Skip to main content

복날

Tomorrow is 복날 (bok nal). It seems to mean that it is start of the dog days of summer. So we'll be eating 삼계탕 (sam gye tang, which is chicken broth with ginseng) to celebrate the day before the rest of Korea does so.

Update #1: You must literally rip the chicken apart with chopsticks and a spoon. It helps to wear a bib so it won't get on your clothes.

The food is cooked after you order it or call ahead with reservations.

Update #2: It is pronounced by me as bok nal, but when I say it Koreans around me don't understand until I pronounce it as "bok nallllllll." This is a common problem with the little Korean that I can say. I'll say it, Koreans will say I speak Korean well, then ask each other in Korean, "What did he say?"

Update #3: James explains that I am probably pronouncing bok nal incorrectly. Instead, it is probably better to pronounce it "bong nahl." I have the feeling I still won't be understood unless I say "bong nahlllll."

CJL

Popular posts from this blog

2019-12-19 Interview with Japanese reporter

"The interview is the honeymoon, publication is the divorce." --Shinae Chun I had a GREAT and FUN interview today with a reporter from Japan. Let's hope publication will also be great! www.lovetnkr.og

Park Jin welcoming remarks to FSI (and Casey Lartigue)

  National Assembly member Park Jin makes the welcoming remarks at FSI's conference featuring North Korean diplomats. Park Jin | Greeting message to FSI and Casey Lartigue mention - YouTube

Still writing (Korea Times, 2023-12-19)

Still writing by Casey Lartigue Jr. The Korea Times December 19, 2023 https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2023/12/626_365284.html

Michael Vick ain't got nuthin on me!!!

After football player Michael Vick admitted that he had been running a dog-fighting business I wrote that he was an idiot. If he was going to engage in such activity he should have gone to Indonesia or somewhere else. He certainly had the money to do so at that time. If he knew then what he knows now then he would have spent $10 million to run his dogfighting ring in Manila. Today I did something that probably not even Michael Vick ever did: I ate dog meat. I never expected that I would do so. It is a bit scandalous because Koreans don't just kill the dogs and eat them. Rather, they will beat them to death while they are still alive. That allegedly is to get the adrenaline flowing which allegedly makes the meat more tender which allegedly improves a man's stamina. I had told a friend that I wanted to give it a try. But as we sat down to eat I said: "I want to try this but don't give me any details until after we are finished eating." It just looked like regular me...

Chosun Monthly magazine [Korean language]

  Chosun Monthly Magazine has made an announcement (in Korean) about the Seoul Honorary Citizenship award that I received on December 9, 2022.  Our Korean staffers say that the magazine is a big deal in South Korea. Here's the overall roundup of media about the award. In the next two months, I have extended interviews coming up in two different magazines, one in the USA and one in South Korea. Both articles will be in respected publications so they should raise awareness of FSI's work that your support makes possible. * * * Support FSI via Stripe or PayPal . https://donate.stripe.com/3cs28F5IAcc85IAaEF or PayPal .