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Emily

Investing

The Magic of Compound Growth

When I was a kid, my dad’s idea of fun was to teach his children math and science (he still reads anatomy and medical textbooks as a hobby. Serious). He first introduced me to compound interest when I was about eight years old.

“If you saved $100 every year and the interest rate was 10%, how much money would you have in 5 years? 10 years? See how it has grown?!” My dad wanted me to see the magic of compound growth1.

I didn’t. I did the math exercises because I was promised popsicles. When the “fun” was done, I went on my merry way to play. When I was a bit older, I would always grimace at the mention of “compound interest,” recollecting memories of calculations- done by hand- while other kids watched TV (We never had cable at home; it was an expense my dad wasn’t willing to pay). Now, as an adult and a parent myself, I hope my dad will be willing to teach my kids math and the magic of compound growth. Because, boy, is it magical!

How the Magic of Compound Growth Works

Albert Einstein referred to compound interest as the “the most powerful force in the universe.” It is the concept of money that continually generates earnings. An initial sum of money earns interest. Over time, that interest also earns interest; it’s a snowball of growth earning growth!

Borrowing from Robert Brown’s Wealthing like Rabbits, imagine an island with no rabbits- not a single one. If you were to introduce a few onto the island and let the rabbits do what they do best, how many rabbits would you think would there be on the island after 60 years? That, in a nutshell, is the magic of compound growth.

“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it … he who doesn’t … pays it.”
– Albert Einstein

For example, suppose I saved $100 and it gains $5 in interest, at the end of the compounding period- say a year- I will have a total of $105. The $105 then gains interest over the next year. By the end of the that period, I will have earned another $5.25 and my total will have grown to $110.15.

Okay, that doesn’t seem like much so let’s look at larger sums of money over a longer period of time. Let’s say I invest $3,000 with an interest rate of 5% into Little Sister’s RESP on the day she was born. By the time she is ready for post-secondary school at 18 years later, the money will have grown to $7,219.86. That’s from doing absolutely nothing!

Let’s take it one step further. Say I continue to add to her RESP over time and invest $3,000 each year instead of just at the time she was born. At the end of 18 years, I will have invested a total of $54,000, but my investments will have grown to $88,617.01. If you get excited about finding $1 on the sidewalk, think of what you could do with an extra $33K. You’d have compounding interest to thank. In short, the more you save over a longer period of time, the more you will earn. This compounding is quite something, isn’t it?

Compounding Interest and Retirement

Do you want to see the real magic? Forget about the children (real or hypothetical) and see how much money you can have saved up for retirement. Let’s assume I start with no savings and there is another 35 years until I retire in my mid-sixties. If I invest $10,000 every year over 35 years, my nest egg will sit at $893,203 waiting for me to retire. MAGIC.

Interested in seeing how your money can grow? Play around with our nifty Investment Calculator to see how compound growth works. Even small amounts of savings can add up over time.

FREE INVESTMENT GROWTH CALCULATOR

The Last Word: Collect Interest, Not Dust

When Benjamin Franklin died in 1790, he bestowed $4,500 to the cities of Boston and Philadelphia. The money was held in trust and not to be touched for 100 years. After that, the cities could withdraw $500,000 from trust; the rest of the money had to remain untouched yet another 100 years. 200 years later, in 1990, each city’s endowment was worth over $2 million. Now, you won’t have 200 years to invest your money, but understanding the concept of compound growth will have a major impact on your financial success.

Check out our new Investment Growth Calculator and see how the magic can work for you!

Note:
1My dad also showed me how compound interest can work against me, like in the case of borrowing money or not paying off my credit cards (which is why I have always clear my balance at the end of the month). He also taught me how to build circuit boards, program in two different languages, and build websites, all before the average family had internet at home. Unfortunately for him, the only information I retained was some basic HTML, which was I guess was useful when I re-designed the website. Daddy, between never having consumer debt and saving money from not having to hire a designer for this website, be proud.

Lifestyle

5 Ways to Avoid Eating Out (Our 90 Days without Restaurants)

avoid eating out

Walking through the farmer’s market a couple Saturdays ago, I passed by a stand of recently fried, freshly powdered, entirely delicious mini doughnuts. My mouth literally watered, not only at the sight and its smell of the tasty treats, but also from the all the other fresh hot foods made from local ingredients. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on and sink my teeth into the sweet cinnamony deep fried ball of heaven. But then I remembered- I’m not allowed to. As of October 1, we have been on an eating out hiatus.

