Lunch at a Korean Cafeteria

Wow. I had no idea the top left dish was eel...The army stew was loaded with a variety of sausages and ham, so lots of the students got seconds!

Friday, March 29th, 2013 (clockwise from top left dish):
fried eel (장어강정),
boiled bean sprouts and fresh imitation crab seasoned in vinegar (숙주맛살무침),
cubed radish kimchi (깍두기),
spicy sausage army stew (부대찌개),
and brown rice (현미밥)

Lunch at a Korean Cafeteria

I love potato pancakes.
The fried seaweed is fried in sugar, sesame oil, and salt. It makes a quick and easy meal if you mix it with rice (like bibimbap).

Thursday, March 28th, 2013 (clockwise from top left dish):
sweetly fried seaweed (건파래볶음),
German potato pancake (독일씩 감자팬케익),
kimchi,
pollack stew (동태찌개),
and rice (기장밥)

Cafeteria Food in Korea

Wednesday, March 27th, 2013 (clockwise from top left dish):
kimchi,
chicken roasted in spicy sauce (닭봉구이),
clam and radish soup (바지락무국),
pork black bean sauce (돼지고기자장볶음소스),
and spinach bacon fried rice (시금치베이컨볶음밥)

Cafeteria Food in Korea

My mom usually flavors spinach with sesame oil and soy sauce, so I tried spinach with a soybean based sauce for the first time in Korea. And I really like this flavor.

Tuesday, March 26th, 2013 (clockwise from top left dish):
squid and samgyeopsal dish (오삼불고기),
spinach (시금치무침),
cubed radish kimchi (깍두기),
potato soup (감자국),
and rice (차수수밥)

My Kids

I had the Monday blues so I really didn't want to come into work today. But my kids made me happy. Reasons why I like my kids:
- They're cute.
- They love to play.
- They smile to themselves when I compliment them in front of the whole class.
- They laugh at my jokes.
- They're creative.
- They're smart.
- They love attention.
- They get happy when I remember their individual names.
- They greet me excitedly every time I see them.
- They're happy.
- They don't hold grudges.
- They smile a lot.
- They're innocent.
- They forget to call me "Ms. Joanna" and call me "teacher" instead because old habits die hard.
- The boys get super excited if I talk about PC rooms.
- The girls get super excited if I talk about Kpop singers.
- They all get super excited if I talk about food.
- They all get super excited at the word "game."

My kids remind me why I'm still in Korea. I'm thankful for this experience. 

Korea Cafeteria Food

I absolutely love steamed cabbage. 

Koreans eat duck meat by wrapping it in the steamed cabbage and dipping it in the ssamjang.

Monday, March 25th, 2013 (clockwise from top left dish):
kimchi,
steamed cabbage with ssamjang (양배추쌈),
smoked duck meat (훈제오리),
napa cabbage soup (배추국),
and barley rice (보리밥)

Korea School Lunch

Since I teach 5th and 6th grade, I have lunch when my kids do, and we are all starving by lunchtime. Since 5-5 was my last class before lunch today, I asked them what we were having for lunch today. I know the kids look at the menu (food is a very big deal for the kids at my school). They were telling me: sundae! tteokbokki! jjambbong! These are all food that kids LOVE. My co-teacher and I laughed and repeated the question: "What are we eating today? Not what do you want to eat?" We laughed at these poor dreamers. 
And so of course we were surprised when we went down to the cafeteria and found all of these dishes! They had been telling us the truth. Lol. Oops.
The tteokbokki also surprised me. Tteokbokki is usually red and spicy, but today's rice cakes were fried in a soy sauce based sauce. This is how the Korean kings ate tteokbokki, hence the name "court rice cakes." 

