Talk story at work and Korean food deliciousness

June 21, 2012

I woke up this morning and carefully tested out my ankle and leg. Not too bad. I got ready and headed out to work. By the time I was 2 houses from mine I knew the leg/ankle was going to be a problem. I very slowly walked in to work. Let me just say, having to walk up two flights of stairs was less than delightful. I got to work and made a cup of coffee and was sitting at my desk thinking of how much I wanted an ACE bandage and a bag of ice. That is when I found out Ann was sick and was not coming in to work today. I was mighty tempted to go home myself and prop my leg up for the day, but then figured I could be useful at work.It was an absolutely uneventful work day. I had many interesting conversations. I listened to the CD I got last night. I helped with a few minor things but overall spent the day learning about the projects folks in the MCH branch are working on and how things are different growing up in Hawaii. I finally got a good understanding of the branch and how the chain of command works. I had met people but really had no real understanding of what they did or how everything fit together.

One interesting difference is the school system. Apparently the kids here have to qualify to go to the good schools and children as young as five years old are trying to pass tests and get into the Punahou School. The website says that schoolwide there are about 2,300 applicants for 500 spaces. In addition, tuition for the regular school year is $18,500 a year, more for summer school or special programs. There are feeder schools that help kids get in, and depression and anxiety amongst kids who try for years to get in is a problem. I also found out that in Honolulu there are no school buses in the urban areas. The children either walk or take public transit. If they cannot afford the bus fare then they walk. There is NO provided transportation to school. This is not true in the rural neighboring islands where buses are provided to get kids to school. I don't know what they do in the rural areas on Oahu outside the urban areas (Waikiki, Honolulu).

I had a talk story with Lisa and she told me some funny work experiences. The disaster preparedness training had me falling out of my chair laughing (especially since I was trying to prop my ankle up at the time). She also told me about her computer IT story which I will share briefly for my techie friends and family. Lisa was given a new computer, a Mac, which had to be returned to IT to work on several times the first couple of months. So she gets it back and tried to play a CD to watch an educational video. So it jams in the CD player and won't come back out or play. So she calls IT who come to her office and ask to borrow tweezers. Any story where IT is asking to borrow tweezers cannot end well. So she had no tweezers but they found some tools and grabbed the disk and yanked it from the machine. The CD is now covered with deep scratches and is useless (see the picture below). So then It just looks at her and says, "Well, I guess you better not use the CD player..." and LEAVES. It hasn't been fixed or replaced or anything in the 4 months since. I still giggle thinking about this story. Here is the CD, sorry the picture isn't great but if you look carefully you can see the scratches on one side, that are across the whole underside of the CD.

After work Lisa was kind enough to drive me to Long's Drugstore (owned by CVS) so I could get some Tylenol, SalonPas and 2 ACE bandages. My leg has big black bruises but doesn't hurt. My ankle is most tender on the achilles tendon and the outside right ankle and both hurt a lot after the workday. I think a wrap for support during the day will help a lot. Lisa's dad George uses her car during the day so he picks her up after work. I call him Papa George which always makes him smile :) Papa George gave me some lemons from their tree, which I thought was super neat. After Long's we stopped by her friend's house to drop off some items. I got to meet her Minh (spelling corrected- SORRY!) and her two children George and Mathew. Min gave Lisa some jin deui (also spelled jin dui). These are sesame covered pastry balls filled with something sweet. I tried the black sugar jin dui, which was super yummy (they are the ones with the black seeds dotting them). This was filled with brown sugar mixed with the sweet red bean paste used a lot as filling in pastries here. The dough is a deep fried gelatinous dough which is chewy but not gooey. It is hard to describe. They also sent me home with one of the coconut filled ones which I'll have tomorrow.

Then we all went to dinner and Lisa's boyfriend Wayne met us there.We went to O-Bok Korean Restaurant in Manoa. I got to see University of Hawaii at Manoa on the way! The houses in this area are lovely also, and the view of the mountains is spectacular. So I hadn't eaten at a Korean restaurant before so after they explained the menu items to me we ordered.First, the meal comes with barley tea. It was GREAT. No need for sugar or anything. Just delicious and non-caffeinated. I loved it and they keep it topped off.

Next were the side items which are served on plates family style. I think i got the photos witht he right names, please forgive me if I don't - there were a LOT of new things. There were three kim chee (there are many ways to spell this) varieties. The first picture is japanese cucumber kim chee. The second is squash shreds kim chee, and the third is won bok kim chee. My favorite was the cucumber since it was tangy, the won bok was slightly sweet but with a spicy kick, the squash was VERY HOT and spicier than I like.

This is tae ku (Hawaiians call this ono teagu), which is shreds of a seasoned codfish. It is chewy and not bad but not a delight to me.

This is daikon with seasonings. I liked it but is was super spicy. They also serves bowls of white sticky rice which I didn't take photos of because... well, it's white rice.

We ordered a plate of man doo, which is like a dumpling but the filling is slightly different. I really liked the spices and blend of pork within this dumpling. The sauce almost brought tears it was so spicy.

Then they brought our main course. This was Papa George's Dean Jang Chee Ke - Tofu, beef and vegetables in a seasoned miso soup. It was boiling in the cast iron bowl when they brought it to the table. If you look closely you can see the bubbles on the edges.

This is Wayne's BBQ pork with O-Bok's spicy hot sauce. This was delicious but WHEW! I could only eat a bite it was so spicy!

This was Lisa's Kal Bi which is BBQ short ribs.

This is my plate which is the O-Bok special plate. It has Kal Bi (the BBQ beef shortribs) which is very tender and tasty. Not BBQ like at home, more like a sweet sauce on the meat. There is BBQ chicken, which is a delicious bit of chicken (no idea how it is cooked) that was deliciously spiced and reminds me of tandoor chicken. A man doo, na mul and rice. The na mul is any type of seasoned vegetable. On my plate I had2 na mul. I had bean sprouts which were absolutely delicious. They were tangy and crunchy and had a bit of sesame oil which I loved. The other was choi sum with sesame oil which was also wonderful but completely different from the sprouts in flavor. (This whole plate of food was $8.80 - super cheap!)

I was very impressed. I ate the veggies, man doo and chicken entirely (not the chicken skin -just the meat) and tried everything else. I really liked the Kal Bi but couldn't eat everything so saved a plate of rice, Kal Bi and a man doo for lunch tomorrow. I also have the coconut jin dui also. Lunch tomorrow will be a feast!

So now my belly is full. I am happy in mind and spirit and pleasantly relaxed. I have taken some Tylenol, slapped on a Salon Pas pain patch on my leg and have been keeping weight and pressure off it for a couple of hours. Can't elevate it while typing but It is feeling much better and some swelling is reduced. I'll wrap it in the morning for work. For now, it is time to sleep.

E pili mau na pomaika`i ia `oe, (May blessings ever be with you)
~Melissa