my year in korea caught on film

If you didn't know already, I'm currently on the road adventuring through South East Asia and then homeward bound. Initially I thought I was super organised on the post front, but it's definitely taking me a little longer than usual to write and publish posts! I am however putting a lot of energy into enjoying incredible food from different places - Vietnam, Loas and Thailand. Of course the food is a huge focus on my journey. My plan is to take as many snaps, lap up and eat a whole load of deliciousness and write, cook and learn along the way. Once I've returned home then I'll get on to some more formulated posts and recipes and give you a true taste of my South East Asia trip through the food I ate. I do have a few posts tucked up my sleeve from when I was in Korea but please bear with me if they are not as regularly published. I will try to keep up a steady flow! 

I know last week I'd promised a follow-up recipe - an easy throw together stir fry, but I have a few final touches I want to make. I plan to be sitting on a beach on the coast of Cambodia next week, so I imagine I'll find some time there to finish it up. For now, I have something a little different to share...

The weeks leading up to this trip were filled with excitement, lots of lists and a whole load of anticipation. My busy bustling self was so caught up in all of the hype that it's only now that the reality of leaving Korea is sinking in.

Deciding to move to Korea was a pretty quick-snap and suprise decision. I'd never really given the place much thought as somewhere to live until the idea was put right in front of my face. It's seems strange to think that was all over a year ago now though. My experience there was amazing, crazy, beautiful, frustrating, interesting, unique, challenging and wonderful. Towards the end of my year contract, some days I'd sit at my desk at work and feel like Korea had been home for years. Other times, it was hard to believe that any more than a few months had passed.

It seemed an impossible task to wrap up the whole experience through writing in just one post. Instead I thought I'd share it through some photos I took along the way.

There are some snaps to follow from the coldest winter I've ever endured, the completion of my first half marathon, trips to Seoul, hikes up mountains, a visit from Ryan's parents, of food, of people, of streets; this is my year in Korea caught on film. That's enough said from me I think. I'll let the  pictures do the talking... 

eat it - it all starts here

Welcome!

The time has come for me to stop procrastinating and get on and begin this blog! I’ll get straight to it and give you a little bit of background info. 

For the past ten months I’ve been living in a very small, very isolated country town in South Korea. It’s been a crazy whirlwind experience with its mega highs and mega lows. When I first arrived my health was not in the best shape and so I decided to set aside one year to devote myself to finding ultimate health and happiness.

It's been a year without the comforts of home and strong support networks of friends and family – something I've had to seriously adjust to. But I've taken this ideal opportunity to put my health first. Health and cooking good food has been my main focus.

I've set aside one whole year! Not some crazy-fast-paced 6 week diet - no carbs this, or low fat that. Just pure foods, whole foods, REAL FOOD!

                                                      

My favourite thing about Korean food is the selection of beautiful side dishes - called pancheon and namul.
(Above)

Buckwheat, banana and blueberry pancakes. Some home comfort weekend cooking.

     
Ten months in and I feel like a very different person! Along the way a few things have become clear. First of all, after rummaging through many blogs, recipes and information on the web (thank you Korea for the fastest, most amazing internet connections in the world!!), I've learnt about a whole network and community of people out there sharing, reading, interested in and learning about whole foods nutrition. I for one am hooked! Every day that I learn something new, I've this desire to share it. And so that is exactly what I plan to do.


Next I've realised that some people are a little scared or intimidated by the idea of new foods and different cooking. So I'd like to find ways to make it easy, accessible and fun and inspire all sorts of different folk to build their own health and get cooking.

Just a few months ago something clicked quite perfectly into place for me - I’m clearly passionate about all of this, so why not make it a pretty serious part of my career. I've been researching and thinking about studying nutritional medicine and luckily New Zealand offers some great schools where I can make this happen. On my way home to the beautiful Aotearoa later this year, I’ll be taking a rather delicious trip through South East Asia, enjoying an extremely extravagant stop off in Oz to see some very special friends and then home to my roots to set up camp and make holistic nutrition a bigger part of my life. So, if you like, watch this space. I'll post and share as I learn and most importantly spread some very tasty recipe love!

Why Eat It?...

There is one simple answer to that. We are what we eat right?? So, if you want good health…Then EAT IT.