Since restaurant expenses have always been an Achilles heel in our budget, why not cut that out entirely

Convenience of Eating out

I love to cook and can make quite the delicious comfort meal. Daniel swears that I make a better bolognese ragu than an Italian restaurant. I humbly agree; I have spent years mastering my ragu. It takes at least three hours to prepare. While home cooking is the ultimate trifecta: delicious, healthy, and economical, it is not convenient.

I relied on convenient eats when I was pregnant with Little Sister. Exhausted after long days at work, parenting a toddler, and being pregnant, I dreaded preparing dinner, however simple the meal. Cooking wasn’t enjoyable and pretty much the last thing I wanted when I returned home from work.

We became fast and best friends with the Pizza Nova around the corner. We ate one too many pepperoni walk-in specials. My postpartum body totally regrets that. My wallet wasn’t too happy either; for months, we would exceed the Restaurant category of our budget within the first couple of weeks. Neither economical nor healthy, pizza take-out was easy.

Deliciousness of Eating Out

Little Sister arrived in late spring and I started my year-long maternity leave. Not working has provided ample time and energy to meal-plan and cook again. I found inspiration in the fresh produce we grew in our garden or picked up from the local farmer’s market I visited with the kids. We ate healthy, tasty meals and I reconnected with the joy of cooking.

That’s not to say we didn’t eat out. Of course we did. Instead of eating out for convenience sake, we ate in restaurants because it is fun. I mean, what can be more fun than fancy ice cream sandwiched between two giant cookies from a hipster joint in Ossington village? Torontonians, you know what I’m talking about.

On week days, I would take the kids to explore different neighbourhoods, stopping for baked or iced treats at famed local eateries; we ventured into new neighborhoods specifically for their restaurants. On weekends, we would meet up with friends to eat some more; dim sum is always a favourite Saturday morning activity. We tracked the eating-out expenses, of course, and would cringe at the final number each month, only to rinse and repeat because I wanted to try a new restaurant or satisfy a craving.

The 90-Day No Eating Out Challenge

We decided it was time for a challenge: stop paying for food outside of groceries for 90 days.

Why, you ask? Well, our family is working on raising $10,000 to build health clinics in Nigeria to decrease the death rates of women during pregnancy and childbirth. It’s a personal family project for an issue that deeply resonates with me. While brainstorming fundraising ideas, it occurred to me that there is so much of our own money that we can contribute. Since restaurant expenses have always been an Achilles heel in our budget, why not cut that out entirely, but for a bigger purpose than simply saving? We’re not eating out for 90 days to fundraise to improve maternal health in Nigeria; the money we save from eating in goes towards building the health clinics.

The Rules

  • No eating out means no restaurants, no coffee, no take-out, and no ooh-look-there-are-pretty-macarons-displayed-let’s-get-one treats. The more specific terms and conditions to our hiatus includes the following:
  • We can buy bread at a bakery. We can even buy pastries, but pastries can only be eaten as dessert after a home cooked meal and not on the go.
  • We can eat at restaurants with my family, because even in my thirties, my mother is still the boss of me. If she wants me to eat with her, I oblige.
  • We can eat at restaurants with business clients for work. In a professional setting, it is a bit weird and awkward not to eat at all.
  • We can purchase frozen prepared foods which require a kitchen appliance to be turned on. We are not allowed ready-to-go prepared foods, such as pasta salad from the deli counter.

5 Ways to Avoid Eating Out At Restaurants

We are almost 60 days into the 90-day hiatus, and while we have abided by all the rules, it hasn’t always been easy. We have found 5 things that help.

A few days into challenge, our friend sent an email inviting us to his annual birthday dinner at Pizza Hut. “Should we go?” we asked ourselves. “We’ve gone to the last nine pizza parties. We’re not missing this one. It’s tradition,” said Daniel. We RSVP’ed. On the day of the party, we ate an early dinner before taking the kids to Pizza Hut. We informed everyone we weren’t going to eat and then proceeded to salivate on the table as the delicious greasy pizza was served. Though Big Brother wasn’t hungry, he asked for a slice. We explained to him again what we were doing, and then fed him a granola bar from my purse to keep him quiet. We were all feeling hungry until we left the restaurant; out sight, out of mind. We went home proud.

