Do you like spicy food?, she asked me. This is a daily question here. And luckily, my answer is yes!
Here’s my nephew, Kev, and I enjoying Kim Mari (Kim = seaweed, Mari = cellophane noodles)
This snack is cellophane noodles wrapped in seaweed, with a flour coating, fried then cooked in a spicy red sauce. Good, cheap street food.
On Saturday, May 22, 2010, I went with Kev to the orphanage where he’s been active in the English Teacher’s Program. On Saturdays, English teachers in the area volunteer to teach two 1-hour classes. 
This effort helps bolster the kids English language skills, which seems to be critical to succeeding in tomorrow’s Korea.
To the right
, a few of the kids sing the Korean version of “In the Jungle” (the quiet jungle, the lion sleeps tonight…), accompanied by Kev on the guitar
This is a common menu style for small eateries. This is a sign along the wall with the names vertically displayed and prices shown for each at the bottom. 1000 Korean won (krw) is about $1.
I was very glad to be navigating these restaurants with Kev as he can actually read this and knows what to order!
Hmmm I haven’t seen any forks here yet. So your choices are:
- Chopsticks: metal, flat and a bit slippery when you’re trying to pick up kimchi every meal
- Spoon: soup spoon size with a long narrow handle (like I’ve only seen before for a spoon you’d use to stir ice tea)
No forks in sight. Even when Kev made scrambled eggs for breakfast, we realized that we’d be eating them with spoons …which works fine.
It’s a contrast compared to Ghana, where I last traveled, where you eat most food with your hands. Here, when you order a chicken sandwich from Red & White (the fast food place), the bun is wrapped in paper half way so you barely touch the food.
The variety of these pancakes is a real treat here. A small bite of these dipped into the sauce is satisfying any time of day. We had them with the tofu and noodles, my second night in Daejeon.
From wikipedia:
Bindaetteok (also called nokdujeon or nokdu jijim; literally “mung bean pancake”) is a variety of jeon, a Korean style pancake. It is made of ground mung beans, with green onions, kimchi, or peppers cooked in a frying pan.
Kev and I met Brianna here for tofu and noodles (left), that makes me think of Korean-style spaghetti. It came with side dishes of red pepper sauce, yellow pickled daikon radish and kimchi. It was so lovely!
I’m happy to be on Kev’s guided tour of traditional Korean food in Daejeon. I doubt I could ever find this place again. Down a specific alley off of a specific street, surrounded by tons of tiny little places to eat.
The first night in Daejeon, my nephew Kevin and I headed to a little place where the owner treated us wonderfully. Kev ordered pork sparerib Galbi. (Think baby back ribs). The platter of ribs hadn’t arrived yet when I took this picture.
When the ribs arrived, we cooked them a bit more, used the scissors to cut them apart and cut the meat off. The owner, and an elderly customer stopped by a couple times and jumped in to show us their techniques with this…presumably better than ours.
So, you use your metal chopsticks to pick up whatever you want: grill some garlic, have salad, spicy tofu trips, sweet pickles, cabbage, and kimchi. 
I have to admit, neither of us tried the little seashells (about 3/4″ long). Snails?
Noodles with black bean paste & boiling hot soup
Originally uploaded by Beginner’s Mind: South Korea
On the left is Jajang myon.
Its nearly black color belies the delicious flavor of the homemade noodles with black bean paste sauce.
On the right is the boiling hot pot of pork and veggies (think Green Chile).
Top it off with side dishes of fresh peppers and a red sauce for dipping, yellow pickled daikon radish, seaweed or greens
This was a filling comfort food on the rainy Saturday afternoon as we stopped in for a bite before heading to the orphanage.
On a walk on Saturday morning, I decided to grab a refreshing beverage or two. Only problem is I have no clue what I’m looking at. Turns out I chose green tea (on the right) and Shikhye (on the left). Shikhye is made by cooking rice in malt water, then adding sugar and ginger.
It was refreshing and wakes you up a bit, when you find little pieces of cooked rice as you reach the bottom of the can.
Kevin and I hopped a taxi to the Seodaejeon Train station today. Compared to other countries, I’ve found taxis in Korea to be pretty nice, not particularly agressive drivers, and professional. Taxi drivers charge what’s on the meter and give you change, without question.
So, it was a bit of a surprise when I noticed that our driver was watching TV. He had a small screen just to the left of the steering wheel which he kept glancing at as he was driving. Then he took out his cell phone. I thought he was going to send or read a text. But no, he began playing a game on his phone. Something with a bicycle rider moving through scenery. Obviously something that required close attention of our driver.
World-wide taxi drivers just gotta find a way to spice up those cab rides!
