How Did You Get Here?

I've never seen a single pomegranate in Korea -- until recently. Oddly enough I didn't find them at a luxury Lotte grocery store or something of that nature. Rather, the little old guy who sometimes sells fruit at the corner outside of my apartment was had them.

I couldn't specifically remember eating pomegranate during my life, but I was somehow under the impression that I liked them, so my friend and I bought 3 for 5,000 won. A little pricey. I didn't think much about it...I assumed the guy got them by accident, or that they were in season in China or in one of the many countries Korea recently signed a free trade agreement with.

But actually, I think pomegranates might be here to stay in Korea. I've seen them several times since. Mind you, this is all within the span of about a month. Then today, while wandering through the pages of Naver, I found some publicity photos for something called POM Wonderful, which is apparently a drink company based in the U.S., that is now spreading it's wings in Korea.

The hook for Koreans, and more specifically, Korean women? Pomegranates are high in antioxidants ie. it's good for skin. It'll also help you give better head, as the woman in the background of this photo on the right is seeming to suggest.

Don't get me wrong, I'll bet Pom is delicious. Probably a bit more expensive than I'd like to spend on a drink, but if I got a box of it free -- like the family in this photo essay apparently did -- I wouldn't throw it away. I bet I'd enjoy it.

However, as a fruit, I think pomegranates are a pain in the butt to eat. I like the fruit part, but there's more seed than fruit when it comes down to it, yet each piece is about the size of a seed. In this sense I compare it to another very seedy fruit popular in Korea, known as muskmelon in English, but I only know it as 참외 (cham-ay), since I've never seen it outside of Korea. I also came across an advertising photo essay with some cuties holding cham-ay. The occasion is that Lotte Mart is selling the melon, despite the fact that it's currently out of season. Interestingly both pomegranates and muskmelon are from the middle east and were originally brought to Asia by the Persian Empire.

A Photo of Birds on a Frozen River and an Old Boat Restaurant

I was out with my camera the other day. Normally when a blogger writes something like that it normally entails that some has a nice camera and some ability to take photos. That’s not the case with this blogger, but in return I won’t bore you with 30 photos at once. Just one or two per post. Deal?

I was in Ulsan recently and happened to be near the Tae-hwa River fairly early in the morning. These days it’s been cold everywhere in Korea, although less in Busan and Ulsan than most places. Anyway, here’s a photo of some birds standing on the edge of frozen water, doing some fishing. I liked that.

This other photo is of an agujjim restaurant that’s partially made out of an old ship. More about agujjim here -- it's basically a white fish (black angler aka goosefish) with hot pepper, garlic and scallions. I’ve walked by this place a few times. It’s hardly in a prominent spot -- it's down a back alley off a main street that's not all that main. It's also not very well kept and never open, which makes me unsure if I'd be willing to eat the food there. But I always like looking at it, and the other day I decided to take a few photos of it.

I thought the place had maybe closed down, but there were some covered fish tanks in the front that were still being used. I’ve seen a number of restaurants like this in the states…one that stands out in my memory is in Ballard, Seattle, but I can't seem to remember the name.

If this place were serving a dish I liked more I might give it a whirl, but agujjim isn’t one of my favorites. I’ve only eaten it two or three times ever, and I like it, but I find it very overpriced for what it is – bottom feeder fish in spicy sauce.