Korean Cuisine at ZenKimchi

I suppose I normally save "shout-outs" for videos on You Tube (and I will do this shout out later in video form), but I wanted to let you guys know about a wonderful website. Now of course I live and work in Japan. I really love Japan as well as the food and culture. The people rock as well!

If you have been following my blog or You Tube (Busan Kevin) or (jlandkev) channels for some time you will also know I lived in South Korea for more than five years. Korea was great too. Comparing the two countries is like comparing apples and oranges though and to be honest, I normally steer very clear from comparing them anyway! There were many things I liked about Korea. The food, the inexpensive transportation and of course the fact that I met my wife (she is Japanese) there as well!

I am a huge....HUGE....fan of Korean food. This love for Korean grub is something my wife and I have in common. Unfortunately, unless you can get to Korea town in Osaka, Korean restaurants in Japan are a bloody fortune to eat at!



For all of you who live anywhere and have an interest in Korean culture and food, I want you to take a long look at the site zenkimchi.com. This site was started by Joe McPherson several years ago and has grown into the premier Korean food website out there. Joe has become somewhat of an expert on Korean cuisine and a major force in promoting it outside of Korea. He now even has a team of writers creating content about Korean food in America and elsewhere.

The Zen Kimchi website has grown from a personal blog about Korea to THE place to go for information about where to eat Korean food and about Korean food itself.


The site contains the ZenKimchi Food Journal. This has news, information about different food and a lot more. My suggestion; take a few house and just get lost in the site. There is so much to explore!



An example of some of the awesome information contained in the Food Journal section is Korean Food 101.



The ZenKimchi Korean Dining Guide is exactly what you think it is; lots of information about restaurants that serve great Korean cuisine.



ZenKimchi Adventures is Joe's blog about life in Korea and life as a Korean food writer/podcaster.



You also can't forget Joe's podcast, the Seoul Podcast. With more than 100 episodes in their catalogue, this is the ideal podcast for English teachers in Korea or aspiring English teachers. I suppose it is also great for anyone with an interest in current affairs in Korea as well.


Simply put, if you are interested in Asia and specifically Asian food, this is a great site to spend some time on. If you live in South Korea or in Japan and plan to travel there, you need to check it out. The site just keeps getting better everyday and the amount of content is constantly growing.

Kansai Eats

I have a new blog. Kansai Eats is %100 dedicated to food. It is about restaurants here in japan as well as cooking and shopping.



Check it out here!

On the sidelines

I suppose I finally have a chance to make another post. I am sitting at home on a Monday nursing a stomach virus. I had to go to the doctor this morning. As of recent, I have become somewhat of an expert on visiting Japanese doctors. I wish that wasn't the case. I'll be back at work tomorrow however, come hell or high water. One negative side is that I will miss my third Japanese class tonight. The third in 2 weeks, which means I will be completely lost again when I return on Thursday.


In non-Japanese/Kobe news:

South Korean woman passes driver's exam on 950th try
SEOUL, South Korea – A woman in South Korea who tried to pass the written exam for a driver's license with near-daily attempts since April 2005 has finally succeeded on her 950th time. The aspiring driver spent more than 5 million won ($4,200) in application fees, but until now had failed to score the minimum 60 out of a possible 100 points needed to get behind the wheel for a driving test.
Cha Sa-soon, 68, finally passed the written exam with a score of 60 on Wednesday, said Choi Young-chul, a police official at the drivers' license agency in Jeonju, 130 miles (210 kilometers) south of Seoul.
Police said Cha took the test hundreds of times, but had no specific total. Local media said she took the test 950 times.
Now she must pass a driving test before getting her license, Choi said.
Repeated calls to Cha seeking comment went unanswered. She told the Korea Times newspaper she needed the license for her vegetable-selling business. See original

I thought this one was funny. I did live in South Korea for quite some time and from time to time check the news from there.



I also thought this one was rather hilarious. It is a website completely dedicated to passed out drunk people in Korea! Please, allow yourself to be entertained. If you have ever had a night out with soju, you can understand how this might happen.

