Text 192, 126 rader
Skriven 2006-04-04 18:23:00 av Carol Shenkenberger (1:261/1466.0)
Ärende: Korean escapades
========================
I'ved been more than a little remiss on posting but such is life forward
deployed.  I'm just now settling down with all my boughten-bootie from a
trip to Pohang Korea.  Now, Pohang is not the capital nor is it exactly
a place people come to for a vacation, but like every place, yhou make
of it what you find.

FOOD.  Like, extremely fun and as long as you arent a picky eater,
something will suit you well.  My liberty buddy this time was Sam and
he's totally into 'gee lets try it and share' and not at all picky.

Humm, I find after this trip I must at last reliquish any claim to being
the echo chile-wuss.  I am still careful about the whole pod or anything
that has a scarey name like 'habenero' but there wasnt a dish they
served in Korea that I didnt totally enjoy and the hotter ones were
best.  What i like is the heat if it also has flavor and the
chile-oil-sauce in the Korean verson of hot, with a slightly salty taste
is perfectly my level.  It's made of dried roasted red chile peppers,
garlic, oil, and other stuff.  Sam and i had them bringing more and the
local shop-keeps were a happy-suprise to see us able to even touch it.

I got a bottle of home-made to bring home with me.  Very likely this may
be 'sambal' in another name?

First place, hole-in-the-wall, Korean script for the name so we will
call it HITW1.  We were looking for munchies vice a whole meal but what
we got was a huge serving of noodle-soup each, and the appetizer tray
turned out to be a meal for 2.  Vegetarian faire with a dashi based soup
and pickled melon slices.  The local 'pizza' is not a breaded product
but a fried green veggie with some sort of starchy stuff (panko?  rice
flour?) and onions.  Not hot in itself but the oil-chile-sauce is
perfect for this.  We liked the udon based noodle soup the best.  Best
Kimchee of the places we ate at, with that perfect 'salty-sweet-crunch'.
We had 3rds of it much to the cook's delight.

The local beer is 'Hite' and it's a simple one, close to miller lite and
a perfect quencher for a hot sauce.

After that we shopped but not extremely hard. I stopped to get a set of
glasses made up (60,000 won or about 55$ including frames).  We just
ambled about and had fun.  Got stuff for Charlotte and Don plus a
bedspread for my rack on the ship.  I was tired of the old blue one.

As we got peckish, we stopped at the next HITW, #2.  This was at the
hugh Pohang open market on the food side.  Sam wanted to see dog
carcasses because he was intrigued.  We ate at a place nextdoor when the
owner huckstered us in.  No english at all (not at #1-3 BTW).  We were
able to figure out 'sit, relax, have a beer, we bring you a treat'.
First treat was frozen whole shrimp in shell, with a lite salt coating.
Yuppie actually!  Also whole peanuts in the shell and crunchy carrot
sticks.  Later, a bowl with 2 dozen fresh mussels in a lite dashi sauce.
Cooked to the most perfect I have had.  We had a little chopstick fight
over them with the owner laughing.

Food later that night was whatever looked interesting at the sidewalk
stalls.  I had a squid on a stick deal with tempura batter and some mild
fishballs along with a serving of (name, umm, fat dark seaweed in oil
and sesame seeds.  Glen, name?) 'stuff'.  Ok, black fat seaweed stuff,
kinda rubbery at the leaf and crunchy at the stem.  kinda a love it or
hate it thing for USA tastebuds.  I like it.

Next day, we set out a bit later (10am) since we didnt have to go to
immigration like the first day (Sam  just flew in so had to stop there
for some paperwork as he's leaving by sea).  Shopped and found some
really nice pants for Don for 4900 won (less than 5$USA) so got him 2
pairs.  Also found Charlotte some cute tops as she's growing out of what
she had.  Got her 4 tops for 3-4$ each.  Got me 2 silky pillowcovers to
make my rack look even nicer (10$ each and worth the price).

Munchies hit and we went back to HITH#1 but for a different choice of
items.  We almost went another place but that one just hit right.  This
time it was the udon soup, a second soup the owner suggested (the darker
glass noodles in almost brown-grey, in a cold soup base with sesame
seeds and slivered cucumbers and asian pear).  The side serving of
Kimchee this time came in a big bowl and a second smaller plate of a
daikon  kimchee with asian pear (killer good!).  Main dish was the fried
tempura and we found they do have meat there, just octopus and calimari.
It was in the fried bits.  Way good.  Hot-sweet mustard, true asian
style, very good accompanyment.  Oh, the true asian style of that is
oily and quite hot.

Off to shop more, and then the rain which had soakeed my shoes is all at
fault for the blisters which were a god-send as they forced us to stop
at another HITH #3.  OHMYGHOD.  It was so much like a home sty;e kitchen
and the folks were all so interesting and fun!  It's like you may be at
your table but the eaters are all a group together none-the-less.
Chatting across tables and sharing bits.  No clue as we ordered what to
expect.  There was a menu on the wall, all in Korean and no pictures.
We pointed at one that was 4,000won, seemed to need to order 2 so did.
Food starting arriving, and just kept coming.

I have got to figure out that soup.  Tofu chuncks but the base was an
amazing chile base that had kick (just right for me, too much for Sam
who's filepeno native born).  Bits of all sorts of veggies in it.  Rice
for the first time seen in Korea.  They didnt have forks at all at this
place (or HITH#2) but Sam and I found the metal chopsticks easier
anyways even in HITH#1.

Yes, in Korea they use metal chopsticks.

Left out another HITH.  Brazier at the table, this time the meat was
pork and not far off from the OZ bacon style but the cut was a little
meatier.   Came with a bowl (3/4 cup?) of sliced garlic cloves of the
milder larger asian ones which you intersperece with bites of meat here.
Good kangkoon salad with vinigar dressing and a lovely sweet coleslaw
that even I liked and i generally do not like the sweet ones.  Matched
the hot sauces though as a cooler.

Got 1 bottle of that Korean 'hot sauce' I've mentioned before and ran
out of then hit a steal of a deal on red pepper.  3000won (3$) for about
2.5 cups volume of dried powder.  This is a mildish type you caqn use
lots of in a recipe for the flavor effect without so much heat that you
can't eat the results.  it's too mild to make the chile-oil stuff that i
think may also be sambal but not so mild as to just be a coloring agent.

Smile, back on the ship and trying to figure out how to carry all the
shopping for 2 days home in just one trip.  i know, have Don meet the
ship!  (Hi Don!  Bring an empty backpack dear?)

    xxcarol
    Pohang, Korea

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