Valparaiso Never Tasted So Good

Tri Kappa welcomed more than a thousand guests Thursday night into a taste bud extravaganza to raise funds for college scholarships. Forty-one area restaurants put their best quiche and panini forward for Taste of Valparaiso in the Porter County Expo Center.

Taste of Valparaiso also features a silent auction of everything from sports tickets to original art to a ready made “date night basket.” New this year were the central red tables for sponsors, the private dining in the Red Ticket Lounge, and the Wine Pull with a wide range of wines.

Tri Kappa is a philanthropic organization made up entirely of Indiana women. The Valparaiso chapter started in 1906 and exists solely to support the community. Last year they gave away $16,000 in scholarships, in addition to giving sizable donations to the YMCA, the Boys & Girls Clubs, and several other groups.

To continue reading, go to the NWI Times.

Relearning America: 001 - Alpo Tacos

My family and I just moved back to America after nearly 9 years away, so naturally we're going to have some reverse culture shock.  Of course, we came home for vacations and visits to family every so often, but that in itself brings its own culture shock.  You mean America isn't the land of perpetual vacation and crossword puzzles?!
I just finished up a series of 100 Things I Love About Korea.  (See the archives at the right.)  So I'm going to follow that with 100 Things I'm (re)learning about America.

One of our first lessons came today.  We were making lunch - just sandwiches or wraps or whatever people wanted.  Emma was making a taco.  She reached into the fridge and pulled out an innocuous red can.   She asked if she could put some of it on her taco.  I briefly glanced up from my crossword puzzle (still slightly in vacation mode), and I saw what looked like refried beans, so I said, "Sure."
About five minutes later I get up to rustle up my own grub, and as I'm milling about the counter I take a closer look at that red can.  The picture looks great, but then I read the label: ALPO.

I quickly scan the counter and locate both my daughter and her father-approved taco.  Oh, thank God, she hadn't eaten any yet.  "Emma, I don't think you should eat that taco.  That's not refried beans.  That's dog food...  I mean, you probably could eat it.  It's probably safe, but I wouldn't recommend it since it IS dog food."

Lesson #1: Don't be fooled by those pretty pictures, read the labels.

100 Things I Love About Korea: #94 - The Year 2009

2009 was a year of joy and sadness.  The ever beautiful SoYoung Gu threw a birthday party for Sarah and Isabel, and lots of folks turned out to celebrate my Mom's first birthday without my Dad.  But shortly after this, SoYoung was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer.  She was gone by Easter.  That was a hard, hard three months!

Emma embraced life with her characteristic drama and flare.  Never a dull moment!

After many years of trying, Paul and Hoom returned from Turkey to start the baby boom in our church - 9 straight boys!

We initiated more people to the good times at DaeCheon beach.  This time around it was: Keith, Megan, Shannon, Heather, and Stephanie.  

Not wanting to pay an arm and a leg for turkey (extremely expensive in Korea), I made duck for Thanksgiving.  It was definitely tasty.  The only problem was it was one scrawny bird!

100 Things I Love About Korea: #85 - The Year 2005

Sarah babysat Suhyun (the daughter of our good friends YongGi and KyoungRan) for most of this year.  She is just a few months younger than Emma.  I don't think either of the girls remember these early play times, but they were tight from the very beginning.  It's hard to believe now, but Emma was actually much bigger than Suhyun then.  Emma used to take her toys and push her around, and Sarah and I used to say we wished Suhyun would just sock Emma good for once to teach her some manners!


For our annual anniversary mini-trip we stringed together a babysitting relay team, so that we could go away for a night.  Someone recommended a spa in Asan.  Little did we know, it was actually in old town Asan.  But we still had a good time.  We got away to a mountain for some hiking.  At the train station on our way home, there was some kind of protest (probably for Dokdo), and some of the protesters recruited us and outfitted us to join their ranks.


We also did some cooking lessons for our good friend Belle's son, EungChul.  This was his birthday "cake."  E.C. joined me on a trip to Bangladesh in 2010, and he will probably be coming to live with us in American in a few months.

One of our favorite special occasion treats was going to Outback for a little taste of home with the Bloomin' Onion.  (Outback Korea no longer serves these because they were having supply chain problems, but they were good while they lasted.)

100 Things I Love About Korea: #83 Vietnamese Food

OK, I know that sounds weird.  Vietnamese food is not Korean, but I discovered it in Korea.  And I probably would never have tried it without living in east Asia.