Friday, March 22nd, 2013 (clockwise from top left dish):
sundae fried in peanut sauce (순대땅콩강정),
court rice cakes (궁중떡볶음),
kimchi,
Chinese-style vegetable and seafood soup (짬뽕국),
and black rice (흑미밥)

Korea School Lunch

My favorite dish was the green vegetables. I'm not sure what it's called in English because there is no direct translation. Korea seems to have a bigger vegetable group than America because there are so many unique vegetables. Same with the fish. :/ The Korean-English dictionary says today's fish is similar to trout.

Thursday, March 21st, 2013 (clockwise from top left dish):
radish kimchii (총각김치),
seasoned and baked im yeon soo (임연수구이),
stir-fried green vegetables (취나물볶음),
oranges,
mushroom and perilla seed soup (버섯들깨탕),
and rice (현미밥)

Korea School Lunch

Happy Hump Day. I finished the whole ton of rice the lunch mother gave me and had an extra serving of strawberry yogurt, so I'm super full. Full, but happy. One of my co-teachers is a total health nut, so she's been very happy with the new lunches, especially today's homemade strawberry yogurt. The nutrition teacher actually made the strawberry yogurt herself. Apparently you can make yogurt in the microwave!!! Here's an easy recipe I found online. The nutrition teacher added fresh strawberries to flavor it.

Wednesday, March 20th, 2013 (clockwise from top left dish):
sauce for the burdock rice (양념간장),
kimchi,
strawberry yogurt,
egg and green onion soup (계란실파국),
and burdock mixed rice (우엉밥)

School Lunch in Korea

TGIF! My favorite dish was definitely the jjol myeon (쫄면). I even asked the lunch mothers to give me extra while I was in line. ^__^
Jjol myeon is chewy noodles mixed with fresh vegetables in spicy sauce. The noodles are literally chewy; I think that's why I like this dish so much. It has a totally different texture from ramen noodles, kalguksu noodles, pasta, etc. It's a must-try! It's usually a summer food since it's served chilled.
And I should have taken a better picture of the steamed egg! It's called rainbow steamed egg, but rainbow is not a special ingredient. The nutrition teacher made it multicolored with spinach tofu and carrot tofu. It was yummier than it sounds. Trust me.

Friday, March 15th, 2013 (clockwise from top left dish):
jjol myeon (야채쫄면무침),
kimchi,
steamed rainbow egg(무지개계란찜),
bean sprouts soup (콩나물국),
rice (차조밥),
and apples

School Lunch in Korea Update

My co-teacher kind of scolded me for not finishing my food. She asked me if I was picky. I told her I wasn't and before I knew it, she asked me why I always have so much left over. Oops. I admitted the pork was pretty dry. She suggested I ask for smaller portions. ^^
Happy White Day!

Thursday, March 14th, 2013 (clockwise from top left dish):
pork and rice cake boiled in spicy sauce (돈육사대떡찜),
cubed radish kimchi (깍두기),
stir-fried anchovies and nuts (멸치견과류볶음),
gold kiwi,
soy bean paste stew (된장찌개),
and rice (차수수밥)

School Lunch in Korea Update

Having ju muck bahb aka rice balls for school lunch was a first for me. It was awesome and I'm sure the kids liked them.
What is ju muck bahb? "Ju muck" means "fist" in English, so we can actually call them fist rice. They are made by clumping the fried rice and seaweed into balls using your fist. Easy, right? Fist rice balls is a very literal name.

close up of the inside of the rice ball

Wednesday, March 13th, 2013 (clockwise from top left dish):
napa cabbage kimchi (배추김치),
jumbo dumpling (왕만두),
pineapples,
rice cake soup (조랭이떡국),
and seaweed fist rice balls (김주먹밥)

School Lunch in Korea Update

I had a faculty dinner on Friday and a Russian feast on Saturday. I feel like I gained weight over the weekend, so I'm trying to be more conscious of what I eat. It's hard to practice self-control in front of all this delicious food though!
The fried spicy chicken (or dalk gang jung) is one of my favorite Korean foods. It's the perfect snack and even makes a good meal. First, the chicken is fried. Then it's marinated in sauce that is magically spicy and sweet at the same time. And then, only the best dalk gang jung is sprinkled with peppers and crushed peanuts.

