Madonna Dedicates a Song to Malala Yousefzai

Watch Here.

I think that it's ridiculous.

Greater Seoul Region: Cocuma/Sweet Potatoes Harvest in Pictures

Don't need words when photos can do a job..

My Korean Halabbu-ji's younger brother and his wife...

Wife of HAJ, hard at work even though she is in her 70s...

When has to dig out the soil around the sweet potato plant and then pull the kokumas out - one at a time or a whole bunch...

Pulling the sweet potato out!

Final moment...

Removing soil from the sides so that it loosens and can be easily pulled!

Some of the sweet potatoes were huge...  weighing about one kilo but the farmers told me that the medium sized are much tastier!

A whole bunch that I pulled out!

Again, the technique...

A neighbor stopped by....

A box of sweet potatoes....

Hard at work...

Toutouri filled with boxes of sweet potatoes produce....

[Event Winners Announced] ’2012 buzz KOREA Awards’ Event

Oh my God, I'm one of the winners of Buzz Korea Award for blogging...Thank you, Korea Tourism Organization and Buzz Korea - you made my day!

[Event Winners Announced] ’2012 buzz KOREA Awards’ Event: [Event Winners Announced] ’2012 buzz KOREA Awards’ Event

Prayer Request - Pray for Malala Yousefzai

Image from War Info.

14 year old Pakistani children's activist Malala Yousefzai (or Malala Yousafzai) is shot in the neck and head. Two other girls were also wounded in the attack. Pakistani Taliban claims that she has been singled out and shot for her Western ideas and Activism (education for women) in Swat valley.

Yousefzai’s blog entries for BBC’s Urdu site offered a rare window into the lives of an 11-year-old and her friends in one of the most dangerous and remote places in Pakistan. Under the pen name Gul Makai, Yousefzai wrote about watching the violence in Swat escalate while her personal freedoms shrank.

Ms. Yousafzai came to public attention in 2009 as the Pakistani Taliban swept through Swat, a picturesque valley once famed for its music and tolerance and as a destination for honeymooning couples.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Malala and her family.

Fore more on Malala read here in:
 the New York Times or
BBC here or
the Time magazine
or watch this brief documentary by NYT on Malala HERE

Pakistani Postcards!

I sent them to my family and one to myself while I was in Islamabad.

I drank this camel's milk for a month on daily basis....it tastes good..

Alma, a Kazakh friend brought me these two things from Kazakhstan: flour and a soviet-style pot...love it! Hey, thanks!!

Pakistani camel's milk in a Kazakh pot.. ^^

I made myself a chapati with the Kazakh flour...it was very soft even though it is not a whole wheat!

My favorite is the sarsoon ka saag, a small plot dedicated to it at home in Islamabad.

Missing them already - the season is just around the corner in Pakistan...Amrud/guava in Korea are used as a decorative plant....one can't find them in Korea.

Pakistan is so rich in fruits and vegetables and that too for throw away prices....can't beat that!

Fish being sold near my house in Islamabad...for only a dollar a kilo.

Itaewon Global Village Festival

....Itaewon Festival is to be held between October 12th to October 14th.
Main highlights of it used to be international food, rock concerts, mime and street festivities...how it has evolved in the past few years is hard to say since the last time I was there was back in 2008.

If you are in Seoul on this weekend, stop by and see for yourself!

Photo of the Day: A Korean Bap Ssang

Made by Heewon's mom, who is an such a wonderful cook!

Buzz Korea Event: Buzz Korea Awards

If you have a blog, or you vlog or simply use SNS then apply to participate in Buzz Korea Awards.

Buzz Korea is a venue that is a window to Korea for the world at large. It is one of the most active, interesting means of introducing "anything" and "everything" Korean via paricipants from all over the world.

All you have to do is to tag in your blog posts etc via Buzz Korea website, for more information on it click here and win a tour "Gangnam Style" and also participation to the awards in different categories.

Click here  for more info.

Rice Harvesting begins...

...so it is underway in my neighborhood. For all other crops, it is the same - in a month or so, all one can see is a thick blanket of snow here!

...final video is  below and this harvesting truck/the crop eater - had some mechanical fault - and after much effort, the driver failed to get it back to work -one of the chains broke....i guess..

Anyhow, here is the last video...will get some more videos and photos today...hopefully!

I love the entire process......

The old man - who you can see walking along the monster (the machine) is Mr. Kim, who single handedly,  ploughed and took care of this rice field from Day One. It needs a lot of hard labor. He is in his early 70s. Has a birthday in a few weeks from now and is a wonderful friend.

Islamic Cultural Festival on October 6th. (Tomorrow)

The above mentioned festival is taking place in Seongbukcheon Fountain Square on subway Line:4 at Hansung University Station, Exit:2.

