5/29 - Food, Family and Fun in Seoul

a big reason i am able to pack lightly when going on tour is that i don't have to put my tails and other concert dress in my suitcase because the orchestra brings wardrobe trunks for us to put those in. w/ this extra space, i usually pack a suit (in case of a formal event), dress shoes, extra socks/t-shirts and this time, put a few of pauline's dresses in there. unfortunately, i forgot we wouldn't have access to these trunks until 3 p.m. and i needed my suit while pauline needed one of her dresses for a big family lunch. pauline had some dressy things she could wear but i only had a pair of jeans and shorts. so we rushed next door to the lotte department store and i was able to get some slacks (and have them altered) in 20 minutes! my dad had an extra shirt and tie so i was all set.

this being the first time both of us are in korea since getting married, my mom wanted to have some kind of post-wedding reception/lunch for our relatives who could not attend. about 15 of us gathered and had a wonderful time catching up and it was nice that pauline could meet them all.




since we had dinner plans in nearby insa-dong, we decided to just hang out and rest in our hotel. people took turns taking naps while i ran over to get some ppad bing soo (red bean shaved ice - it's better than it sounds) and chocolate covered green tea ice cream bars - mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!



we left for insa-dong at around 5 and met up w/ my sister julie there. if you ever get a chance to come to seoul, this is an area you have to visit. although it's very touristy, there are so many cool things to see, eat and buy here. we went to a restaurant well-known for their jeon (fried pancakes - not for breakfast but more like the ones we had in japan). we also had some dol sot bibimbop (fried rice in a stone pot) and lots of bahn chahn (the many tasty side dishes). afterwards, we walked around the stores and took many pictures, some sillier than others. here are just a few.


he is pounding a batch of dduk (sticky rice cake) to soften it


they even let pauline try


julie may have found a new calling while putting that guy out of a job


catching a big break and landing a magazine cover! basically being a ham.


now you can see where i got it from


the ham's..... errr.... i mean, han's!