1 point – Korea

Laura: One of the things I have missed most this past year has been travelling.  So, to celebrate “K” month, I went to Korea! No, not by plane…but by streaming. First, I watched an episode on The Travel Bug, an Australian TV series available on Prime Video, hosted by the likeable Morgan Burrett. Seoul is fascinating – a vibrant, fast-moving, bustling but quirky city with a varied cuisine and a fascinating history. This show had a few references to food but concentrated mostly on local attractions and cultural insights, and it was so interesting to see how although Seoul is a modern city, it also holds fast to its ancient traditions. For a true taste of what Korean food is all about,  I re-watched the Seoul episode from Season 3 on Somebody Feed Phil. Nobody does a food show quite like Phil Rosenthal. If you are a “foodie” and haven’t seen this series, check it out. You too may find yourself hoping to try (if you haven’t already) tteokbokki, bindaetteok, kalguksu and chimaek. His episodes cover a lot of ground and his enthusiasm for culinary delights is, well, delightful! Although nothing takes the place of putting your own feet on the ground in other countries and cities, having the chance to walk around in someone else’s shoes is definitely a worthwhile experience.

2 Points – Korean restaurant

After learning a little about Korea – its cities, culture and cuisine – it seemed only fitting to sample some food here in Plano. There are quite a few Korean restaurants but being “K” month, we chose Kooksoo. Not knowing if we would be fans, we chose the Korean BBQ Bulgogi Combo sampler as our takeout choice.

Lucky us! It was delicious! The bulgogi (pronounced “bull-go-ghee”) was really tasty. In fact, bulgogi is listed as Number 23 on the World’s 50 most delicious foods poll compiled by CNN Go. The sampler also had rice, glass noodles, kimchi (a bit too spicy for these sisters), dumplings and a small salad. We are definitely planning on returning. Once again, we thank the ABC Life for expanding our palettes.

2 points – LEARNING CENTER

Barbara – KISSING K Goodbye

The other day, after I planted a kiss on my dog’s head, it made me wonder if dogs recognize the kiss as a sign of affection. That led to my curiosity about how the kiss even became that for human beings. Why don’t we rub arms or noses? Who was the first person to decide that swapping spit was the way to go?

1500 B.C. had some Sanskrit verses that seemed to describe a kiss. Of course, people may have already been kissing but never wrote about it. It was another few hundred years before any Indian poems mentioned the kiss. It wasn’t until the Roman Empire that kissing reared its head but it was the Romans that started traditions such as kissing passionately at the end of the wedding ceremony and sealing a document with a kiss. They also used kisses in political campaigns and I got a laugh out of the fact that even back then there were political scandals such as “kisses for votes” in the 18^th century.

French kissing was not started in France (many thanks to the Indian people once again) but it was more popular there than in America. There was a lot written about the anatomy of a kiss, etc. but I won’t kiss and tell!