Home brewing in OUR Apartment

Bobby loves beer. Since coming to Korea he has become quite passionate about it. Not only drinking and tasting the infinite possibility of flavors from well crafted beers, but also a love for brewing his own beer. It is no shock to me that Bobby would like and be good at making his own beers. He has always been great at cooking and making me delicious drinks (with and without alcohol).

When we first thought about brewing our own beer we were certain it was unfeasible in our small apartment in a country where there aren't neighborhood homebrew supply stores-we would have to wait almost a year until we were back in the States. But then we found a home brew forum for Busan. Then we found people who home brew here. Then Bobby started being an assistant brewer. Then Bobby got the wild hair and wanted to figure out a way to do his own home brew.

There were a few things I was concerned with before we got started. First of all, during the brewing process the beer needs to be kept at a certain temperature. If I remember correctly, last summer our apartment felt like a sauna and we were constantly sweating. Additionally, I didn't want to invest too much money in a system that we would only get to use a few times.

Thanks to some of the extremely nice people we have met through the local home brew community, we were set up with all basics to get started. Although bordering on experimentally minimal, we gathered all ingredients and equipment for virtually no cost! Yes, it may be somewhat "ghetto" to put our hops in laundry bags or ferment in a Kimchi fermentor, but it worked out so well.

Our first batch of beer in our apartment went smoothly. We were worried about the warm temperatures, but it has been fine...so far.

Last weekend About a month ago, a friend came over to help Bobby bottle his first batch of beer.. and yes, we reused water bottles we had. We didn't have the proper hose with a lever on it to control the beer to come out from the fermentor to the bottles.. so Bobby took a shot of tequila to sanitize his mouth and siphoned it himself.

We were "suppose" to wait a few weeks before we opened a bottle to try out. During these few weeks the beer conditions and creates the carbonation. But we noticed the carbonation started really fast... and we (mostly Bobby) were really impatient. We tried our first beer less than 24 hours later and our thoughts were...

I think you can get the answer from his face... that is some tasty beer!

Even though the ingredients were really simple, it was fantastic. No bugs, no weird tastes. Its hard to beat fresh home brew, especially in the beer wasteland we currently live in.
 It was a successful first batch.

The next day, Bobby had another wild hair and decided to brew a second batch. This time a far more inspired and complex Wheat Ginger Beer (I love ginger!) As I sit here typing, beer #2 is sitting right in front of our blasted AC to get it as cool as possible and once Bobby is home tonight we will add the yeast.

Bobby even has even started some hard apple cider (my new favorite). This will have to sit for months and months before it will be ready to drink(unless we are impatient again).

Bobby had also found a kombucha starter here in Korea.. and we have made two batches already. YUMM.

Sounds like we will be drinking good for the next few months!

I am so proud of Bobby for following his passion and is making things happen!

Cheers!

The Monsoon Season has Arrived.

Now that we have been in Korea for over a year, we like to think we now know what to expect this year, weather wise. All year (besides summer) it BARELY rains here, but as soon as June comes around we have weeks and week straight of rain, thunderstorms, and extremely humid weather. 

Yes we are from the Pacific Northwest.. and yes that area get lots of rain... but not rain like monsoon rain. This rain is so heavy you can't even see in front of you while you are walking. Last weekend  Three or four weeks ago (jeez it took me along time to post this.. sorry!) when we were trying to find our way to a new restaurant it was one of THOSE kinds of rains. I swear it was raining harder each step.. and again unlike the northwest, when it rains here it is extremely humid. It took us a few weeks to realize that when we looked outside and it was raining we definitely didn't need to wear pants or a long sleeve shirt because it was too damn hot for that.

Everyone in Korea knows that when it is rainy it is the perfect time to eat pajeon and makoglie. Last weekend Three weeks ago, it was pouring rain so we decided to get together with Tyler and Natalie (our friends from Seattle who are teaching in the same city as us) to check out a new makoglie restaurant that is hidden in some small backstreets in Seomyeon. This is the type of restaurant that only Koreans know about. You won't see too many foreigners here.. and actually we got lots of looks from other Koreas when we were walking here since they never see "white peeps" in that area. 

