Catie: Pretty persimmons

[caption id="attachment_305" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="My three persimmons."][/caption]

Yesterday, I bought three persimmons for making something persimmon-y.  The most popular things made from persimmons in the western world seem to be persimmon cookies and pudding.  In Korea, it's really hard to say.  I think they do a lot more raw-eating of persimmons than most people in America would dream of doing.  Perhaps mostly because a lot of Americans have no idea what a persimmon really is.

I think they're a nice looking fruit.  At our grocery store, DreamMart (which should really be called Good Morning Mart, but the Korean word for, "Good Morning" sounds like, "Dream") we occasionally get them confused with tomatoes because they're displayed upside down, so just their roundy little bottoms show and (sadly, for us), their orange sort of color is the same color as the rock-hard, never-ripe tomatoes they sell here.  Although, as it gets colder, the tomatoes get greener, so it's becoming increasingly easier to tell the difference.

We just hope they're better than the tomatoes.

It's only getting colder here and while we keep our windows open to counteract our over-compensating water/floor heater, the Koreans turn their heat to 80 C and leave it there.  We've done more sweating since it got cold than before, when it was hot outside!

We were pretty afraid they might not heat their buses, but now I have to put on a long sleeved shirt, my fleece jacket, a scarf, my double layer wool hat and gloves to stand at the bus stop, and then take them off inside the bus, just to put them right back on once we get out.  Koreans leave all theirs on, though.  And, literally, it's about 80 degrees on that bus.

Yeah, you think I'm exaggerating, but I am not.

On Friday, I made 60 Minute Rolls, also known as DeeDee's One Hour Buns, which, really, is totally a better name.  Anytime you have the choice to say a phrase with, "DeeDee" in it, you really should.  These opportunities don't arise very often.

I've only seen one kind of yeast here, a turkish yeast, "Pakmaya".

Very aptly named.

It's an instant yeast, which is kind of nice.  Some people seem to swear by instant yeast.  But, apparently, there is no way to test whether or not it's alive.  Sure, they'll tell you about 1,500 different ways to test it, but it will fail every single of them and, in the end, still make DeeDee's buns rise.

I tried to foam tepid sugar water.

I tried to foam warm sugar water.

I tried to foam sugar water that was probably too warm.

I even tried mixing flour, sugar and water and waiting an hour to see if it would rise -- although the problem with that was mostly just that I got too impatient and decided to go ahead, regardless.

Finally, I mixed up a batch of dough and started kneading it, kneading it, kneading it.  I was probably 5 -6 minutes into the 10 minute process when I realized that our grimy table was griming my DeeDees!

I wash that thing every day, too, so don't think it's anything I've done to it.  It just has this weird black top with a gray splatter paint sort of pattern and I think the gray comes off, because it turns all my dishcloths gray and has since we moved in, I just didn't even think about it!

So, I made another batch -- argh -- and kneaded it on a big white tray we have that came with our cozy little... bingo parlor.

Kneading takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r, fyi.  I worked at a bakery, and I think I took the bread mixers for granted, because, seriously, I thought my arms would give out before I got a, "silky, elastic texture".

Once I had them all ball-rolled and plopped into the pie pan, I was still pretty terrified that they wouldn't rise (and after all that, I wasn't taking any chances), so I boiled some water in the electric teapot, poured it into a coffee mug and set it on top of the Trusty Crousty (which I turned on low, the top gets real hot) with a chopstick inside it.  Then I put the DeeDees right next to it and draped a towel over the whole set up.

They rose FAST.

Let me just reiterate -- F-A-S-T.

I thought to myself, "I will go to DreamMart and get some things for dinner."  DreamMart is only two and a half blocks away, nothing could happen.

Is it ironic that I over-proofed them?

[caption id="attachment_310" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="As you can see, I did at least TRY to eat them.."][/caption]

I have trouble figuring out what irony is.

Regardless, in the end, they went the way of the first batch of dough.  Sadly.  But, to the DeeDees credit, they did taste good.  They were just too weird and dry.  They were the best right out of the oven.  After that... you know, kinda downhill.

They looked cute.

I will try again, bread is something I can fiddle with over a long period of time, I think, and so I probably will.  It's interesting and tad bit finicky, which seems like fun.

There are my DeeDees.

The main problem with bread recipes over the internet, though, is that no one -- lie detector says: maybe 3 people -- bake bread the old fashioned way anymore.  Everybody uses their bread machines.  Which is all well and good, until you move to Korea and all the bread machines are in KOREAN.

Then you're stuck the Trusty Crousty, but no Beard on Bread or whatever in sight.

I guess converting from machine to oven isn't too difficult, though, and I will be trying it.

For tonight, however, I am making fresh applesauce.  And I wanted to make sweet and sour chicken, but was completely floored by the fact that DreamMart doesn't seem to carry vinegar.  It's bizarre.  I have seen vinegar.  I have seen vinegar everywhere.  And all I need is white vinegar.

Come to think of it, though, I don't know that I've ever seen plain, white vinegar.  Which.. I mean, really?  No white vinegar?  Really?  How hard could it possibly be?  They eat squid, that's hard. That make kimchi, constantly, all the time and that's no easy trick.  And they.. you know.. read the space age scrawl that is the Korean language.

