Korean Halloween

How Reading Star Celebrates Halloween.

Family Mart

or 7 Eleven
or GS25

whichever you please.

These are the drinking grounds for many Koreans and foreigners alike. Well, what the hell is this place? To me an (almost) native Atlantan, it seems a bit strange to drink at "Gas Stations" (or what I call them). Really though, they are conveniece stores and they have no pumps. They are EVERYWHERE and have almost anything your heart desires...from soju to beer, wine to whiskey, ramen to razors...it's amazing. There are 10 within a mile from my house, and one right across the street. The awesome thing about most of them are they have outdoor seating.  So, you go in, buy a few huge beers for you and whomever, and sit outside and drink...for super cheap! So it feels like you are "going out" with the comfort of having anything you want at your fingertips. This is especially good when you don't want to clean your place for company. Also, walking home from work many times you will last minute decide to stop and have a beer or 2 (which ends up being.................................).

Kimchi Festival

I went to the International Kimchi Festival this weekend.  There were booths of vendors like at any festival in the US, but this one was dedicated solely to kimchi, seaweed, and pork. Kimchi is Korea's national food and the Koreans think very highly of this dish. Over the past 2 and a half months, I have really grown to love kimchi, so I was really looking forward to going to this festival. One of my favorite types is kkaennip kimchi which is made from perilla leaves. mmmmm.

The votes are in!

A couple nights ago, a few of us did a blind taste test to have an unbiased decision made on the best of the shitty korean beers.

2/3 said Max was their favorite
1/3 said OB was the best

BEFORE this taste-test, all tasters thought OB or Cass were the best (due to marketing/brand packaging/"brand loyalty").

All tasters agreed that this test needs to happen again soon (we don't want to believe Max, the "grossest of the gross" could really be our palate pleaser). All tasters also agreed that next time there would need to be a better palate cleanser in-between tastes, at least better than pineapple candies and cherry juice.

The Big Debate

Which is the best of the shitty korean piss-beers? We have a few to choose from. Results to come later.

Korean Wedding

This past Saturday I attended a coworkers wedding.  This was unlike any wedding I have ever seen/heard of. When you get to the "venue " (which is a wedding hall where multiple weddings are happening all at once in different rooms that all look like this) you find the Bride Room first where the bride is sitting like so---->

You get some pictures with the bride, and then you move on to the Wedding Room. In here, people are getting up/walking around/talking on cell phones....basically the exact opposite of what you "should" be doing at weddings in the US.

Next, the wedding starts and lasts a very short time. Lights are flashing like crazy and there is most definitely a fashion show-like runway (see video above). Oh, and the best part are the flight attendants with swords.

ANYONE can walk into your wedding. I may have to crash a few weddings while I am here, they are pretty neat.

After the wedding, we followed the crowd of people into a huge buffet area where they have all different kinds of korean dishes. It was delicious. Warm beer and soju were sitting on every table, too.

KPOP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLmBbyX5f5I