Here are a few of my favorite dishes:

• Beef brisket noodle soup.  A mild, but steaming broth holds long white noodles and strips of pink beef (which cook right before your eyes).  You add in bean sprouts, onions, peppers, and sauces to your own personal taste.  Great on a cold winter day (like today)!
• Wol Nam Sam.  Imagine a huge party tray with thinly sliced vegetables, meat, and shrimp.  Then, you dip a small piece of "rice paper" a into a steaming bowl of water to soften it.  Then, like it's a tortilla, you fill it with all of the veggies and meat and add sauce.  Finally, roll it into a ball and eat it in one bite.  Sweet goodness.  (Best of all, since it's mostly vegetables, I can pig out and not feel guilty!)
• Vietnamese Shabbu Shabbu.  This is almost the same, except that about half of the vegetables and beef go into a boiling cauldron right at the table.  Then you spoon them out and eat it either as soup or in the rice paper wraps.  Can't go wrong with this.

100 Things I Love about Korea: #81 - Pepero Day

11-11, AKA November eleventh, is Pepero Day in Korea.  Pepero are classic Korean snack cookies shaped like sticks and covered in chocolate.
According to one legend, middle school girls in the southern tip of Korea spontaneously invented this holiday on November 11 (because the one's look like the Pepero sticks).  They gave each other boxes of pepero along with the wish to be "as tall and slender as pepero."
But cynics say that the holiday is nothing more than a shameless marketing ploy by Lotte Confectionary, the manufacture of said snacks.  Either way, they get more than half their annual sales during the month of November, so I'm sure they're happy about it.
I love it because it's just good fun.  Who doesn't like eating chocolate covered cookies?  We all need another reason to celebrate life and taste a little more joy.

By the way, there are 10 different Pepero flavors.  Can you name them all?  What's your favorite?  Mine is almond - hands down.

100 Things I Love About Korea: #75 - Alameda

As far as I know Alameda is the first restaurant in Cheonan to serve western style breakfast food.  Not to knock McDonalds, but a McMuffin can only go so far in restoring the feelings of home.
Alameda is a small, owner-chef cafe near the Galleria.  Look across the street for the Cafe Bene and keep walking in a straight line.
The atmosphere is simple-chic, and the food is very good.  The owner serves as chef, and his girlfriend is the friendly waitress.
Sarah ordered the Alameda Brunch - with pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, fried potatoes, and - oddly - a small garden salad.  Even giving it the bonus of being the only place to get Western breakfast in Cheonan, this was still a very good meal.  Everything was well prepared and well presented.
I ordered the grilled mushroom salad, and I have to say that it was the best restaurant salad I've had in Korea.  (I have to add that restaurant caveat because my sister-in-law makes a mean spinach-pecan-strawberry salad which may be the best I've ever had anywhere.)  The greens were varied and fresh.  The mushrooms were also varied and well seasoned.  There were even chunks of fresh cheese.
Even the music was great.  The only downside to Alameda is the price.  Plan on paying around 15,000 a person.  At that rate, it's a little to much to become part of our regular circuit, but when we get the hankering for pancakes, waffles, or knock-out salads, now we know where to go.

100 Things I Love About Korea: #74 - Fusion Food

Fusion Food can be almost anything.  Usually, it is mixing two ethnic foods together into something new - like Shanghai Spaghetti (a very popular pasta dish in Italian restaurants, with a spicy sauce and lots of seafood and vegetables).  But occasionally, it is mixing two foods that don't normally go together (like sweet potatoes or chestnuts on pizza).

A few weeks ago, Sarah and I stumbled onto a very interesting fusion restaurant: Carbone.  It has a funky urban vibe, and it was quiet even though busy.  

We ordered "Salad Pasta" and "Spoon Pizza."  Now, that's not pasta salad, like those twirly little noodles you might get at a church potluck.  That's actually lettuce salad over a bed of spaghetti.  It sounds crazy, but the creamy honey mustard sauce actually made it work.  The Spoon Pizza is a deep dish pizza with a soft crust and lots of toppings, and naturally, you eat it with a spoon.  

Good times.

100 Things I Love About Korea: #71 - Mr. Pizza.

Shrimp Nude Pizza.
Potato and Bacon Pizza.
Golden Cheddar Crust Pizza.
Sweet Potato Crown Pizza.
Secret Garden Pizza.
Chestnut Pizza.
Bulgogi Pizza.
Roasted Garlic Pizza.
Crab, Lobster, Octopus Pizza.
Asparagus Steak Pizza.
The best pizza motto ever: "Love for Women."

Need we say more?

Well, Korea is the home of the original pizza after all.

