Texas! Texas! Yeehaw!

Back to the Lone Star State! See you in two weeks!
Merry Christmas!

Run Rudolph Run

The day we begin our odyssey down holiday road is fast approaching.

You may begin placing your bets on:
- How many times we will run through an airport
- If we will at some point be running with an airline employee who's trying to help us make the final boarding call
- If we will be running to catch the flight during the final leg because we have switched to an earlier flight at the last minute, at an airline desk that's on the other side of the terminal

There are three flights involved, three airports, close to 24 hours of travel, and roughly 8000 miles to cover. I'd say your odds are pretty good.

What can I say, this is how the Peterson's roll. Well, this is how RCP rolls, I obviously have no choice but to run....but if there's Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run" playing while I'm running, like in my favorite Christmas movie, 'Home Alone', then I don't mind.

A Beautiful Morning on the River

Going down the Han River every morning to run has become a big part of my daily routine and the river, in general, is a big part of Seoul. It's been especially beautiful these past few mornings with the temperature hovering around the freezing mark and the air crisp and sky blue. I've written briefly about the river before, about it's wonderful biking and walking paths and convenient outdoor gyms and rest stops, but I haven't really posted any pictures of it. Although it's surrounding by freeways, off-ramps, the subway line and bridges that are sometimes packed with cars, down along the water is a great place to begin each day.

View from the Hannam Bridge

About three quarters of the way around my loop.

I cross two bridges along my loop and this is the second oe

with a wonderful lower level for biking and foot traffic.

The home stretch.

  This has been my gym for the past four months. What a view!

I've also been conducting an experiment: 

Can working out the old fashioned way, with push-ups, crunches and lunges
be just as effective as what is offered in a gym?

So after running I do crunches on the bench looking things above and pushups on these things.

I've been doing this since I arrived and now that the mercury is hovering around 30 degrees,
it's quite exhilarating. When you have to wear gloves at the gym there's a real sense of accomplishment.

"Because it's Korea"

I have to write about three things that I've seen recently, not to make fun, but just to show how things here can become "Koreafied". When we see things that are somewhat normal, but yet so very not we will ask ourselves "Why?" More often than not the answer we come up with is that the item has been "Koreafied" or we just simply say "Because it's Korea" (in the most endearing way, of course). We love Korean creativity!

A "Koreafied Fruit Basket"

This is what you get when you choose to buy your gift basket from the Family Mart or Joy Mart

down on the corner...but genius, because it's non-perishable.

 A "Koreafied" Christmas Tree
I found this trio of palm trees at Emart...in the Christmas section....

made out of the same stuff the artificial Christmas trees are made out of here...

just in case you'd rather have a palm than a Douglas fir...

also perfect for a Hawaiian themed Christmas party...

And this I think exists "just because it's Korea"...
or do we actually have Barbie brand hair color back home?
Natural, authentic-looking color....just like Barbie's authentic, natural color!

 (I wonder if this marketing tactic is successful?...Why wouldn't it be?
Who doesn't want to look like Barbie?)

Where They Keep the Christmas Decorations

RCP's second quarter project was completed and presented on Friday so he's now unofficially on vacation! He still has to report to work next week, but Tuesday night he has a Chicago B-School alum party, Wednesday their client for this last project is taking them out for a celebratory dinner and Thursday is the Samsung Christmas party. We then fly out to Texas on Saturday so it should be a pretty nice and easy week. We still had a few more Korean goodies to procure for the family back home, so we thought we'd check out the Namdaemun Market to see what we could find amidst the chaos. I thought I had visited every major market Seoul has, but apparently I hadn't and as it turned out, this is definitely where they keep the Christmas decorations...and the best mulled spiced Christmas tea I've ever had.

Months ago I had written about visiting the Dongdaemun Market, the giant wholesale market that sold everything from buttons to books to shoes. I mistakenly lumped the Namdaemun Market into the description, but the two are actually very separate, selling completely different things and located actually pretty far from each other.

