Day 13: Meeting my Cousin, Niece and some Noodles
One of my older aunt’s who resides in a city south of Seoul had been staying with us for the last several days and today her daughter and granddaughter (so my cousin and niece) came to visit us and to take my aunt back home.
When I came back to my aunt’s place from World Cup Stadium, they had already arrived and were waiting for my return. It was nice to meet my cousin and to find out that I actually have a niece. Aside from immediate family, I have no relatives at all in Toronto or Canada so the idea that I have relatives let alone a cousin or niece was a little surreal. You would think that I would connect more with my cousin but since there was an age gap (she was older than I was), I actually spent all the time talking with my niece as she seemed closer to my age than my cousin. My niece was very cute and while she could probably speak a little English, she seemed shy to do so so we conversed in Korean. She was studying horticulture at University and had tests coming up in the near future. We compared our cellphones as she was interested in upgrading hers to a smartphone soon and talked about our music interests as she couldn’t help but notice the long list of K-pop girl group MP3s on my cellphone.^^
I probably shouldn’t have said this in front of all my aunts but I jokingly said that when I entered the door and first saw my niece, it felt so nice to finally see a young person! My aunts all laughed and I hope they took it in stride and I love my aunts and all but after almost 2 weeks, it was refreshing to see someone closer to my age.^^ Just prior to coming to Seoul, I finished watching the Korean drama “Baker King Kim Tak Goo”. It was probably one of the best dramas I’ve ever seen and it really captured the nations attention getting over 50% viewership in the finale episode which only a few dramas have ever done. As a result, I was inspired to visit the bakery where the drama was filmed which was located a few hours south of Seoul in the city of Cheong-ju. The bakery was actually an art gallery prior but it was converted into a bakery for the drama and then left as a bakery once filming was done. In speaking with my cousin who lives closer to there, she advised against going saying she heard stories that the baked goods and pastries weren’t as good as people thought and that I would probably be disappointed. Even though I had it on my itinerary, due to it being so far away, I took their recommendation and crossed it off my list of things to see. If you are interested in going however, I found this nice blog that has step-by-step directions on how to get to Palbong Bakery with pictures and all.
My mom loves this Korean snack called 호떡 (ho-ddeok) which looks like a Korean pancake. It is made with flour and rice and contains a sweet mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon, nuts and other goodness in the center that melts inside when you cook it in the frying pan and flatten it out into it’s pancake shape. My niece bought some ho-ddeok mix and made a bunch for us and it was 대박! The only ho-ddeoks I’ve tried were ones my mom made from scratch so this was the first time trying it using the pre-packaged mix which were so much better. Even my mom agrees.^^ The taste left such a good impression that after I got back to Toronto I went out and bought the ho-ddeok mix and made some myself. Mmmmm… The next time I make a batch I will take some pictures for you!
After a short while it was time for them to all go so we said our goodbyes and I exchanged email addresses with my niece and told her to email me anytime she needed help with her English.
About a month before leaving for Seoul, my mom sprained her knee so she wasn’t really able to walk around a whole lot. Since arriving in Seoul, she was limited to walking short distances in and around the condo area and hadn’t been able to go out and see the city which was unfortunate since she was returning after 25 years. Her knee was getting better though with each passing day and tonight it was doing well so we all decided to take her to see the Cheonggyecheon. I told her that she was going to like it there as it was a nice and peaceful place to walk at night. We called a cab around 7PM and took the scenic route to the Cheonggyecheon so that my mom could see a bit of Seoul. We went from Dongnimmun down to Myeong-dong and Seoul Station and City Hall near Namdaemun, then came back up passing Lotte Department Store and Gyeongbokgung before doubling back again and getting off near Cheonggyecheon. Every time I took a cab, I always made sure to shoot some video of the ride and of the view of Seoul passing by. Here is a compilation of all those taxi rides which included some from this night.
When we got to Cheonggyecheon, it was crowded with people and loud music being performed live on stage. So much for the quiet and peaceful walk! I so felt bad for suggesting we go to the Cheonggyecheon the same night an amateur University singing contest was being held but I had no idea. Though we didn’t end up walking too far downstream, my mom still enjoyed it and it was nice for her to get out of the condo and see a little bit of Seoul.
We spent some time looking for a place to eat. We walked through one of the busy streets in Jongno that had all the cafes and karaoke bars but my aunts wanted something that was less bar-ish and more quiet. We continued walking to the main street in Jongno and came across a noodle place with a drawing of funny-man MC Kim Yong-Man’s face plastered over it called 김용만의국수집 (Kim Yong-Man’s Noodle House) so we decided to try it. I had noticed this place before during my prior visits to the area because of the picture of Kim Yong-Man so I was glad that I now had the opportunity to try it out. The place wasn’t too big and the food turned out to be delicious and cheap! My two aunts and mom went with the 잔치국수 (noodles in an anchovy broth) and I went with noodles in a beef broth. As appetizers, they gave us hard boiled eggs, kimchi and yellow picked radish. Here is my noodle soup. It was so yummy!
