tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30870636923543610672012-01-21T22:37:42.723-08:00Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.comBlogger381100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-1855514876818103802011-01-11T02:25:00.000-08:002011-01-11T02:37:23.136-08:00

I've always been more of a "toast and jam" kind of girl, but over winter break in California I discovered the pleasures of bread and butter. For Christmas, our dear friends (and my former employers) gave Dan and me a gift card to Hatfield's, a place in Hollywood that was named one of the 10 best new restaurants in America by Bon Appetit last year.  A glance at Yelp beforehand confirmed our

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-60141675761888606562010-10-14T05:31:00.000-07:002010-10-14T07:00:13.516-07:00

In the month since I last posted, food has been as much a part of my life as always.  Almost all of my spare moments at work and more at home are spent in the companionship of my favorite food blogs (which, incidentally, turn out to be many of Gwyneth Paltrow’s favorites as well, fueling my silly belief that she and I would be fast friends if we met, kicking back over a glass of wine and

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-51508621363686670392010-09-07T05:32:00.000-07:002010-09-11T08:44:09.997-07:00

Last week, I received a message from a woman named Megan I'd met once five years ago through a mutual friend. We'd barely talked at the time, but we were Facebook friends and she had noticed we were both in Seoul. One of the fun things about living so far from home is that even the most fleeting connection with someone from your past is reason enough to forge a deeper one--"We met once a long

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-32949741443217068902010-08-25T22:12:00.000-07:002010-08-27T19:40:08.692-07:00

The Hongdae area of Seoul reminds me of that all-consuming first stage of a relationship, where everything about the person you are falling in love with is new and fascinating.  There's excitement, but also a feeling of anxiety and longing: you want to know absolutely everything, and you want to know it immediately!  So far, I've learned about the delicious gorgonzola and mushroom burgers, the

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-46908527364636738142010-08-24T17:26:00.000-07:002010-08-24T17:37:19.820-07:00

Pakito is a little Spanish tavern tucked in an alley at the end of Hongdae's busy main strip. Drawn onto the front path by a quirky, hand-painted sign, we were further charmed by a stone painted "abierto" and propped casually near the entrance. It was precisely 6pm, their opening time, which seemed too serendipitous for us not to walk in and give it a try. Everything about the place felt cozy,

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-28638179450055127792010-08-17T21:27:00.000-07:002010-08-17T22:33:46.119-07:00

Sunday was bright and humid here, but when I say that Dan and I had a "dark day," I mean it literally. A few days ago, we were at my favorite brownie spot, Gourmet in Samcheondong, when Dan spied packages of squid ink pasta tucked in the bottom row of a display case. Since discovering a gorgeous ink tagiolini dish coated in creamy pink sauce a few years back at my favorite Italian restaurant in

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-73959936752677112122010-08-15T20:54:00.000-07:002010-08-15T20:54:10.088-07:00

 If it's 2:30am and your stomach is rumbling, if you weren't able to get a chicken skewer at a street stand like you wanted because it suddenly began pouring and you had to grab a cab, if you're feeling buzzed and content after three cheap gin and tonics at a really cool bar you stumbled across that appeared to have been a converted parking garage covered in Sonic Youth and Neil Young posters,

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-81686114819671690392010-08-09T22:59:00.000-07:002010-08-16T07:29:06.085-07:00

I've been seduced by a chain restaurant. Mad For Garlic has ten locations in Seoul and a mess of a menu that includes confusing items like chicken Teriyaki pasta. All of my years as a foodie--seeking out hole-in-the-wall Mexican goat soup joints and back alley pho, idolizing Andrew Zimmern and Anthony Bourdain--have taught me to avoid such places, generally with good reason. The only 

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-80304564047014617102010-08-04T18:49:00.000-07:002010-08-06T00:24:19.885-07:00

A typical Korean breakfast consists of soup and rice, so the dearth of high quality brunch spots in Seoul means that on the weekends they're always packed with expats looking for a taste of home. Despite that, I would confidently wager that Seoul has more waffles per capita than any other city in the world. In cafe-filled neighborhoods like Samcheongdong, where we spent this Saturday, over half