They make all their medications in-country!

You'd expect a little white vinegar, now, wouldn't you?

So, now we are having stir-fry.  Neither as good nor as fun as sweet and sour chicken, but I am at a vinegar loss.  I thought about possibly using lemon juice, but, after my DeeDee failure, I need something to turn out properly, so I'm sticking to what I know.

Maybe next time.

Also, Thanksgiving is out.  But we will have pie.  So, I'll let you know how that goes.

- catie

Catie: Chuseok!

[caption id="attachment_84" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="our chuseok gift"][/caption]

This was our Chuseok (Chew-sock) gift.  Two shampoos, two conditioners, one body wash, two bars of soap and six -- yes, count them, six -- tubes of toothpaste.

I'd heard the Korean's were big on dental health (Korean Toothbrushing, from eatyourkimchi.com), but seriously.  Six tubes of toothpaste?  I don't even know if we can brush our teeth enough to use up that much toothpaste in a year.

The set is pretty awesome though.  My favorite is the bottle that doesn't say anything but DAMAGE.  Our best guess is either that it's a bottle of certain demise, or a bottle of intense conditioner for very damaged hair.  Most likely the latter, though we do enjoy hypothesizing what sorts of damage such a small bottle could do...

[caption id="attachment_89" align="alignright" width="145" caption="DAMAGE!! -- not so reassuring..."][/caption]

So, around Chuseok time, all the stores sell these sets.  There are ones like this, with beauty products, some with tea and little tea pots, coffee and cups,  and then there are the scary ones with hard alcohol, like jack daniels and scotch, and there are SPAM Chuseok sets.  With up to 6 cans of different types of SPAM (they like to mix meats -- more on that later).  Apparently, though, SPAM sets are considered a little low brow.  I just think it's hysterical that they sell a set of spam at all.

Did we ever explain Chuseok?  I can't remember.  It's a harvest festival that's considered, "The Korean Thanksgiving", by foreigners and it is bo-ring.

Not to Koreans, obviously.  They get presents, they get traditional Korean food, they get to clean the graves of their ancestors.  All very enviable things.  And we got a present.  We got the shampoo.  Thankfully, without having to clean any graves.

It's just boring because.. you know how in America, if you find out that someone doesn't have a place to go on a major holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas, you ask them to come to your house?  You know?  Even if you don't like them very well, because otherwise you'll be afraid that someday when you're alone on a major holiday, no one will invite you over (maybe that's just me..).  Well, in Korea, most people aren't too big on including foreigners in holidays or traditions.  You get included if you're married in and.. that's about it.

So, on Chuseok, most foreigners are sunk.  This year, it was on Saturday, so naturally, everything was closed from Thursday until Monday.  That makes sense.  Sure.

No, it does not.

It's probably because we're from a capitalist society that I'm so outraged, and that makes me feel bad.  Because, capitalism.. seems gluttonous and everything.  But I still like places to be open!  Even on Christmas Eve!  And, therefore, even on Chuseok Eve, and especially on the two days following Chuseok!!

But, whatev.  It's over.  And we're not genuinely upset.  We're still totally in the Korea honeymoon phase, loving it here, even when nothing's open and we're hungry.  Because the Family Mart (convenience store) was open, so we got some bowl noodles and gim-bap (more of a kim-bob sort of pronunciation.. or a cross between the two.. hard to describe.), which is a lot like sushi in that it's white rice wrapped in seaweed, but in the middle they put cooked meats.  Like ham and tuna and crab.  Like I said, they like to mix meats a lot here.  It doesn't seem like we do a lot of that in the US.  But they're all bold and nonchalant about it, selling weird sandwiches called, "Ham Tuna Potato sandwich" and "Pork Crab Meat Sandwich".

It was a good Chuseok.

Check out AsktheExpat's blog:  Chuseok Gifts and the Foreigner Experience.  He's one of my favorite blogs since getting here and he has way better (and probably more upbeat) information on Chuseok.  It's interesting.

His blog and eatyourkimchi are my most favorites.  They're probably not as awesome unless you actually need the information in order to be able to wash your clothes, turn on your stove, figure out what that weird thing is a convenience store, etc.. but we like 'em.

More later, for now.. I need to go find more food.  The constant journey.

- catie

Catie: The Mirror of SHAME.

We finally took the trash out last night.  We are unsure as to whether or not we did it properly, but we did it!  Hopefully we do not get arrested.

Trash here is very tricky because nobody follows the rules, so everybody has been grounded.  Us, too, even though we weren't here when the initial rule breaking happened.  Totally unfair.

You have four trash categories:
- Biological
- Metal
- Paper
- Plastic

And then furniture, but... that doesn't really count since it doesn't fit in a trash bag.

Everyone was supposed to separate their trash into these groups and then place their trash bags into the respective cans, which were located on every street.  But, no one liked to do it.

And, for a long time, no one did, which is never a good idea in Korea.
So, the government took action, putting, "The Mirror of Shame" up behind each trash can.  Naturally, this was designed to cause each person who broke the trash separation rule to feel such shame that they would want to take apart their trash right there on the curb and separate it.

