Happy Canada Day! Like, a week ago...

Canada Day is one of those days in a Canadian expat's life that sting a little. It's like Christmas, only slightly downgraded. You want to celebrate, you want to be with your friends and family, drinking Kieth's and eating cake and barbeque- you want to be in your country, at the very least.

There are quite a few Canadian expats in Korea. If you listen to the statistics, you will believe that there are more Canadian ESL teachers than any other English speaking nationality in Korea (they apparently like the neutral accent). However, I recently heard that more Americans than ever are coming to Korea and Koreans are starting to hire them more than Canadians- they apparently work for less. I have no idea if this is true, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

But back to my nation's day of birth.

No Canada Day is complete without the following, in my mind: Canadian music, Canadian beer (or wine, whichever), a really big cake, BBQ and friends. Of all nationalities. Because Canada is so goshdarn multicultural.

At least, this year in Korea I managed 4 out of the 5 on the list. I was among good friends, we (sorta) had a BBQ, and I made the mother of all cakes (meaning: I made my biggest cake yet in Korea- not bad for a toaster oven) and we listened to some great Canadian musicians.

Friends from all over Yeongtong came to the park the Sunday before Canada's actual birthday. An Adjuma started screaming at us, saying we couldn't BBQ in the park. We took the meat to Sophie's house and cooked it, then brought it back to the park and ate. There was a lot of yummy food. There was Canadian trivia, and finally, there was a game of beer ball. Fun times.

If You're Lookin' for Ma Cookies Keep on Lookin' cuz My Kids Ate Them All...

So, for our end of year party, Miss Janine spent all night baking cookies and whipping up different coloured frosting so her kids could have a cookie decorating party. Did they have fun? Were their cookies delicious? Well, in the words of my students, "Yes and yes!"



Toby and Alex

Sally and Kevin

Su-chang

Alvin

Christine

Jason

Andrew

Joey

Sonya

Bright Kim

Thomas J.

Thomas J.

Alvin's finished products.

Boys

Joey

Kevin and Sally

Sonya

Cookie Monster

Proof of being the cookie monster

Su-chang

Christine
Andrew

Kevin

Sally

Christmas Post Number Four: Christmas Day in Yeongtong

Blogger is getting on my nerves these days! I used to be able to upload my photos in the order that I wanted you to see them, but instead it just does whatever it wants in random order. There is no way to help my situation; when it comes to computers I'm just plain stupid. Oh well.

Welcome to my last Christmas post (thank God, it's only halfway through January). China pictures are to follow, as well as some odes to more friends who have left me in recent days/weeks. In all honesty I'm off soon myself. Not for long, of course, but for a good, three month long vacation to Southeast Asia. Yes, I am a spoiled lady. But, I think anyone who teaches in Korea deserves an extra long vacation for the lack of vacation during the school year as well as the added "pressures" that come to any foreigner living and working in Korea. Let's face it, sometimes we have to put up with bullshit. In any case, I am excitedly making plans, finding a cat sitter until my return in June, planning our routes through Indonesia and peninsular Southeast Asia, planning our treks and massages and cooking classes as well as trying to pack up my mess of an apartment and find places for all of my things until I return in June. I'm a bit excited.

Anyways, back to Christmas morning. These pictures are in completely random order so forgive me. First thing Christmas morning, Rach and I woke up, one of us more hungover than the other (I'm not naming names), and Rach set to work making some banana bread for brunch. I headed straight over to Molly's where I enjoyed a yummy cup of coffee and some nice conversation and she, Kim and I prepared for our friends to come over. It was potluck style, so we ended up feasting on pancakes, bacon, eggs, toast, fruit, yoghurt, banana bread, coffee and mimosas. It was delicious. Then we opened our presents. The girls bought for each other and the guys bought for each other, so opening the Secret Santa gifts were a bit of a hoot.

After, we lounged around Molly's watching funny youtube clips and nursing our hangovers. Until 4 PM, when I finally had to drag myself to Now Bar to prepare for the massive Christmas dinner that I was making with the help of my very awesome friends. After we ate, Amy and Claire prepared a great round of trivia, which was also a hoot. Great Christmas!



