Beautiful Churches in Washington D.C.

I visited Washington D.C. last December. There were so many interesting museums, historic sites and fabulous buildings that most visitors have to look around. I would like to introduce the most beautiful buildings that I’ve ever seen in US.
National Cathedral and National Shrine.
Churches or temples are often the most beautiful building in a city thus I always try to visit them when I travel to other cities than my hometown. Washington was not an exception. Most beautiful two buildings in Washington D.C. are churches. National Cathedral is a Episcopal church and National Shrine is a Catholic church. They are great in size and elegant in style.
Why do people try to build churches or temples beautifully? I think the reason is that beautiful things touch people’s heart and make it easy for people to have a religious mind. I am a Catholic and I feel my belief in God becomes deeper when I attend a mass at a beautiful church. :-)
The first pucture is National Cathedral in Washington D.C.


National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C.

Korean Foods

On the previous posting, I introduced “Hanok,” Korean traditional buildings. Today, I will write about another part of Korean culture, Korean foods.
First, I want to let you know the most common meal that every Koreans have at home. Three basic components of Korean foods are steamed rice, soup and side dishes and all these components are set on a table together.
Koreans usually eat steamed white rice as a carbohydrate source and various grains such as beans and barley are sometimes mixed with rice.
And there are countless kinds of Korean soups and every vegetable, every meat, and every seafood can be ingredients of Korean soups. My favorite soup is beef brown seaweed soup whose main ingredients are brown seaweed and beef. It’s very easy to expect the ingredients if we know the name of the foods in Korea :-).
There are three major categories in Korean side dishes: vegetables, fish or meat, and Kimch. Steamed or fresh vegetable are usually mixed with seasonings and sauces. Common seasonings and sauces in Korea are salt, sesame, chilly pepper powder, soy source, bean paste, chilly pepper paste and sesame oil. Fish or meats are usually grilled or boiled down in various sauces. Kimchi is the most famous Korean foods. Kimchi is mainly made of cabbage and radish. They are salted and mixed with chilly pepper powder, chopped garlic and some fish sauce. Taste of Kimchi changes as it is fermented. When well fermented, the taste of Kimchi is sour and fresh.
The first picture is the most common and basic everyday meal in Korea.

More extended version of everyday meal.

My favorite Korean food, Bibimbob, steamed rice with various vegetables in a hot bowl made of stone