mary eats

Eat, Drink, and be Inspired

The slogan of Savor Seattle couldn’t be truer. When I first started this blog I was living in Korea and was intrigued by near everything involving food. As an outsider I was equally captivated in a package of dried ramyeon noodles as dinner at the elegant Season’s restaurant in the Hilton Seoul. Everyday, whether on my 10-minute break between classes or after or before work, my fingers flew over the keyboard, writing up restaurants or grocery store finds.

Moving home it has been hard to rekindle that wanderlust spark. Having been gone for 4 years, there is much to Seattle that has changed, a new restaurant scene, more highbrow grocery stores, and an emergence of ethnic grocery stores and food carts to reckon with. But having grown up here, it is hard to see past the nostalgia, and focus in on what is staring you in the face. My excuse for two months of absent blogging.

This week Erin (also a long time WA state-r though recently transplanted to the East Coast) and I signed up for the Savor Seattle’s food tour of the Pike’s Market. Hardly a sight new to either of us, I’ve been wandering the cobbled streets since I could remember. When I interned downtown, I ate in the market nearly every day, filling up on mini-doughnuts and potato and cheese piroshky. And I think the day Kevin knew I’d be his wife was the day I led him by the hand, first to the shy giant for some vanilla ice cream, then to Starbucks for a fresh shot of espresso, then to the sidewalk, where we sat, pouring our steaming shots over our vanilla ice cream, creating instant affogatoes.

As this year marks the Market’s 100th birthday, I realized that while I know the tastes of the market, I don’t know the stories, and there are literally stories behind near every piece of tile in the market. So, at 9:45 in the morning, Erin and I met Angela our tour guide, strapped on our earpieces, and feasted on words and tastes.

During the two-hour tour, Angela fed us with market trivia, my favorite involving eggplants, and a tiled love letter (separately). Tour destinations included places I’d frequented many times before, but never got past the exchange of goods for cash. This time, however, we chatted with the fishmongers and were playfully harassed by a vegetable hawker. We ate, we drank, and somewhere, caught that illusive spark of inspiration. For Erin, it was stocking up on some serious Washington State products before heading back to NYC, for me that hunger to know and write about everything I was seeing and tasting.

“Is this your first time in Cabo?” The lady in the seat next to me asked.
“Yes.” I replied in a tone that neither expressed excitement nor intrest.
“Oh,” she said, her eyebrows raised in excitement. “You’re going to just love it.”

Mexico and I have never been friends.

Though thousands of Americans are drawn to beaches and underage drinking, and thousands of Mexicans are drawn to higher wages, Mexico and I are like oil and vinegar (me being extra virgin olive oil imported from Tuscany and Mexico being two bit hintz white vinegar). That is until my mother-in-law flew me down to join her and Kevin for a week in Cabo (something she is no doubt regretting as she has twice desperately lost to me at scrabble).

After nine weeks of cramming the most arcane of culinary information into that little 12% of my brain that actually gets used, I have hit the wall (didn’t take long, did it?). I don’t know what is going on, really, I never got good grades before (but let me tell you I, though lucky to be harboring somewhere around a 3.0, considered myself right along up there with my friends who got accepted to ivy league schools and scored 1400 on their SATs. It isn’t that I didn’t get accepted to Stanford, I just didn’t want to go there). My misunderstood genius was redirected into making out with my boyfriend or memorizing lines from Samuel Becket plays for upcoming debate tournaments).

I can understand that it is confusing for my family and friends to see me so determined, so intent on a 4.0, so focused on my studies. One friend, in particular, I won’t name names, but we’ll see if she even recognizes I’m talking about her, reminds me, on an almost daily basis that I never used to be like this. “Mary? What happened? You were never like this in high school, organized, and all doing your homework.” But I’ll wear her compliment, “you’re the cutest perfectionist I know,” with pride. The point is this. I want to enjoy my good grades, my success in class, not be made to feel embarrassed for it. And then there is the counter point. Maybe I’m taking this all to seriously. This is school afterall, and not, as my chef reminded me after confessing my bleeding heat, “the CIA.”

I don’t claim to be Jerri Blank, but I am confident that my resolute sense of responsibility stems from hitting the glass ceiling in the world of coffee, glass bottom of the coffee cup so to speak? I have been 23, thinking I was the cat’s meow, but only making 7.25 an hour. Not exactly the place I imagined my BA in the Arts would find me. I guess that is why my classmates like to poke fun and snicker when I get frustrated at their complete lack of responsibility, or try to contest a missed question on a midterm.

