Nom Nom Nom

Must. Do. Something. New. Every. Week. Or that's the plan anyway. Apparently the key to happiness is doing something new every day, but that would get exhausting. So every week it is! And I was racking my brains with what to do this week. As wonderful as Korea is, it's not built for tourism like the rest of South East Asia. What do I normally do when travelling? What is it that Korea does really well?

Aha.....of course......my favourite thing.........food......

I love Korean food! It's meaty, spicy, has countless side dishes, and you get to cook it yourself sat cross-legged on the floor in any restaurant you visit. OK so meaty wouldn't apeal to everyone. Korean's are baffled by the idea of vegetarianism and, despite the large quanity and variety of veg they use in their cooking, almost every dish has at least a little meat in it. A vegetarian friend of mine arrived in Korea to be given a welcoming lunch from her school's director. She had told him via email that she was vegetarian. She told him on meeting that she was vegetarian. He smiled and said he understood. So she pointed to the suspicious pink item in her meal and asked what it was. 'Ah..... ham!' he replied cheerfully.

So not the most apetising place for those who don't eat meat. But for me, a pure carnivore, Korea is a delight. I do sidestep the dog, the chicken feet, the live octopus, the silkworm lavae and the sea snails......but the rest is incredible. Relentlessly served with gochujang (red pepper paste), and always more kimchi (spicy fermented cabbage) that you can eat.......I thought it was high time I took a Korean Cooking Class.

 After only a few hours perusing the internet and ignoring my teaching duties, I found Ongo Food, a cooking class based in Seoul. And dish of the day: Dakktoritang (spicy chicken stew) and radish, beansprout & chili salad.

We arrived late, as per usual, after running around in temperatures of  -20's, expecting to find a room full of ready-to-be masterchefs glaring at us......but were pleasantly surprised to find that we were the only students of todays class, meaning we had 3 Korean chefs and a wonderfully proffessional kitchen of our own to burn down.  The chefs spoke excellent English and did a wonderful job of demonstrating how it should be done. We then did a wonderful job of showing them how easy it is to forget how it should be done. But soon enough we were all proudly holding our dishes and munching away, before heading out again for a tour of a local market so that we can buy the ingredients again.

 So with my newfound Korean cooking talent under my belt, and a knowledge for how to spy and buy the ingedients....be warned.....next time I see you I may try it out on you. Mwoah ha ha (evil laugh). You may not think that's threatening, but last time I tried to revise an exotic cooking class I burnt the kitchen down whilst my sister shouted 'Call the emergency services!' and I yelled 'I need a man! I need a man!'. So be warned.....