100 Things I Love About Korea: #67: Mama's Table

Fresh salads and real sandwiches.  That alone makes this place elite.

To top it off, the prices are reasonable; the atmosphere is comfortable and quiet; and the owners are very nice.
The salads come in three basic options: grilled chicken, smoked salmon, and tofu.  All of these are available as a small house salad or as part of a "brunch set" which also includes sausage, bacon, and whole wheat bread.  If you don't want all the meat, you can ask them to substitute them for more salad instead.  You can also get an Americano for 1,000 won more.  Total price: 8,000.  Not bad.
There are four sandwiches: salmon on croissant, grilled chicken on bagel, egg salad and bacon on whole wheat, and dry bulgogi on a bun.  All of them are pretty tasty, but my favorites are the salmon and egg salad.

If you just want coffee or a drink, they have loads to choose from.  But I always get a plain Americano with milk on the side.  Just 2,000 won.

Mama's Table is above the bath house or sauna Cara Cara in SsangYong Dong, 5 minutes from Korea Nazarene University.  (From the KNU main gate, walk up the hill.  Turn left at the fruit stand and NongHyup Bank.  The street will force you to make a right turn.  Mama's Table will be on your right near the end of the street.)

Thanks to http://joanninkorea.blogspot.kr for the pics.

100 Things I Love About Korea # 57: Replay - Butterfinger Pancakes

This is a repost from December 27, 2008.   Butterfinger Pancakes is still one of the best restaurants ever.

About six months ago, our good friends Adam and Elisa took new jobs and moved to Seoul.  When we saw them about a month ago at the concert in a helicopter (yes, in a helicopter - a big one), we made plans to come visit them after Christmas.  This weekend was the auspicious occasion.
We came with no plans whatsoever other than hanging with them and eating at the restaurants of their choice.  They suggested a place called Butterfinger Pancakes for supper on Friday night.  Adam said that if we ate there for supper we would want to eat there the next day, too.  He's right.  We're ruined.  This place has some of the best food I've ever eaten anywhere.  There may be a bit of deprivation speaking here, but I was overwhelmed with the lush goodness of most of their food.
On Friday night, Sarah had some nut waffles - light, fluffy, crispy, excellent.  Emma had the mac and cheese, also very good.  Adam had the Fresco Burger, and Elisa and I split a Fresco Burger and a salad.  The salad was blah, but the Fresco Burger was outstanding.  It's actually a sausage burger topped with two kinds of cheese and bacon, then grilled on high quality bread.  It's a living heart attack, but oh so delicious!

On Saturday, we sat around in our pajamas until noon.  What a welcome reprieve from our busy end of semester and Christmas schedule!  It was so nice to sip some coffee with friends and have nowhere we needed to go and nothing we needed to do.  We also called our friends Mark and Naomi who are now studying in Canada.  It was great to have all six of us on speaker phone, almost like old times.
About 2pm, we returned to Butterfinger Pancakes for another mouthwatering meal.  Sarah had a very good grilled bagel sandwich.  Adam and Elisa had a large omelet, packed with goodness.  Emma had straight buttermilk pancakes, which come with your choice of butters and fruit toppings.  Em was a little overwhelmed by all the choices, so we helped her out and recommended blueberry topping.


I had - get this! - the cream cheese and mozzarella pancakes.  It sounds a little weird, but I figured: "When will I ever be able to try this again?"   The cheese is actually in the pancakes.  I topped it with a side of sunny side up eggs.  It was incredible.  I was practically moaning as I ate!  I've never had pancakes so light and fluffy, and the idea of filling them with cheese was a stroke of genius.  Elisa passed me her extra pancake - I think a gesture of generousity for the newbies who can't come back tomorrow - and I gladdly downed this perfect specimen of all a pancake should be - light, moist, fluffy, sweet, but not two sweet, buttery, but not greasy.  I'm not kidding, I think those were the best pancakes I've ever had.
So if you're in Seoul and you have some time.  Check out Butterfinger Pancakes.  The prices are surprisingly reasonable for a Western style restarant in Korea.  They now have locations at least in ApGuJong and KangNam, maybe more.  Just google them to see some blogs.  They don't have their own website, though.
Thanks, Adam and Elisa, for opening your home for some much needed rest and relaxation and for introducing us to a restaurant that has already become a legend in my mind!

100 Things I Love About Korea # 53: Replay - Itaewon

This is a repost from April 1, 2008.