Claire, at Now Bar chopping zuchinnis.



Me, going crazy. I mean preparing salads.



Our dear Andrew, whose experience in restaurants was greatly appreciated.



There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Aidan should be the turkey carver. Also, he wouldn't let anyone take more than their share. This was key.



Our Christmas spread.


Claire, opening her gift from Amy.



Jeremy, opening his gift from Connla.



Aidan was very pleased with the sexy orange shorts he received from Andrew. Great colour.



Amy, showing off the vast array she received from Claire.



Connla used an entire roll of wrapping paper on this bottle of whisky. And then he put it in a gift bag.



Lounging... Rachael doesn't look all there, I wonder why?



Our lovely Christmas tree.



Our gracious hostess.

International Canadian Thanksgiving

It was my friend Ciara's last weekend and it also just happened to be Canadian Thanksgiving a few weeks ago. We would have celebrated Thanksgiving anyway, and it was an entire weekend devoted to goodbye parties for Ciara, so we combined the two and had a Thanksleaving party. It was pretty awesome.

No turkey, but I managed to roast two chickens, bake some biscuits and make some gravy. Molly made mashed potatoes, Ciara made tuna pasta salad, Rachael made vegetarian shepard's pie. There was wine, fruit, bread and cheese, and to top it all off Grace managed two pumpkin pies for dessert- don't ask me how! Meanwhile, the guys tossed the rugby ball around. Typical Thanksleaving behaviour.

The food was delicious and the company was, as usual, great. We're a solid group of friends when it comes down to it and we managed to capture the true Thanksgiving spirit, even though 70% of our friends are from Ireland, South Africa and the UK and have never experienced the holiday.


The Thanksleaving spread.

Our crowd... with a few faces missing (those who have gone home already).

It didn't take much encouraging to dig right in.

Grace's amazing pies. She couldn't find pumpkin so she used squash. They tasted exactly the same!

A beautiful day, a great dinner... but holy frig, Korea is cold these nights. Happy Belated Thanksgiving! We miss you, Ciara.

Pa Jeon, or Green Onion Pancake

Also known in Korea as "Rainy Day Pancake", Pa Jeon is definitely one of my most favourite Korean comfort foods. Freshly made and hot out of the frying pan, this savoury pancake is crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside and extremely satisfying when dipped in a mixture of soy sauce and plain white vinegar. When eaten cold as leftovers, you don't need to dip it in anything since the onion and red pepper flavours have had a chance to strengthen overnight in the fridge (the same goes for mandhu! I love mandhu when it's cold!).

Often, Pa Jeon is served as a side dish, or banchan. We all know how much Koreans love side dishes. If you teach (or have taught) in Korea you may recognize this pancake as one of the sides you have for lunch occasionally at school. They're yummy, but definitely not as yummy as the Pa Jeon you'll find at a street vendor or as a side at a Korean restaurant and most certainly not as yummy as the Pa Jeon you can make yourself at home.

The best thing about making this dish is that the ingredients are universal and you'll be able to make it from anywhere in the world. All you need are some onions, eggs, flour, and water. Seriously. So enough of my banter; let's get cooking:

Janine's Pa Jeon

You will need:

- 2 cups of all purpose flour

- 2 eggs

- 2 cups of water

- one bunch of green onion, chopped in one inch pieces

- one regular onion, coarsely chopped

- two red chili peppers, sliced (seeds in or out; your choice)

- lots and lots of salt and pepper

- one squid, cleaned and chopped into bite size pieces (optional, of course. Squid isn't for everyone.)

Directions:

Mix the water, flour and eggs until the batter resembles that of a crepe batter. Season the batter very liberally with salt and pepper because there is a real possibility of your pa jeon being way too bland. There, I said it. So don't be afraid of the salt. Add about half of the pa, or green onion and all of the regular onion. At this point, if you are using squid, you can also add the squid.

