Five Second Hanja (12) Winter – 겨울 – 동
winter
This character, meaning ‘winter,’ comprises two parts; the lower two strokes are what is known as the ‘radical’ and in this case signify ‘ice.’ These two strokes never appear independently as they are a compression of the original. ‘Ice’ in fact, contains 5 strokes in its full form. Radicals convey an important part of a character’s meanings and characters can be grouped according to them.
'winter' - 겨울-동
The ‘character’ above the lower two strokes, is really a pictograph which means ‘walking with legs crossed’ or ‘walking slowly.’ Together the implied meaning is ‘winter.’
winter clothes 동복
winter season 동계
Simply highlighting some of the important and simpler characters. For information on stroke order, radicals and the two elements of a character (spoken – meaning), I suggest you obtain a dictionary such as; A Guide to Korean Characters.
© 林東哲 2011 Creative Commons Licence.
Year of the Rabbit 2011 – Boring Bunnies
2011, year of the rabbit
새해 복 많이받으세요! Happy New Year! 2011 is the year of the rabbit and as the Chinese astrological calendar operates through a 12 year cycle, this means that it is particularly pertinent to those people born in 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963,1975, 1987, and 1999. I’m not particularly into any form of astrology and only today read the characteristics of my Chinese astrological animal, surprised at how closely it matched my temperament, only to discover I was reading the wrong one. It seems you can find aspects of yourself in any character, Chinese or otherwise. Call me a cynic! Apparently, rabbit people are kind and fabulous dressers, a trait also shared by sheep people which is the character presiding over my birth year. Unfortunately, I am a total slob when it comes to fashion!
I do wonder however, the extent to which astrological characters, or indeed Korean names, influence ones character. I still have an essay from a student in my last high school, who wrote that their name, Dong-jo (동조), when written in hanja (東 照), could be translated as ‘leader from Asia. His grandfather had paid a shaman 250.000 for choosing this name. Dong-jo writes:
‘But without mentioning its price, it is still special because it has a meaning that is still leading me through my whole life. Influenced by my name, I always tried to be a captain of a group which I belonged to. It has been natural for me to be class president every year and even when I spent time in New Zealand, I was captain of our school’s house.’
I have met other Koreans who tell me their names have had an influence on their lives. So, I wonder to what extent your life might change if you not only have a meaningful name, but it is also somehow connected with your zodiac character. I have never been enamored with a goat as my western astrological sign, Capricorn, and as equally uninspired by my Chinese character, a sheep, or my corresponding element, wood. In what way can you rescue anything from the ‘wood sheep?’ My Chinese zodiac sign is as boring and mundane as my western sign!
Bruce Lee, 'Little Dragon,' born in the year of the dragon (1940)
Bruce Lee (이소룡), born in San Francisco, was not only born in the year of the dragon (1940), but his elemental influence was that of metal. Lee had several names but was originally ‘Little Phoenix’ (細鳳), but as this was slightly feminine, it was later changed to ‘Return Again’ (李振藩) as his parents, having since moved back to Hong Kong, thought he would at sometime return the USA. When he started acting, he adopted the name ‘Little Dragon’ (李小龍) and it is by he is known in Korean (이소룡).
Bruce Lee's statue in Hong Kong
To what extent was the young Lee influenced by his various names and by the fact he was born in the year of the ‘metal dragon.’ I wonder how he would have fared had he been born one year earlier, in 1939, in the year of the ‘rabbit,’ and a boring ‘earth rabbit’ in terms that year’s element. A dragon suits everything about Bruce Lee’s life, his dertermination, fighting prowess and incredible physique but having him utter ‘the rabbit flicks its tail’ after kicking an opponent in the stomach, as he does in Way of the Dragon, is more suited to a character in Kung Fu Panda. I quite envy both Dong-jo and Bruce Lee for having names that gave them something to aspire to from an early age.
Happy New Year and good luck if you too have a boring astrological sign, Chinese or otherwise!
© 林東哲 2011 Creative Commons Licence.
