Aka Aurora's Tales

As an Ibuzz Korea members, I always get a newsletter from Ibuzz Korea about events which are going to be held. This time, I got an invitation to attend 2013 Ibuzz Korea Award in Seoul on November 20th, 2013 in Fradia Convention Hall, Jamwon, Seoul. It was a special invitation, so only 300 members got the invitation. The aim of this event is appreciating all of the bloggers and videologgers who shared their writing / video about Korea in the Ibuzz Korea page. Since they spread about Korean cultures widely to the entire world, so they are worth for this kind of award. Beside the awarding event, there were live stage performances from ZE:A and Dalshabet. There was a lucky draw and games too.

Well, let's start from the beginning of the story !

The event venue was at the Fradia Convention Hall, Jamwon, Seoul. I headed from Myeongdong station to Jamwon station. I went out of the Exit 1 and I found a standing banner of Ibuzz Korea which led me to an Ibuzz Korea shuttle bus. This shuttle bus run every 10 minutes to pick the lucky members up and drive them to the event venue. In the bus, I didn't only meet Korean, but also a lot of foreigners. Around 5 minutes, I arrived at Fradia.

2013 Ibuzz Korea Award Banner

We walked at the red carpet like celebrities do and got our photo taken by a photographer who was standby in front of the main door. Once I got into the lobby, one of the staff asked my email address and she checked it on her computer. Then I got my hand band and a light stick.

The  hand band

The light stick

Then she told me that I could go around of the venue. First, I visited a room with a big 3D screen. They played a video about Korean cultures. I borrow eda 3D glasses to watch the video. After watching the videos, I took a picture of myself with Buzz Korea banner as my background.

The big 3D Screen which plays Korean cultures video

2013 Ibuzz Korea Award banner

I headed to the 2nd floor to see other things which were available at the venue. On the 2nd floor, there were some Korea zones, sucs as Korean Foods Zone, K-Pop Zone, Korean Games Zone, etc. I passed by the Welcome Drink Zone where people could drink water, juice, soft drinks, even wine ! I got my orange juice and definitely headed to the Korean Foods zone. I was hungry, though. Hahaha. My eyes and myself couldn't believe that the foods were sooooooo many. I queued and took some of my favorite Korean foods. I took Bibimbab ( sponsored by Bibigo ), bulgogi ( Korean beef dish ), Haemul Pajeon ( Seafood pancake ), Chicken Gangjong ( Sweet and Hot Chicken ), and vegetables salad with olive oil. Those foods were soooooo good !!! Unfortunately I couldn't take the dessert, I was too full. But I could see there were assorted cakes, such as red velvet cake, chocolate cake, cheese cake , then puddings, cookies, and even macaroons.

Korean foods at the Korean Foods Zone

While eating and chitchatting, people could listen to their favorite K-pop songs in the K-Pop Zone. There were some tables with 4-5 headphones and iPods each. Well I tried it, of course.

K-Pop Zone

At 5:30PM, the event was started. Ricky Kim, as an MC, went on the stage then greeted all of the audiences. I couldn't see his face because my table was quite far from the stage and the lighting against my view. Ricky asked the Korean Tourism Organization leader to give a speech as a welcoming speech for all of the audiences who came. He delivered his speech in English so everybody could understand what he said well.



And here's the full rundown for 2013 Ibuzz Korea Award event :


After the speech, this is what people waited for. Yup, stage live performance of Dalshabet, one of the most famous Korean girlband ! I am familiar with some of their songs since I'm an ultimate viewer of Inkigayo or M Countdown hahahaha

After the performances, Dalshabet had some giveaways for the lucky participants. So they picked 3 message cards which were written by all of the participants before the event was started. Unfortunately, I'm never lucky enough. They gave 3 signed CDs and also a chance to take a picture together and shake hands. After Dalshabet's performances, here the awarding event began. There are some categories, such as Blog of The Year, Video of The Year, Buzz of The Year, and K-Spot of The Year. All of the prizes were handed in by the Korean Tourism Organization President. Congratulations for all of the winners!










Surprisingly, there was a lucky draw event too! And the prizes were so tempting. The main prize was a jacket which was a private collection of one of the ZE:A members. The lucky participant who got it was a girl next to my table. Ah, really I was not lucky~~~ :(  Then, it's time for ZE:A ! ZE:a minus Kwanghee performed 4 of their numbers and they were quite interactive o the audiences. Most of the members can speak English well too. What a surprise! ^^ People were cheering on them and even hysterically screaming to them.

ZE:A

Directions

Dongguk Univ. Station (Seoul Subway Line 3), Exit 5. Go 110m forward, and go past the Jangchung Gym (장충체육관). Turn right, and go 60m forward to arrive at the Shilla Duty Free Shop

[ TOUCH KOREA EVENT ]

Hallyu wave is really spreading to all over the world. Not only for K-pop and K-drama, but also the culture, foods, fashion, until in trading. Who don't know about Korea now ? Many Korean companies, restaurants, cultural centers are spreading in almost every country in this world, include of Indonesia.

Now also, Korean food is becoming a trend for culinary lovers in Indonesia. We can find many restaurants or food stalls at the mall which serve Korean foods. But you know what, mostly Indonesian just knows about bulgogi, bibimbab, kimbab, and tteokbokki. Yeah I know because not many Korean restaurant serve many kind of Korean foods. Korean food is not only Bulgogi and the others that I mentioned above. If you have a chance to visit Korea, why don't you try to try those 3 delicious Korean foods ? Or if you want, you can try to make this at home.

