Clock Teacher

Back to school, one pizza at a time.

As you know, I love pizza (and hate mosquitoes, almost in direct opposite proportions to each other, but I am just not sure if I can really have that much hate).  So I was very pleased to discover a Pizza School in my neighborhood.  Pizza School is a dying breed, the last of the 5,000 won pizzas.  Of course in order to keep the prices that low they don't deliver, which is fine by me since I feel much better about eating pizza after I have to walk a ways to get it.  But more on that later, first, here is the local establishment.

 

So the standard menu us you can get a combo, peperoni, cheese, or sweet potato pizza for 5,000 won.(these days about 4$ in US$). Then a pulgogi, spicy chicken (Bul Dalk, my favorite) for 6,000 won.  However, the subject of this post is their gourmet pizzas.  For 9,000 won you can get either a Deutche Bite, Mexican Bite, or Chicken Curry Bite pizza.  Oh yeah, it's a world tour.  Let's start with Germany.  

   

Oh yeah cheese bite hot dog pizza.  The gold ring around the outside is sweet potato (curses, I am starting to get used to it), plus yes you can see corn on the pizza too (a common ingredient in Korean pizza).

   

Next, let's take a trip to Mexico for the Mexican Bite pizza.

 

   

This really tastes like a chicken fajita pizza.  I can really taste the Mexican seasoning.  Thankfully there are no refried beans on the pizza as that would be going too far.  While not bad at all, this is my least favorite of the three.  The spices don't mesh as well with the pizza sauce. I would like more bell peppers and onions, but as usual, the cheese bite crust is just yummy.

And now for my favorite, and least likely food combination, the Chicken Curry Pizza...

 

   

Now, I was quite dubious when I saw this appear on the menu (it's their newest pizza), so it was certainly with some trepidation that I ordered it. But hey, I like chicken curry, I love pizza, and those tomatoes just look so striking.  So, moment of truth...first bite.  Hmm, it was...interesting.  Next bite...hey, that's not too bad.  The curry sauce goes pretty well with the tomatoes, and those onions... nice.  Then when I get to cheese bites along with the garlic dipping sauce that comes with the pizza, oh yeah this is pretty good.  I've only had it once, so I look forward to trying it again.  Hey, if CPK can make BBQ Chicken pizza work, Pizza School can make chicken curry pizza. Of course in the interest of posterity I will continue to sample the fine selections of pizza pies Korea has to offer.

I love a good cheesesteak, but come on

Philly's $100 Cheesesteak

http://cbs3.com/topstories/cheesesteak.100.dollars.2.724387.html

First off, man I really want a cheesesteak now.  Secondly, why do all these ultra expensive foods always have truffles and lobster.  I mean really, here is a $1000 pizza http://www.bornrich.org/entry/1000-pizza-for-uber-rich-pizza-lovers/ .  Of course I know that nobody buys this for just the taste, it's the whole showing off how rich I am thing.   I guess oil sheiks have to eat something.  But back to my main point, truffles.  Am I not the only one that finds it fascinating that one of the most expensive and luxurious foods in the world is a fungus?  For your reading pleasure I will paste the best answer from "Yahoo answers"

This is a bit out of my area of experience, but I think I can help you out.

As you probably know, truffles are fungi that grow in the soil. Truffles, in particular, are mycorrhizae. This is a type of fungi that forms a symbiotic relationship with the roots of plants. The fungi gets carbohydrates from the tree while helping the roots gather the nutrients they need from the soil. Unlike mushrooms, which have been cultivated successfully, truffles depend on this relationship to get energy and grow. This is a very complex environment to duplicate.

"Truffles" the fungi (Tuber melanosporum, Tuber aestivum, et al.) should not be confused with "truffles" the chocolate candy or "Truffles" the dog, whose web page I found while looking for information.