It will kick off at 12 noon - 8:00p.m

For more information: Seongbuk Global Village Center

Phone:(02)-920-3462

Some of the highlights are:

Food from Iran, Jordan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Turkey etc.

Belly Dancing (Middle East)
Attan Dance (Afghanistan)
Saudi Traditional Dance
Indonesian Traditional Dance
Iranian Zoorkhaneh sports and art dance

Korean Pumpkin Flower Tempuras!

 Well, in South Asia, this dish is called pakoray. It is one heck of a simple and really tasty dish to prepare - here in Korea, it may fall within the category of 퇴김 or Ttukim.
These are the final days of hobak (pumpkin) in Korea and though it is chilly, flowers are still blooming. What I did was, picked the flowers of pumpkin, washed them and cut them lengthwise .

 I also took a few baby "phaichu" leaves (Korean cabbage) and "yongpha" (spring onion) and sliced them lengthwise.

Added ginger shoot, finely chopped!

Added in a crushed clove of garlic

 Then I added in "baysun" or gram flour (4 table spoons)

I added red pepper powder+salt+black pepper powder (according to ur taste)

 Finally I added in, little water at a time and kept on mixing it... (the consistency should be thick)

Finally, I scooped a spoon full in a frying pan - I did shallow frying, one can do deep frying but I prefer less oil while cooking - and in doing so, a bit of patience is required.

This is the final product - you can drizzle soyasauce+vinegar+ketchup over them...gosh, they are tasty! I love them - this is a Bengali style dish originally!

The picture above is: soya sauce+vinegar+really hot Korean Kochu+salt+ sugar+black pepper+cumin

Lunch of the Day....

A very easy to make dish is the one above: Quesadillia, not just that but it is very economical!

Quote of the Day

“When you have a dream, you don’t know what’s going to happen next. If you wake up, the dream is gone. You can’t see the sequel. But I can do that, because I am a writer.” – Haruki Murakami

Itaewon: A journey from Red Light Area to a Muslim Neighborhood

My relationship with Itaewon is about a decade old – whether I lived near there (in Hannamdong) or moved far away – I had to go there. I don’t remember that in the past 10 years, there was a month when I was not able to visit this neighborhood. 

It was in 2008 that I moved from Yongsan to Bundang and had to think twice to go to Itaewon – but my link with it stayed strong. Itaewon had the mosque, the halal grocery stores, embassies and a diverse mix of restaurants. This place was constantly changing but the changes were too swift for me, maybe I was based there, hence I could NOT see as much activity or government attention that this place actually required. I have to say that Itaewon-ro - a mile long, main street, starting at the tip of Yongsan base and ending at the Hangangjin Station - was overhauled and beautified to what it was…

If we look back, about 10 years ago or even further, at the time of Korea’s liberation from Japan – this place was somehow considered as the traditional center of prostitution. I still remember, my first day in Seoul, I was told NOT TO TAKE the street that has the Bokwang-dong Primary School and goes up towards the mosque - starting from the Itaewon Fire Station. To go to my place I had to take a really long road instead of having have a short-cut - passing through bars, pubs, night clubs, gay bars, and what not which is not confined to the infamous "Hooker Hill" - actually it was a hookers urban ghetto. All one could see was brothels, bars and drunken men and women. It was not until the mid 2000s that the Korean government took stern action against prostitution. Though, the situation and the locale is NOT as ugly as it used to be on ground zero, still today, all sort of strange stuff is going on in the back alleys of Itaewon-ro. For example, in my desperate search for a house a couple of weeks ago - a building located 5 minutes away from the mosque was raided by police - they were looking for some drug dealer - voilà!

During 1970s, when Korea was very active in the construction boom of the Middle East – the governments there demanded General Park’s government to allocate land for a mosque for Muslims living in Seoul. It took a couple of years but finally, General Park, Chung Hee’s government chose this land– right in the center of the Red Light Area of Seoul. In the last decade, the way Itaewon has evolved and has become the center of tourism is hard to believe. There are many factors to it which I will highlight in some other post but one of my most interesting of observation is: nobody wanted to go there but somehow ended up there...reason: well, for being a religious center for some to being a place and space where they were not stared at and where they had a feeling of not being a "waygookin or a foreigner" anymore. For me - Itaewon was like any other neighborhood since I was a foreigner and cared less for how the historical narrative or political and social patterns had shaped it. Once I was with my Korean friends – this was a forbidden place, which they despised and would prefer to go elsewhere. The good news is that now, I can see many Koreans comfortably roaming around, shopping, dinning, enjoying the internalization this place has gone through plus the facelift it has got recently -  which for me is a good vibe but surely is hard to believe, still.