But, mostly, it just gave each person an opportunity to groom themselves.

This, of course, did not delight the government (it delights me, I think it's awesome).

So, we all got grounded and they took away ALL trash cans from the street -- indefinitely.

Making rules about trash very hazey.

But, I think we've finally got it down.

Trash days are Wednesday and Friday and we can just leave stuff on the street if we sneak it down when no one is looking.  I don't yet understand the sneaking, but I don't dare not sneak for fear of getting caught.  I don't know why I'm afraid of getting caught if this is just the way it's done, but I, for one, don't like to mess around with the Korean government, especially not on such an apparently sore subject.
In other news, the apartment is becoming much cleaner.

When I got here, the wood slat patterned linoleum (it's quite a convincing pattern) was covered -- covered -- in slime and stick and crumbs and dirt (and cockroaches).  And this was after Ben had swept and mopped it!  The cabinets had sticky, yellow grease splatters on their fronts and sides and hard, green mold on their handles.  The fridge looked like a hairy tomato had climbed inside for a shave and then exploded (weird, but surprisingly true...).  There were cockroaches (though since we put out hotels, we're just finding them dead on their backs) and the bathroom smelled like the sourest of sour bath towels mixed with... I don't know... rotting flesh?
It was delicious.

Since then, I have sparkled the kitchen (two days worth of work) and we revamped the bathroom by pouring nearly a full bottle of bleach down the drain.  I spent ALL day -- from 2pm when Ben went to work until 9pm -- scrubbing and spraying bleach and wiping down.
Now the kitchen is mostly clean and the main room's floors are done, plus our shoe room is clean and the bathroom is liveable -- though we are having to pour bleach down the drain daily right now, as well as spraying the walls with bleach after every shower.

You still can't walk barefoot inside your own house, but that's just the way it is.  Nobody can.  That's why we all have built in shoe rooms.

All your shoes live in this little entry way between the front door and front front door and everybody has a pair of slippers that are kept there, too.  On your way in, you take off your shoes, put them in this little closet there in the shoe room, and then put on your house slippers, and on your way out, you do the opposite.

When I first got here, I thought that was just paranoia, but now I know better.  The streets outside are sick.  It's common practice to use them as a bathroom (there just aren't many public ones), people spit in them; the gutters are a bad, bad place.  And all that gets tracked inside on our shoes.

It is for this reason that most of the restaurants and even some shops are raised up higher than their entryways.  You slip your shoes off in the entryway, and then step up into the shop in your sock feet.
I like it.

We also have veranda shoes and shower shoes.  The shower shoes are just because no one wants to step on their own bathroom floor (I certainly don't want to step on mine).  And the veranda shoes...

Well, everybody has either a veranda or an outside portion of their house.  We have a veranda.  I like the word, "veranda".  I think it sounds nice, and a little affluent, or at least upscale.  But our veranda is not nice, like you might think.

It is where keep our washing machine.

In America, you put your clothes in the washing machine and then you hit some buttons and you walk away, coming back 45 minutes later or so to find spun clothes, ready for the dryer.

In Korea, you have choices to make.

First you have to decide whether you want hot water or cold water. If you want hot water, you need to switch the hose to the other spicket and screw it on.  For this reason, we have decided never to want hot water.

Then you need to turn the spicket on, which is a trip because it sprays you in the face.  So, before you turn it on, you need to make sure there are no clothes hanging on the clothesline that will be sprayed, and then you need to lift the washing machine lid and balance it -- just so -- so that you don't get sprayed in the face.

Then you have to wait until the washing machine fills because you have to turn the water off or the machine will overflow.

THEN... you have to start hitting buttons.  God only knows which one is right because we can't read Korea, but it seems like hitting this one button on the far left hand side works.  You just have to hit it a lot, leaving enough space between each poke to make sure that the machine's not going start, because there's nothing more frustrating than getting the machine to start and then, because you're on autopilot, hitting the button again and stopping the machine so that you have to hit it a million times all over again.

Then.......... you have to be careful not to slip when you walk out onto the veranda for the rest of the day so that you don't slip because the water from the washer drains through a tube onto the tiled floor and then through a drain in the center.

That's why the veranda shoes.  Because nobody wants dirty washing machine water anywhere in their house, but if you have to have it on the veranda, you sure as heck want to keep it quarantined there.

Also, the verandas all have giant, screened windows from floor to ceiling so that you can open them to get air circulating and dry your clothes faster (it doesn't do much -- still takes half a year for stuff to dry), but what it mostly does is allow dirt, dust and pollution into the house to mix with the dirty, floor water.

But.. I'm actually having quite a bit of fun.  I like the difference and there's something about having to work to make things happen.  Washing clothes is a huge ordeal, but all that means is that you feel really accomplished once it's finally done and you watch to keep your clothes clean for longer because you have to wash them a day or two in advance of wearing them to allow for drying time.

Anyhow, I walked down to Family Mart for some coffee and breakfast cookies before I started typing, and I really want to ice the coffee and eat breakfast, so...

I'll post pictures next time.  We have a few of the market and other stuff.

- catie