A Man of Habit – Onigiri
the onigiri logo
I’m a man of total habit! I eat the same evening meal for up to six months at a time and can map out the last few years and corresponding seasons in Daegu by the restaurants I’ve frequented and the meals ingested therein. For the first six months I ate boiled pork (보쌈) before I started using a pork kimchi stew (김치찜) restaurant which is right next to my one room. I ate there for almost nine months. Next, it was the turn of pork cutlet (돈까스) but I didn’t stick to the same menu and flitted as my mood took me between pork cutlet filled with cheese or the curried version. In the area I live there are far too many restaurants that serve pork cutlet and an absence of Chinese style restaurants so during this period I ate the same meal in various locations including a very nice Japanese style restaurant that served the cutlet chopped on plain rice and topped with a raw egg.
pork cutlet (돈까스)
Next, I discovered ‘Mr Big;’ not really the place to experience Korean cooking and they have some very naughty additions which I usually avoid: almost English style chips served in the German manner, with mayonnaise, sausages that are almost like bratwurst and the most enormous battered onion rings made with real onion. I spent a good six months dining on their nasigoreng before moving onto carbonara.
carbonara
When I arrived back in Korea after my 2010-2011 winter vacation, I ate carbonara in Mr Big and felt sick. Six months of eating it every evening had killed the passion and so I moved down the menu onto their pork cutlet which is very nice as it isn’t reconstituted and is made from a whole slab of real pork.
I generally read books during my dinner and if a recall one, I also recall the dinner that generally accompanied it: Robert Heinlein’s, Farnham’s Freehold, Rocketship Galeleo and Farmer in the Sky were all accompanied by nasigoreng while Dickens’ Hard Times was definitely carbonara. Their cabonara isn’t a totally Italian creation as I ask for it lazed with chili and the little burn it creates on my palate convinces me I’m not squandering my Korean experience. My current reading is Ben Bova’s, Venus and it quite suits a fat pork cutlet.
an array of sam-kak-bap (삼각밥)
Lunch times aren’t so restricted, often I cook a simple Korean meal or I eat kimbap (rice-roll) but recently I’ve been rather hooked on the new Onigiri (오니기리) store that has opened near my school. Onigiri is a Japanese ‘snack’ rather similar to sam-kak-bap (triangular rice) which is wrapped in toasted laver-bread and has a small filling. You can buy plastic moulds in supermarkets to make them at home and you can even buy even pre-cut laver-bread which wraps the rice in both a layer of laver and an outer layer of plastic to keep it fresh. However, I’ve never mastered the procedure and can’t be bothered to follow the comic like instructions on the packet. These sam-kak-bap however, like the standard shop bought snack, are really snack size.
sam-kak-bap moulds
my local onigiri’s menu – eat in or take-away
The onigiri variety are more substantial and two definitely comprise lunch. Made to order, there is a choice of about 12 fillings including tuna and mayonnaise, kimchi, cheese, flying fish eggs and and tuna, and myeolchi (small dried fish) with walnuts and sesame oil. Onigiri are definitely worth trying and would probably be a hit back in the UK making a change from a boring lunchtime sandwich.
onigiri
two of my favourites: tuna-mayo and cheese, flying fish eggs and tuna
dried anchovy, walnut and sesame oil…mmm…and relatively healthy
And if you’re the least interested in breakfast, I make tofu bean-paste stew most mornings but sometimes I could kill for an unhealthy English breakfast of fried bacon, bread and egg.
© 林東哲 2011 Creative Commons Licence.
Related Articles
- Tasty Tokyo Tidbits (plentyonyourplate.com)
KTX – Gold Standard
the impressive KTX, launched on April 1 2004 with speed of 186 mph (later increased to 190 mph)
KTX 1 launched April 1 2002 with top working speed of 300 kph (186 mph)
(This was later increased to 305 kph (190 mph))
KTX 2 (Sancheon) introduced March 2 2010 with top working speed of 350 kph (217 mph) It is named ‘Sancheon’ after the Cherry Salmon
KTX 3 with a top working speed now likely to be 370 kph (230 mph) is due to appear in 2015
HEMU 400X will take speeds to 400 kph (249 mph). Line test begin in 2012. This is the second of 2 experimental trains the other being the HSR-350x
Cherry Salmon
If I hadn’t been so tired after almost 32 hours of traveling, I’d have taken some photos. I am totally in love with the Korean KTX train service and traveling first class is well worth the extra money. Though the British 125, high-speed train towing 7-8 carriages at a maximum speed of 125 mile per hour, has been the backbone of British intercity travel for thirty years, it is far from the golden standard of travel even if you sit in first class. And it might not be upgraded within the next 10 years! The KTX service is certainly a limited service, operating to only a few destinations but despite being less than 10 years old, services are being extended and new engines and rolling stock introduced. Towing 18 carriages, at a top speed of just over 200 mph, the compartments are fairly quiet and you might be fooled into thinking the train isn’t traveling so fast. However, having kept an eye on the carriage plasma screens, where the speed is constantly visible, we traveled at about 290 kph for most of the journey (that’s c. 180 mph). The KTX, modeled on the French TGV system, is a technological masterpiece but it isn’t just technology and speed that make a service ‘gold standard.’
