It’s almost pronounced like hotdog, except the first syllable sounds like “ho”. -As in, “you ain’t nothin’ butta __.”  This is my favorite Korean snack. I suspect its because its made from the worlds best ingredients: flour (wheat) and yeast. It beats out all the other Korean sweet snacks. Rice cakes are good but this is excellent.

I was first introduced to the hotteok by Korean friends Sook-young and Yeo-yeon on the cold November day strolling through Insadong market in Seoul. Behind a long line of eager faces were these  morsels of doughy sweetness. -hot bread coated in a thin layer of pan grease, and inside…molten cinnamon and sugar. Ahhh…

I forgot about the hotteok for a couple months until a few weeks ago, when I saw a woman selling them at the bus station in Gochang. Then the other day I was at my Home-Mart grocery store and saw a hotteok premix. I thought to myself this can’t be hard to make. It turns out, the hardest part is waiting for the dough to rise. Below is the procedure (in Korean).

Found! Art store found! After trying to talk with the Jeonju English help line people, another art teacher who lives in Jeonju, searching the web in Korean and English, and getting no information about the location of an art store, I said, “F-it, I am going to find one on my own.”

See, it’s possible to find quality acrylic paint, watercolors,  brushes, and sketch paper in any stationary store or even grocery store.  But, that’s it for art supplies. Everything else must be bought at an art store. I just wanted some canvases. I will skip the story of my journey, but I will say it required me to talk to all sorts of people, some helpful and some others not so much.  I practiced my Korean, the Koreans practiced their English. It was a great adventure, rivaling some of the hikes around here.

For all English speakin’ peeps in the Jeonju area who wish to find an art store, this is for you. I didn’t get the name of this store unfortunately. But, I do know the location.  It’s just a  block from Gaeksa.  The store has all kinds of art supplies for painting and sculpting.

The other store is called Alpha. It’s a chain and they have a website here www.alpha.co.kr. They are a school supply store but they do have a small quantity of basic painting supplies. The owner there was willing to order more canvases for me and have it for me the next day. The store is located near the Jeonbuk University entrance  and the Deokjin Fire Station.

This really needs to be a music selection in the noraebangs (karaoke rooms). It’s too good.

We have a house in New Orleans! Built in the 1833 by Nicholas Girod, the first mayor of New Orleans. It was built for his son Francois. girodhousecondo.com , travel.yahoo.com

If Barack’s rise to presidency is not inspiration enough, here’s some more.  This guy walked across the USA with $217 bucks and a backpack. http://www.slatev.com/index.html?bcpid=988092926&bctid=6554077001

Yesterday I rode my bike about 40k south to meet my friend Melodie for a Korean constitutional. Temple Tour Time!!

Before the tour we had to drop off my bike at her store. Yeah, she lives in a store.

Next stop was the bus station. As it turns out, they offer Butter English classes. Butter makes everything better. Really!

Why pose like a normal person? It’s the Seonunsa  handstand.

Okay, I know why.

The air was pretty thick. I was like that for two minutes.

The sun came out for a moment.

We saw some cool Buddhist motifery.

Korean Tension I’ve been watching this play out prior to arriving in August ‘08. Why now? -Simply a test of  boundaries with the year old Lee Myung-bak admin and the new US admin?