고양이 두마리 - Two Cats

A beautiful traditional paper fan at the Fan Culture Gallery (부채문화관) in Jeonju's Hanok Village. There is a tiger (호랑이) on the design.

In other news, my homestay family has temporarily adopted a kitten (새끼 고양이) that some students rescued from a gutter. It's so adorable. Tonight, it was play-fighting with the two small dogs who think they own this place, and I was just like, "아 귀여워, 귀여워!" I wish I weren't allergic to cats; then, I'd be able to cuddle with this tiny furball and plot to take it back to the States with me.

In other other news, I'm really happy to hear about DOMA and Prop 8. History has been made in the US, folks! Hooray for equality -- 결혼평등화 만세!

The Best Patbingsu in Korea

옛날팥빙수 from 외할머니솜씨 in 전주한옥마을

According to Kelly, the best place to get 팥빙수 (patbingsu, a wonderful Korean dessert) in Jeonju is at "Grandmother's Best" (외할머니 솜씨). I'd wager that it's the best place to get 팥빙수 in all of Korea, period.

Weh-halmeoni Som-shi roughly translates to "Grandmother's Skills". 외할머니 is your mother's mother, and 솜씨 is a tough-to-translate word that refers to the manual skills required to cook and craft things well. It's like dexterity, but mostly for food and art.

In any case, Grandma works in a tiny shop wedged in between many traditional buildings of the same ancient architectural style in Jeonju's traditional Hanok Village -- 전주한옥마을, a popular spot for tourists and local Korean families alike. The many Hanok Villages scattered throughout Korea are known for being neighborhoods absent of the breakneck busyness for which Korea is increasingly becoming known but, on the other hand, full of cultural treasures in the realms of food, art, and history.

Jeonju's Hanok Village in particular has some excellent food, and this 옛날팥빙수 is a prime example: a medium-sized bowl filled with condensed milk and shaved ice, topped with some of the sweetest red bean paste I've ever had, delicious, chewy homemade rice cakes, and black sesame powder was enough for three, but I tell you I could have finished it all on my own, it was that good. The dessert really satisfied the sweet tooth I've had for the past few days. All of it is homemade, too -- Grandma doesn't use nothin' from a can.

What a great treat for an extremely hot day! Kelly and Katelyn also enjoyed it, as you can probably tell from the photo below. The former is not even ashamed to admit that she once came here alone just to have a bowl all by herself. It's summer; this is a reasonable thing.

Kelly and Katelyn with our 옛날팥빙수 (traditional patbingsu).

"Grandma's Best" (외할머니솜씨/Weh-halmeoni Som-shi) is located in the Jeonju Hanok Village. The address is: 113-4 Gyo-dong, Wansan-gu, Jeonju City. A bowl of the best patbingsu ever is just ₩6,000. If the lines are as long as they are in the photo below, you can also get take-out!

Super-long lines outside of the shop after we left. We beat the rush!

인절미

A large blob of rice cake in the making.

인절미 (injeolmi) is a traditional Korean snack. (When I say it, it kind of sounds like "Enjoy me!") It is a variety of 떡 (ddeok), or rice cake, that is first pounded into a sticky, glutinous blob before being coated with bean flour and sugar. I've eaten 인절미 often, since rice cakes of all kinds are a common gift for teachers, but there's definitely nothing like eating a fresh batch that you yourself have helped make!

This past weekend, I went up to Hwacheon (화천) to attend the annual Hwacheon Peace Forum, a twenty-four-hour camp that combines an excursion to locations around the DMZ (De-Militarized Zone between North and South Korea) with a language and cultural exchange between Korean students and Americans. On the evening of the first day of the camp, we visited a hanok (한옥) village, a collection of dwellings built in the traditional Korean style that often serve as host to these sorts of camps. The first thing we did there was get the lowdown on how to pound our own 떡.

My student partner HL and me pounding at the 떡. (taken by SY)

Delicious 인절미!

It's not too difficult, really. You grab a giant wooden mallet and swing it down onto the blob of rice. Accuracy and strength are key, but it was a little bit tricky to engage both at the same time. I had a good time pounding away at the 떡-to-be, even though I wasn't doing it very well, but I also realized that our efforts were minimal compared to how much work must have been put into creating the blob in the first place.

Anyway, everyone who wanted to work out their aggression via giant wooden mallet got a chance to do so, and then we coated our rice cakes in the sweet bean powder and started nomming.

Afterward, we had a nice outdoor barbecue dinner and I got to hang out with all of the Korean students and get to know them much better. It was neat how quickly we all became close. All it takes is a few enthusiastic circle/icebreaker games and food, and suddenly you've got tons of new friends. I introduced everyone to Ninja, a favorite from college, and also got really into many rounds of Mafia later in the evening. I'll elaborate on what this Peace Forum was actually about in the next post. To come: the non-touristy DMZ, the World Peace Bell, and otters!

Korean students and American teachers having some fun before dinner.