Category: Tuesdays With Trish

Tuesdays With Trish - Flying Pan Blue

1/10/2014

How many times have I blogged about this place?
FOUR.
This makes five.
This means you should go.
If I write about a place 5 times, you know it is good.
Consistently good.

To get there:
From post
Go out the Itaewon Gate
Cross into Itaewon
Walk on the left side of the street
Pass the Hamilton Hotel
The very next alley turn LEFT
Right past my Thai
This is what it looks like:

As I have said before, this place is a bit pricy, but totally worth it - especially for Korea!

Chicken & avocado salad with toast
Poached chicken breast mixed with nuts, dried fruit and sour cream
17,000 won

Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon, sauteed spinach and potatoes
Around 18,000 won (I don't remember the exact price)

Sweet potato, fig & bacon sandwich
Sweet potatoes, cinnamon caramelized fig, bacon, mixed cheese
It also comes with a small side salad
I'm drooling writing about it - I LOVED every little bite of this sandwich
15,000 won

And we can't forget the caramel macchiato
Oh how I LOVE their caramel macchiato...
Around 6,000 won

It was a heavenly dessert and we should have stopped there.....

But we didn't.
Next up:
Blueberry crepes

...and then we dove fork first into the banana bread. This bread doesn't look like much, but I have to tell you somehow they mastered the homemade banana bread - yes, in Korea. I would have never ordered it, but they put 3 loaves at the end of our table to cool and I just couldn't get over the smell. I had to have some. And boy was it worth it. My mouth is watering just thinking about it, and we ate here months ago.

It's obvious by these plates that we thought dessert was well worth it....
...and this was before someone licked the plates clean. Not really. OK, maybe.

A great lunch with great friends.

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Tuesdays with Trish - Chicken and Beer!

11/22/2013

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Fried chicken has always been one of my favorites. I loved those nights when mom would stand over the stove for hours frying up chicken in her big ol' cast iron skillet. OR on Sunday after church when everyone would come over and we would stop at Grandy's Fried Chicken on the way home. There was nothing like it.

UNTIL Korea.
Koreans LOVE their chicken.
But you can't just have chicken here, you have to have beer with it here too.
Who knew?
OH, and Korean Fried chicken is THE BOMB!!
True story. Again....who knew?
I might even like it better than mom's fried chicken, but please don't tell her I said that. Wait a minute, she would probably like that. I can't imagine she enjoyed standing over that hot stove cooking fried chicken for hours. On second thought go ahead and tell her.

For lunch bunch several weeks ago we went out for Chicken and Beer. The place we were going to go was closed for some reason or another, so we walked around just a bit and found this place. Kang Jung Box.

Not quite a cast iron skillet....and much less oil. :o)

We ordered several different types of chicken. My favorite type here is the spicy soy/garlic. With a Cass beer of course.

My mouth is watering....I think Chicken and beer is going to be in our near future....

Regular fried chicken and some shrimp on the side for good measure.
Notice that they cut their chicken up differently. They cut breast into at least 3 pieces.

We filled up this tiny restaurant!

To drive here from post:
Exit Commissary gate - turn left
Stay right - Turn right onto Itaewon Street
Turn left on Daesagwan-ro - this street has a light.
(You will be going through a street with many lights and lots of people walking - near Hannam Village)
Kang Jung Box will be on your right hand side just before the crazy 4 way stop....
(Sorry, that is the best I can do on directions.)

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Tuesdays With Trish - Grano Italian Restaurant

10/12/2013

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There are some days that are just WAY more fun than others, this was one of those days.
I got an extra ab work out because we laughed so much on our journey to Grano's Italian restaurant.
On this rainy, rainy day Jerri was our leader.
We were accompanied by our new pals Thunder and Lightening.
Umbrellas were involved of course and we were fearful we might be conductors for the lightening.
Lightening is somewhat rare here in Korea.

Once exiting the subway you still have about a 10 minute walk to get to Grano's.
We discussed jumping in a taxi but decided to hoof it instead.
In the rain.
Our pals Thunder and Lightening had not made an appearance as of yet.
Then the rain REALLY started coming down.
You know that Korean sideways, knock you over type rain.
Yeah, that rain.
Then our friend Thunder BOOMED right beside us.
Our umbrellas weren't helping much.
We were wet from our waist down.
Then Lightening made an appearance.
And another, and another.
Jerri ask us to tell her family she loved them and she was sorry she was being so careless all for good Italian food.