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-33367327885611511762010-07-26T18:56:00.001-07:002010-07-29T00:05:40.523-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, we stopped in at our neighborhood boonshik place for dinner and were surprised to find a sign explaining it was closed for personal reasons. After taking a few moments to scratch our heads in confusion, we wandered across the street looking for a replacement. Dan decided that several pictures of food posted next to a doorway looked like "the color of food he usually enjoys"

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-74795325713331950912010-07-19T04:29:00.000-07:002010-07-19T05:19:07.288-07:00

I recently noticed an eel restaurant in my neighborhood. The first thing to grab me was a swarm of the ugly black creatures themselves squirming in a tank outside, as is the custom for most seafood restaurants here. A sign proclaimed that the restaurant offered eel in soup or grilled and, curiosity piqued, I decided to return later with Dan.When we showed up for dinner and realized that the

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-89286849487009767872010-07-18T04:24:00.000-07:002010-07-18T04:43:00.975-07:00

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-13215985179029904162010-07-14T07:29:00.000-07:002010-07-14T21:54:31.699-07:00

Snack-happy Koreans have a veritable feast of bagged goods to choose from at the convenience stores here, and I decided it would be fun to start highlighting some of the unique offerings that we don't get back in the United States. For the inaugural "convenience store oddity" post, I purchased a bag of Banana Kicks from my local Mini-Stop and made Dan my guinea pig. Banana is one of Dan's

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-67022820794608994072010-07-13T21:31:00.000-07:002010-07-13T22:38:16.465-07:00

The other night, Dan and I stopped in at a hole-in-the-wall Korean joint for some spicy soup. He got the dongtae jjigae, pollack soup, while I decided on the boodae jjigae, a soup that sets itself apart from most of its kind thanks to the addition of two American ingredients that date back to the Korean war: spam and hot dogs. I know, I know, that sounds horrifying, but I feel very strongly that

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-4393708982156637132010-07-13T17:50:00.001-07:002010-07-13T22:14:05.868-07:00

The lemon sorbet at Demitasse in Buamdong is a mouth-puckeringly perfect summer treat. Each bite of the icy sorbet delivers a strong, pure note of real lemon in harmony with just the right amount of sweetness--I'm hooked.I'd contend that the sorbet is reason enough to visit this out-of-the-way neighborhood of Seoul nestled between the mountains, but there are plenty of other reasons to recommend

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-34123615111162595172010-07-09T05:14:00.001-07:002010-07-13T22:14:18.228-07:00

Down a bustling Hongdae alley and up a perilous flight of stairs is the quirky, beach-themed Bar Da. The hand-painted sign strewn with electrical wires wouldn't necessarily have lured me in on my own, but fortunately I was with a friend who had been here before and knew of the charms that lay beyond. The bar is located on the second and third floor of the building; the second floor has two small

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-18745248756015331992010-06-29T02:21:00.000-07:002010-07-07T19:54:54.975-07:00

My boyfriend, Dan, arrived in Seoul over the weekend and I wanted to make sure his first meal in Korea was a special one. Due to circumstances, though, I couldn't take him to any of my favorite restaurants; instead, we ended up ducking into a random spot in Insadong for lunch after I saw a sign advertising gamjatang for 5,000 won. The inside of the restaurant was charming and graceful in the

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-38525554706896564172010-06-21T06:32:00.000-07:002010-07-07T19:55:36.779-07:00

I found the best brownies in Seoul. Trust me. I may enjoy a good cupcake from time to time, and that "time to time" may in fact be several times a week, but I am a true brownie connoisseur. Even in the states, it can be hard to find brownies that aren't too dry or cake-like--homemade is best, but, as much as I love 'em, eating an entire pan of brownies alone isn't good for anyone. Sure, I can

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-34072391739676078972010-06-21T05:52:00.000-07:002010-07-07T19:56:02.742-07:00

Our first course at Sagandong 9 Beonji, a humble-looking guest house tucked away in a little alley near Insadong, was silken tofu covered in grilled onions and a sauce that made me wish more than anything I could pick my plate up and lick it at the end without scandalizing my straight-laced co-workers. Instead, I had to settle for incompetent attempts to get every last drop with my fork. I had

