Tonight’s Dinner: Korean Doshirak

It’s 6:00 on a Friday night in Daejeon, South Korea and after a busy day of teaching, three hours at the gym (another 10 kilometers in 60 minutes) and then a 2-mile hike to HomePlus to stock up on Diet Coke, yoghurt, and water for the weekend, this expat is pooped.
So, when it came to [...]

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Three Big Stars: North Korea’s First Fast Food Restaurant

It may not have a recognizable or familiar fast food name like McDonald’s, KFC, or Pizza, but Three Big Stars has one up on these fast food kings: it is the first fast food restaurant to open in that Stalinist Cold War leftover, North Korea.
According to a news release in one of the English-language newspapers [...]

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Food for Thought – Western Food in Korea: The First Wave

So there I was—the first couple of months I was in Korea—enjoying a steady diet of Korean food with the occasional burger, Chicken Doria (a rice, cheese and chicken casserole) from Coco’s (touted as a California Restaurant—whatever that was suppose to mean because it was from Japan) and breakfast set menu at the Paris Croissant [...]

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Popcorn Balls

Popcorn Balls
Gee lady,
is that all I get;
a stale popcorn ball
dyed with red
food coloring—
when the folks
next door
are handing out
mini Snickers
and Butterfingers
Copyright 2009 ©  Jeffrey Alan Miller

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Spam: Mystery or Miracle Meat in a Can?

It’s Chuseok time again in Korea and time for those boxed gift sets of soap, sesame seed oil, tuna, and Spam that Koreans give as gifts to family, friends, and colleagues.
Some of these gifts seem practical like hand soap or even sesame seed oil, but for all the years I have been in Korea, I [...]

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DMZ Water: What’s in a name?

Well, if you happen to enjoy drinking a bottle of DMZ water, it’s history.
I spotted this latest entry on the bottle water market in Korea and thought, “I’m surprised someone hasn’t come up this before.” Sure, drinking mineral water from Cheju Island might sound a bit more romantic and exotic, or mysterious like Icis from [...]

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Cheeseburger, fries and a vanilla shake

Friends and other people who know me have often been astonished with my good memory—the way that I can remember specific dates, events, and other reminiscences.
I don’t think my good memory is anything to get excited about—though some people seem to think so. Perhaps a lot has to do with where I am at—you know, [...]

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Today’s workout — by the numbers

Here are the numbers for today’s workout for those of you keeping score at home:
Nine Kilometers (5.5 miles) in 60 minutes on the treadmill
Assorted sit ups, 50 push ups, some yoga and weight training.
Since May 1st, when I started working out I have lost around 30 pounds. Today I weighed in at just a little [...]

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Korea’s Coffee Culture — From “ajumma coffee” to Caramel Frappaccinos

It all started with coffee.
During my first week in Korea back in 1990, I started going to a small coffeehouse Jardin, just down the street from the language institute where I taught. It was one of these upscale gourmet-type coffeehouses that, according to an article I had read in one of the English-language newspapers, had [...]

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Where’s the (US) beef?

Obviously not on Korean actress Kim Min-sun’s plate for some time because she has been sued by a U.S. beef importer for 300-million-won ($250,000) compensation “for allegedly misleading the public into a boycott of their product and damaging sales” according to an article in the Korea Times today.
You might recall or perhaps heard of the [...]

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