We are almost 60 days into the 90-day hiatus, and while we have abided by all the rules, it hasn’t always been easy. In addition to the pizza party, I’ve been on half a dozen coffee dates where I sip water while gazing longingly at the cup of joe and pain au chocolat sitting across the table. There are weekends where we are pressed for food ideas since our weekends include brunch with friends or breakfast at a farmers market. For a week and a half at the end of October, we ate eggs, roasted brussel sprouts, and peanut butter sandwiches for dinner practically every day because I was too tired to cook proper meals. Dinner was so uninspiring (and, to be honest, not delicious) that when asked what his favourite food was, Big Brother answered “I only eat eggs”.

It’s hard not to eat out, but somehow, we have avoided restaurants. This is what has worked for us:

  1. Avoid Places with Yummy Food
    I am a visual person; I have, one more than one occasion, purchased the Colonel’s chicken because I saw someone else eating it. Cut out the temptation. Unfollow local food bloggers (my “following” list on Instagram took a dip!). When food trucks are present, walk away, just far enough so that the menu is out of sight.
  2. Carry Food Around
    Bring food everyone you go. When hungry, a small snack usually suffices. When Big Brother gets hungry between meals while we are out or if I see a chocolate treat, I grab granola or carrot sticks from my bag. It’s enough to distract or satisfy the munchies. I always carry a water bottle around.
  3. Have a Plan
    Take an inventory of the ingredients you already have in stock and make a meal plan. You will more inclined to adhere to a plan when you know what to make with items are that readily available. It is when you have no idea what to cook that the spontaneous eat out wins.
  4. Stash the Freezer
    Stock the pantry and freezer with a few items- homemade or processed- that come together for a quick meal. I’m talking about canned soup and frozen pizza. While they may not be healthy or delicious as freshly made dishes from scratch, but they suffice and feed bellies when time or energy is tight. I have bags of store bought frozen dumplings and previously prepared pasta sauce waiting in the freezer for the days the kids drive me up the wall and I want is for them to eat so they can go to bed.
  5. Bring the Party In
    Eating out is a social thing, but being social doesn’t mean eating out. Whenever we are invited out to eat, we suggest a homecooked meal at our place instead. Not once has anyone declined. In fact, when we explain what we are doing, we often get invited to someone else’s home. Cook a meal for friends or host a potluck. Even take turns hosting and preparing meals. Eating together builds camaraderie- especially over home cooked meals.

The Last Word: Remember the Bigger Picture

Even with my bag of tricks, there will be times you desperately want to eat out. Remember that mini donut I really, really wanted? As I stood in front of the cute little stand wafting in sweet aromas, the Munchies waged a war on Self Control. The Munchies presented a sound argument: I am breastfeeding and should eat constantly for milk production. And, it was only two dollars. Self Control fought back and reminded me why we’re not eating out. It wasn’t about the two dollars; it was about raising the money for something I really care about.

If you decide to take a break on eating out and your resolve wavers, remember the reason and motivation behind the decision. Maybe you are doing it to improve your health or to save money. It doesn’t matter. There is a bigger picture. Focus on it. And take out that granola bar from your backpack. You can do it.

To eat out, or not to eat out?

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Lifestyle

4 Ways to Embrace Small Space Living

We are five months into living in 850 square feet as a family of four. Daniel and I turned the dining room table into a makeshift office space when we need to work; we clear it up, moving the computer monitor onto the floor, for meal times. Our balcony houses a mini garden, with herbs and tomatoes growing from pots and bins. They city is our backyard and after dinner, we head to nearby parks or grab dessert at a shop around the corner. We have come to love our little space and our city lifestyle. Contrary to popular belief, condo living isn’t cramped or second-best to house-with-a-lawn living.

Small changes

In a land where BIG is better, living in a small space, especially a condo, is rather unconventional. However, it is by no means novel; most of the world live in small homes. In Hong Kong, a friend resides in a 900 square foot apartment with his wife, two children, father-in-law, and live-in nanny. If they can do it, then so can we!

We made some changes to our home to better accommodate a family of four. Of course, we had to get rid of a whole lot of junk to free up space, but we also completed minor renovations. The walls were painted to brighten up the space, and additional storage solutions were installed in the kitchen. The biggest change to our living arrangements was swapping bedrooms with the kids; Daniel and I gave up the master and moved into the smaller bedroom. This didn’t turn out to be the sacrifice we thought it would be- instead, the idea was genius. Now that the kids have the bigger bedroom, everything they have is stored in there. At the end of the day, their toys and junk (like rocks that Big Brother likes to collect on walks) are out of sight in the kids’ room, leaving Daniel and I to hand out a relatively peaceful adult space in the evenings. Gone are the days of train tracks strewn all across the living room floor.