The milk looking liquid in that bowl is makoglie. It's actually really easy to make at home, so maybe we can make you some on a rainy day when we are back in the States! The red circle is a kimchi pajeon, which is a sort of savory pancake. I love the kimchi one rather than the pajeon with only green onion. The last picture is traditional bimpbimbop. 

So far the rain hasn't been too bad. We had a few weeks were it rained ALL WEEK, but there were some sunny hours during the weekends where we were able to run to the beach to catch some rays. Last year, our school closed a few times due to typhoons, so we will see what is in store for us this year. Despite the harsh weather, we do live in a city with 3.6 MILLION people in it, there's bound to be something to do when its raining.

365 Days & Counting!

Wow, it has been almost a month since our last blog post. Sorry! We have been really busy, but not with post worthy things. We have had tons of work at school: overtime, report cards for all the kinder and afternoon kids, speaking tests, speaking contests and working during the weekend. Bobby has been hustling his foot in the door with brewing and has done his FIRST HOMEBREW on his own, in our apartment (more on that here). Overall, we have just been busy doing our normal everyday things (teaching/eating/sleeping).

This week is special. Bobby and I have spent one year living and teaching in Korea! This has been the most eye opening, influential, inspiring, challenging, forgein, enjoyable, and life changing adventure of our lives. Unlike most teachers here in Korea, we signed a 19 month contract. No one we have ever talked to here has heard of anything besides 12 months. Lucky for us, we are very happy with our circumstances! While most teachers are packing up there things and ready to move on to new experiences, we are happy to be here for another 8 months. We get to enjoy another beautiful summer and fall here (and then suck it up through another cold winter) before we will have to think about packing up our things and moving on to OUR next adventure.

There are so many things we still want to experience before we leave: a makgeolli making class, learning to make a few of our favorite Korean dishes, exploring more of the country side and other cities, hiking, visiting more temples, eating at new restaurants,  and spending more time with all the people we have met and become so close with over here (all while Bobby continues his mad scientist brewing).

I remember the day we arrived in Korea. We missed our flight from Seoul to Busan so we had to stay in a love motel that was near the Seoul Airport. The hotel gave us a small bag with soap, two shower caps, ten condoms, and one toothbrush (you do the math). The next morning we took the first flight out of Seoul to Busan and met two of our co-teachers at the airport. We all crammed into a cab (our luggage taking up most of the room) and rushed to our school to meet the rest of our staff. Then they told us we are going to lunch. I remember staring out that window the way a child stares out the window the first time they go to a city. I was soaking in all the new buildings, the signs I couldn't read, and watching the well-dressed Korean men and women going about their lives. The taxi weaved through small streets overran by people. Everywhere I looked there were tall buildings and bright lights.  I had no idea where I was or how far away I was from our school/apartment. Our co-teachers (Kate and Brian, both Korean) took us to a Korean BBQ restaurant for our first meal in Korea. They brought out tons of small plates with little side dishes in them like cucumber, soy bean threads, tofu, and kimchi. I remember Kate made a comment about how badly she wished they could order beer, but she didn't want us to get in trouble at work. The food was wonderful compared to the airplane and convenience store food we had been consuming for days. It was also nice to get to know Kate and Brain.

It took us about 4 or 5 months to find that place again. It turns out it is only a five minute walk from our apartment in Seomyeon, the downtown area of Busan that is a five minute walk from our apartment. We had actually walked past this restaurant many times until one day I realized it was the same one Kate and Brain took us too! We ended up going back a few times and even brought Woody and Kyoko there when they visited (more on that here)

We figured we HAD TO go back to this place on our 1 year mark in Korea. We invited a few of our Korean/American co-teachers/friends to come with us. We tried a new style of marinated beef (which was much more expensive, 26,000 won VS 8,000 won PER PERSON) and had a few bottles of soju
(a traditional drink to have while eating BBQ). Like always, it was delicious!

We are so happy to be living abroad. It has always be our dream to travel and see the world.  It is such an amazing opportunity to not only travel to other countries, but also to have the experience to live and work in one. It has shown me things that would not be possible if I were just visiting. This has been a year of my life I wouldn't trade for anything.

HAPPY ONE YEAR to us living in Korea.