Finally getting in a verbal spat with one after one too many of his “I’m just teasing,” got me on the first day of my period. I really hate that our menstrual cycle so often takes the blame, or truly is the cause, of outbursts, emotions, or rage induced flurries. But sometimes it can’t be helped, ( I have a 28 day long fuse) and last Tuesday was one of those days (I’m blaming my 93 on the quiz on it).

So here I am in Mexico, sipping on margaritas Kevin has spent the week perfecting, trying to “do nothing,” to relax. Cabo is a funny place. Too many American tourists, clad in novelty t-shirts, baseball caps, and sport sandals to allow me my usual combing of alleyways and markets (haven’t found a market yet, come to think of it), so I’ve sequestered myself to our junior suite kitchen, fixing up tortilla soup, chicken and greens in tomitallo salsa, and grilled tiger shrimp. Sometimes cooking is stressful to the point of wanting to flip the sauté pan across the room while yelling obcenities then pull out a package of frozen kimchi mondu in defeat, but other times like this week, cooking quietly puts things back in order, allowing one little successes, a round of compliments from snackers, slowly rebuilding what before came crashing down.

Kev demonstrates how to infuse lime into a beer cabo style.

Does this mean I will return to class fresh faced passing out smiles to those that perturb me beyond belief? No. But at least sinister thoughts of how I can sabotage their Chef Of The Day final will have subsided.

When searching for the perfect souvenir, what, I ask you, could be better than novelty chocolates?

Who wouldn’t be glad to recieve chocolate covered macadamia nut clusters from Hawaii, or cocoa dusted truffles from Belgium. And for you, the gift giver, a sleek box of chocolate fits perfectly into your carry-on. And, seeing as how no one has yet tried to create an explosive out of the brown sweet, chocolate is a safe, FAA approved gift.

But would you want chocolate covered kimchi? Or chocolate seaweed squares? Yeah. Me too. But the novelty of it gets to me at my tourist core, and quite a few others too, proven at the Lotte Duty free store, perched on the 11th floor of the Lotte Department store in Eujirlo.

There I found hoards of Japanese and Chinese tourists fondling boxes of chili flavored bonbons, chestnut or sweet potato filled truffles, and the most curious of curios, kimchi and gim (toasted and seasoned seaweed) chocolates. At around 10 US bucks a box they are a bit pricey, but warrant a try once in one’s life.

Our South African friends served as a good excuse to enact on our curiosity. We first tried the gim chocolate. Both Kev and I have a fondness for gim, the toasty salty roasted sheets of seaweed, are the perfect crackling accompaniment to a bowl of rice. But salt, sesame oil, and chocolate: could it work? Check out the Video for James’ reaction- ours were in-sync.

The kimchi version fared far better. The Ghirardelli style squares packed a piquant punch. But the faint essence of vinegar was less than palatable.

Are they worth it? Most likely not. Not one of us ate a whole one, opting instead to break each square into small sections then passing the specimen around. But what is to say about a country that doesn’t capitalize on pairing its indigenous foods with chocolate?

Because I can’t resist the comic posts, I give you this

C

At the moment I’m coming to you from a two story, brick laden bagel cafe in the sunny, and windy city of Cape Town, South Africa.

Kevin and I are escaping the bone chilling Korean winter, all 6 months of it, to summery South Africa to soak up rays and sink our teeth into a whole new cuisine.

Our tickets were quite cheap, and if you also buy cheap tickets, you know this can mean 12-20 hour layovers in airports. Thankfully, instead of being cooped up in a drab airport terminal sucking in stale air and trying unsuccessfully to sleep under the glare of fluorescent lights, Singapore wants you to get out there and spend some cash! You can opt for a guided tour provided by Singapore Airlines, or go it alone. We had a nicely timed 12 hours to eat and shop. And eat and shop we did! If you live in North Asia, Singapore is about a 5 hour flight from Seoul and a great city in which to rejuvenate stagnant gray senses. The weather is usually muggy and cloudy, but the food dazzles kimchi laden taste buds, and shops like Zara and Top Shop cater to those of us who are large-ee.

I present to you maryeats, a peek at hawker stands.

If you are interested in Singapore cuisine there are a host of Singaporean food bloggers out there. Check out chubby hubby, kuidaore, and Kitchen crazy daffy.

In honor of Zen Kimchi and The Amateur Gourmet, I humbly present my take on the comic book post. enjoy

Back a month or so ago, I told you all that I would be updating of the first edition of the LUXE Guide Seoul.

Well, it’s finished and out! This Friday I arrived at work to find five newly pressed babies on my desk.