Related: Small Space Living: Our Condo in the City

Embrace Small Space Living

City conveniences and financial flexibility aside, small space living is teaching us some valuable lessons:

Realize it is a lifestyle. Small space living is a way of life. It is not about the inability to afford a bigger place.  It is about aligning values with living conditions and creating a home based on what is important- whether that be the ever so important matter of living near hipster coffee shop or having gorgeous well-manicured front lawn. It is the careful consideration of financial, cultural and- for some- even environmental implications, and subsequently, making an intentional choice about the size of home.

Live with less. Clutter in a small space is overwhelming. It completly takes over, making the home feel smaller that it really is, and even claustrophobic. It is critical to keep belongings in check and at a minimum. We are learning to only keep things we need and/or truly love in our space. The alternative is to be buried under stuff, perpetually live in a messy space and maybe one day be featured in an episode of Hoarders.

Be resourceful. Small spaces do not need to feel small if space and furniture is used appropriately. Use vertical for storage. You learn to see every inch of space, whether it’s on a wall or under the couch, as prime real estate. Give furniture dual purposes. A stool can double up as a side table or television console can store toys. Small space living is an exercise in thinking outside of the box.

Have a sense of humour. Sure, there are frustrating moments when living in a small space- especially with children. There are days where all I see is clutter and mess. Entertaining can also be difficult; we are limited to the amount of people we can invite over and even with small groups, people can end up feeling like sardines. When it is trying, a sense of humor definitely helps. Revel in the fact that you only have one or two toilets to clean.

Small space living has made us lean, more efficient. We make every square foot count. In addition to swapping bedrooms with the kids, their bedroom is also their play and art room. We converted the closet in the second bedroom into office space. We keep all of our clothes- yes, all four of us- in master bedroom walk-in-closet. We installed wall shelves in said closet and use the vertical wall space to store our travel gear and Christmas ornaments. Thinking of better ways to store belongings or streamline our home has become a game.

The Last Word

We are choosing to live in small space because it aligns with our lifestyle and financial goals. Small space living isn’t the choice or even a good solution for some families, but for us, it makes sense. Living in a small space allows us to save more and maintain an urban lifestyle. The city is our playground; museums and markets are mere subway rides away. In the evenings, we clear the living room and put toys in the kids’ room and then spend time in an open space that quadruples as our dining room, living room, kitchen and office. Truth be told, it isn’t alway easy, but the ability to run around the corner for bubble tea is favourable. That and the ability to pay off our mortgage in a few years. It’s all about the lens in which we view things. When see living in a condo as choice, it becomes easier and even lucrative. Now, don’t get me wrong, we don’t intend to live in our condo forever, but for the foreseeable future, we like the way things are. Even given a million dollars in cash, we would dwell our 850 square foot condo.

Seriously, bigger space or epic adventure?

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Featured Lifestyle

Small Space Living: Our Condo in the City

Rewind seven years ago.

Daniel and I were in our early twenties and engaged to be married in a few months. I was living with my parents at the time and Daniel renting an unit in a basement. We had to decide where we to live after the wedding festivities. We thought about renting but after careful consideration, we bought a place of our own.

Our marital home was a 850 square foot condo in the north end of the city. The neighbourhood, though busy and bustling, was far from what I had wanted: the hip and urban experience of downtown. But it was still on the subway line, close to both our work, and cost much less than an unit at the city’s core.

We enjoyed the first years as newlyweds in the condo. Groceries, restaurants and movie theatres were all within walking distance. The subway was a five minute walk away and we used it on a regular basis whenever we wanted to venture further south for more culture and character. The condo itself, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, was more than spacious for two people; we barely used the second bedroom. We made the condo home with the intention of moving to a bigger space when children entered our lives.

The American Dream: Big

North Americans like big. It is evident in food portion sizes, the vehicles on the road, and the ever so popular shopping destination, Costco. With big stuff, North Americans need space to keep their SUVs and wholesale quantities of Costco goods. The average home in the States was approximately 2,400 square feet, according to the Census Bureau. Ben Rabidoux, president of a market research firm specializing in Canadian trends, looked at house size statistics north of the border and observed the following:

The average size of a home was 1,050 square feet in 1975, but in 2010 the average home under construction was 1,950 square feet.

