just the little things

I drove to Tesco Home Plus (the grocery store in Goyheon) this morning. The key to going there is to get there when the doors first open - at 10 a.m. It also helps to NOT go on the weekend - if you have to go on the weekend though, be there early. Anyway, I was one of the first ones in and I was able to scrutinize everything a little bit more than usual. And it paid off big time. Look what I found!
I had bought the canned green beans and mixed vegetable before, but never the beans and "Rotel" tomatoes. Chili is a staple in Ken's diet, so this was quite the find. Sure, I probably paid twice the amount than I would have in the U.S., but to quote Ken's two favorite lines -
"We have to eat."
and
"What else are you going to spend your money on here?"

(I don't think the last quote is one that I live by though - I can always find something to spend my money on here!)


Like a magazine. Remember Marie Claire Maison that I mentioned in another post? Well, the cover of this one looked interesting - mainly because it mentioned Texas!



















The article on Texas didn't prove to be my highlight of the magazine though. It appartently had to do with the arts in San Antonio and Marfa.
I haven't made it to Marfa yet but I would like to.....

I got tickled thinking about some Korean visitors arriving in Marfa (population 1,887 in 2007 according to this source ). Wonder what they would think of the Marfa lights?

However, it did have an article on Tokyo that I found very intriguing. By the way, when I mention article, I don't mean that I can read the article. Everything is pretty much in Korean except for some headlines and addresses and such.



Anyway, this article on Tokyo highlighted some shops and places to visit in Tokyo.






There were several shops that looked like fun























but my favorite was this one - a Tokyo flea market maybe? I am putting this on my list of things to do in Japan. Speaking of which, I can't believe I haven't been yet. Maybe November.

Anyway, isn't it funny how just a can of pinto beans and a magazine can make your day?

pungs, chows and kongs

I was excited to get back to some of my usual activities around Okpo. Ken had really been the only person I had conversed with in days, so I was looking forward to having a little female chit chat again.


For me, that meant Wednesday afternoon mahjong...!


Prior to moving to Geoje Island, I had heard of mahjong. I actually think that when we lived in Aberdeen, Scotland, there was a group of women that got together on a regular basis to play. But I didn't really know what the game was about or how it was played.

I really like to play games. My husband, daughter and I used to play Yahtzee on a regular basis when she was growing up. My daughter and I like playing Boggle now that she is older. I like to play Scrabble and UpWords with my mother and sister. When I was a freshman in college, I played alot of Spades with my suite mates. Pictionary, Monopoly, Risk, and Trivial Pursuit are just some of games played in my past. I also like a few games on the computer - TextTwist, Scrabble Blast, and Zuma . Speaking of Zuma, I caught a photo of a Korean monk playing Zuma on a laptop while waiting for our delayed flight to Busan. He was getting very excited about his game and I think everyone sitting around him got quite a kick out of that.


Back to mahjong. Apparently there are various versions of the game - Chinese, Singapore, American and Hong Kong, to name a few. The woman that started our group learned how to play while living in Ulsan, South Korea. So I guess we play by Ulsan rules, whatever that may mean - she doesn't know what rules they played by. The game is played with tiles that are made out of bamboo, wood, ivory, resin, or plastic . It is like a deck of cards, because there are suits of sorts, except only 3 - bamboo, circles and Chinese characters. Instead of royal cards like Kings and Queens, there are royal honor tiles - winds and dragons - and honor tiles - ones and nines. There are also flower and season tiles.



I won't bore you with all the particulars of the game, but I will say that it has never bored me. The goal is end up with 14 tiles that comprise a certain hand (and there are numerous ones with names like Buried Treasure, Knitted Pairs, Windy Pungs and Three Philosophers).


With new players coming and going, it can sometimes be difficult to remember all the hands. We all carry cheat sheets in our laps while we play. Sometimes there is much chattering going on while we play. By the way, mahjong is loosely translated "chattering sparrow" - how appropriate! But other times, we are quiet and highly concentrating on our hands.



This was one of my hands I was working toward called Little Robert. I didn't win that one, but there is always the next game!