Tuesday, March 12th 2013 (clockwise from top left dish):
fried spicy chicken (닭강정),
leek and cucumber kimchi salad (오이부추무침),
cubed radish kimchi (총각김치),
rice cake (떡),
squid stew (오징어찌개),
and barley rice (보리밥)

Russian Dinner

I've lived in California for 22 years and in Korea for 3 years, but I can definitely say that I've gotten a more worldly food experience while living in Korea. In California, I ate a lot of Korean, American, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, and Thai food (this is only authentic food). But in Korea, I've eaten Indian, Turkish/Nepalese, Spanish, Brazilian, Chinese, Mexican, Greek, and now Russian food. Korea is such a global country- more global than people realize.

On Saturday, my good friend Jay organized a Russian dinner at a Russian restaurant. Actually, Jay is the one who introduced me to authentic Turkish/ Nepalese food (and I'm not referring to the kebab stands all over Hongdae). We went around 8:10 and it was packed. There were a few foreigners but most of the customers were Russians. Apparently, the area we were in is Little Russia and out of the restaurants in Little Russia, Jay chose a restaurant called Fortune. It's a medium-sized place (seats maybe 40 people). We went family style and had Jay order for all of us since none of us knew anything about Russian food. He did a perfect job of ordering a good variety of meats, meat pastries, and vegetarian dishes for the 2 vegetarians in our group. This is what we ate!

Russian meat pastry: flaky croissant on the outside, meaty goodness on the inside

lamb ribs, pickled carrots, beet salad, chicken skewers, lamb skewers

We had another appetizer, along with the pickled carrots and the pastry, but I didn't get a picture of it. We called it a Russian burrito or crepe. It was seasoned ground beef wrapped in a crepe. Everything was and is delicious! I'd definitely go back again.

There was, of course, drinking involved, too. We drank Russian beer called Baltika, but I didn't like it. It was watery and tasted like Cass. The Russian vodka was strong (60% alcohol), so the girls mixed it with mango juice. The restaurant had concentrated juice, so the vodka and juice cocktails were delicious.

Restaurant: Fortune
Location: Dongdaemun History and Culture Park Station, exit 5
Speaks: Russian, Korean, English

Lunch at My Korean Elementary School

Happy Monday. I'm so glad I eat lunch at 1 o'clock. It's the last lunch period and it's pretty late, but I like eating at this time because I finish teaching at 1 o'clock. So once my last class is done, I can relax and eat lunch, relax, plan lessons, and relax. And today, the 6th grade classes were disruptive and it's only the second week of school! The students are already getting comfortable with each other and becoming friends. NOOooooo.

Moving on. Notice the rice? I went into the other lunch line and the lunch mother who serves the rice on that side gave me more than enough rice. And I should have taken a better picture of my food or at least of the soup. The soup looks unappealing, but it was actually really good and loaded with meat and vegetables.

Monday, March 11th, 2013 (clockwise from top left dish):
oranges,
seasoned green-lentil jelly (청포묵무침),
kimchi,
pollack and radish stewed in soy sauce (북어무조림),
hot spicy meat stew (육개장),
and rice (흑미밥)

Korean Cafeteria Lunch

TGIF!!!!!! This week went by so slowly. I'm not sure if it was because I've had to present my orientation lesson 12 times or because I still need to get used to the normal teaching schedule. Whatever the reason, I'm just glad this week is over!