Heat a pan over medium heat and add about 1 Tbsp. of canola oil. Spread evenly around the pan, and then add enough batter to cover the entire bottom of the pan. Let cook on this side for about 5 to 7 minutes. In the meantime, sprinkle some of the chili pepper and some more green onion on the top of the pancake. Check the bottom to make sure it's adequately brown, and then flip using a spatula (this is a very simple process- the batter crisps almost immediately and the whole thing is very together, if you know what I mean). Cook the other side for about 5-7 minutes and slide onto a plate. You're done! Time to make a few more!

This recipe should yield about three large pa jeon. To make the dipping sauce, simply add about 1 Tbsp. of vinegar to about 1/4 of a cup of Soy Sauce. Sprinkle some cayenne on top if you're feeling a bit wild.

Enjoy!

Kalguksu

You're freaking right I love to cook! I thought I'd start sharing some great recipes I've come up with in numerous attempts to replicate delicious Korean meals I've consumed. Maangchi is great, but sometimes browsing through the local supermarket and trying some new stuff out is equally successful. Sometimes.

When we were in Jejudo, we had the most delicious soup ever. It tasted like a piece of home. The only hint that we were even eating Korean food (aside from the fact that we walked into a blatantly Korean restaurant) was the sprinkling of gim (pronounced "kim"), or dried seaweed over the top of the soup. I'm not a huge fan of gim, so I tend to leave it out of this recipe, but feel free to add as much as you like (taking into consideration how it may alter the taste).

Anyway, after eating this amazing soup I was determined to find a similar restaurant in Suwon. I couldn't (if you know one, please tell me!) but one day I was wondering what to do with some leftover chicken broth and the idea for this soup came into my head. I explained the soup to one of my Korean friends and she said the name is Kalguksu. Perfect. So here is what I found about Kalguksu on Wikipedia:

"The broth for kalguksu is usually made with dried anchovies, shellfish, and kelp. In order to obtain a rich, umami flavor, the ingredients should be simmered for many hours. Added to this broth are soft noodles and various vegetables, most often zucchini and potatoes."

Many hours? As if. My version takes about half an hour and Patrick says it tastes better than the one we had in Jeju. And I don't use anchovies or kelp in my broth. Here's the recipe!


Janine's Kalguksu

You will need:

- One whole chicken, cut into parts (you can get one already cut up at your local supermarket for, like, five bucks)

- Two Potatoes, peeled and cubed

- Half a zuchinni, sliced and halved

- One onion, roughly chopped

- Store bought hand rolled noodles (they're in the refridgerated section of your local supermarket)

- Two packages of stock seasoning (found in the salt section of your supermarket)

- Lot's and lot's of pepper

That's it! Your ready to cook! Here are the directions:

First you need to make the stock. Fill a large pot (like, as big as possible) with tap water, and don't worry because it will boil and all the bad stuff in the tap water will go away. Then, add the chicken parts, the onion and the stock seasoning (the seasoning comes in a package filled with "tubes" of seasoning. Almost like the yoghurt tubes kids like to eat, and there's a picture of a big, uncooked steak on all of the packages. You can't miss it.). You want to bring the pot to a boil, and then turn down the heat and simmer for at least 20 minutes.

When the chicken is cooked through (no more pink), take it out of the stock and pick all the meat from the bones. Keep the chicken meat in a bowl for now, and put the bones and skin back in the pot to simmer for awhile longer.

Meanwhile, chop and wash all of your vegetables. When this is done, take a strainer (collander) and put all of the broth through, catching all of the bones, skin and pieces of onion from the stock. We don't want any of that stuff in our soup!

Keep the broth down to a simmer and add your potatoes and zuchinni. Let simmer for about five to ten minutes, then add the chicken and the noodles. Simmer for an additional five minutes. Add a liberal amount of pepper. They give you pepper at kalguksu restaurants and it really adds depth to the broth. When the noodles look done, your soup is finished! At this point you can feel free to garnish with a bit of gim or green onion or both! I don't even add garnish to mine, this soup is amazing on its own.

Enjoy!