Namdaemun Market is one of the oldest continually running markets in South Korea and one of the largest retail markets in Seoul. The streets in which the market is located were built in a time when cars were not prevalent, so the market itself is not accessible by car. The main methods of transporting goods into and out of the market are by motorcycle and hand-drawn carts. It occupies many city blocks, which are blocked off from most car traffic due to the prevalence of parking congestion in the area. The market dates back to 1414, during the reign of King Taejong, as a government managed marketplace. In 1608, King Seonjo set up the office in the district to manage the tributes of rice, cloth and money. A trading marketplace took its form around that time and commercial activities flourished as traders set up various shops. Trade was active in grains, fish, fruit, and miscellaneous goods. Today, there is no lack of fashion apparel items and knock-off designer accessories, to kitchen supplies, cosmetics and ginseng. Besides shopping, there is also a maze of roofed alleyways that offer up any traditional Korean soul food you may be craving from boiling stews to hot tea.

 From the inside looking out.

Namdaemun looks pretty much like every other outdoor market in Seoul.

 So this is where they keep Christmas....

While you can find Christmas decorations at stores like Emart and Kim's Club, 

the selection was much more extensive at Namdaemun, and available at wholesale prices.

 We got to see Santa :)

Trees of all shapes and sizes, pre-decorated...and snowmen wrapped up ready to go....

such an efficient way to decorate!

 This is better than Hobby Lobby....

 ...or just like Hobby Lobby, but on steroids.

 In search of the spiced tea.

The alleys are lined with tiny dining room sized restaurants,
with grills and cook tops in the alleys.

 The restaurants usually serve one dish.

Simple,  hearty and always boiling hot.

Found the tea!
RCP new of this hole in the wall because he had been taken here after a meeting with a client.

Everyone chats and knows each other.

One item on the menu - a cup of tea, for $4.00

The tea tasted like mulled cider, with about 2 extra spoonfulls of spices.

It was a little thick, super spicy with cinnamon and topped with walnuts, 

pine nuts and jujube nuts (the red things).

 Then it was time for some dumplings, fresh out of the steamer.

Let's make a deal....

This is the only picture I have of any apparel booths just because 

it all pretty much looks like this, with any style of clothing you could want 

from hiking gear to fur to socks. There were lots and lots of sock carts.

And after you pick up some socks, you can have a snack of salted silk worm larva....

This is another version of how silk worm larva is also served, street-side...

this particular version tends to smell like dog food, but it is a very popular snack in Korea.

We weren't quite sure what any of these little snacks were, 

but we think they were all of marine origin.

Apparently tailors are also available at the market.

I bet this is a whole lot less expensive than taking it to the department stores, 

which has been recommended.

Most dry cleaners here don't offer tailoring or alternation services like back home.

A rogue Christmas tree.

After we left Namdaemun....

Not sure if this was just for Christmas or permanent, but how fabulous would this look in a yard!

The Hot Custard-Filled Bread Man.

 Again, how cool would these be hanging in your yard?!

I'm assuming this was for a book drive.

 And then we found Michael the Archangel in the subway on the way home 

(or Gabriel, depending on what name your religion calls him).

We then ended the day with a Lunar Eclipse....

Every three years a lunar eclipse occurs and we were lucky enough to have been able to view it at a decent hour. We had actually been home for a couple of hours, myself already in my p.j.'s ready for a movie, but RCP made us go out to watch it. So I put some clothes on over my p.j's and we went out into the street. It was cloudy so there was nothing to see so we went for some coffee....me in my p.j.'s with real clothes on top and my puffy coat and boots since it was 25 degrees....I kind of felt like a homeless person. When we left the coffee shop the sky was clear and we stood out in the street again and watched it. Dad, aren't you proud?

Sorry, the camera couldn't pick up the eclipse, so I captured it being watched.