British first-class train travel when it was more than just ‘oik’ free
When trains stop at stations prior to departing for another destination, a small army of cleaners purge the train and ‘spruce it up.’ In the UK, a class divided society, first-class bestows kudos and is a great way to feel superior over fellow travelers by reminding them you have more money. Apart from the absence of ‘oiks,’ there is very little else to attract potential customers and first class on British trains can hardly be compared to business-class on airlines. KTX first-class however, is quite different and very comparable to airline business class standards. A carpet with at least a little pile cushions your feet and it’s clean, a fact you can tell because the light fawn colour highlights any dirt – which there isn’t. I don’t remember if British Rail has carpets on the first-class floor but if they do, they are certainly not a light colour but most definitely dark blue or brown or some other dirt-masking colour. The seats are broad and spacious and their backs can be adjusted with an electrically assisted motor, to provide ultimate comfort. A small buffet car provides refreshments and is the headquarters for the refreshment trolleys that service both first and second class. There are male and female toilets, baby changing and feeding stations, small recesses to power mobile devices and wi-fi internet access and sockets for powering computers are provide throughout the train. In all carriages plasma screens provide a range of information and are coordinated with the journey’s progress so that as a program ends the approaching station is announced and often there may then follow some useful information on that town or city. On first class, snacks such as peanuts or biscuits and bottled water are complimentary provisions.
The KTX cinema carriage
Staff are highly visible on trains and their bearing and dress is impeccable and perhaps it is this more than anything else that puts the KTX service on a par with the business class of an airline. In addition, if you’re making a longer journey, the train’s cinema carriage provides a unique experience. The next wave of KTX rolling stock will have first class seats that can swivel 360 degrees and though I’m not sure how it will materialise, but several reports claim the new rolling stock will have basic cooking resources for passengers. I can’t imagine this meaning trains will have gas ranges and barbecue facilities so imagine it might mean publicly available microwaves.
THE KTX EXPRESS 2 (SANCHEON) WITH A SPEED OF 330KPH (205 MPH)
THE KTX IN SEOUL STATION
Meanwhile, back in ‘Broken Britain,’ from early 2011, London-Scotland routes will be terminating the refreshment trolley to second class carriages while first class provisions will be upgraded with passengers being served, at their seats, as many sandwiches and drinks as they can consume before reaching their destination. Management seem to think this will attract more customers but with British rail prices one of the most expensive in Europe, you have to be a retard to spend the equivalent of between the price of a two course all for the sake of some complimentary sandwiches. British rail sandwiches were never very palatable even when you paid inflated prices for them. I am reminded of the doomed Titanic and the manning of lifeboats in order of class.
This model, currently being developed, is able to tilt
The experimental HSR 350X which reaches speeds of 350 kph (217 mph)
I am very tempted to make a first-class journey on one of East Coast’s trains simply to see how many sandwiches I could gorge myself on before the train reaches the first stop, where I would alight.
At this point I did a little research. A ticket from London King’s Cross, to Nottingham, on an East Coast train, which can be used at anytime of day making it comparable to the KTX ticket, on which there are no time restrictions, costs £64 second-class and £90 first class. That’s a difference of £26. At 2 hours 11 minutes, the traveling time is about 20 minutes longer than Seoul to Daegu. If I travel 2nd class the difference will easily buy a two course meal in a decent restaurant or, short of £9, book a room in Nottingham’s Days Hotel. If I go first-class I am sure I could eat at least ten sandwiches and a couple of cups of tea and with a sandwich or two in my pocket, I could certainly eat my way into a substantial part of the profit the company would otherwise take.
the sleek shark-like design was apparently deliberate
The blue shark. An urban myth, perhaps?
Out of interest, Seoul to Daegu cost approx £38 (first class) with the distance being 322 kilometers. King’s Cross to Nottingham is 174 kilometers. Based on departure and arrival times, I calculated the KTX travels at approx 175 kph or 108 mph while the Nottingham destined train, an intercity train, travels at 108 kph or 49 mph. Using my rather basic skills of arithmetic, this means the KTX costs 19 pence per mile (12 pence per kilometer) while the East Coast company train costs 83 pence per mile (51 pence per kilometer). Travel on a comparative service in terms of ticket usage and train service means the UK service is 4.37 times more expensive and yet 2.2o times slower than a journey on KTX. The London to Aberdeen journey is a long haul of 8 hours thirty minutes which means a second class passenger is going to be very thirsty and hungry at the end of their journey. However, simply pay the extra £50 and all the sandwiches and tea you want will be waiting for you.
