West has a favorite dish that is called Sam-Gye-Tang; it is a whole chicken in a ginseng (picture to the left) broth that is stuffed with rice. She has been here for 7 months and has yet to find it. It became my mission to find Samgyetang in Icheon. In order to continue along with this story I first my backtrack to a prior one.
I feel confident in saying that with those who travel, it's always an underground mission to find "your bar". That bar you can go to, relax, talk freely with the bartender, etc. A couple of weeks ago, a friend led a group of us to a place in Icheon called Jenny's Mini Bar. Instantly we all knew that this was "our bar". Jameson is only 5,000 won a pop (cheap!) and the bartender is this adorable Korean man named Sung who has a soon-to-be-wife named Jenny (yes, the owner). They just opened the bar a mere few months ago and have somehow become the foreigner's bar. It can possibly be explained with the reputable selection of foreign drinks they have including the Jameson along with Bailey's and Beck's Beer and even Guinness ($11 a bottle!) Sung will play any song you ask him to but if a request goes unsaid the jams coming from the loud overhead speakers are always American, which echoes off of the exposed cement walls. The top shelves around the bar are decorated with an assortment of empty bottles while the bottom ledge in front of the window has delicately placed plants and wheat grass. To West, it was a taste of Portland and to me it was a taste of downtown KC. We regularly visit Jenny's bar and has become our default go-to place. Having gotten to know Sung we asked him where we could find some Samgyetang. He gave us directions to a place that has it and West's face lit up. We would make it our mission to find this place.
This brings me to Sunday night. We had a general idea of where this place is but general is always sketchy. West and I began on our journey to find this place and cure her long-time craving for a fairly healthy meal. We both had thought that Sung said something different in his directions so I decided to used my broken Korean and ask. (Koreans are ALWAYS happy to help you and will usually go out of their way to do so if they are able to. Even if they don't speak English they will still try to help you. I've learned that young people usually speak the best English and are ALWAYS the most excited to exchange words with an American.) We asked one cute young couple first where it is and they sent us in the right direction. From there we had no idea where to go and were in doubt when a middle school aged girl randomly said HELLO!, which is a very common occurrence, and asked where we were going. She suggested we don't complete our mission but rather go eat where she serves. haha. Smart. We said we were set on trying this dish and she told us to keep walking in the direction we were. Lastly, when we felt like we were either close or completely far off we asked a young woman again where to go. She walked a few steps out of her way to direct us and make sure we were going the right way and pointed as to say 'it's just over that hill.' We kept walking and a few minutes later, I recognized the dish written in Hangul and sure enough, we had found it.
It was delicious and a bit hard for me to eat because it is a whole baby chicken in a pot with broth and ginseng around it and stuffed with rice. The content look on West's face made it better though. We raised our glasses in a toast to successfully completing our mission and devoured our over-due Samgyetang. Delicious.
And now, for something else....
Icheon, my home town in Korea, is widely known for two things: rice and ceramics (Korean word is toe-ja-key). Sunday, West and I decided to venture to the ceramics village with the pure intentions of 1- exploring and 2- laying down a good amount of money in order to obtain some of the finest ceramics around. Oh. Right. And 3- get her dad a (belated) birthday present. And so we took the bus to a certain point then took a taxi. (The bus ride cuts down on the taxi fare even though taxis here are EXTREMELY affordable; every bit you can save helps.) The taxi driver actually took us way back into a part of the ceramics village that West had never been before. It's just about a half mile of ceramic stores. Some have ceramics that are indigenous to Icheon while others say "Made in China" on the bottom of them. Fortunately, West has quite the extensive knowledge when it comes to pottery because of her background in throwing clay (this is the term used for forming clay on the machine that spins as you mold it) and so she knew the signs for original as apposed to shop-made. Together we both gasped multiple times at the beauty of the work with each shop we went into. Bowls, plates, cups, tea cups, spoons, chop sticks, decore, vases, and much more line the walls of each shop and consume the medians between the walking aisles. Needless to say, it was overwhelming for both of us, as we each wanted to purchase many items in each store we entered. The crafting is beautiful and the end products are seductive in a way that leaves you wanting to hold each one and give it a more personal home. Lucky for us, the Sunday sun was setting and the shops were closing. I went home with a coffee cup, a large bowl that is ideal for my habitual cereal eating habits, a vase for my fresh flowers,a tea cup, a bowl for my apples, and two tree-ring coasters. West managed to find a gift for her father and a few more items for herself.
We'll be back again.
Our goal now is to find where we can throw clay ourselves to make our own pottery. It will happen.
Pictures are coming soon, fear not.
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