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-19791472162500122162010-06-14T05:13:00.000-07:002010-07-07T19:56:50.064-07:00

Just down the street from me, tucked between two old women's clothing stores on the ground floor of a large, multi-story building, is a hole-in-the wall restaurant with four tables run by one assertive woman named Eunkyoung. Eunkyoung has requested I call her "big sister," which is the appropriate name for someone slightly older than you according to Korean custom. For diplomacy's sake I comply

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-10742127430213481752010-06-07T03:52:00.000-07:002010-07-07T19:57:47.081-07:00

Armed with a camera and a giant water bottle, I go on 4-5 hour walks every Sunday with no plan other than to investigate every alley, side street, and shop that I happen to come across that looks mysterious or appealing. I spent this Sunday in the vibrant Hongdae area and explored the neighborhood top to bottom until my legs were sore. I made a lot of wonderful discoveries: hidden sculptures, a

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-73361475933515728172010-05-27T05:57:00.000-07:002010-07-07T19:58:03.437-07:00

I was raised on a steady supply of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies, so tteok, the omnipresent Korean dessert made from glutinous rice flour, was a bland disappointment the first time I tried it. I thought that the subtlety might grow on me, but it hasn't. I used to wish there were some sort of element of interest to it until the time I was given pine needle flavored tteok by a

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-1526350144692330842010-05-22T05:21:00.000-07:002010-07-07T19:58:18.133-07:00

Friday was Buddha's Birthday, a national holiday in Korea that is best celebrated in the mountains, where hundreds of glowing lanterns bob to the hypnotic sound of monks chanting. I was trapped in the city this year, so I decided to try out one of the classes that Daniel Gray over at Seoul Eats offers at the O'ngo studio. Because I work long hours and live alone, I've been doing very little

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-37073998309257433172010-05-18T04:07:00.000-07:002010-07-07T19:58:32.414-07:00

With tea kettles hanging from the roof, windowboxes filled with sea shells, and a dark wooden interior plastered with white business cards, Boh Deul Gol is a whimsical little shellfish shack that stands out from the many other restaurants crowding the back alley of Itaewon in which it's located.I accidentally arrived extra early to meet friends on Saturday night, but the miscalculation worked to

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-40612935856018434192010-05-14T20:35:00.001-07:002010-07-07T19:59:20.572-07:00

The weather has finally caught up with the season here, and the restaurants of Seoul have thrown open their doors. This is the time of year in Korea when my food obsession reaches a fever pitch--the exploding blossoms are gorgeous and the temperature's just right for hiking, but it's the scent of barbeque hanging in the air of every alleyway that really gets me excited.Last night my co-workers

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-14736688941543371532010-05-10T05:23:00.000-07:002010-07-07T19:59:32.520-07:00

The first bite of the lamba samsa from RaTa transported me back to my childhood in the valley of the Chirchik river; after a warm autumn afternoon playing amongst the walnut trees and the Hawthorns, I'd return to find our house filled with the scent of samsa. This pastry is so transcendent that I promise you'll have manufactured nostalgia about your fake Uzbek childhood if you taste it

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-1485130190755734632010-05-07T03:41:00.000-07:002010-07-07T19:59:44.936-07:00

Food stall banquet.Silkworm larvae, known here as bundegi. Its unique smell is difficult for me (and I think for most westerners) to take, but it's a popular snack and is sold in grocery stores too.This woman caramelizes the sugar in the little pan, then plops it on the flat surface and flattens it with the round implement, immediately thereafter imprinting it with one of the cookie cuter

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-10259462783815224232010-04-29T03:07:00.000-07:002010-07-07T20:00:00.815-07:00

Visitors to A Happy Home in Itaewon are greeted by a cacophony of African dialects bouncing off the walls of the small restaurant. Most of the guests were not eating when I arrived on a recent Monday night (and all were male), but the restaurant seems to serve as a meeting place where they can go for lively conversation as well as a taste of home when the mood strikes. My soft-spoken waiter

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-83391730016308144962010-04-27T04:03:00.000-07:002010-07-07T20:00:28.121-07:00