A number of things combine to make truffles very expensive:


Truffles are rare and difficult to find. Certain animals, such as pigs and squirrels, like truffles just as much as we do, putting us in competition with nature to gather them first.
Truffles are a seasonal crop that can only be harvested for a short period each year.
Fresh truffles can only be stored for a few weeks before loosing quality.
There are very limited places in the world (mostly in Europe) that are renowned for producing the "best" crops. Many of these areas have been destroyed by development and environmental damage.
I have heard of attempts to cultivate or even grow truffles synthetically. From a culinary perspective, the resulting truffles have no taste and poor texture making them, in a word, worthless.

So there you have it, competition with squirrels and pigs make truffles so expensive.  I know what you're thinking, we've got to get those pesky squirrels and pigs, and I'm with you.  While I can't say I will really miss the squirrels after we eradicate the truffle stealing varmints, I must say I am concerned because in Korea, there is no delineation between squirrels and chipmunks, they are both just called daramji (다람쥐).  Since I just couldn't live with myself thinking about all those poor chipmunks mistaken for their truffle stealing cousins, I guess we should leave them alone.  As for pigs, well, I like bacon, you like bacon. I like bacon more than truffles, so pig eradication is off the table. 

Our next possible targets are nature and the planet but since we are already fighting them enough I guess we don't need to add "lack of truffles" to the list of grievances against mother nature. Well that just leaves Europe.....tempting...but no. They did after all give us pizza and that's a pretty big plus in my book. Oh well, looks like we are just going to have to live with expensive truffles, darn.

My new mission in life: to try to Col-pop!

http://www.seriouseats.com/required_eating/2008/02/bbq-chicken-all-in-one-chicken-nugget-drink-cup.html

Please watch the video in the above link to see this new innovation in chicken awesomeness demonstrated.  I promise as soon as I can I will document my own experience with the Col-pop.  I think the cornfry dog has met its match.  BBQ chicken(which is yummy by the way) here I come!

On a side note, one of the only reasons this works is that in Korea, they never fill the drinks up to the top of the cup anyways.  Seriously, you pay full price for a drink and after the fuzz dies down you only have a little more that half a cup.  This is not seen as a problem though because Koreans on the whole don't drink as much beverages when they eat as westerners do.  They get a lot of their fluids from the soup that is always accompanied in nearly every meal.  If you go to a cafeteria(like all of mine on campus) the water cups and water coolers are near the exit next to tissue dispensers and large meals.  This is because after you are finished, you have your small cup of water, wipe your face, and then make sure everything is tidy in the mirror.

Probably the scariest video you will see for a while, and it's about yummy food.

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx/?mkt=en-us&fg=rss&vid=4d8564c2-b7c6-4c0b-9883-6187abd37a38&from=im_default&wa=wsignin1.0

One of the most important steps for my weight loss was actually recognizing what I was eating.  Another was to do equivalents in my head.  Watch this whole video and you will know what I mean.  I still do that today, constantly. Do I want that small piece of chocolate? I could eat a whole apple instead of that "fun size" candy bar.  That kind of stuff, nutrition is keeping that in your head all the time.  The good news is that you get used to it, but if you want to loose weight, it is VITAL.  Also, if you are aware of your calories, you can earn your bad meals(well, that's what I do). So today,I have saved up my calories, and I earned my pizza for dinner(I had a very light lunch and good meals the last few days) so I will still loose weight this week(I also made sure to work out today) and I got to have a yummy pizza(sorry, no pictures, I ate it too fast, I was HUNGRY.  But it was from my new pizza place, 10$ for one pizza. while not as cheap as my old place, the quality is much better, and the reality is that since I was ordering two mediums instead of one large, I was actually eating more pizza before) anyways, think about what you eat, and don't drink your calories.  It is really hard for me to drink a can of soda now that I realize I could almost have a big-mac instead calorie wise.  Oh, and on a side note, the problem I have with the movie "super-size me" is that calorie wise, MacDonalds is actually the healthiest of all the burger joints(if "healthiest" can be applied) and while the movie was important and had very good points, it might have scared people away from MacDonalds and into the other places with much more calories(and much better taste, so it makes sense).