In the end we made it.
Soaking wet, but alive.

See, we clean up pretty well.

During our adventurous trip Jerri was a little nervous, hoping it was 'worth' it and that we not be disappointed after we all risk our lives to get here.

They had me at 'black truffle pesto'.

The prices were a bit more than we like to pay for a lunch out with friends, but oh baby it was SO WORTH IT!!!
I had the sea bass, served on a bed of spinach, tomatoes and some sort of scrumptious sauce.
Typically I would never order sea bass because most people don't cook it properly and I'm always disappointed.
NOT TODAY! The chef cooked it to perfection - it was melt in my mouth deliciousness.

The Alfredo was divine.
And the spicy eggplant pasta dish was a little slice of heaven.
It was a win, win all the way around.
(except for my pictures - I had a rough photography day. I blame it on the rain.)

The desserts were just OK.
I would not order the cannoli again.
The tiramisu was just OK, nothing to write home about.
We also had cheese cake.

Personally, I would skip the dessert and just go with wine. We did have a little mix up when it came to the wine... the waiter told us the wine was 6,000 won per glass, which we were SHOCKED about and we questioned him a couple of times about, but he continued to say 6,000 won. In reality it was 16,000 won. We should have known better. At least it was good wine. :o)

Remember the rain?
There was so much they had to use a snow shovel to remove it.

Thank goodness the trip home was not as eventful as the trip to Grano.

I apologize, I cannot give you directions to Grano.
However I can give you the address.

Just jump in a cab and give this information to your cab driver:

645-1 Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
(02) 540-7330, 8330;

Reservations are not required, but encouraged.

Hours:
Daily
11:30AM - 2:30PM
5:30PM - 2AM - last food order 10:30PM

PS...and this place is pricy. Expect to pay no less than 50,000 won per person.

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Tuesdays With Trish - Bulgogi and Squid Restaurant Near Hannam Village

8/22/2013

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As most of you know I drive a 'hooptie' over here. If you unfamiliar with what a hooptie is click here and check it out.
Anyway, if you go back to that old post I said we got a 'great deal'. HAHAHAHA! I'm cracking up over that one...but OK, if this car will last us for another 10 months I'm still insisting we got a good deal. :o)

Aren't my friends pretty? Wonder what they are up to? Well the back seat of my 'hooptie' is broken. Stuck. The seat won't lift up. They are sitting on top of the folded down seat and yes, we are driving out into the world's 3rd largest city to go to lunch. You think we are crazy? Well maybe, but they had a choice, drive in Korea or let Trishie drive and sit in an unsafe car. This was their choice. And they are happy about it. And we all lived to tell the tale.

Now on to our lunch story:
This is where we had lunch.
We don't know the name of it.
Heck, we didn't even know where we were going.
Diane was a fearless leader.
She told me where to go.
But check it out....see that van?
That is my van.
That is valet parking.
I parked the car myself.
I gave the 'valet' my key.
When we were done I gave him 2,000 won.
He gave my key back to me.
Valet parking at its finest.

Upon entry we saw the drink cooler.
Marci eyeballed this Plum Wine.
We had to drink it because....well....really, who would not want to be seduced into softness?

Ready to be seduced.

WOW.....seduced into softness.
Maybe not.
I made that face....you know the one.
The one that after you have tasted something so bad you gag a little.
Yeah that one.

Give me a bowl of makkoli any day.
Michelle made the face with the Makkoli.
(Don't worry, I only had a few sips - I was driving remember!)

We had a dish that is bulgogi and squid in a spicy sauce with all this yummy goodness on top.
As with many Korean restaurants you cook your own food.
I've got to tell you, I LOVED this restaurant.
The food was amazing.
Perfect amount of spice for me.
Some of the other girls weren't huge fans, but only because they are new to Korea and they don't like seafood.
We should have ordered the plain bulgogi for the newbies.