Why doesn’t anything here in Toronto taste as good as it does in Korea? T.T After dinner, we stopped to sit and chill in front of Jongno Tower for a while watching the people of Seoul head to where they needed to go before catching a cab and heading home ourselves.
When I came back to my aunt’s place from World Cup Stadium, they had already arrived and were waiting for my return. It was nice to meet my cousin and to find out that I actually have a niece. Aside from immediate family, I have no relatives at all in Toronto or Canada so the idea that I have relatives let alone a cousin or niece was a little surreal. You would think that I would connect more with my cousin but since there was an age gap (she was older than I was), I actually spent all the time talking with my niece as she seemed closer to my age than my cousin. My niece was very cute and while she could probably speak a little English, she seemed shy to do so so we conversed in Korean. She was studying horticulture at University and had tests coming up in the near future. We compared our cellphones as she was interested in upgrading hers to a smartphone soon and talked about our music interests as she couldn’t help but notice the long list of K-pop girl group MP3s on my cellphone.^^
I probably shouldn’t have said this in front of all my aunts but I jokingly said that when I entered the door and first saw my niece, it felt so nice to finally see a young person! My aunts all laughed and I hope they took it in stride and I love my aunts and all but after almost 2 weeks, it was refreshing to see someone closer to my age.^^ Just prior to coming to Seoul, I finished watching the Korean drama “Baker King Kim Tak Goo”. It was probably one of the best dramas I’ve ever seen and it really captured the nations attention getting over 50% viewership in the finale episode which only a few dramas have ever done. As a result, I was inspired to visit the bakery where the drama was filmed which was located a few hours south of Seoul in the city of Cheong-ju. The bakery was actually an art gallery prior but it was converted into a bakery for the drama and then left as a bakery once filming was done. In speaking with my cousin who lives closer to there, she advised against going saying she heard stories that the baked goods and pastries weren’t as good as people thought and that I would probably be disappointed. Even though I had it on my itinerary, due to it being so far away, I took their recommendation and crossed it off my list of things to see. If you are interested in going however, I found this nice blog that has step-by-step directions on how to get to Palbong Bakery with pictures and all.
My mom loves this Korean snack called 호떡 (ho-ddeok) which looks like a Korean pancake. It is made with flour and rice and contains a sweet mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon, nuts and other goodness in the center that melts inside when you cook it in the frying pan and flatten it out into it’s pancake shape. My niece bought some ho-ddeok mix and made a bunch for us and it was 대박! The only ho-ddeoks I’ve tried were ones my mom made from scratch so this was the first time trying it using the pre-packaged mix which were so much better. Even my mom agrees.^^ The taste left such a good impression that after I got back to Toronto I went out and bought the ho-ddeok mix and made some myself. Mmmmm… The next time I make a batch I will take some pictures for you!
After a short while it was time for them to all go so we said our goodbyes and I exchanged email addresses with my niece and told her to email me anytime she needed help with her English.
About a month before leaving for Seoul, my mom sprained her knee so she wasn’t really able to walk around a whole lot. Since arriving in Seoul, she was limited to walking short distances in and around the condo area and hadn’t been able to go out and see the city which was unfortunate since she was returning after 25 years. Her knee was getting better though with each passing day and tonight it was doing well so we all decided to take her to see the Cheonggyecheon. I told her that she was going to like it there as it was a nice and peaceful place to walk at night. We called a cab around 7PM and took the scenic route to the Cheonggyecheon so that my mom could see a bit of Seoul. We went from Dongnimmun down to Myeong-dong and Seoul Station and City Hall near Namdaemun, then came back up passing Lotte Department Store and Gyeongbokgung before doubling back again and getting off near Cheonggyecheon. Every time I took a cab, I always made sure to shoot some video of the ride and of the view of Seoul passing by. Here is a compilation of all those taxi rides which included some from this night.
When we got to Cheonggyecheon, it was crowded with people and loud music being performed live on stage. So much for the quiet and peaceful walk! I so felt bad for suggesting we go to the Cheonggyecheon the same night an amateur University singing contest was being held but I had no idea. Though we didn’t end up walking too far downstream, my mom still enjoyed it and it was nice for her to get out of the condo and see a little bit of Seoul.
We spent some time looking for a place to eat. We walked through one of the busy streets in Jongno that had all the cafes and karaoke bars but my aunts wanted something that was less bar-ish and more quiet. We continued walking to the main street in Jongno and came across a noodle place with a drawing of funny-man MC Kim Yong-Man’s face plastered over it called 김용만의국수집 (Kim Yong-Man’s Noodle House) so we decided to try it. I had noticed this place before during my prior visits to the area because of the picture of Kim Yong-Man so I was glad that I now had the opportunity to try it out. The place wasn’t too big and the food turned out to be delicious and cheap! My two aunts and mom went with the 잔치국수 (noodles in an anchovy broth) and I went with noodles in a beef broth. As appetizers, they gave us hard boiled eggs, kimchi and yellow picked radish. Here is my noodle soup. It was so yummy!
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