Last fall, I worked as a private teacher for the three young children of a Hollywood movie producer. My job was to accompany the family on location and teach the children--age 3,5, and 6--their respective school subjects simultaneously. I soon found that occupying the 3-yr-old while teaching her brothers two different curricula was an impossible task (and in fact, when I accepted the job I was

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-54110186433334653952010-04-26T06:42:00.001-07:002010-07-07T20:00:43.868-07:00

I didn't have any plans after work on Saturday, but I wanted to do something to celebrate the arrival of my weekend. I decided to try one of the pizzas at Haneul Jeongwon, an Italian restaurant close to my apartment that either means "Sky Garden" or "Garden of Heaven" depending on how literal you are. Although I recently experienced a chunky, cluttered monstrosity of a mushroom risotto there

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-78989855305162170422010-04-22T02:48:00.000-07:002010-07-07T20:01:33.770-07:00

A few years ago, I stayed at a luxury hotel in Times Square for several weeks (paid for by my employer, of course). At some point early in my stay, I noticed with amusement that the room service menu offered a $30 grilled cheese sandwich. After I'd had really positive experiences with a couple of the menu's fancier items, which were only slightly more expensive, I started to wonder whether

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-39376752817578072062010-04-20T05:17:00.000-07:002010-07-07T20:01:51.625-07:00

When I found out on Monday of last week that I would be in Fukuoka by Wednesday, I knew that I would want a city guide who was familiar with the local food and language to show me around. I started by looking into "goodwill guides," a cool service I first heard about in New York that exists in many cities; local citizens volunteer to take visitors on tours, sometimes with set destinations, but

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-23135563501354858642010-04-17T03:06:00.000-07:002010-07-07T20:02:03.967-07:00

I just got back from a blissful two days in Fukuoka, which I decided to treat as a vacation instead of a perfunctory visa run. The air was still a little prickly, but the sun was out and the city was erupting in blossoms despite the fact that the peak cherry blossom period had passed. At the visa office on my first day, I picked up a map showing the city's major attractions, and I decided to

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-69045285001063021272010-04-17T02:50:00.000-07:002010-07-07T20:02:15.204-07:00

At 28 years old, I'm embarrassed to admit that I still hold my boyfriend's hand when I get my blood drawn. I also make a weird moaning sound and slap my thigh with the arm that doesn't have a needle inserted into it. I cannot stand watching blood on the big or small screen, and frankly right now it's a challenge even writing about it, which is why I am so proud that I finally did it: I ATE

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-25753094244640752202010-04-02T06:02:00.000-07:002010-07-07T20:02:31.399-07:00

The other night, my friend Clara and I arranged to meet for dinner at the Jongno-3-ga subway stop, a halfway point between our apartments. Neither of us were familiar with the area, so we decided to walk down a street lined with restaurants and enter whichever one struck our fancy. With both of us unsure of what we wanted and hesitant to make a decision for the other, one busy street turned

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-70198469547114798922010-03-24T05:25:00.000-07:002010-07-07T20:02:52.408-07:00

I found myself in a quandary over the weekend: what do you get a 38-yr-old woman for her birthday when you've known her for less than two weeks? Normally, the answer would be "nothing," but my co-worker has already proven to be sweet, funny, and helpful, and she was nice enough to get me a little welcome gift my second day in the office. I wanted to show my appreciation with a birthday gift,

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-44364458451211542002010-03-18T06:14:00.001-07:002010-07-07T20:03:13.514-07:00

"You're not allergic to MSG, are you?" was the way my boss prefaced the restaurant he took me to last week. He went on to explain that most "street restaurants" use heavy doses of the seasoning, and during the walk to our destination, I worried about what "street restaurants" might mean. Seoul is filled with food stalls and makeshift restaurants created by throwing a few plastic tables and

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3087063692354361067.post-15262449282328720322010-03-17T07:45:00.001-07:002010-07-07T20:03:50.354-07:00

A few of these first few posts will be about food that I don't typically seek out in Korea, but I had the opportunity to stay at a hotel for a week and figured I may as well write about my experiments with the room service there:I tend to think of salads as the perfunctory opening act for the meal's main event, so the few salads I've had in my lifetime that have overcome that bias stick out in my

Brookehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15936904962247044126noreply@blogger.com1