I had a successful 3rd grade class for once!! Those who wanted to learn came and sat by me and did the lesson and others who I have issues with sat on their phones. When another teacher came in I just looked at her and the kids and went back to the lesson so she could deal with them.I told her last week I couldn't teach them and it was a waste of time and she saw it firsthand when they didn't listen to her either .
I think I've stumbled onto the secret to making Korean food. All these years I thought the key ingredient to an authentic Korean taste was red pepper, or maybe garlic or soy sauce.Nope.It's sesame oil.I'm on another one of my "let's try eating healthy for a change" kicks, so I've been trying to make different variations of vegetarian multigrain rice bibimbap. One of the vegetables I bought to put in it was fresh spinach, but it was a bit weird. I decided to learn to make sigeumchi namul out of it to mix that in instead, and that fit much better. However, since I substituted olive oil for the sesame oil the recipe called for, the sigeumchi namul tasted a bit... wrong. Not bad, mind you, just not authentic.I had soy bean sprouts on hand, so the next day I decided I wanted to learn to make proper kongnamul to add to my bibimbap. Taking the lesson I learned from the sigeumchi namul, I picked up a bottle of sesame oil on the way home from work. I made the kongnamul last night, and holy sh!t, you guys, it tasted right. Not only did the kongnamul taste right, but mixing it into my bibimbap made it taste right, too. For the first time ever, something I cooked myself actually made me think "Whoah, this legit tastes like Korean food." I'm convinced that was thanks in large part to the sesame oil. It's actually kinda sad how stoked I am that I was able to cook two of the simplest korean dishes known to man. Considering I have on more than one occasion managed to f*ck up Kraft mac & cheese, though, I'll allow myself to be pleased with my burgeoning culinary prowess. My last class of the day was cancelled today, and I've spent the past 45 minutes looking up vegetarian korean recipes, haha.
Quote from: Mister Tim on April 11, 2018, 02:48:09 pmI think I've stumbled onto the secret to making Korean food. All these years I thought the key ingredient to an authentic Korean taste was red pepper, or maybe garlic or soy sauce.Nope.It's sesame oil.I'm on another one of my "let's try eating healthy for a change" kicks, so I've been trying to make different variations of vegetarian multigrain rice bibimbap. One of the vegetables I bought to put in it was fresh spinach, but it was a bit weird. I decided to learn to make sigeumchi namul out of it to mix that in instead, and that fit much better. However, since I substituted olive oil for the sesame oil the recipe called for, the sigeumchi namul tasted a bit... wrong. Not bad, mind you, just not authentic.I had soy bean sprouts on hand, so the next day I decided I wanted to learn to make proper kongnamul to add to my bibimbap. Taking the lesson I learned from the sigeumchi namul, I picked up a bottle of sesame oil on the way home from work. I made the kongnamul last night, and holy sh!t, you guys, it tasted right. Not only did the kongnamul taste right, but mixing it into my bibimbap made it taste right, too. For the first time ever, something I cooked myself actually made me think "Whoah, this legit tastes like Korean food." I'm convinced that was thanks in large part to the sesame oil. It's actually kinda sad how stoked I am that I was able to cook two of the simplest korean dishes known to man. Considering I have on more than one occasion managed to f*ck up Kraft mac & cheese, though, I'll allow myself to be pleased with my burgeoning culinary prowess. My last class of the day was cancelled today, and I've spent the past 45 minutes looking up vegetarian korean recipes, haha.Good job! This is true. The sesame oil (sometimes 참기름 sometimes 들기림) is almost universally the main seasoning found in most small side dishes. For the most part, almost everything can get its main flavour from some combination of sesame oil, gochujang, soy sauce, garlic and 된장 in different proportions. But yeah - some blanched veg and sesame oil and a bit of salt almost always tastes pretty decent.
Quote from: Bingsu on April 11, 2018, 02:13:04 pmI had a successful 3rd grade class for once!! Those who wanted to learn came and sat by me and did the lesson and others who I have issues with sat on their phones. When another teacher came in I just looked at her and the kids and went back to the lesson so she could deal with them.I told her last week I couldn't teach them and it was a waste of time and she saw it firsthand when they didn't listen to her either .Take any success you can get It's not worth stressing over the kids who won't even try. Focus on the ones who reciprocate your efforts.
Got off the bus this morning and an ajumma equipped with a large bin full of sandwiches and packs of wet wipes shoved a set at me. I love freebies such as these Another time on my way to class I was gifted with a sandwich accompanied with apple juice. The free food givers are affiliated with some church but I must say that I like their brand of advertising! That's the way to do it!
Quote from: yirj17 on April 12, 2018, 02:03:03 pmGot off the bus this morning and an ajumma equipped with a large bin full of sandwiches and packs of wet wipes shoved a set at me. I love freebies such as these Another time on my way to class I was gifted with a sandwich accompanied with apple juice. The free food givers are affiliated with some church but I must say that I like their brand of advertising! That's the way to do it! Woah, that's the way to go! I would love that, I've only every gotten tissues or water tissues.
Idiom charades is literally the best idea I have ever had as a teacher.My academic high school students laughed so hard they cried, plus they learned a ton of English that they didn't know already (for some reason, even the fluent ones don't know most idioms).That was a very satisfying way to end the work week.
Quote from: Sasstiel on April 13, 2018, 03:04:13 pmIdiom charades is literally the best idea I have ever had as a teacher.My academic high school students laughed so hard they cried, plus they learned a ton of English that they didn't know already (for some reason, even the fluent ones don't know most idioms).That was a very satisfying way to end the work week. Share with me pleease!
Quote from: HaLo3 on April 13, 2018, 10:03:12 amQuote from: yirj17 on April 12, 2018, 02:03:03 pmGot off the bus this morning and an ajumma equipped with a large bin full of sandwiches and packs of wet wipes shoved a set at me. I love freebies such as these Another time on my way to class I was gifted with a sandwich accompanied with apple juice. The free food givers are affiliated with some church but I must say that I like their brand of advertising! That's the way to do it! Woah, that's the way to go! I would love that, I've only every gotten tissues or water tissues.Been in Korea long? Just messing around~~