won the Southern Districts Junior Gala Day. The smallest team in their comp they played with passion and great sportsmanship losing only one game all year.
Parramatta Eels. What is going on? A team cannot get beaten 64-4, as they did at the weekend, when everyone is trying their hearts out. So why weren't they?
Marrickville Red Devils U16 girls team. Retained their title with a goal in the second half of extra time, over a supremely valiant Russell Lea team. Long-time rivals, both teams play with good humour and great sportsmanship.
Bathurst High School. Both its boys' and girls' soccer sides have made the grand final of the NSW CHS knockout competition. Amazing from a school of only 950 students.
Twitter: @Peter_Fitz

subset: commoncrawl


text:
as the name suggests... for each novel, identify the top 3 organizations, whose members offer the most power combined power (martial arts wise).
Let me start with Ode to Gallantry as an example.
1. definitely Gallant Island. Two of their 20+ disciples are enough to wipe out most Mainland organizations. The 2 lords alone were able to block the gates of Shaolin; I don't think the entire Gallant Island would have any trouble eliminating Shaolin with ease.
2. Shaolin? Abbot Miaodi was described as extremely capable. Plus Shaolin was prominent as usual.
3. Wudang? Same reason as Shaolin.
Now let me try DGSD:
1. Xiaoyao Sect - if we count Tianshan Tonglao's 108 organizations, plus her Lingjiu Palace, plus the 2 other Xiaoyao Elders, plus Ding Chunqiu's organization -- the sum of this umbrella should definitely be enough to demolish any other organization in DGSD era.
2. Shaolin - with over 20+ Xuan generation monks, roughly equal to 4 to 6 DGSD Elites; plus all the lower level disciples and the formations, Shaolin has the potential to top the DGSD era.
3. Beggar's Union - Although the largest organization by number, they only had one DGSD Elite, about 3 Elders at the level of Evil #3, and the rest were even weaker.
What do you think?


