Korean BBQ in LA

This famous korean grub can be found on the streets of LA. Kogi BBQ serves up Korean inspired tacos from a truck which roams the LA neighborhood. What to try it out? You must follow their location noted on Tweeter to claim your kimchi.

oh, technology.

http://twitter.com/kogiBBQ

first there was fire, then there was bread

The wish for warm bread and tea during tonights rain storm let to an eventful evening. The project began well; without any proper measuring the dough looked promising. Into the toaster oven, which is Koreas closest to an oven, I attempt the warm environment for rising.

Nearly perfection, 45 minutes in. Until I got gutsy, and distracted. And it's proof that I am my mothers daughter. I burned a dish towel and managed to set fire to my recipe book while ruining the dough.

However, the flames didn't halt my bread motives, and with the second round of kneading, rising, and baking, resulted in three sweet and lovely loaves of fresh, warm bread. Granted it's no bread made by Greg Allen.... but I can only try to be as good as the teacher.

Local Terrain

Agro Fish Market is just a few blocks from my apartment. Regretfully I only have a photo of the bag of lettuce I acquired for a chun (aprox. $.85) from this unique place. The warehouse structure houses endless piles of veggies, greens, root vegetables, and fruit. There are no cute stands or signage. Its raw; produce spilling out on the floor, ajumas shuffling, and scooters buzzing.

A short bus ride (as long as you get on the right one ~) from Anyang Station brings you to the base of two meeting mountains. It is home to a beautiful river, Buddhist temple, and Anyang Art Park. The worn trails lead up and round to various sculptures and structures by artists from Korea and abroad. While climbing around and exploring the work scattered on the mountain side the rhythm and chanting from the temple echoed in the air.

The peak held a spiraling ramp 150 meters long which offers great views of the valley village.

The area is authentic with many outdoor Korean restaurants held between the rocky mountain edges, waterfalls, and stream. Koreans were wasting the day away in the river. The streets were slow, arched over with trees and held a local charm.

I befriended an ajuma who couldn't speak any english but we shared a coffee and an apple while resting on a rock. We both talked a lot, but with little comprehension.

Suri Mountain is a mere three stops south on Line 4. Head out Exit Two, cross the street, pass through apartment 510, and behold the trail head to the mountain. I joined with a few local teachers to take the trek. It began as an easy stroll, but nearing the top offered a challenge with a steep incline and boulders to heave over. Some biked up the mountain, others carried carts filled with ice cream to sell to hikers, and even a few brought their football sized dogs along for the expedition.

Ceramics Student

Three months ago I began taking ceramic lessons at Maru & An Ceramics Studio. I stumbled upon the studio while exploring the back streets of my neighborhood. When I went down to see the space I was greeted by a cheerful guy who could speak a bit of english. I was keen to try it out but worried about the language barrier. My director called the studio to inquire about classes for a “wa-guk”. The teacher exclaimed that I could just learn Korean. So three months in my Korean is shotty but I swear my teacher's english is improving!

Tuesday and Thursday evenings are spent in the basement studio surrounded by Korean potters, music, language, and traditional Korean craft. I am absorbing the basic techniques (and language). My first project was a tea kettle and three jans, tea cups. A bit ambitious for my first project; I had to try three times before it was acceptable. The amount of liquid held inside the tea kettle is to fill the three jans precisely for traditional Korean tea ceremonies. Oh, the pressure. It is decorated with a traditional Korean style called jo-hwa. White paint is applied to the surface, the pattern etched out from the paint layer, then glazed and fired.

I have dabbled in coiling and slab work sine then, and learned various Korean methods for decoration. More photographs to come soon.

Sun-sang-nim was chosen for Oriental Ceramic Exhibition 2009. Heres a bit on his work, and fame!

Happy Chuseok!

Korea's Thanksgiving/Harvest Holiday is today. The weather is beautiful and the city is quiet. Most Koreans return to their hometown for the weekend to eat a Korean feast, celebrate the full moon, and worship their ancestors. Songpyeong, 송편, a special rice cake is popular for the holiday. The sticky rice dough is filled with sweet bean paste or honey, and then (?) steamed over pine needles.

We celebrated Chuseok at school on Wednesday. The students wore Hanbok, traditional Korean dress, to school. We ate songpyeong, made Jegi-chagi, 제기차기, a tassel like hacky sack, and played some Korean games. Jegi-chagi competitions took place to see who could kick the tassel the most times without dropping it. Chicken fighting was the other highlight. Holding one leg at your hip and balancing on the other, you use a jumping technique to knock down your opponents. The students competed, then the teachers had a go. Yours truly was the winner for the female foreign teachers. Mom, aren't you proud?

The students look so proper and refined in their traditional dress, but don't let it fool you...

How Bazaar ~

There are many oddities to Korea have become so normal to me I no longer think twice about them. But when I take a moment to remind myself that I'm living in Korea, a few things stand out as the Korean way.

Always take your shoes off, sit on the floor. Even at school the students remove their shoes to wear slippers.

You must always carry your own toilet paper, and there is not always a western toilet.

Koreans have this genetic flexibility to squat down and sit for a great length of time. Most westerns cannot do it with such ease. We have experimented.

There is always a man sitting outside the 7/11 drinking sojo [really potent rice liquor] or Cass [really bad beer made from rice].

Any day of the week there are Korean men in business suits stumbling out of the bars and restaurants. Usually they make a chain linked line with the most sober on the outside getting worse towards the center. A pretty logical system considering there usual state of stumbling and slurring.

The woman at my favorite coffee shop even calls me “Teacher”

There are rubber paths along the sidewalks for easier walking and the parks have stone paths to remove your shoes and walk across, massaging the feet.

Korean woman always are wearing stiletto. (when I told my korean co-teacher Jenifer that heels hurt my feet she exclaimed that flats pain her, and she cannot wear them anymore.)

Koreans never j-walk.

Showers are not common, nor are baths. It is simply a shower head mounted to the wall next to your sink.

Doing laundry is always a task because the machine is in Korea, you never really know whats going to happen, and it plays a song when it finishes. I suppose Michelle and I had the same problem in London and it was in our own language, but there was no diddy, the machine sounded the same as an airplane taking off.

Parks have exercise machines in them, and Koreans are always using them.

At the subway and bus stations, lines form to board the train/bus.

Everyone on the subway is watching TV on their cell phones.

There are 12 seats on each carriage designated for the elderly and even if there are no elderly to sit there, no one sits there.

Koreans can sleep anywhere, benches, tables, trains, sidewalks, anywhere.

When you go shopping someone will help you to the point of dressing and buttoning and setting each detail just right.

They also have no problem with pushing you out of their shop when they see how big your feet are.

Red-lights are optional, and while driving most koreans watch sports or drama.

When students win in a game the rest of the class is so ecstatic they all run, tackle, and pile on while screaming with excitement.

Students are always in school. High schoolers begin around 8:30 and finish around midnight.

Ramen is a staple in the Korean diet.

It's true, most eat rice and kimchi for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Korean pop music is really terrible, but everyone aged 5 to 70 listen to it! Wondergirls, Nobody

While it can be humorous and a bit bazaar, it has become normal. Maybe it is the western way that is odd...