Take-Out, Just Phở Me

RCP has been working 'til 10:00 pm on average almost every night over the past two weeks so my nightly dinners have run the gamut from salads to cheese and crackers to a two-ingredient stir fry. I don't really like to cook for just myself, so I tend to forage and graze, occasionally throwing some chicken into a pan. However, a new restaurant finally opened across the street from the U.N. Village called "Good Morning Vietnam". It's a Vietnamese noodle soup shop and I tried their take-out the other night. Phở, as the soup is called, is a really delicious, extremely filling, healthy meal. Phở is usually served with beef (phở bò) or chicken (phở gà). I ordered the phở bò and I'm no expert on phở, but the broth was incredible, with hints of cinnamon and cloves, it's a perfect dish to eat on a cold winter night. Also, I can't forget to mention the speed at which my take-out was ready: Under 5 minutes. This is by far a new record and by far faster than getting even a slice of pizza back in New York.

A Little Info about Phở

Phở is served in a bowl with a specific cut of white rice noodles (called bánh phở') in clear beef broth, with slim cuts of boiled beef (steak, fatty flank, lean flank or brisket). Variations can feature tendon, tripe and meatballs in southern Vietnam. The broth for beef phở is generally made by simmering beef bones, oxtails, flank steak, charred onion, charred ginger and spices. Seasonings can include Saigon cinnamon or other kinds of cinnamon, star anise, roasted ginger, roasted onion, black cardamom, coriander seed, fennel seed, and clove. For chicken phở, only the meat and bones of the chicken are used in place of beef and beef bone and the remaining spices remain the same except for the charred ginger, which is omitted, since its function in beef phở is to get rid of the "cow's smell." Typical garnishes for phở include onions, chili peppers, cilantro, lime, bean sprouts and Thai basil. Other accompaniments include dipping sauces such as fish sauce, hoisin and chili sauces, hot and spicy pastes and a squeeze of lime or lemon juice.

 Gooooood Mooooooorning Vietnam!

Bags of ingredients my phở :)

Assembling my phở required a little problem solving because dumping a bag of

broth into a bowl proved to be a little impossible.

Add the onion....

...top it with some bean sprouts....

...and there you have it, a nice bowl of phở.....phở dinner :)

Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire

We appropriately ended our Saturday of holiday shopping in Insa-dong by passing some chestnut roasters on the sidewalk. I had actually never had a roasted chestnut, and we almost didn't have these after they tried to charge us, the obvious foreigners, $5 for a small bag and the Korean's in line behind us $3. To all street vendors who try to price-gouge RCP: Wrong person to pull that on. He knows what you're up to before you even try it, he speaks enough Korean to count and understand numbers and you'll get an earful in that good ol' New Yorker way. He will win.

(Is it just me, or does anyone else think that a roasted chestnut tastes like an undercooked potato?)

Chestnuts roasting on an opening fire.....(sung in the voice of Bing Crosby)....

....not as glamorous as the song suggests though.

 A little holiday cheer in the subway on the way home, compliments of a Presbyterian church.

Sensor the Beef!

I have never seen such high loss prevention standards for food as the kind I saw on the beef jerky at Emart the other day. Is the "lifting" of this small portioned, salty snack really that prevalent? Especially in a city where there is very little, if any, crime at all? The imported beef jerky, as seen below, does run a little on the expensive side at around $10 a pack, but even the domestic stuff, priced at $2.50 was censored. Korean's take their beef very seriously. Being from Texas, I completely understand.....sort of.

A Multipurpose Little Packet of Goo

I cannot believe I'm saying this, but I'm completely addicted to a Korean product. I'm convinced it cures sore throats and the best part is that it's multifunctional. I have no idea what the name of it is since I can't read, but it's this little packet of a marmalade-like substance that you just squeeze into your cup of hot water, stir and you have a delicious citrus tea. It's not really tea, since there aren't any tea leaves, but it tastes like tea! I guess it boils down to (no pun intended) basically citrus flavored sugar water but I'm certain it cured my nasty sore throat I had (or three cups daily over the past two weeks did). According to the box the little packet of citrus goo has other purposes: It can be made into an iced drink, put on toast or even be a topper on ice cream! I've noticed you can also buy this stuff in a giant jar, but I think the single serving sized packets are good for now and a good way to keep my citrus sugar water intake in moderation.

 

Everyone will for sure be getting this in their stocking this Christmas!

Multifunctional.

Demo.

Stir and that's it! It's easier than making tea!