Question for the Day: What Can You Do With Beans, Sugar, & Dough?

A phone call, Tuesday May 25 at 11:00 - "Come over right away. Dr. Chung is taking us out for lunch."
I call them adventures, Dr. Chung calls them "pleasures". Today, our pleasure was "cold noodles". This particular dish comes from North Korea, where noodles are much more prevalent than rice. The restaurant is famous, its founder the father of the man you see in the picture that follows. He escaped to the South after the Korean War and started a restaurant fashioned after the one he owned in NK.His son took over when he retired, and now his grandson runs the restaurant. Apparently unwilling to totally retire, the grandfather directs traffic and helps patrons park. He also likes to have his picture taken, as you can see.The place was packed at lunchtime (we had to wait in line) and holds over 200!!!!  Cold noodles are just what they are - cold noodles. Need I say more?

Eating noddles in Korea is always a challenge. Slurping works best and Koreans do it well!

Today, (May 27) another unexpected surprise - lunch and an afternoon excursion with Dr. Chung Doug-Young. At 12:00 we were wisked off for yet another Korean lunch experience - or as Doug Chung calls it - "afternoon pleasure". This time a restaurant known for its buckwheat noodles. A new noodle soup. And what does buckwheat noodle soup taste like, you ask? Mmmm. Difficult to capture the essence in words.Soup was accompanied by tofu squares with germinated soy beans, and kimchi, of course.
Take a look.

Buckwheat noodle soup!

After lunch we spent the afternoon touring the area around Daejeon. Seok JangNi Museum, an exhibition of prehistoric Korean culture based on paleolithic sites excavated between 1964 and 1992 was our first stop. There have been humans near Daejeon for more than 700.000 years based on geologic evidence at this site. Then, off to Gongju City and seven ancient tombs in Songsan-ri where Baekje Kings are buried. Huge mounds cover the tombs of the kings and royal families from the age of Ungjin. The tomb of King Muryeong, 461-523 - is the most significant burial chamber and when discovered, contained relics that supplied important insight into the Baekje culture. Relics from two of the tombs are on display.

Tombs are mounds made in the mountain side and look just like regular terrain.

Path to tombs.

Actual tomb entrance.

Tomb museum entrance.

Brick tomb interior.

Dragon guardian in tomb.

Brick wall with lamp holder spaces.

Ornate bricks lining the king's and queen's tomb

Tiger guardian in tomb.

Queen's gold diadems found in the tomb.

King's and queen's head rests and king's sword.

Stone tomb guardian ( What prompted this choice, I wonder?)

Path to the tombs.

In answer to today's question - dough, filled with sugared mashed soy beans, and cooked by steaming.

Like we always say....always an adventure!

As Dr. Chung would say, "An afternoon pleasure!"

Finally, we took a brief tour of the National Cemetery located in Daejeon. On the side of a mountain, incredibly lovely, thousands and thousands, and thousands of gravestones all, I'll say that again, ALL having beautiful floral bouquets placed in front of each stone.I thought they had to be silk flowers, but right there in the booklet they give you, and I quote -"Voluntary activity offers a chance to meditate the patriotism of the deceased by keeping the grave site tidy through cleaning the tombstones and collecting witherered flowers throughout the year." So Korean!!! ( A small photo is included in the pamphlet showing an enormous number of women wearing yellow vests and hats tidying each site.) The cemetery itself serves as a site for worship, educational visits, walking tournaments, song festivals, "weekend patriotism movie viewing", and meditaton. One thing has become very clear. As we meet Korean friends and observe Korean culture the importance of patriotism is always at the forefront.