How to Eat Tteokbokki Better
Like a pro 😋
안녕! It's Ari, your talkative Korean friend and weekend reminder 🎉 Today’s newsletter is about side dish recommendations for tteokbokki, why “The Glory” was born in South Korea, and a trending photo studio. Let’s start!
How to Eat Tteokbokki Better
In Seoul, there’s an old tteokbokki restaurant called “Shintoburi Tteokbokki.” I went there with my friend a few years ago, and I can say that this restaurant offers the best tteokbokki you can have in Seoul 😋 What makes this place special is not just heavy and sweet sauce, but also a special side dish: Korean-style hot dog. If you pay an extra 2,000 KRW, you get served chopped hot dog on top of the tteokbokki, like in the above pic. The hot dog dipped in ttoekbokki sauce tastes soooo good 😇 Now, many places offer the hot dog along with tteokbokki following this place. So, I really want to recommend that you try tteokbokki with Korean hot dog. If you can’t find the hot dog in your country, you can make it at home. You can also try another great side dish: Korean street toast. It’s easy to make and goes really well with tteokbokki sauce, as much as the hot dog. I often order the toast with ttokbokki, and I dip the toast in the red sauce to eat. It’s super yummy! If you find having tteokbokki alone is boring or not fulfilling, try Korean hot dog or street toast as a side dish. You won’t regret it!
Why “The Glory” Was Born in South Korea
As a trailer for “The Glory: Part 2,” has come out 👆, an old school violence case has been brought to the public’s attention. In 2017, a high school student bullied his schoolmates to the point where one of the victims attempted suicide. The case was so severe that it was reported on major TV news programs at the time, but it quickly died down. About a week ago, the South Korean government appointed an ex-prosecutor as the chief of the National Office of Investigation, which is one of the top police officials. His appointment news came out along with new revelations about the old school violence case. It turned out that the bully student in 2017 is the son of the chief nominee. And, at the time, the victim who attempted suicide had to be hospitalized multiple times because the bully’s school transfer got delayed, and as a result, the victim had to see the bully day and night at the boarding school for over a year. Eventually, the victim dropped out of school and couldn’t finish high school, but the bully finished high school and went to Seoul National University, the most prestigious school in the country.
According to a report, it seems like the bully’s father, then-prosecutor, took every legal action possible to take down or delay the school’s punishment against his son, so that his son could go to the university with a clean record. He reportedly hired a lawyer to file for an injunction to the school’s punishment, which was rejected, and then appealed over and over even to the Supreme Court, to be finally rejected for good. The whole legal process took a year so his son could go to school without any problem in the meantime.
Many Koreans are calling the case “Real-life ‘The Glory’.” In the hit K-Drama series, a poor high school girl gets bullied by rich schoolmates so bad that her life is completely destroyed so she prepares to take revenge against the bullies who are living a good life without getting punished. As Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the opposition Democratic party, recently said, “The reason why many people feel catharsis in a drama in which a victim of school violence becomes an adult and takes revenge on the perpetrator is that it proves that school violence is a frustrating problem that cannot be solved in reality.” This real-life case proves why so many K-Dramas cover school violence and why so many people cheer Dong-eun, the bullying victim in the series. In upcoming “The Glory: Part 2,” Dong-eun will start avenge the bullies, and it will be the justice that Koreans and the victims couldn’t be served in reality.
Professional Profile Picture
Along with photo booths where people can take photos by themselves in a small booth, a photo studio where people can shoot their profile picture with a professional photographer is trending in the country. The studio is called 시현하다 or sihyunhada. It means “to manifest” or “to display” in Korean. What makes this studio special is that you can choose your photographer after checking out photographers’ portfolios on Instagram. The more experienced the photographer is, the more expensive it costs. (from 38 to 150 USD) After arriving the studio, you can choose a color code and moods of your pic. It’s popular between young Koreans who want to have a professional and aesthetic profile picture of themselves. It could be a good travel spot to visit while you’re in Seoul. Your profile photo would make a good souvenir 📸
One last thing to share is a new Chinese drama that I’m watching and fell in love with 😍 It’s “Shining for One Thing (2022).” Its Korean title is 별처럼 빛나는 너에게 meaning “To you who are shining like a star.” I love the Korean title :) It’s about a woman who accidently travels back in time after deleting a text message on her old phone she used when she was a high school student. She returns to 18, the third year of high school. And she finds that her time travel was caused by a boy who died on the day of the college entrance exam. She tries her best to save the boy. The lead actors are so talented! Highly recommended if you love fantasy & romance & mystery. Watch a MV of its OST 👆 It’s available on Viki and iQIYI.
Thanks for reading! And sorry for no podcast again and Korean lesson 🙏 I was so busy this week. If you liked my newsletter, like ❤️, leave a comment, share with your friends, or support me. It’ll help me keep writing! See you next week. 안녕!
아리씨 감사합니다 !