When you are almost done and there is just a little bit of goodness left in the bottom of your cooking pan, they make fried rice out of the leftovers. The lady comes over tosses in the rice and all the left over goodies from your table and you cook it up. YUM, YUM, YUM!

From what I understand this little hole in the wall is a pretty famous for the dish we ate. There are signatures all over the walls and from what I was told these are signatures of famous Koreans.

To drive here from post:
Exit Commissary gate - turn left
Stay right - Turn right onto Itaewon Street
Turn left on Daesagwan-ro - this street has a light.
(You will be going through a street with many lights and lots of people walking - near Hannam Village)
At the light pretty far down just before you come to the big intersection (Daesagwan-ro) turn left a - it's kind of a crazy light - I think it is just flashing, maybe not even a light at all - but more of a 4 way stop.
The restaurant is on your right just a few stores down.
Park on the street in front of the restaurant.

Good luck!!

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Tuesdays With Trish - Foody Goody

8/14/2013

8 Comments

Kat was our fearless leader for this Tuesday with Trish outing. I have heard many people talk about Foody Goody, but I had never been. The name threw me off. Foody Goody? Really? That just doesn't scream good Koeran Galbi to me. However I must give it up, Foody Goody didn't disappoint and it is just a short walk out the Camp Coiner DRIVE out gate (not to be confused with the Camp Coiner walk out gate).

Walk out, take a left at the intersection you can cross the street at a diagonal, do that.
Foody Goody is on your right hand side not too far down BUT it looks like you are going into a parking garage - because you are (see 1st picture below). There is an attendant and he will steer you ro the right where you go into the building (second picture) and go up the stairs to the 2nd floor.

Plus I LOVE these little rooms, although we didn't get to sit in one. Next time I will make a reservation for one of the rooms!

Another little thing I love are theses little inflatable hand towels. (Little things make me happy!) First they start off all hard and flat then you just add water and voilà - there they are nice big puffy hand towels! (Well, big and fluffy to Korea standards anyway!)

Something I never tire of seeing at Korean restaurants....
I'm pretty sure this isn't safe to US standards, but I LOVE it!

Foody Goody should be called Foody Yummy!

I mean check out all the sides you get! AND, they aren't even all pictured.

This side of octopus was my favorite...I ate 2 helpings myself and the girls were more than happy to give it all to me. It was a win-win all the way around!

Good time with good friends!

BUT....we didn't stop there! After lunch Kat took us out to explore the neighborhood.
So, continue walking in the direction you were going when you went to Foody Goody.
Walk, walk, walk till you come to a pretty big (but not too big) intersection and turn left ( you will see all kinds of activity on this street) and commence shopping! This is a quaint little neighborhood market street where you can get all kinds of goodies from plants to toiletries to food - I saw 2 butcher shops and a bakery and couple of food markets like the one pictures below to all kinds of cute little cafes.

Just a cool building.

I'm so in love with this plant. I should have bought it.

Street food....If I weren't so full one of those sticks of fish cake goodness would have been mine.

And then we found it...the gem of all gems, this sweet little coffee shop.
OH MY GOODNESS...I'm in LOVE with it!
I can't wait to take my MIL here when she comes to Korea this fall!

It looks tiny, and it is - BUT it has this super cool little upstairs area where you can sit by the windown and people watch!

And this was the icing on the cake.
READ IT.
Totally Korea.
I love it!

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Tuesdays With Trish - Campkah or Samarikant - Russian or Uzbek - I'm so Confused.

7/16/2013

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Sometimes we just have WAY too much fun!
Kelly (blue shirt) was our fearless leader for this lunch bunch.

She took us to what I thought was called Campkah. I mean look at the sign below. Wouldn't you think that is the name of the place? But no - if you do a search you will realized that the real name is Samarikant. If that isn't confusing enough for this North Texas girl....the food is Uzbek. Really? I thought it was Russian. I had to Google Uzbekistan. I'm sorry if that just made me look less intelligent, but really, I am lost. SO what I have learned is that Uzbekistan is located in Central Asia, south of Russia. It shares most of its borders with Kazakhstan.Uzbekistan is in Central Asia, north of Turkmenistan, south of Kazakhstan. Are we clear now? That is the food I ate on this day. I'm still not sure of everything I ate, but I was VERY happy with the end result. Oh and Kelly used to live in Mongolia....that is why she picked this restaurant. (WHAT?!?!)