Let's sort what Korean foods that I choose !


1. Sinseollo ( 신설러 / 열구자탕 )

Have you ever watched ' Boys Over Flower ' or 꽃보다 남자 , a Korean drama which was so popular in 2009 ? One of the scene there appeared Mr. Lee Jung Gil , who became Yoon Seok Young ( Yoon Ji Hoo's grandfather ) ate Sinseollo.

Sinseollo is actually a Korean royal court cuisine. Usually it is served for the King / President or for the royal family in Korea. Sinseollo is such a casserole which contain various of meats, vegetables, mushrooms and broth soup. Then it's served in a large silver vessel with the hole in the middle. The hole in the middle is for putting the broth soup. Then the ingredients are placed in around the pot.

You can share this sinseollo with your friends since the portion is so big. By sharing, you can enjoy to eat Sinseollo. You know what, sinseollo / yeolgujathang means to make your mouth happy. Because it's so delicious, so your mouth will be happy if you eat this. And I think not only your mouth which will be happy, but also your heart and body will be so happy.

Many restaurants in Seoul served Sinseollo now. So you can try to eat it if you go to Seoul. In Indonesia, I think there's no Korean restaurant serving it yet now. But later on, maybe they will serve it and let us try this royal cuisine. Because it's a royal cuisine, so it's rather pricey. The average price is about 35,000 - 70.000 Korean Won or it can be more than that, depend on the restaurant and the location of the restaurant.

Or if you want to try to make it, you can try this recipe :

AMT after cook	AMT per 1	Temp.	Heat time	Cook time	Cooker
2㎏(4 portions)	500g	65~80℃	1 Hour 15 min	3 Hour	18㎝ Sinsun Pot

Time	Process	Hear Control
Preparation	Preparing beef. Shaping dumplings. Preparing frying stuffs, Preparing garnish
0 min	Simmering broth	H-heat 9 min. M-heat 40 min.
40 min	Seasoning beef and radish. Seasoning broth Pan-frying dumplings	M-heat 2 min. M-heat 16 min
60 min	Pan-frying stuffs. Scalding carrot Placing in the Sinseollo pot and boiling	H-heat 2 min. and 20 sec. H-heat 3 min.

Feel bored with Indonesian chicken porridge ? So let's try Dalkjuk now ! Dalkjuk is a Korean chicken porridge but seems it's like samgyetang. Actually I just thought about that because the whole chicken is boiled like samgyetang, but the difference is no ginseng on it. For neutralizing your tongue from spicy Korean food, Dalkjuk is the best choice for you. Because it's not spicy ( but yeah, still if you want it to be spicy, you can spread chili powder then ), hot, delicious, and easily to digest. It's also healthy because it contains a lot of nutrition which is good for your body, such as carbohydrate from the rice, protein from the chicken and the chicken broth, also vitamin and mineral from the vegetables that you put into. It's also suitable to eat it when the weather is cold, like winter in Korea. But you can eat it when the weather is hot to return your energy back.

The basic recipe of dalkjuk is so easy. But you can improve it by yourself. Usually I add more vegetables on it because I love vegetables and make the dalkjuk appearance become nicer. Ok, you can try to make dalkjuk from this basic recipe below :


1. Wash and soak the rice in water for 2 - 3 hours ( usually they use sushi rice, but you can change it into the regular rice )


2. Drain it by a colander


3. Wash the whole chicken then boil it with chopped garlic and chopped spring onion. Don't forget to spread a little bit salt and pepper.


4. After it is boiled well, take the chicken and move it into another bowl. 


5. Put the drained rice into the boiled chicken broth. Boil them until the rice become a porridge.


6. While waiting your porridge, take the chicken meat off from the bones and shred it into small pieces.


7. Chop spring onions and big red chili as garnishes.


8. After the porridge is well-done cooked, place the porridge into the bowl and don't forget the soup from the chicken broth.


9. Garnish it with chopped spring onions and chopped big red chili


10. DONE !

How is that ?? Easy right ??? You can make it by yourself at home and you can add your favorite ingredients into your dalkjuk :D

But if you go to Korea, of course you can find lots of restaurant which sell dalkjuk, especially in winter. Since I never taste dalkjuk in Korea, so I don't know about its price. But I think it's not too expensive. So from now just try to make it at home and I guarantee you that Dalkjuk is one of the Must-Try Korean Food ! ^^



3. Jajangmyeon ( 자장면 )




Jajangmyeon is wheat noodles which is spread with salty black soybean paste. This black soybean paste is usually called as chunjang ( 준장 ) . Usually we can add sliced meat, vegetables or seafood. It's kinda spaghetti, but with more Asian taste.

In 2006, Jajangmyeon was included into the Top 100 Korean Cultural Symbols and in 2009, Jajangmyeon was chosen as The Best Selling Item in All Chinese Restaurant in Korea and also The Most Ordered Food By Delivery in Korea.

You can find many kinds of Jajangmyeon, such as  ganjajangmyeon (간자장면), which is jajangmyeon served with the jajang sauce without the starch, with the sauce and noodles being served separately in different bowls, and samseon jajangmyeon (삼선자장면; 三鮮炸醬麵), jajangmyeon with seafood filling, such as Squid, shrimp, sea cucumber, etc. Samseon ganjajangmyeon (삼선간자장면; 三鮮간炸醬麵) consists of noodles served with sauce, which contains seafood on the side. You can also taste Jajangbap is essentially the same dish as jajangmyeon, but made with rice instead of noodles.