Autumn Food in Japan

It's been difficult, but I have recently laced up my shoes and have begun running again. I was having a lot of motivation problems lately and just haven't felt the ambition to get out there. In August I applied for a spot in the 2010 Tokyo Marathon. I wasn't holding my breathe since I had about a one i six shot of getting in since there was a lottery. Much to my surprise though, last week I received an email saying I had a spot.It is on February 28, 2010. That's a Saturday. This will be my second full marathon and my first major one. I have a little more than four months to train and this time around I hope to take the training a little more serious than for my last marathon. I completed the last one without any problems, but I know I can push myself to do better this time around.

Long story short, I've been out on the road several times this week. Twice, running home after my Japanese class. It is about a 5 km run back home, but i have to do it with a fairly heavy pack on my back. Hopefully the training will continue and I will find my legs again.



Last weekend, I went to Osaka-fu with my wife. We were staying with some of her family for the weekend. it was a great rural experience. they live in a very small farming village called Nakamura. It just happened that on that weekend there was a large matsuri or festival. This village as well as more than a dozen surrounding villages were having a harvest festival. Groups of men from every village would push a danjiri, or portable shrine, throughout the streets of the village, singing, dancing and praying. They would begin around 6 am and continue into the night. The Nakamura danjiri stopped at the house next to where I was staying for a break. The men pushing it were refueling with tea, snacks and morning beers!



While in the country last weekend, we picked some sweet potatoes and soy beans to take home. It is Fall in Japan and sweet potatoes are a big deal here. Most bakeries carry seasonal treats baked using sweet potato. A few nights ago, Mai made sweet potato muffins at home. they were awesome. A great breakfast treat.



You can see what they looked like when they were fresh out of the oven. Many people also collect chestnuts and make seasonal baked goods with those as well. Yu can find both sweet potato and chestnut breads, cakes, muffins, etc., throughout the area.


Two Fridays ago, after work, I stopped in Sannomiya. Sannomiya is the main downtown area of Kobe. I was there to pick up a new camera. I purchased a Sanyo Xacti HD which will make my You Tube video making better. Mai and I needed a bite to eat so we wandered through the crowded back streets of Sannomiya looking for a restaurant. We stumbled across a Korean style bbq restaurant and decided to give it a try.


Korean food is really quite expensive when you are outside of Korea, but this place was reasonable. The meat was delicious, but the servings a little small. Grilled beef and a beer is a great way to finish up the week.


Great looking food grilled on hot coals. Although, I don't normally miss Korea very much, I do miss the food. Korean food is great and it was always so affordable to eat out at restaurant. It is no surprise that many foreigners who move to South Korea to teach and work, normally never cook at home. They don't have to because Korea has such an amazing restaurant culture. The food is cheap and good.

Beef Soup and North Korean Missiles

This will probably be my last post about my recent trip to Korea. I'm of course back at home here in Kobe and it's time to start filming different aspects of life in Japan again. I'm having a lot of fun filming and editing "food" videos these days so I'll probably make another one Saturday. Tomorrow, I'll be hiking a mountain between Osaka and Nara Prefecture. I think it's called Nicosan. It will be my first time there and I'll be hiking with fellow You Tube vlogger, spydermurphy.

I posted my last Korea food video today. My wife and I ate something called "gook bap" 국밥 (soup with rice) one night will in Busan. the restaurant we at at was right behind the Save Zone store in Haeundae. We actually had "sogogi gook bap" 소고기 국밥 whcih is beef soup with rice. It was great and of course at 3,500 won, cheap. Lots of veggies and not greasy at all. Also, just a little heat (spiciness).


Sogi gook bap 소고기 국밥 in Busan (Haeundae Beach area).


Here's my latest food video about the gook bap.

Asia Eats: Kevin eats Sogogi Gookbap 소고기 국밥

You can see the original here.


Oh, and of course, in non-Kobe related things, people all around Japan are getting a little freaked out since North Korea (sworn enemy of Japan and vice versa) are planning to test 2 missiles within the next few days. These long range missles will probably be launched over Japan. Some cities in Northern Japan are actually conducting emergency drills since they expect falling debris from the missiles!

Read more on JapanToday and Canadian CTV News.