Breaking the ice (Prelude)

Some of you might be aware that I made a (ground breaking) trip recently.

Most of the people I know probably just need to simply take either a bus or train to visit their boyfriend/girlfriend's home or to visit the neighborhood he/she grew up in just to understand that person you so love a little bit better. It could be a shop she has been going with her mom since she was a kid, or a bus stop he has been alighting at since elementary school till the very day he comes home from sending you home, or perhaps it could be just the sights and sounds of the neighborhood that they grew up in.

Unfortunately, I do not have that luxury of proximity for have to take a flight just to visit my girlfriend's neighborhood, and this is exactly the highlight of my trip.

I first visited Osan (오산) in August last year. It was a brief day trip on a very warm summer day but it was very memorable. I had the opportunity to sit down with Hyeyoung and her sister, Hyehwa, for a meal (we had actually had two that evening). The first part was at this very cosy place that Hyehwa frequents.

We tried their specialty, 볶음김치삼겹 (Bukkom Kimchi Samgyob), which is like stir-fried kimchi with pork belly slices.

Yummy stuff (at KRW$10,000) which you can't find in Singapore! As you can probably imagine, this goes really well with rice.

The sisters also decided that I should try Korean 비빔밥 (Bibimbab) Bento.

Apparently kids would bring their lunch to school in these metal boxes. In this instance, as it is 비빔밥, the way to eat it would be to hold the box tightly with the lid and shake it (very) hard to mix everything inside. This is possibly the most "fun" Korean dish I've tried! Again, this cannot be found in Singapore (yet!).

For drinks, I tried 막걸리 (Makkogli), which by the way is possibly the preferred Korean alcohol for both Hyeyoung and myself. Drinking chilled 막걸리 from a metal bowl on a warm summer evening just totally kills the heat!

Thereafter, in true Korean style, we went for Part Two at seafood place, simply because I wanted to have 산낙지 (San Nakji), which is actually sliced live Octopus, served in sesame oil and sprinkled with some sesame seeds. (This version was served with sliced garlic and chili instead.)

Disgusting and cruel as it may seemed, this is 대박 (taebak), i.e. AWESOME-NESS! (And yes, that's Hyeyoung speaking in the background.) Contrary to popular belief that it is difficult to swallow, it actually isn't! You just need to really bite it well before you swallow, pretty much like everything we eat.  ;)

Well, 산낙지 wasn't all we ordered. There was also a basket full of colorful shells.

The shells were grilled live and you can choose to eat them in various dips like わさび (Wasabi) + 醤油 (soy sauce) or 고추장 (Gochujang).

There's also this but I can't remember what it is exactly. Perhaps some kind soul can help me out here?

No dinner is complete without dessert and we were lucky enough to have the final scoops of Baskin  Robbins before they closed. After 2 rounds of dinner and a moderate amount of alcohol, it was a great way to end the night. (Albeit not very Korean I must say.)

Next up... Breaking the ice (Main).