We played 4 hours on Wednesday - wow! times flies when you are playing mahjong.

everything you never wanted to know about spam

When I arrived home, we had various gifts given to us for celebration of the Chuseok holiday. We had gifts of ginseng, fruit, and ....... I can't believe it ........our first SPAM gift box.




I don't know if you remember my prior post mentioning SPAM gift boxes. I felt at that time that a SPAM gift box was on the "lower end of the hierarchy of gifts". Well, I think that I have changed my mind. I did some research on SPAM and came up with some interesting facts. (I can't believe I am talking about doing research on SPAM . I have learned alot of the history, customs and culture of the Korean people while writing this blog though, so I guess SPAM just goes with the territory!) I have the usual biases against SPAM - you know, Something Posing As Meat and urban legends like that. Anyway, for those with inquiring minds, SPAM was originally made in the U.S. by the Hormel company. They had just introduced a canned ham product and were trying to figure out what to do with all the leftover pork shoulder they had. They came out with another canned product which was originally called Hormel Spiced Ham, but was renamed SPAM after a naming contest - get it - SPiced hAM?

What does this have to do with Korea, you say? SPAM was perfect for military use, due to the fact that it doesn't require refrigeration. Sales of SPAM rocketed during World War II. It is interesting to note that places with history of U.S. military presence have the largest amount of SPAM sold today - Hawaii, the Phillipines, Okinawa, Guam and Saipan. And don't forget South Korea, with the most SPAM sold each year, after the U.S.

I also found a website that stated that SPAM in Korea bought the rights to start making it's own version. It supposedly has less salt to cater more to Korean tastes. At the little grocery store down the street, I found 3 different types of SPAM.
There are also "generic" cans of the same product that aren't as costly. SPAM costs 4200Won at the store in our town (approximately $4.00).

It is surprising that the Korean people have taken to SPAM - they are usually very health conscious.

Wikipedia states that:

A 56 gram (approximately 2 ounce) serving of original Spam provides 7 grams of protein, 2 grams of carbohydrates, 15 grams of fat (23% US Daily Value) including 6 grams of saturated fat (28% US Daily Value), and over 170 calories. A serving also contains nearly a third of the recommended daily intake of sodium (salt). Spam provides very little in terms of vitamins and minerals (0% vitamin A, 1% vitamin C, 1% calcium, 3% iron). It has been listed as a food that is a poor choice for weight loss and optimum health and as a food that "is high in saturated fat and sodium".

I guess they figure that a can of SPAM followed by a box of Krispy Kreme donuts (another favorite) won't hurt you too bad. Seriously, apparently during the Korean War, SPAM was an item smuggled by Korean women from the GI's on military bases. To the very hungry Korean people, this was quite a treat and continued to be so even after the war ended. According to another website, the trade treaties at that time prohibited alot of foreign food to be imported to South Korea. SPAM was hard to find, and thus, very desirable. By the way, I am trying to be correct in showing my sources for this "research paper". After all, we didn't have computers when I was in school - so I am sure it isn't quite right. (I just wanted to get that across in case I am cited for plagiarism!)

My father was in the Army and I remember eating SPAM growing up. However, I don't think it was an Army ration - I am sure it was purchased at the commissary. Ken has told me stories about his sister and her husband living on SPAM as poor college students. I wonder if they eat it now - I'll have to find out. I can't remember the last time I had SPAM (I think my mother would fry it) but I am sure I would probably like it okay. I don't think Ken would go for it though. He is so anti things like hot dogs and bologna. He once took a tour of a plant that made hot dogs and will now only eat hot dogs that look like sausage. I really don't see the difference since I have heard horror stories about what goes in sausage, but I guess it made quite an impact on him.

As you can see, the box also contained cans of tuna and bottles of sesame and corn oil. I wonder what the significance of that is. Maybe my next research will be looking for a recipe using those ingredients? I'll take suggestions.

twenty four hours

After
a one and one half hour drive to the airport
and
a one and one half hour wait at the airport
and
a 13 hour airplane ride
and
a four hour layover in Tokyo (was only supposed to be two)
and
a two hour flight to Busan, South Korea
and
a two hour drive to Okpo, South Korea,

I am safely back to my life in Korea. Sorry for the 2 month hiatus, but I had a wonderful time back in Texas. It has been a month since he left Texas, so it is wonderful to see Ken again.