The KTX Sancheon began service on March 2 2010 and reaches 230 kph (205 mph) KTX 3, with a speed of 250 kph (217 mph) will be introduced in 2015
The shape of things to come. The next generation capable of speeds in excess of 400 kph (248 mph) are already being planned
Related Articles
(Several years ago Korail reduced the numbers of staff on the KTX and dismissed a large number of attendants. Many took the matter to court and even went on hunger strike. Link to Korea Times article.)
- Britain was built on its railways. Now we can’t even run them | Andrew Martin (guardian.co.uk)
- Sir Nicholas not Simply a First Class Twit (Guardian UK)
- Food trolleys to be scrapped on services (pressandjournal.co.uk)
- Koreabrand. Interesting info on KTX developments.
© 林東哲 2011 Creative Commons Licence.
Yellow Curd (노랑 묵) – Monday Market
Yellow curd, made from mung beans
I wrote about the standard curds, oak, back wheat, etc, last year. However, there are a number of other curds which you will often find and this one is a regional variety from the Cheolla province. Yellow Curd (노랑 묵), is also known as: mung bean curd, and honeybee curd (황보 묵) and is especially noticeable because of its bright yellow colour. It is an important ingredient in the Cheolla regional bibimbap (mixed rice).
Cheolla bibimbap (mixed rice)
yellow curd accompanied with typical soy based sauce
In Daegu, this curd isn’t easily found but occasionally appears, sold by ‘specialist’ street vendors who do not tend to appear on a regular basis.
© 林東哲 2011 Creative Commons Licence.
It's Alive!
Judging by the proliferation of cooking programs on British television, you might assume we are a nation which appreciates good food and enjoys cooking. Unfortunately, with the demise of many good quality butchers and fishmongers and the ascendancy of enormous supermarkets stocked full with frozen food and microwave meals, it becomes apparent that we are more interested in watching food being cooked and positively captivated if the chef is some contrived character who has enough family members in his show to almost make it a soap drama. The fact the supermarkets and brands they endorse represent the very opposite of ‘back to basic cooking,’ is rarely acknowledged.
Over my holiday, I happened to watch a program on Korean cooking which bore all the hallmarks of cooking programs which really have nothing to do with cooking and everything to do with self promotion and the establishment of a dynasty. The entire program was filmed either in the presenter’s village or in her home and introduced us to most of her family and friends.
As for the cooking, anyone acquainted with Korean cuisine knows that kimchi, a form of spicy fermented cabbage, as well as numerous other kimchi, accompany a meal. This Korean cooking was as Korean as the standard Korean pizza is Italian. Not only was there no mention of kimchi, but some very odd items were used in some standard Korean meals. I’ve both eaten and cooked bulgogi many times but this version used beetroot, asparagus and English pear. Though you can probably buy these somewhere in Korea, I’ve never seen beetroot or asparagus. As for English pear, once again this is a fruit you do not see in Korea and yet Asian pear is not difficult to buy in the UK. The program further irritated me when it was eaten off individual plates with knives and forks and in the total absence of side dishes or a plate of assorted leaves in which to wrap the bulgogi. During the entire cooking process red chili powder and red pepper paste were absent.
With so little knowledge of Korean food in the UK, especially outside London and a few other areas, it is possible for chefs to concoct any food combination and call it Korean.
Meanwhile, here is a video from my November batch of kimchi in which I opened the lid to catch the contents in the middle of a very active bout of fermentation.
I’m currently on holiday and my usual posts will re- commence next week.
© 林東哲 2011 Creative Commons Licence.
Too Much Play
out of trouble
Sleeping in the classroom is something I’ve never seen British kids do and usually they have so much energy that whenever there is a break they play and run around. As an aging teacher however, though I disagree with the amount of time Korean students study, I prefer a society where teenagers are kept so occupied that they have little energy to waste and no time to loiter on streets causing trouble.