text:
Hasseman House Bed & Breakfast
1900 Style Scrambled Eggs: Breakfast-Brunch
Servings: 8
Prep time:10 min.
18 Eggs
1/4 cup Butter
Step 1:
Place butter in skillet and heat on med/high until just starting to brown
Step 2:
Break eggs into pan without stirring yolks
Step 3:
Stir the whites until almost cooked without breaking the yolks
Step 4:
Stir the yolks. This will mix into the whites and make them rich and buttery in flavor.
Step 5:
Do not overcook. Serve immediately. This way of cooking eggs requires correct timing, but it makes the eggs taste so much better than if you mixed them up before cooking them. Enjoy!
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Q: How do I get to the Whitsundays/ Airlie Beach?
A: Our Getting to the Whitsundays page provides full information on Air, Rail and Road services to the Whitsundays.
Q: Where can I stay in Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays?
A: Accommodation in Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays range from backpacker accommodation to luxury five star resorts. Find something to suit your needs in our Accommodation Listings.
Q: Do you offer an accommodation pickup service?
A: Yes, there are FREE courtesy coach transfers from all Airlie Beach local area accommodation to Abel Point Marina which is just five minutes from Airlie Beach. This is available for most Day Cruises.
Q: Is it going to be hot when I get to the Whitsundays?
A: The Whitsunday Islands are classified as being located in the tropics with an average daily temperature of 27°C. Summer is over those months around January where the average temperature is over 30°C. The winter months are those around July with an average temperature of 23°C. The water temperature in the Whitsundays varies from around 23°C in winter to 28°C in summer. If it's summer time in tropical North Queensland take plenty of sunscreen with you and a hat!
The table below provides a 12 month guide to Temperatures and Rainfall in Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays
Q: Is there shade on the boat and on the pontoon?
A: Yes, the boat and the pontoon provide plenty of protection from the sun but you should still continue with all the normal precautions - apply sunscreen at regular intervals throughout the day and wear a hat.
Q: Can I scuba dive with Cruise Whitsundays?
A: Yes, you can scuba dive when visiting the Great Barrier Reef. We provide our guests with the opportunity to dive (whether certified or discover introductory), snorkel and learn about the reef with one of the Cruise Whitsundays' professional, qualified instructors. All you need to do is either pre-book your activities before you depart or let the crew know you would like to partake in these activities when you are travelling out to the reef.
Q: Can I buy drinks on the boat?
A: A full range of drinks are available through out the day with our Great Barrier Reef Adventure. On the Camira Sailing Adventure, your drinks are included in the cost of the cruise. Tea and Coffee are provided throughout the day on both cruises.
Q: Is there drinking water on board the boats?
A: On the Great Barrier Reef Adventures trip, normal tap water is available free and bottled water is for sale. On Camira there is a cold water cooler with filtered water.
Q: How long does it take to get to the reef?
A: It takes about 2 hours to get to Hardy Reef depending on the weather and sea conditions.
Q: What do we do whilst cruising to the reef?
A: We operate a range of purpose-built reef vessels, designed with the Great Barrier Reef in mind. All are high speed catamarans with spacious air-conditioned lounges, large outer viewing decks, bars serving refreshments and comfortable seating. The journey to and from the reef is all part of the experience. You'll pass spectacular islands and bays and at certain times of the year you'll have the chance to spot whales and other wild life. Enroute to the reef, staff will give you an introduction to all the activities on offer at the pontoon.
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If you have any other questions and concerns please contact one of our representatives.
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Why I Care about This Topic
I always used to think being unqualified disqualified me. I was a self-trained radio copywriter who then became a semi-self-trained press release and direct mail writer (and occasional database administrator).
My lack of formal, structured training led me to two things:
1. I always assumed I knew next to nothing, and needed to improve.
2. I didn't know where the boundaries of my specialty were, so I just kept on learning.
Notice how formal training does the opposite of those two things:
1. When our training period is finished, we naturally assume our learning has finished.
2. We know the boundaries of our specialist field, and anything outside that is someone else's problem.
Now I'm not decrying formal, structured education, or saying we don't need it. I'm just noticing the attitude we all tend to take towards it. And perhaps I'm doing the very thing I criticize, using my own point of reference as a general rule for anyone. That's a disturbing thought, but let's put it aside for the moment.


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Web's Largest listing of crowdsourcing and crowdfunding events
Web's Largest Directory of Sites2,524 crowdsourcing and crowdfunding sites
The 2012 MacArthur fellows were recently announced, recognizing some of the brightest minds humanity has to offer. One of the 23 fellows is Olivier Guyon, an optical physicist and astronomer who, according to his bio, designs "telescopes and other astronomical instrumentation that play a critical role in the search for Earth-like planets outside our solar system."
It turns out that aside from building innovative telescopes, Guyon plans to use some of his fellowship funds to crowdsource planet hunting.
"One direction that… the fellowship is going to, I hope, help me push [into] is involving the public and amateur astronomers in the search and discovery of exoplanets," Guyon said in a video discussing his fellowship, referring to extrasolar planets. "In the last two years, I've been working on how to make this technique affordable and easy for amateur astronomers, schools, and the general public, to actually implement in their back yard. I'm really hoping that in the next few years, I can help others to use the technique to discover planets and to engage the public and amateur astronomers into actual scientific research."
The plan is to have amateur astronomers with quality cameras go out and take pictures of the night sky. Using specially crafted software, even Cannon DSLR pictures can identify stars' luminosity. Monitoring stars' brightness over time is key to finding new planets because when a star appears duller, it can mean that a planet is passing in front of it. Guyon plans to create an open-source database with this information, making it easier to identify which stars dim at regular intervals, implying that planets are orbiting around them.
While the idea may not seem like the sexiest application of crowdsourcing, we've seen initiatives like this succeed in the past. Think, for example, of Galaxy Zoo, which asks users to identify the shapes of galaxies. And the excitement around the Curiosity Mars rover, which helped launch a number of space-related crowdfunding campaigns, showed that people are genuinely interested in contributing to science. The hardest part for Guyon figures to be getting users to contribute on a regular basis, something he could incentivize by inviting the top submitters to tour his lab, for example.
Don't be surprised if Guyon can pull off a successful crowdsourcing initiative around planet hunting. He certainly has the intellectual clout to make it work -- MacArthur Fellowships aren't called 'genius grants' for nothing, after all.
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text: I'm just about ready to enter in my total of nine mags for the best deal subscription and am wondering, what's the catch? even students don't get the crazy rate of $2.95, especially to great mags. Do they automatically charge you the value rate the year after, or send you a notice card? If so, thinking about adding money and using my ecount card. Anyone have any dealings wth them, before I end up having a $200 + / year magazine habit?