To my delight they had amazing Russian vodka at super low prices!! The bottles were only 10,000 won each. Of course since we were here we had to partake in Russian/Uzbek (still super confused) tradition and share a bottle. We also tried the beer. I like how they number their beers. 9, 7, 6 & 3. 3, a lager was my favorite. One of those was a dark beer which I tried and liked & was totally shocked that I liked it because on a normal day I do not like dark beer. Maybe it was the vodka?

After the vodka we considered smoking the hookah pipe, (you know - when in Rome, or Russia or Uzbekistan...) but in the end decided against it and we just forced Kelly to pose for a picture. :o)

I'm not really sure what all the foods are in the next pictures, but I can tell you that as I am writing and looking at these pictures my mouth is watering. The food really was delicious. Most of the food items have lamb in them, but if you don't know what you are eating you will devour it and not even know you just ate lamb...just ask the 2 girls at the table that "don't eat lamb". They had no idea and only freaked out AFTER we told them what they ate.

I do have to make a special mention about the kababs. HOLY GOODNESS. Best kebabs I have ever eaten! We ordered lamb and chicken. I thought the lamb was good...totally tender,amazing flavor and just totally goodness all the way around. BUT THEN I tried the chicken kebabs.....totally blew the lamb kebabs OUT OF THE WATER! They were so moist that the juice would squirt out as you took a bite. They were tender, juicy and just melted in your mouth. If you go make sure you order the chicken kebabs!

To get there:
Dongdaemun History and Culture Park Station (you can get there using subway lines 2, 4 or 5!)
Take Exit 5.
Go right and turn left at the intersection at Mareunnae-ro Street.
Go straight a few steps and you will see a very small alley - turn right down this alley!!
Do you see it??? There is a car in the alley....easy to miss right between megobuks and that orange sign.

Go straight until you come upon the restaurant.
If they make you go into a different restaurant, don't worry, they own them all.

Address - Gwanghee-Dong-1-ga 162 Jungu-Seoul
Phone - 02 2277 4261
Price - starters W2000, mains W10,000
Hours - 9am-midnight

Happy eating!

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Tuesday's With Trish - Yum Thai - Sinsa Area

6/24/2013

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If you have been following me for a while you know how much I LOVED Yum Thai when we ate here a few months ago. In fact, I have dubbed it as my FAVORITE Thai restaurant in Korea and that is why I felt I really needed to share this hidden gem with the gals in the lunch bunch! After lunch today I am sticking by my decision - Yum Thai is my favorite Thai restaurant in Seoul. I might even go as far as to say that the Sinsa area is my new favorite area in Seoul.
If you know of a better Thai restaurant in Seoul, please feel free to leave a message in the comments section and tell me all about it - and include directions!

For newbies to Korea it might seem a little odd that they (almost all restaurants in Korea/Asia) deliver food when it is done...servers don't wait till everyone's order is ready. They bring it out piping hot and ready to eat. I kind of like it like this. It was a hard transition though as I have always waited till everyone has their food to eat...however, I try to embrace the culture I am living in....like eating when the food comes out, no tipping your food servers or anyone else for that matter and moving people out of my way when in a congested area. I really like that one. Put hands on hips an scoot them over - and NO ONE GETS MAD! How awesome is that?!

I tried to snap as many pictures as I could before everyone started diving into their food. Some I tried, come I didn't.

Fresh Spring Rolls - if you like spring rolls, you will love these!

Yummy Thai Chicken Wings they always come out piping hot so you have to wait a little while to eat them or you burn the top of your mouth. I know this from experience.

Pad Thai - I'm not a fan of Pad Thai in general so I did not try this, but it looks good! :o)

Spicy Beef Salad is my all-time FAVORITE Thai dish. I could eat it every day. At Yum Thai I order it American Spicy and it has just the right amount of heat for me. Follow it down with a nice cold Singha and pretend you have sand between your toes and you almost feel like you are in Thailand....

Green Curry with Chicken. A little bit of Thai heaven.

