Tidbits
A few other little items from Korea...
From the intriguing food department:
Coco-grape yogurt. Yes, it's a combination of coconut and grape (not just any grape, but full-fledged Concord grape, like grape soda). And it has little bits of gelatin floating in it, like boba tea does. It sounds totally revolting, but it's actually pretty good.
Persimmon tea. Yum! This is a chilled tea that comes in a little can. It's sweet and has undertones of cinnamon.
Pomegranate juice. Also quite tasty. You can get something like this in the US (called POM), but I think this stuff was sweeter and more intensely flavored.
Clam juice soup. This is a clear broth that is basically like clam juice, served warm with a few green onions and, in fancy restaurants, an open clam submerged in it. It looks deceptively like clear miso soup, but tastes... much clammier.
I also learned how Korean children's ages are counted. When the kid is born, they are already 1 year old. And at the turn of the first new year, they get another year added. One of my contacts just had a baby in December, so by March the kid is already considered to be 2 years old. Of course they keep official track of how old a person is in real time, but this system gives the "traditional" age.
Finally, I saw some really cool interactive floor tiles. They were advertising panels, consisting of a low-quality LCD covered with a thick plastic layer that you could walk over. In fact, some of the content being shown would change as you stepped on the panel, so it was somehow touc sensitive and had a feedback mechanism. I noticed that often the adults just walked over, already well-trained to ignore anything that looked like an ad. But children-- who are closer to the ground anyway-- loved them. Toddlers happily ran around on the panels, laughing with glee that they could make the image change. For example, one was an ad for Coca-Cola that showed bubbles in a glass. The bubbles would move and skitter away from the place you were stepping, so by running around on the panel, you could "herd" the bubbles along.
My friend loved them too, revealing her child-at-heart. She helped the kids play with them. I was reminded of her showing me the video game Dance Dance Revolution five years ago when it was a new phenomenon. I guess she particularly enjoys moving her feet!
Today I moved to Taiwan, where it is gray and drizzly. I was hoping for spring weather, but perhaps this actually fits the bill...
From the intriguing food department:
Coco-grape yogurt. Yes, it's a combination of coconut and grape (not just any grape, but full-fledged Concord grape, like grape soda). And it has little bits of gelatin floating in it, like boba tea does. It sounds totally revolting, but it's actually pretty good.
Persimmon tea. Yum! This is a chilled tea that comes in a little can. It's sweet and has undertones of cinnamon.
Pomegranate juice. Also quite tasty. You can get something like this in the US (called POM), but I think this stuff was sweeter and more intensely flavored.
Clam juice soup. This is a clear broth that is basically like clam juice, served warm with a few green onions and, in fancy restaurants, an open clam submerged in it. It looks deceptively like clear miso soup, but tastes... much clammier.
I also learned how Korean children's ages are counted. When the kid is born, they are already 1 year old. And at the turn of the first new year, they get another year added. One of my contacts just had a baby in December, so by March the kid is already considered to be 2 years old. Of course they keep official track of how old a person is in real time, but this system gives the "traditional" age.
Finally, I saw some really cool interactive floor tiles. They were advertising panels, consisting of a low-quality LCD covered with a thick plastic layer that you could walk over. In fact, some of the content being shown would change as you stepped on the panel, so it was somehow touc sensitive and had a feedback mechanism. I noticed that often the adults just walked over, already well-trained to ignore anything that looked like an ad. But children-- who are closer to the ground anyway-- loved them. Toddlers happily ran around on the panels, laughing with glee that they could make the image change. For example, one was an ad for Coca-Cola that showed bubbles in a glass. The bubbles would move and skitter away from the place you were stepping, so by running around on the panel, you could "herd" the bubbles along.
My friend loved them too, revealing her child-at-heart. She helped the kids play with them. I was reminded of her showing me the video game Dance Dance Revolution five years ago when it was a new phenomenon. I guess she particularly enjoys moving her feet!
Today I moved to Taiwan, where it is gray and drizzly. I was hoping for spring weather, but perhaps this actually fits the bill...
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