Friday night Sarah and I escaped to Seoul. We went to Itaewon - the central spot for all things foreign in Korea. We had a great little hotel - which we never would have found without Seth and Ann's recommendation, and we went to a nice Italian restaurant. After supper, we delighted ourselves with a little walk and then some luscious ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery - possibly the best ice cream in the world.
This was our first real venture into Itaewon. Before this, I had always kind of scoffed at how the foreigners flock there. I had made a brief trip in before, and it just didn't seem like all that much. However, this time with hours on hand and no kid to drag along, my eyes were opened to the great - um - beauty? - or at least attractiveness of Itaewon. I was consistently amazed at how many foreign restaurants were there, one after the other: maybe a dozen Italian places, African cuisine, Middle Eastern, Indian, Thai, Japanese, etc.
Itaewon is also the home of the best English bookstore in Korea: What The Book. Sarah and I made a little venture into that mecca, and she had to pry books out of my hands.
After that, we picked up some cheddar, sour cream, and green beans at a foreign food store. That will stave off another trip to Costco for at least a month. Before we hit the subway stop, though, we shared one last bowl of Cold Stone sweet-God-has-definitely-blessed-this-stuff ice cream.
All in all, this was the best anniversary trip since we've been in Korea. Definitely gets the 5J rating.

100 Things I Love About Korea # 51: Replay - How to Eat Bulgogi

Originally posted on November 20, 2007, this is one of my most popular posts of all time.

Bulgogi is a perennial favorite for international folks in Korea. It is basically a steaming hotplate of sauteed with mushrooms (of the long stringy variety) and onions in a sweet sauce. It's pretty tasty. So here's a step by step for those of you out there less familiar with Korean cuisine.

Step 1: Gather some friends to enjoy the feast. This is not usually a one person ordeal. Across from us here are our friends Joe, Ian, Elena, and Brett Willey.

Step 2: Order the pot of steaming goodness. ...

To continue reading, click here.  

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100 Things I Love About Korea # 43: Great Seasonal Fruit

Out of season, produce is crazy expensive here.  But in season, you get a little pay back.
As a fruit (say pears or strawberries) approaches its regular season, the first fruits appear on the shelves for outrageous prices.  But then the prices and quality make their slow march downward to rock bottom prices.
We just hit the peak of mandarine orange season.  One bag of 30 or so costs less than $5.  I can put down 4-5 of those little gems in one sitting.
But my favorite is strawberry season.  At its peak, there are so many strawberries that the stores are practically giving them away just to keep them from rotting on their shelves.  Our family can go through a few pounds a day - easily!  Strawberries are just starting to get reasonable now, so my mouth is already watering.
Oh, and by the way, avoid the big grocery stores for fresh fruit.  Their supply chains are too long, and their fruit isn't fresh (especially Lotte Mart).  Instead, hit up your neighborhood fruit stand.  The prices are better, and the fruit is fresher.

100 Things I Love About Korea # 42: An Expectation of Healthy Eating

Sure junk food and fast food are creeping into Korean society, and waistlines are correspondingly increasing.  But overall, Korean food is very healthy - lots of vegetables and fish.  And overall, Koreans expect to eat healthy food on a regular basis.  

Contrast this with the high fat American diet I know and love, and I am learning to appreciate a culture that values healthy eating.  Somehow, in the past year since our son was born, I’ve put on about 10 kilos (20+ pounds).  I guess it was a combination of less exercise (because of taking care of him in the morning) and more coffee and snacks (to stave off the fatigue from said taking care of him in the early mornings).  But I shudder to think of how many buttons I would have popped if I had gone through the same lifestyle changes on a standard American diet.  

And yes, by the way, I am now seriously starting to eat less and to exercise more - especially so that I can regain some semblance of control while my surrounding culture is working with me instead of against me.

100 Things I Love About Korea # 40: Paris Baguette

They’re like mushrooms after the rainy season.  They’re sprouting up everywhere.  And for good reason.  They’re awesome.

Paris Baguette has simply dominated the Korean bakery market.  

First of all, they have nailed the mixture of high end Korean baked goods, fusion baked goods (like ddok-bread), traditional western deserts (like knock-out cinnamon rolls), and fancy-shmancy foo-foo pastries like fresh strawberry cream-puff tarts.  Very often, I just want to try one of everything.

Second, they were the first (and best) bakery to capitalize on the coffee shop trend.  They have shrewdly layered expresso based drinks and small tables to turn almost every bakery into a European styled street cafe (except the tables are always inside).  

I’ve heard there are a few Paris Baguette’s breaking into US markets, and I fully expect to be googling them to see if there are any within driving distance when I start pining for a taste of Korean-esque memories.