Westerners are quite defensive of the extensive time their youth are permitted to play and will generally condemn Korean culture accusing it of taking away or even obliterating childhood. The fact western kids have had their innocence annihilated by exposure to a range of unhealthy influences, one of which is the concept of ‘being a teenager,’ passes unnoticed. In Europe, British teenagers are more likely to be either poxed to the max with sexually transmitted diseases or pregnant and this year condoms (Hotspots) for prepubescent boys are due to be made available in the UK. In UK, the C-Card system provide boys as young as 12 with a card which can be shown at football grounds, scout halls and special designated centers and by which they can obtain condoms at the tax payers expense (Times UK).
condoms for prepubescent boys
Why are Brits and Americans so critical of the Korean system? Wouldn’t energies be better spent trying to find solutions to the myriad of problems that western teenagers cause society and their own peers rather than bemoaning how Korean students have no time to play? Personally, I would have thought that any sane society would want to curtail teenage free time thereby taking them off the streets and improving their potential. Even as a teenager I found the practice of teenagerism vacuous and boring. Rock music, dancing, partying and fashion never really interested me and I doubt I was alone.
high school students
And what is the nature of the ‘childhood’ that Korean children might miss out on? Let’s see! Not needing to clad the face in make-up if you are a 13 year old girl, or not being obsessed with the fact that you don’t know how to tongue sandwich or fellate your 12 year old boyfriend. Not having to give allegiance to one of the tribal youth subcultures which will alienate you from both other teenagers and your parents. Not having to spend time and money consuming music which often has the same artistic merits and durability as chewing gum. The list is extensive…
We give children and teenagers so much space and freedom and imbue them with notions of rights that many, but to be fair by no means all, eventually find it difficult to behave or act appropriately in other social settings. When I am with western kids I am often reminded of the gulf that separates our worlds but conversely, with Korean kids I am reminded how much we have in common. It is strange to feel a closer affinity with Korean teenagers as a foreigner than with British teenagers as a fellow native.
keep them occupied
In Britain, most kids finish school around 3.00 pm and with many school subjects no longer requiring homework, they are left with ample time to both enjoy childhood and when bored, get pissed or contract chlamydia or one of the other staple poxes on offer. How much ‘childhood’ do they need? What kind of a ‘childhood’ do we think we provide for children and youth now we have allowed tweenyville, that is those years encroaching on being teenagers, to have been sexed up and sleazified with thongs, poll dancing kits and baby condoms? I would imagine the stress and angst such precocious pursuits add to their already confused minds, enormous. I’ve known many decent teenagers but quite often they themselves do not like teenagerism or indeed, other teenagers! Sometimes it seems that the most vocal of advocates of the merits of allowing kids to, ‘enjoy their youth,’ are adults looking back in nostalgia.
Teenagers need ‘banging up,’ not in a sexual context, but in way which restricts their free time, whom they associate and identify with, and which more closely prescribes what they do. So, when I see teenagers and students collapsed on their desk in classes, or twiddling their pens between their fingers with the dexterity of majorettes, I know the directed time which chains them to study is working and both them, adults and society are better for it.
© 林東哲 2011 Creative Commons Licence.
Monday Market – Rice Cake (떡)
Rice cake (떡), of which there is a variety, isn’t always to the westerners liking probably because it has what might be deemed a strange, elastic and chewy consistency. On my first encounter with rice cake I put the box aside but being a natural glutton I returned to it a little later and was subsequently hooked by the third of fourth piece.
kyeong-dan rice cake (경단)
Kyeong-dan are covered in either yellow, brown or green powder though it doesn’t seem to alter the flavour. Inside they are filled with bean paste. I remember the first time I saw kyeong-dan, on the reception counter in my first school, I thought they were covered in chocolate flakes and was quite disappointed when I then discovered it was ground bean.
ch’ap ssal ddoek (찹쌀떡)
Ch’ap ssal ddoek is very often coated in icing sugar but it can also be found coated in various other coloured powders. Soft and somewhat floppy, this rice cake is much less chewy than other types and is also stuffed with a bean paste.
soft and powdery
- my favourite, song-byeon (송편)
Song-byeon is very popular during important festivals such as Lunar New Year and Chu’sok (autumn festival). The usual colours are pink, white and green, the green obtained from mugwort (쑥) but other colours are available but once again don’t really alter the flavour. Sometimes the white ones are almost translucent. The most common sweet, soft centers for song-byeon are based on sesame seed oil or crushed sesame seeds. The combination of chewy rice cake and then the delicious, sweet and juicy center, make them an ideal festive treat.
a box of song-byeon
© 林東哲 2011 Creative Commons Licence.
Seasonal Chill Time
chill time
Well, not exactly but I’ve reduced posts due to my being on holiday.
© 林東哲 2011 Creative Commons Licence.
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