Cashew Chicken. WOW. This could rival the Spicy Beef Salad. My friend ordered this, I had a bite and then I ordered one to go! My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Both times I have eaten here I have LOVED it. I wish it were closer OR that they would hurry up and open the new subway line so that Sinsa is only 1 stop from my house with NO line changes. Does anyone know when they are opening the new line?

Anyway....while having dinner I ask the manager/owner maybe (?) if I could have the Singha sign behind their beer tap. He said yes, but I just thought it was one of those Korean type yes'...you know when they tell you yes because they don't like to say no. (And I thought maybe he just wanted to shut me up...) But when I got ready to leave he went and got the sign and gave it to me!! I'm so excited! Hubby loves his new sign (Singha is our favorite beer)! Yum Thai, this just sealed the deal. You have a customer for as long as I live here and I will continue to spread the word!

To get there by subway:
Line 3 Sinsa Station - Exit 1
Walk straight for 4 blocks (I'm counting all cross streets as blocks!)
After the 4th street look to your right and you will see Yum Thai on your right.
(A big tower name J-Tower is on the left side of the street directly across from Yum Thai.)

02-594-7988
They accept reservations & they speak English

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Tuesdays With Trish ~ Pancake Story

6/18/2013

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This past week we went to A Pancake Story, a cute little pancake story.
I love the atmosphere.

I love sitting outside with the ladies.

And I love watching the hussle and bustle of this cute little kitchen & the staff of 3.

Plus, they know me so well:

A Pancake Story is a tiny little cafe Hannam-dong that can hold maybe 20 customers when the patio is open! In April of 2010 10 Magazine ranked them as the #1 place in Seoul for brunch so I was excited to head out and try them. However I need to learn to lower my expectations. This place was good, but not someplace I would RAVE about or even go back to when there are so many other places in the city that are way better....like Bim Bom, which is only 2 or 3 doors down.

YUMMY cinnamon apples & bananas on top of plain pancakes:

Crispy nut pancakes with chocolate chips. Jennifer ordered this and her review on Facebook was: (taken with her permission)

"Gave a Pancake Story a try today in Hannam-dong . Cute place, great company, but the food did not make my taste buds do back flips. The pancakes needed vanilla and the nuts (stuffed) needed to either be slightly candied or the peanuts swapped for pecans. Thank goodness they allowed some chocolate chips to be added. :) I also had two over medium eggs, they were just eggs nothing fancy. The peach iced tea was tasty."

As for me, I ordered cream cheese and mozzarella pancakes (for 7,300 won), a side salad (I don't' know how much it was) and 2 eggs (2,000 won) over medium. Personally I was highly disappointed. The salad was lettuce a cherry tomato and a few sprouts - I ordered the dressing on the side - look at the picture. The eggs were cooked over HARD not over medium and the pancakes were a total disappointment. If you want cream cheese and mozzarella pancakes, which I think everyone should try at least once I recommend going to Butterfinger Pancake and have theirs!

I'm glad I tried A Pancake Story & it wasn't bad, but it's not in my top 10 either.

To drive here from post:
Exit Commissary gate - turn left
Stay right - Turn right onto Itaewon Street
Turn left on Daesagwan-ro - this street has a light.
(You will be going through a street with many lights and lots of people
walking - near Hannam Village)
Come to the end of the street and turn
left onto Dokeseodang-ro (you will go under a highway of sorts-
Hannam-daero and straight across)
Right after you go under Hannam-daero A Pancake Story will be on your left side on the corner.
We parked across the street under the big office building.
(Where Dr. Sung's office is located.)

02-794-0508
9AM-10PM M-F
Holidays & Saturdays 9AM-4Pm
They are Closed on Sunday!

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Tuesdays With Trish - Trevia!

6/16/2013

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A few weeks ago the girls and I went to Trevia in Itaewon-dong.
Not the main street in Itaewon, but closer to the Noksapyung Subway station.
OR out the Kimchi Pot Gate.

I have a couple of friends that just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this place.

It is a quaint little place...they have coffee, beer, wine and all kinds of pizza!
And their presentation is very nice!

This sweet potato pizza was very unique.