100 Things I Love About Korea # 36: Food - Bibim Bap

Bibim Bap (mixed rice) is a classic favorite among Ex-pats living in Korea.  Although each region offers different local varieties, the basic idea is the same all over Korea.  Take a big bowl of hot rice, add some vegetables (usually romaine lettuce, bean sprouts, julianne carrots and zucchini, mushrooms, and kimchi), some gochu jang (red pepper paste), a fried egg (preferably over easy), and mix it all up.  

For a change of pace, try chamchi (tuna) bibim bap.  If you visit Korea or a Korean restaurant, you absolutely can’t miss dolsot bibim bap - which is the basic bibim bap served in a hot stone (or iron) bowl.  The cooks to a crispy brown, and all the flavors of the sauce and the vegetables blend together into a lush warm mixture.

Occasionally, you may find other specialty varieties with: raw salmon, bulgogi (sweet beef), jaeyuk (spicy pork), or even ggot (flowers - yes, actual flowers mixed into the rice).

Bibim Bap - it’s fast, healthy, easy, cheap, and delicious.  What more can you ask for?

100 Things I Love About Korea # 34: Food - Persimmon

I remember a neighborhood in Kansas called “Persimmon Hill.”  I had to ask what a persimmon is.  An answer of “Some kind of fruit, I think,” proves the persimmon’s fall from grace in America.  It is something akin to a living antique, a relic of settlers long past.  As far as I know, most persimmon “back home” rot on the trees due to a general lack of knowledge of what they are or how to eat them.  

Korea has cured me of my ignorance of this tasty fall fruit.  Persimmon look kind of like an orange colored tomato, but they taste like a spiced apple.  They even look as if they are sprinkled with natural cinnamon inside.  

In Korea, persimmon are eaten in four basic ways:

• Fresh and slightly unripe - my favorite.  The texture is a bit harder and less grainy than an apple, but the cinnamon flavor is most pronounced.
• Fresh and very ripe.  These are so soft and sugary that they are almost like eating straight jelly, and in fact, you basically have to use a spoon or fork for these.
• Ripe and frozen - Put those same super-rich fruit in the freezer, and you’ve got a natural popsicle.  
• Dried - I guess it’s the very ripe fruit that are dried, but honestly I don’t like these very much.  

Fall in Korea is marked by ancient persimmon trees barren of leaves dotting the sky with small orange globes.  They look somewhat forlorn, dangling precariously on black wiry branches against the gray wintering skies.  But harvest those same lonely fruit into bushels, and those fiery little orbs add joy to the season and to the table.

100 Things I Love About Korea # 31: Food - Kimchi

Kimchi is literally Korea's national food.  It's almost as important as the national flag.  It's combines the symbolic food power of apple pie, hot dogs, Thanksgiving turkey, and hamburgers & french fries.  According to Koreans, it will cure all that ails you (unless it's an ulcer that ails you).
When we came to Korea, Bill and Gail Patch said, "You need to learn to like Kimchi."  They were right, but it wasn't easy.  It's spicy (not a problem for me, but a problem for Sarah) and very sour.  Think hot pepper sauerkraut.
Honestly, for our first year or so, we had just one small piece of kimchi every time we ate out at a Korean restaurant - just because we "had" to, just because we knew that we needed to learn to like it.  It actually worked.  Slowly, we moved from hating kimchi ... to being able to tolerate kimchi ... to actually liking some kimchi ... to liking most kimchi's ... to finishing our kimchi dish and asking for refills at almost every Korean meal.
Oh Kimchi, how I will miss thee. 

100 Things I Love About Korea - #16: Funky Seafood

I'm honestly not big on seafood.  But Korea has expanded my seafood tastes 1,000 fold.  I'll now try just about anything.  

A meal like this - with a whole octopus intentionally displayed as the eye-catching feature piece - is very common.  Once at a meeting of Cheonan pastors, we had a spicy seafood soup with just about everything that lives in the ocean: all sorts of shell fish, shrimp, crab, actual fish pieces, fish innards (including intestines and ovaries full of eggs), and all sorts of other sea creatures that don't fit into easy categories.  

One of Korea's prime delicacies that I haven't tried yet is Saeng Nakji - or fresh octopus.  It's so fresh that they bring it to your table fresh out of the tank.  Then, they chop it up, and everyone digs in.  The tentacles will wrap around your chopstick (even after the chopping), and you have to eat it quickly or the suckers will get stuck in your throat.  Apparently, every year a few people die from this.  I actually want to try it before I leave.  How could you not?