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Things to see and do - Schwerin
Leaving for Germany
Schwerin :
Unmissable tourist sites
Where to sleep?
Schwerin Hotel tips
Mulligan Pension from28 €
Book -
Hotel Niederländischer Hof from63 €
Book -
Biohotel Amadeus from50 €
Schwerin Travel guide
Schwerin : Michelin's recommendations
Magnificently situated in a landscape of lakes and forests, Schwerin renewed its links with its administrative past by becoming a Land capital in 1990. The origins of the town go back to the 11C when the Slavs built a fortress on what is now the castle island. It was not long, however, before they were expelld by Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, who established the first German town east of the Elbe. For five centuries (1358-1918) after that, Schwerin was the capital of the Duchy of Meklenburg.
Tourist attractions Schwerin : Things to see and do
Schwerin Cathedral
Bischofstr. D - 19055 Schwerin
Built in brick in the Gothic style between the 14C and 15C, the church contains several very interesting works of art. They include a Gothic altarpiece (c 1480), a number of 14C funerary plaques and frescoes dating from 1335 in the Chapel of the Assu..
Am Markt D - 19055 Schwerin
Four late 17C half-timbered gabled houses have been preserved next to the town hall. The so-called New Building was erected between 1783 and 1785 in the Classic style with Doric columns and was designed as a chamber of commerce.
Schwerin National Museum
Alter Garten 3 D - 19055 Schwerin
This neo-Classical building (1877-1882) houses Dutch and Flemish collections from the 17C and European collections from the 18C and 19C. Vestiges of Stone Age Slav settlements can be seen in the prehistory section.
Hotels Schwerin
InterCityHotel Schwerin
Grunthalplatz 5-7 D - 19053 Schwerin
Prix Prices from : 47 €
This 4-star hotel is located directly beside Schwerin Main Station. It offers soundproofed rooms, easy access to the city centre, and free use of Schwerin's public transport system. Just a 2-minute walk from Schwerin city centre, the InterCityHotel ..
Mulligan Pension
Obotritenring 113 D - 19053 Schwerin
Just 750 metres from Schwerin Train Station, this guest house offers free WiFi and spacious, air-conditioned rooms with hot drinks facilities. Relaxing massages and foot baths can be booked on site. Cable TV and video players are provided in each ro..
Hotel am Hauptbahnhof
Grunthalplatz 11-12 D - 19053 Schwerin
Prix Prices from : 37 €
Located in central Schwerin, this hotel offers free Wi-Fi, varied breakfast buffets, and traditional Mecklenburg food. It is a 1-minute walk from Schwerin Train Station and Lake Pfaffenteich. Set within a historic building, the Hotel am Hauptbahnhof..
Restaurants Schwerin
Niederländischer Hof
Alexandrinenstr. 12 D - 19055 Schwerin
Everyone in Schwerin knows this is a great place to eat. It has a tasteful, elegant interior and table settings to match and provides the perfect foil to the chef's ambitious cuisine. For a change try one of the tables in the light and airy winter ga..
Dorfstr. 6 D - 19061 Krebsförden
Carathotel Schwerin
Bleicher Ufer 23 D - 19053 Schwerin
Speicher am Ziegelsee
Speicherstr. 11 D - 19055 Schwerin
Buschstr. 9 D - 19053 Schwerin
Whether your preference is for a casual bistro-style atmosphere or a more modern restaurant, this restored townhouse hotel in the heart of Schwerin offers the same contemporary menu on both the ground and first floors.