Below:
Pizza slice at top: 4 cheese pizza - 4 different types of cheese, but in the four corners (scratching head on that one!) Middle: pretty good, mushroom pizza and bottom: margarita pizza - seems to be missing a few things.

I'm glad I tried Trevia, but for a good slice of traditional pizza I would much rather go to my favorite pizza place - Pizza Peel!

To get there:
From the Kimchi Pot Gate:
Exit and take a right.
Go down and cross the street.
Come out on the right exit and walk just a few feet and you will see Trevia on your left.

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Tuesday's With Trish - Omega 3 Samgyetang

5/20/2013

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A few of the girls and I have started a 'lunch bunch' on Tuesdays.
One day a week where we get together with no kids, eat a (hopefully) delicious lunch and share all the things that are going on in our lives (the awesome, the good, the bad and the ugly).
There are a few rules and it seems I am breaking one of them right now....
"What happens in lunch bunch stays in lunch bunch".
I just can't help sharing.
It is who I am.

I had been dying to try Samgyetang even though I didn't really expect to like it.
Samgyetang translates to "'ginseng chicken soup".
Hubby was glad I took the 'Lunch Bunch' because he was afraid I was going to make him tag along. :o)

In Korean culture it is believed that this soup can prevent illness.
Samgyetang is traditionally eaten during the summer months to replace nutrients lost through excessive sweating.

However you can eat it any time of the year as there are restaurants dedicated only to Samgyetang (like the one we went to) and since I really don't want to eat this hot dish during the heat of the summer so we tried it towards the end of winter.

The lady that worked at the restaurant wanted to make sure I got a picture of the ginseng. I was glad she did because sometime workers can be put off by all my picture taking. :o)

Nice restaurant for Korea!

My friend Julie is new to the peninsula, and was pretty impressed by the silverware in the drawer of the table (as we all are the first time we encounter it!). Kris, AKA Vanna showing us the drawer. Love these girls!

And here it is!
The star of the show...
Samgyetang!

What did I think?
Well, it was WAY better than what I expected! The ginseng wasn't too strong and the broth was a bit like chicken and dumplings broth. Kind of simple. I liked it. It is not something I would have weekly or monthly, but give me a cold day in winter and I might just find myself heading back over to Omega 3.

Plus you get a wishbone and that's just cool.

How to get there:
(I only know how to drive there.)
Leave from Visitors Center gate 13 - turn right and get in the right hand lane.
Take the first right (at the light) and go over the railroad tracks. Stay in the left lane.
At the first light make a left.
At the first right make a right.
Go until you see a small 4 way intersection - look across the street to the left and you will see Omega 3 Samgyetang restaurant on the bottom floor.
Park in the lot.
I didn't pay for parking - I don't think you have to as many people were helping me park and unpark. :o)
The outside of Omega 3 looks like this:

Omega 3 Samgyetang
02-790-7555
302-90 Ichon 1 (il)-dong (17 Ichon-ro 54-gil)

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“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you
did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
― Maya Angelou

Author

Hi, I'm Trish, the writer, creator and photographer of this blog. I started this blog for 2 reasons, 1 - When I found out we were moving to Korea back in 2008 I was a little freaked out and started scouring the internet for information on Korea. At that time there wasn't much out there so I am doing my part in helping families across the world not be so freaked out when it comes time to move to Korea. The 2nd reason I started this blog was to help stay connected to family members back in the states. Today it is so much more that.
I hope you enjoy our journey.

Are you moving to Korea? Do you have questions, concerns? Are you freaking out? Freak out no further - click the button to ask a question. I'll do my best to answer open and honestly.

Moving to Korea?

Tuesdays With Trish - Flying Pan Blue

Tuesdays with Trish - Chicken and Beer!

Tuesdays With Trish - Grano Italian Restaurant

Tuesdays With Trish - Bulgogi and Squid Restaurant Near Hannam Village

Tuesdays With Trish - Foody Goody

Tuesdays With Trish - Campkah or Samarikant - Russian or Uzbek - I'm so Confused.

Tuesday's With Trish - Yum Thai - Sinsa Area

Tuesdays With Trish ~ Pancake Story

Tuesdays With Trish - Trevia!

Tuesday's With Trish - Omega 3 Samgyetang

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