Korean Festival 2011

The Korean Festival is held every year on the island of Oahu. This year me and my family had a chance to attend this festival since last year I was very pregnant. It was held at the Kapiolani Park which is across from the beach. Many people attended this year and there were lots to see and do. I, obviously, went to the festival mainly for the food and the entertainment.

The beach area is always packed with joggers, surfers, and tourists. We had to park across the park so by the time we got to the festival, we only had a few minutes to watch the korean dancers perform. Their costumes were very pretty, but I'm sure they were very hot and sweaty. It was a really hot day in Honolulu. I even had an ugly tan, but the festival was well worth it.

These girls are wearing traditional hanboks made for their dance group.

I can't remember what he was doing, but it looks exciting!

This bboy had some very strong arms. We were impressed on how long he can stand on just his arms.

Next to perform were the Japanese drummers. They were very entertaining to watch and the sounds were just amazing to listen to. My little son was so amazed, he didn't mind the older Korean ladies smiling at him and holding his hands. They thought he was very cute.

To watch them was just amazing...

But to hear them was just...heart-pounding.

Spam kimbaps

Attending a Korean Festival, you must try kimbap. Kimbap is known as korean sushi, but with no raw fish. Everything in the kimbap is cooked and eatened warm. Kimbap usually consist of the nori, cooked rice, egg, pickled diakon, carrots, cucumber, and meat. In this case since we're in Hawaii, our kimbap had a Hawaiian twist. Spam. I'm not a big fan of spam, but it didn't really bothered me so much since it was with other ingredients. I can honestly say, it was good but I can make tastier kimbaps.

Meat Jun with spicy cucumber and macaroni salad

Next, we ordered a plate lunch. A plate lunch usually consist of some kind of starch (rice, macaroni salad) and a vegetable side. I ordered Meat Jun which is a thinly sliced tender piece of beef that's been marinated and dipped in an egg batter then pan fried. I've had meat jun without it being dipped in egg and I prefer it that way, but this was very good. It came with spicy pickled cucumber and a macaroni corn salad. The meat jun was the best part of the meal.

One side banana and one side strawberry...yummy vanilla ice cream

Being in Hawaii, a festival is not complete without shaved ice. Shave ice is not crushed ice or like a snow cone. The texture of the ice particles is a lot smoother and melts nicer on your tongue. It's hard to explain, but once you have a taste, you'll know. There is only one place for the best shaved ice, but it was nowhere nearby. Unfortunately, we had to settle for what was there. What a perfect way to cool ourselves. 

That's a lot of sweet korean pancakes    

Here you can see one lady (in the green apron) stuffing the pancakes with the sweet filling and putting it on the grill. The lady next to her will then flatten them down with her spatula. These are the same sweet korean pancakes like the ones I made from a box except mines were green tea flavored.  The filling is a sweet sugar syrup with chopped peanuts. Becareful when eating, syrup may burn tongue. So delicious!!

You can actually hear them sizzle!

You can get a better view in this picture of the lady gently pressing the pancake dough down. She's doing it carefuly, not to let the filling ooze out. She will flatten the filled pancake dough out and let it cook for about 2 minutes. Then she will flip the pancake once to brown the other side and it's ready to eat. Sadly, the line was too long for me to stand in the sun and wait to eat some. They sure did smell great!

These guys are working hard on the grill! You can see their famous korean Galbi/Kalbi being grilled. Galbi (mainly known as Kalbi) are marinated short ribs. The marinade is a soy sauce base with ginger, garlic, and sugar. They are my husband's favorite. I love them too, but they are quite fatty. They are very juicy and sweet and just tender to the bone. Watching them grilled the Kalbi made us so hungry, but we had them too many times. It was delicious just watching them being cooked. Boy, they smelled delicious!! The guy in the white is actually stirring up a spicy soup. I don't remember what it was called, but he had a good arm workout.