Itaewon of today has much evolved due the Yongsan Base and the migrant workers in the past few decades. UN forces also stationed here and so were the foreign embassies and the diplomats and its staff.

So this was Itaewon’s journey from being a Red Light Area to a Muslim neighborhood.

Personally, I would like to see that our very active mayor of Seoul –  take immediate action with respect to the cleanliness of Itaewon’s dark and narrow streets...the area - which doesn't make Itaewon-ro. The place is filthy and the trash is not collected for days. Though we all know that the foreign population size has swelled there in recent years but it is being completely ignored for God knows why? So what hasn’t changed yet for me in Itaewon is the neighborhood surrounding the mosque - it simply sucks. The narrow alleys and old houses and building are still messed up, trash is all over the place and it smells - it is about time to take immediate action - and that is my appeal.

Again, the good news is: during my absence for about a year,  many new shops and restaurants have opened all around. Particularly, the street on which we have the mosque has improved much – there is a place that is selling abayas and hijabs, another has prayer mats and lotay. A specialized wholesale store for shisha is also very close to the mosque, some really fantastic Travel agencies have opened there. Bakeries with Middle Eastern and Turkish origin are there. Almost all the owners are Muslims. Some of the shops are run by women too. I also noticed 2 Islamic Information Centers on the Mosque Street and then a library cum Islamic Book Store. A second hand store, a few café, a souvenir shop hailing from Turkey and Syria is an interesting addition. I saw two huge stores  specializing in halal stuff and spices called: National Food Stores selling the brand “National"  from Pakistan. I like their masalay – they are tasty. They have a huge supply of everything South Asian. In case you are a vegetarian – stop by, go in and dig in! Several stores/restos have assortments for the vegetarians who are still struggling in Seoul on how to survive. You can have dals, bhujias, rotis and much much more.

I was very happy to see “Siti Sarah” – a restaurant specializing in Malayu food. It is actually Indonesian but they serve some interesting stuff.

My favorite place is a small resto hailing from Lahore with its owner and chef  Mr. Ameer – who was a chef of Mughal Restaurant (behind Hamilton Hotel) for over 20 years. He has just opened up this modest eatry for a little over a year called “Pak - India Restaurant”. He offers the BEST FOOD - Pakistani style – I’ve ever tasted in Korea or outside Pakistan. DO NOT miss him….he is a gifted man when it comes to cooking  – I love everything that he makes – Mashallah!

So, I think that where some nook and corners need attention in Itaewon – a lot has become better on self-help basis by the foreign/business community. It is an interesting place to say the least!

Events in Seoul (October, 2012)

Taekkyeon(택견) Demo.

While staying in Korea, if you have spare time then join this very nice cultural classes at the Seorae Global Village. 

All those who are interested in learning how to do "Maedup" or the Korean knot then Seorae Global Village is holding a class on it. Participation fee is 10,000 won. Class is on October 8th.

Makgeolli Class on: October 16th.

You can also learn how to make a Korean "Hanji Lamp" - participation fee is 25,000 won. Class will be on: October 23rd.

"Taekkyeon(택견)" - traditional martial arts - a demonstration (20 minutes) and practice session will be held on October 26th will be held. It is free of cost.

For more information and registration, the contact address is:
email: seorae@sba.seoul.kr 
Telephone: 02-2155-8916

Thank You Chuseok!

Thanks a lot Chuseok (추석) ... I desperately needed you. Since my return to Korea, I have been running across the peninsula for one thing or the other. The only break I got in-between was "night" and I was thinking what if we had no nights...

Chuseok together with the lunar New Year Day (Seollal/설날) are the most celebrated holidays in Korea and displaces the entire country.  Hangawi (한 가위) or Chuseok falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month.

In countries like China, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia etc. this day is celebrate as a Mid-Autumn Festival and you might have noticed a lot of moon cakes being sold at the department stores too.

This year, we had a 5 day holiday on the occasion of Chuseok. In this time and age, somehow we are always wired or connected and what I did for a change was: turned off the cellphone and also the computer...stayed at my Korean grandfather's farm and basked in nature, wild flowers, gorgeous skies, floating clouds, the little stream that passes by, cranes, crispy winds and witnessing autumn swiftly taking over... I loved every second of it!

With autumn, just have to remind you that it is "extremely" windy so don't forget to buy yourself a nice cap that covers your ears and forehead properly. Unlike other countries, another specialty of autumn in Korea is: "단풍" or 丹楓 or fall foliage - in orange, red, yellow, maroon and brown is breathtaking. In case you are around during this time, visit this route or hike a nearby mountain... you'll enjoy it.

I hope that you also had a wonderful Chuseok!