Adventures in Pizza...the story continues

As I have said many times, I love pizza. I have determined that it IS my favorite food.  Well, Korea has some interesting pizzas.  I have decided that I will document them as a public service to my readers back home.  While my taste buds would love to make this an excuse to gorge on pizza in the name of research, my waistline tells me to take it nice and slow.  So periodically I will add a new pizza to my collection, and then I will do a mega post that will show you all of them.  For today, I have chosen something from Pizza Hut that I just had to try.  They have the cheese-bite pizzas, but now.........  with shrimp!

Oh yeah, they went there.

And the verdict.....these guys are GOOD!!!!  Seriously, I went in there just for the curiosity factor and to get some photos, but man, they tasted good with that garlicky buttery pizza crust and melted cheese oozing to stringy perfection.  Yum.  We also threw in a plate of appetizers with some surprisingly good quesidillas.  So thumbs up for Pizza Hut shrimp pizza.  This was very nice after I was disappointed with their "Cheese Volcano" pizza. There was NOT enough cheese erupting from that crust to in any way classify it as a "volcano", maybe a "cheese magma displacement" pizza, but that's it.

Oh yeah! Korean food is spreading and it aint Kimchee

From the Korea Herald, sorry, they don't allow linking so I copied the article.  You can find Ddeokboki in LA of course, though mostly in Korea town at places like this. http://www.krestaurant.com/review/servlet/RestaurantHome?business_id=1309&language=en

Another difference is the price, here on the street it is usually about 2$, no such luck in the US of course, but hey, that's the price of importing.

If you want to make it at home, or just want to know what they are taking about, this recipe looks yummy.

http://mykoreankitchen.com/2006/11/19/stir-fried-rice-cake-with-gochujang-sauce-ddeokbokki-in-korean/

You can get all the stuff at pretty much any Korean supermarket.  Enjoy.

Manhattanites get Korean spice fix

In the past, bulgogi and bibimbap were the Korean "it" dishes in New York. But all that has changed.

A new set of Korean restaurants have set up shop outside of Manhattan's Little Korea. And thanks to changing American tastes, they are serving up more than just your average combination of Korean dishes.

"These days a lot of Americans can eat spicy food," said Jennifer Maeng, 25, owner of the successful East Village restaurant, Korean Temple Cuisine.

And Maeng must be onto something because non-Korean New Yorkers cannot get enough of her ddeokboki and spicy stir fried squid.

"They always come back for more." said Maeng, "Customers are very, very disappointed if we are out of ojingeo bokkeum."

Maeng's restaurant is one out of a series of Korean restaurants situated in hip areas like the East Village that cater to non-Koreans. And these restaurants are not dishing out the same old same old. They are serving it up hot and good. To date, almost half of all Korean restaurants in New York City sell ddeokboki and two thirds of Manhattan restaurants that sell ddeokboki are located outside of Koreatown. In other words, if you are looking for ddeokboki it can be had in the West Village, the East Village, Midtown, Little Italy or Tribeca.

If ddeokboki is a snack in Korea, it is an appetizer in the United States. And it makes for a good introduction to some good ole Korean street food.

New Yorker Jane Pae, 23, recommends ordering ddeokboki for non-Koreans. "I think haemul pajeon and ddeokboki are good starters," Pae said.

Chang, a waiter at the chic Midtown West Korean restaurant, Mandoo Bar, agrees with Pae. "Non-Koreans, in particular, really like ddeokboki," said Chang, 34. And he would know since 80 percent of Mandoo Bar's customers are not Korean.

But ddeokboki is not the only spicy Korean dish to win New York palates over. Spicy stir-fried squid is popular as well.

