A couple months into this business I will say I'm enjoying it, I've met some amazing people and seen some pretty cool stuff, but I won't say it's not difficult living in a foreign country where everything is more difficult. For example, yesterday I attempted to find this ceramics store only to have the map lead me to a person's home. In the US I could call this business and tell them that I'm lost, but considering that I know 2 words in Korean (hello and thank you) it wouldn't have helped me. Therefore, we spent 4 hours in the car for absolutely nothing.
Or when I went to a Korean bakery on 4th of July attempting to broaden my exposure, purchased what I thought were hot dog buns to go with the Bratwurst we were grilling only to find out right before serving time that they were filled with some sweet buttery substance.
Then there was that time I got on the bus going the wrong direction and ended up at the bus depot or when I missed ONE turn on a road and ended up in crazy pants traffic in Seoul because you can't just turn around here. I know I'm complaining but I'm a little grumpy today because I just wanted to buy some freakin' plates yesterday!
I did however have a pretty great dinner at an Indian Restaurant last night which is not what I'm here to tell you about. What I'm going to tell you about is what the Americans here call "Beef & Leaf". It's essentially a grilled meat lettuce wrap. We first ate this right after we got here and I'm just telling you about it. Sorry about that. See above.
This particular restaurant is called Hwa Hwa and caters to the Americans on our base. They speak English and print the menu in English which makes it very convenient for us Westerners who can't speak or read the language. I have serious guilt about not being able to speak to people, but haven't had the time to remedy it. See above.
You start with burning hot coals which they carry around in large buckets all around the restaurant using thongs. It's freakin' scary. CA went totally "Safety Officer" on me and thought someone was going to get burned. He was visibly concerned for all the children in the restaurant. In the US, they would probably put up a 10 foot safety screen but not here. If you get burned, then it's your own fault. Survival of the fittest.
The bucket of coals gets put in the middle of your table ready to receive some raw meat.
Once of the things I like about Korean food is how much they love their side dishes. This meal comes with five sides plus rice which is actually a relatively small number. Usually the whole table is packed. This time we got cucumbers with chili sauce, pickled radish, pickled onions, some kind of creamy cole slaw and a spicy bean sprout slaw.
We ordered the largest combination of meat available. Marinated beef, bacon and sausages. Plus one sad little slice of mushroom. They bring you the plate of raw meat and you cook it yourself on the grill.
Once it's cooked, they give you scissors where you can chop it all up and make your wraps. A little rice, a little meat and a little sauce all wrapped up in a lettuce leaf. I usually get bored of the wraps and after a couple of them I just eat the meat with chopsticks. I'm getting better with chopsticks but it's slow and messy.
Beef & Leaf is pretty awesome. We have been to several places around that serve it and it's all been very good. The biggest problem is that you're sweaty when you're done with dinner. Those coals are freakin' hot and they're sitting about a foot from you so I don't look quite as fresh faced when I'm done eating as I did when I started. Luckily CA doesn't mind when I have mascara running down my face as long as the food's good.
Enjoy!
Julie
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