Working on the guide was exhilarating and simultaneously tiring. After all this I’ll think twice before cursing out my lonely planet for a wrong direction or phone number. My job was to walk through the shopping itineraries (half the guide) and double check that shops still existed, or were worth shopping in, and that phone numbers and directions were correct. Since LUXE doesn’t include maps, noting lefts and rights, around the bends and up over the hills are essential. Everything had to be correct. Which usually translated to me walking and re-walking the routes making sure I had it all down. At one point I resorted to taping the walk with my camera.

But blood, sweat and tears, wait. That’s not very luxe like. I’ll start again.

But martinis, manicures and suede loafers, it’s finished. Ready for you or anyone you know traveling to Seoul in need of a little luxury.

Seeing your name in print never gets old. They added the luscious part.

Presenting Seoul’s Filipino market, “Little Manila.”

Little Manila is open in the late morning/early afternoons every Sunday.
Take the blue line (line 4) to Hyewha station (the one right after Dongdaemun) and go out exit 1 and walk north (straight) towards the rotary.

Recommended eats*
Adobo, slow cooked pork or chicken in a soy based sauce
Menudo, spicy tomato based soup with pork, potatoes, and carrots
Turron, bananas wrapped in egg roll wrapper, rolled in sugar, then deep fried (1,000won)
Lumpia, spring roll with meats and vegetables (1,000won)
Gulaman, a sweet drink with tapioca pearls and gelatin bits (1,000won)

Caffe Appassionato

For a while I’ve wanted to capture street eats and without further ado….

The Breakdown:

Hutdok, a fried dough round stuffed with brown sugar and spices. They are 500won, roughly 50 US cents for one. These are mad popular. I have waited up to 20 minutes for one. But the wait is worth it. Fried dough. Glistening, sugary fried dough. Does it get any better than that?

Mini-kim bap. There are many varieties, clearly marked in English and Korean. Expect to pay 2,000won-3,000won depending on how many you select. This particular stand is in Insadong and the ajuma is quite sweet. Through her giggles she kept handing me cups of water after seeing my face turn fuchsia while eating that crazy spicy kimbap

Mondu twigam, freshly made fried mondu. These are some of the best I’ve tried in Korea. 2,000won for three. I have only seen these in the Hwanghak-dong flea market. If you walk down the chunggyecheon, east of Dongdaemoon, you’ll hit the flea market. Some of the buildings have large numbers painted on the upper right side, and this stand can be found, I think, between 14 and 15? Maybe 16? There is a dude selling used books on the corner, this is where you should turn right. The stand will be on your left.

Cups of fresh summer cherries, around 2,00won. Fruit is a popular summer street snack. You can often find spears of melon or pineapple for 1,000won. The sliced fruit is kept on ice for all you would be health inspectors out there.

On the right Japanese favorite tako-yaki, dough balls with chopped octopus and veggies. 2,000won for 5, 3,000won for 8. They are super hot and will scald the inside of your mouth if you are not careful.

A variety of dried and roasted squid on a cart. Koreans eat it like Americans eat beef jerky. It is quite a sight to see someone gnawing away on a foot long purple octopus tentacle, suckers still intact.

Mini sausages are starting to replace the full sized sausages, and I am glad. It has always concerned me, these long sausages on a sharp wooden stick. What if you were taking a bite and someone ran into you on the street. That skewer would totally go through your cheek and you’d be on your way to the emergency room. Much better, I think, to gingerly poke at a mini sausage with a toothpick. 2,000-3,000won.

Kimchi guk-su, a noodle dish with kimchi, acorn jelly, chopped lettuce and seaweed for 2,500won.

Egg toast. Eggs mixed with cabbage and carrots then placed in between two slices of bread. Around 1,500won. You can always jazz it up with a slice of processed ham or processed American cheese.

Sweet dough is filled with a dab of sweet red bean paste on the left. 1,000-2,000won. These always smell good, and are nice when wandering the cold winter streets.

The ddokboggie stand. From left to right in the back is, sundae, a popular blood sausage, ddokboggie, rice cakes in a fiery chili sauce, and chicken and leek skewers brushed with a sweet chili sauce. In the front, twigam, mixed veggies, sweet potato, chili peppers, squid, small kim bap, and mandu, all battered and deep-fried. Expect to spend 2,000-5,000won depending on how much you order.

A snack many Koreans eat as children, then again as seniors, bundaegi, simmered silkworm larva. The stench alone keeps me from trying this, but many people swear to me that it has a savory taste, like chicken. You can get a better look at bundaegi here.

In touristy areas such as Insadong, where many of these photos were taken, Dongdaemoon market, or Myeongdong vendors are patient with tourists. Point to what you want, and smile.