Friday, March 8th, 2013 (clockwise from top left dish):
tofu fried in soy sauce (두부조림),
oyster mushrooms seasoned with vinegar dressing (애느타리무침),
strawberries,
fried tofu and fish cake soup (유부어묵국),
and brown rice (현미밥)

Korean Cafeteria Food Update

Lunch is served in different ways at different elementary schools in Korea. Some of my friends tell me that their students eat lunch in their classrooms. The trays, utensils, and food are brought up to each classroom on carts. The students serve themselves and eat in the classroom. My school is different: We have a huge cafeteria, so the students come and eat in the cafeteria. They pick up trays and utensils. Then, they walk down a "buffet line" where the lunch mothers serve them nutritious portions of food. Teachers also follow this same procedure, except we always cut to the front of the line. Hehe. I usually get the normal teachers' portions, but this whole week, I've been getting the perfect amount of rice! One of the lunch mothers knows me! She'll see my face and give me half of the teacher's rice portion, which is the perfect amount. This whole week, I finished all of my rice. :)
Today, the new lunch teacher gets another thumbs up because the seaweed soup was very flavorful. I want to say it was creamy, but the soup is clear... She was able to get a good broth out of the seaweed.

Thursday, March 7th, 2013 (clockwise from top left dish):
quail eggs boiled in soy sauce (메추리알조림),
spicy snail salad (골뱅이무침),
kimchi,
red bean bread (미니 붕어빵),
seaweed soup (미역국),
and rice (혼합잡곡밥)

Korean Cafeteria Food Update

Today's lunch was THE BOMB. I saw my tray and immediately thought, "Today's Wednesday." I scanned my tray and noticed that I liked everything on it. That rarely happens because there's usually at least 1 dish that I don't care for. Even the kimchi made me happy because it wasn't just normal kimchi- it was radish kimchi!
And kudos to the new lunch teacher because the spicy rice cakes were delicious! The previous lunch teacher has served this dish before, but it was always hard and tough to chew. Today, however, it was chewy- just like rice cake should be.
Apparently, I'm not the only one who has been noticing these changes in the lunch menus because one of my co-teacher mentioned that the cafeteria food has been more delicious this week. All of the other teachers jumped on this comment and agreed (including me)! The new 5th grade science teacher called the lunch teacher over and told her what we said. She was flattered and said she would work on making it more delicious. b^__^b

Wednesday, March 6th, 2013 (clockwise from top left dish):
cubed radish kimchi (깍두기),
marinated rice cakes (떡꼬치),
Asian pear (배),
enoki mushroom miso soup (팽이버섯국),
and curry rice (카레밥)

Cafeteria Food in Korea

My favorite banchan was the japchae. It's a dish of mixed noodles, stir-fried vegetables, and shredded meat. If you've never tried these famous Korean noodles, you should! The texture is so chewy and smooth. The dish itself is very healthy because of the overwhelming variety of vegetables. This dish is very popular at dinner parties and holiday gatherings.
I was keeping my eyes open for some kind of change in my school cafeteria food because sadly, the lunch teacher who I secretly adored (and whose food I adored) transferred to a different school. :( We have a new lunch teacher and the menu hasn't changed much, except for today's soup. We've had soybean paste soup before, but the new lunch teacher added her own twist by adding a Korean root. I couldn't figure out which root it was, but it had a very strong taste. Roots are very healthy, but I wasn't very fond of it.

Tuesday, March 5th, 2013 (clockwise from top left dish):
japchae,
cubed radish kimchi (총각김치),
kiwi juice,
marinated and fried Japanese Spanish mackerel (삼치강정),
soybean paste soup with wild chives (냉이달래된장국),
and rice (율무밥)

Cafeteria Food from Korea Update

Today is the first day of the new school year! My co-teacher also informed me that ALL schools in Korea start on the same day, so it's a nation-wide Back-to-School Day! This means that I will be doing cafeteria food updates again. Yay for nutritious lunches.

Maybe I was so excited for cafeteria food that my expectations were too high because I was a little disappointed. I expected a big bang to start off the school year, but I got this:

Monday, March 4th, 2013 (clockwise from top left dish):
folded egg (계란말이),
dried and sauteed prawns (건새우채소볶음),
kimchi,
apples,
beef and radish soup (쇠고기무국),
and rice (기장밥)