It is hard to imagine that spicy stir-fried squid, a dish that even Koreans find hot, would be so well received. But apparently, it is a New York favorite. According to a survey, 18 Korean restaurants sell ojingeo bokkeum within New York City, and over half of Manhattan restaurants selling the delicacy are not located in Koreatown.

"Ojingeo bokkeum sells well," said Park Jung-sun, 49, owner of the classic Midtown East restaurant, Korea Palace, which caters to a mainly non-Korean clientele.

"It is one of my bestsellers," said Maeng. Maeng's restaurant also began with a largely non-Korean customer base but has started to build a Korean clientele via reviews showcased in Korean newspapers.

Maeng attributes the popularity of ojingeo bokkeum to its similarity to calamari. Although ojingeo bokkeum is a far cry from those crisp batter-fried rings of squid, perhaps the fact that both dishes use squid is all that is needed to make the connection.

"Customers like the fact that ojingeo bokkeum is spicy and has vegetables in it," said Maeng.

And spice is what is attracting contemporary New Yorkers to Korean food.

"I love the spices used in the dishes, perfect combination of sweet and spicy," said Bob Ziegler, 31, associate brand manager at SmartWater.

Bob is not alone in his quest for spice. When asked what he likes about Korean food, New Yorker Peter Cherches, 51, answered, "The variety of banchan; range of flavors and boldness of spice."

It is this "boldness of spice" that has enabled spicy Korean dishes to get a little more attention from Manhattanites. But just how much are New Yorkers willing to pay for that extra bit of heat?

One can dole out up to $19.99 (18,000 won) and as little as $6 for a dish of ddeokboki. Ojingeo bokkeum runs a bit higher with prices ranging from $10 to $19.95.

For the more well-known Korean lunch staples, kimchi jjigae and soon dubu jjigae, New Yorkers are willing to pay from $4.5 to $16 for a bowl of that spicy, pungent stew.

The prices may seem a little exorbitant in comparison to Korean prices for the same grub. Laying out twenty bucks for a platter of ddeokboki, for example, may seem daunting when one can have the same snack for $2 in Seoul. But for the average New Yorker, $5 to 20 is not so bad.

Not to mention that in Korea, ddeokboki usually comes from a street vendor. While in Manhattan, the restaurants serving up the fiery dish are far from ghetto. These restaurants have sleek, chic and modern interiors.

Maeng's Korea Temple Cuisine, which was featured in the New York Times in 2005, also uses creative food presentation to please the customer's eye.

And not only have these restaurants made the Korean eating experience highly enjoyable, they have also made it more accessible.

With at least three Korean restaurants in the West Village, three in the East Village, three in Midtown, Koreatown excluded, one in Little Italy, one in Soho, two in Tribeca and one in Hell's Kitchen, the food can be more easily had in Manhattan.

That means that New Yorkers can pick and choose where they want to get their Korean spice fix. Good news for customers. More competition for restaurants.

By Jean Oh

(oh_jean@heraldm.com)

It's a sad day for me

I made a depressing phone call this week.  It appears that my regular pizza place has upped their prices, no more 5$ pizzas.  Sure they weren't the best tasting pizzas but they were good and for 5$ they taste even better.  Their bulgogi pizza was quite delicious.  So I figured, OK, I will try out the other 5$ pizza place that I saw next to E-mart.  I walk over there to pick up a pie and find...closed.  Ouch, pour some salt on those wounds.  OK OK, let me try this other place.  I am craving a pizza, it has been a while, so I call this other place that I walked by just to try it out.  It's a little more expensive, but they specialize in pizza and fried chicken, so I'll try it.  The place is called BINS.  What does that mean? It says right on the menu...Benefit Immediately Necessity Supplier.  I love Konglish.  So here is their website, sorry it's mostly in Korean. http://www.binskorea.co.kr/  So for basically 17$ I got a bulgalbi pizza, fried chicken, and a cola.  What surprised me first was the pizza, this thing was tiny.  Here is the whole spread.

