NaBloPoMo 2015: Day 6 "Noms"

#20 "Try a new food"

One glorious long weekend ago, Adam and I went to Sokcho, Gwangwon-do province, which is the northeastern-most province in South Korea. It was a terrifying prospect: a 6-hour-long bus ride there and back, but 100% worth it!

It was stunning.

We hiked two days in Seoraksan National Park.

We explored.

We both made the rock move!

Temple views

Legit bouldering at the peak

We made friends.

It was a masssssssive Buddha!

New friend, Erin - we all made it to the top of the 7th highest mountain in Korea!

We ate. And I ate something I've surprisingly never tried before in Korea: gamja jeon, which translates roughly to potato pancake.

I did not capture the moment on camera, because I wasn't expecting to love it so much!

I have tried various types of jeon (savory pancakes, usually full of tentacles and green onion), without being too crazy over them. But potato jeon? That jeon is my jam! And man oh man did it taste good in that fresh mountain air.

As I stuffed my mouth, I exclaimed to Adam, "How have I never tried this before??" and then immediately followed that with "Hey! This is my 'try a new food' from my list!" :D

If you ever get the chance, Seoraksan and gamja jeon both come highly recommended. 10 out of 10 would eat and visit again.

Bellyful,

Anna

p.s. These are belated, because while my sister was here, I said NO to spending time on the computer, and YES to spending quality time with her.

Thankvember 11/12 & 11/13

So, I'm terrible at this apparently. I remembered to post for today and yesterday only after Adam had tucked me into bed tonight and my eyes were closing. Ah well, remember I did!

Yesterday, I was thankful for stories. I've just finished an engrossing tale called "Middlesex" and the same day began a new book: "The Hunger Games." I've been a voracious reader ever since the day I first realized that I was reading the book in my lap, "Zella, Zack & Zodiac" by Bill Peet. I think I was 4 or 5.

The unquenchable thirst for story drives me to libraries and bookstores, movie stores and Netflix, Audible.com and the internet. I'm a sucker for a good story.  They fuel my imagination and hopeful dreams, they appease in some ways my lust for adventure and in other ways just egg me on. They remind me of  what is best and worst in mankind.

Today, I'm thankful for food. Glorious, delicious, life-giving food. chicken packets, fresh fruit, Whole Foods Market, Curry & naan, BREAKFAST, BFD, BFL, desserts, leafy greens, fudge, cereal... I have discovered that even worse than going to the grocery store when hungry is browsing pinterest.com while hungry. Never in my life have so many saliva-producing glands been activated at the same time. The terrible thing about looking at food online is that it has ZERO satisfaction - unlike a grocery store, where you can almost immediately stuff your face - you can only gaze longingly at the mouth-watering delicacies online. Unless of course, you're up to attempting to recreate the dishes in your own kitchen (I'm not). But I digress.

I love food. How wonderful that the process of nourishing our bodies is so thoroughly enjoyable. This is especially true here in New Orleans. These people know how to eat out! Adam and I have both put on a couple pounds, and frankly, don't regret a glorious bite (though, we are trying to be faithful about our gym attendance!).

At this precise moment, I'm dreaming of the future moment when I'll be able to put something like this in my mouth:

Or this:

Or this:

OR these!:

And on that note, drooling readers, I'm off to bed.