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Images from a colorful past |
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Archives - June 2009 | |||||
Monday, June 01, 2009 | |||||
Some products have fared better than others over Oregon's 150 years of statehood. When was the last time you sat down to a nice, steaming cup of Dr. Henley's Oregon Kidney Tea? Or reached for your trusty box of Red Dragon Squirrel and Gopher Poison? There is no shortage of color and wit in the 250 expired trademarks that were recently unearthed by state archivists and made available for purchase and non-commercial use at arcweb.sos.state.or.us. These are the forebears of the Nike swoosh and the Rogue Dead Guy Ale bottle, and they offer a portal into Oregon's rich heritage of brand-building. The trademarks on display range from Savier & Co.'s "Extra Superfine Flour" in 1864 to Portland Rose Mayonnaise from 1932. And while the companies that created these labels
For example, check out the 35 different labels for canned salmon, intricately detailed if not always appetizing. One company even hedged its bets by offering Ulysses S. Grant fish for Yanks and Robert E. Lee fish for Rebs. Another lively trademark is from the India Packing Company's canned Sicily Lemonade, the contents of which "can be equal to two dozen Best Sicily Lemons." Other labels artfully promote champagne cider, "Orego" peaches and Oahu bitters, whatever they are. Sketches of pheasants and bears adorn wheat labels and salmon cans, and while it isn't surprising that some of the products such as Dr. Henley's Dandelion Tonic ("for rousing the torpid liver") and Grey Loo Carpcide ("destroys all microbes") were doomed to fail the Darwinian test of time, they really aren't any sillier than diet pills and home air purifiers, are they? BEN JACKLET |
OHSU researchers work on AIDS vaccine |
Lean in? Not Sabrina Parsons. |
Oregon agriculture - not just a commodity |
Onion King |
Salmon savers |
The cable guy |
Outside the box |
Produced by the Oregon Business marketing department
When the Portland-based manufacturing company Glass Alchemy, Ltd. was first nominated for an Oregon State University Austin Family Business Excellence in Family Business award in 2004, husband-and-wife team Henry Grimmett and Susan Webb-Grimmett, were honored and optimistic about their chances of winning.
Some employers have embraced the use of employment arbitration agreements as a way to manage and mitigate the rising costs, risks and liabilities associated with employment-related claims. Historically, employment arbitration agreements require employees to present employment-related claims, such as employment discrimination, wrongful discharge, harassment, or claims for wages or compensation to an arbitrator, in lieu of proceeding to court.
Produced by the Oregon Business marketing department
Boly:Welch was founded in 1986 based on a close connection between Diane Boly and Pat Welch. The two had worked together at another recruitment firm and shared certain core values: passion for their work, a sense of humor, a commitment to their community and a desire to create a healthy, nurturing work environment.
BEND, OR – December 18, 2013 - Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO) is pleased to announce the hiring of Jim Boeddeker as Venture Catalyst Manager, replacing Jim Coonan in the role, effective December 23, 2013.
The Oregon New Lawyers Division of the Oregon State Bar recognized two of Barran Liebman's own at their Annual Meeting and Social on November 1.
Barran Liebman LLP is proud to announce that Iris Tilley has been named a partner with the firm. Iris has been with Barran Liebman since 2009 and is a member of the Employee Benefits practice group. She advises employers in all aspects of employee benefits, including ERISA, COBRA, HIPAA, retirement plans, compensation agreements, and health care reform.


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Where are his pants?
The email submitting this photograph read:
Sure, this guy has an impressive biography and discography…but where are his pants? Surely he can afford them. Is he cupping something more than just the bell of his clarinet?
A brave musician sent in some awkward outtakes from her quartet's photo shoot.
I could swear there were four pe – hey, dude behind the tree, your viola is showing.