That's a package of pickles(a staple with pizza here) and radish squares next to the chicken.  The Chicken was pretty good but nothing special.  The pizza was OK, it did have sweet potato in the crust(like cheese crust pizza) but all in all this wasn't worth 17$.  Granted I split this up into multiple meals but still.  I used to get two pizza's larger than this for 10$.  That was good.  So the quest is on for a new pizza place.  Don't worry, I'll keep you informed.

Here is a closeup of the pizza, it was not bad, but not worth 10$.

Some more interesting food combinations

I saw this at the market and I just had to try it.

Yep,  it's a grape and cream cheese ice cream cone.

Since it was a nice hot day, it was already melting by the time I walked home(about 2 minutes away) Doesn't it look yummy?

  And the reality is, hey, doesn't taste bad at all.  It was pretty good, but I will still stick with the regular vanilla and chocolate with nuts when I get the urges. 

On a side note, they have just released a new product that combines rice and yogurt. Don't worry, I will show you that one soon too. And just so you don't think I go around eating ice-cream and cornfry dogs all the time, here is a pic of me outside the Kyobo bookstore(the barns&noble of Korea) with a really cool fountain that I like. This was from last week.

BEHOLD, the Cornfry dog.

Yes my friends, I have finally made good on my promise to show you the culinary delight of fried perfection that is the Cornfry dog. After a nice relaxing walk along river, a cornfry dog really hits the spot.  While corndogs, hotdogs on a stick(sans corn coating) and chicken on a stick are easily accessible throughout the city on street-corners, I have not seen this particular iteration outside of Dongdaemun stadium.  I was able to watch how it is prepared: Take the sausage on a stick, dip it in a vat of corn batter, then role it in frozen french-fries, then just plop it into a wok of oil.  MMMM.  While I have never had the pleasure of a fried snickers bar(I really wanna try that someday) at least I have had this joining of these two great tastes.

And just what was going on as I was enjoying my feast.  Well as the flattering sweat stains on my shirt show, it was hot(and those were from my backpack), outside of the department store they were having a concert where I heard the absolute worst renditioning of "We will rock you" I have ever heard (not to take away from Korean rock which can be really good, but this amateur band just sucked) and having a big water fight in the process.  Sorry for the lack of action shots, but I had to protect my camera.

That better be a good apple.

Due to a number of factors, not the least of which is lack of open ground, fruit is a precious commodity here in Korea(and in Japan too).  Here it is not really seen as a snack but is a desert.  If you go over to someone's house for dinner, afterward they will almost assuredly serve some cut fruit.  Now, apples being some of my favorite, I really like some of the flavor of some of the apples I have had here, but I have usually had to pay for it.  When I saw this in E-mart, I just had to try it. Yep, an individually wrapped apple.  And how much would it set me back to unwrap this forbidden fruit? about $1.50.  Of course I would not normally pay that much for such a small apple, however there was something else that made me try it.  The traditional way to eat apples here is to cut the peel off (of course showing off your skill by making one continuous cut while keeping it as thin as possible so you don't waste the good "meat" of the apple).  One of the reasons for this is the use of pesticides and general cleanliness of produce here.  I don't mean that produce is dirty, I mean that usually you are expected to wash it yourself.  Whenever I peel an apple like that I always think about my Grandma Crockwell, who always cut our apples that way.  The difference here is that I used to then eat the skin that she cut off, while I don't do that here.  I discovered that when I ate the apples raw I was getting stomach pains, not to debilitating, but it made me cut the peel off as well.  So these days I don't eat apples without a knife, therefore missing what I think is one of the tastiest and nutritious parts of the apple.  OK, back to the apple in a bag.  I figured if I was paying this much for an individually wrapped apple, it would be good enough for me to just wash it and eat the skin, and I was right.  Mmmmm it was good, but I will leave that luxury for when I get home.