The American dream, apparently, is bigger space.

Related: The Cost of Housing in Toronto

Is BIG for Us?

As we neared the baby making age, many of our friends swapped condo living for more space in one of two ways:

  1. Buy a house in the suburbs
  2. Buy a house in the city for astronomical prices.

As babies came into our lives, we considered the options:

The Suburban House

We ruled out living in the suburbs rather quickly. We had grown too accustomed to the conveniences of city living. Need food? There are four grocery stores within walking distance, not to mention a butcher shop, farmer’s market, bakery, and countless of restaurants. Need entertainment? There are at least five playgrounds and a library within a 500m radius. Need to venture outside the neighbourhood? Walk to the subway. We were not willing to give all of that up.

The City House

We entertained this idea of buying a bigger place in the city. While we found a couple of houses we liked in areas we loved, there was a problem: housing in Toronto comes with a hefty price tag. During this summer, the average price for a detached home in Toronto reached $1.05 million which was an 18% increase from the previous year (2014). A bigger place would inevitably come with a much bigger mortgage.

Did we want to be house rich and cash poor? No, we like having liquid assets on hand and the financial flexibility from a smaller mortgage.

Space? Who Needs It?!

We were not willing to move to the suburbs or take on a much bigger mortgage- what did that leave us?

Embrace small space living.

We like having liquid assets on hand and the financial flexibility from a smaller mortgage.

The Center on Everyday Lives of Families at the University of California conducted a study of contemporary middle-class American families, observing 35 families over a period of four years. It was found that regardless of the size of house, families spent most of their waking hours in a small space, primarily the kitchen, family room and dining room. While people yearned for space and even had an abundance of it, it wasn’t always used.

My own childhood experience echoes the same observation. I lived in the suburbs in a house that was over 2300 sq feet. There were four bedrooms, one for my parents and each child of theirs. There was also a big lawn and backyard, a giant unfinished basement and a two car garage. During waking hours, my family congregated mainly in two rooms of our home: the kitchen and my parent’s bedroom. In comparison, the rest of the house was rarely used.

The Last Word

Choosing a home or where to raise a family is a difficult decision. It is critical to not let societal norms dictate where you should live; just because the Jones have a lovely house with a lawn doesn’t necessary mean it is the best option. Evaluate your own set of financial circumstances and make decisions based what you value. We fully intended to move to a bigger home when we started having kids, but at the arrival of our first and then our second, we decided it wasn’t space that we wanted but financial flexibility and conveniences of city living. Now, our family of four live in that very first home Daniel and I bought in the city. We use every room.

What rooms in your house do you use most?

Featured Travel

Seoul, Korea: Korean Eats

Korean Eats in Seoul, Korea

From kimchi to bimbimbap, Korean cuisine is readily available in many parts of the world. There are about a dozen delicious options, such as kimchi jjigae and bulgogi, that every one knows, but there is also a plethora of Korean dishes that are less known outside of Korea. When we travelled to Seoul, I made it my mission to seek out the Korean foods I haven’t had before; I came up with a list of thirty items and everyday was a quest to cross something off the list. Below is a summary of the top four places we ate in Seoul, Korea.

Street Food

UrbanDepartures_KoreanEats(2)
The endless street eats truly dwarf our selection in our beloved Toronto. Food vendors line the streets, selling delicious snacks in their carts and stalls. The types of street food offered are extremely diverse- some odd (french fry encrusted hot dogs), some expected (meat skewers), all delicious. My absolute favourite was gyeran bbang, egg bread; it is an oval piece of dense bread, reminiscent of cornbread, with a baked egg on top. The savoury egg, sprinkled with a little salt, complimented the sweet bread perfectly, and since it was served hot off the grill, it kept us warm during long wintry walks outside. Another favourite were these little egg cakes filled with creamy custard. They were sold at a number of underground subway entrances. We found the best stand to at Myedong Station; They served their Deli Manjoos to order, so hot, we would have to wait for manjoos to cool off before scarfing them down. We would purposely go out of the way to make stops at Myedong station to buy a bag of their manjoos.

Gwangjang Market

UrbanDepartures_KoreanEats(3)
Gwangjang Market came highly recommended by a friend who had been to Seoul before, and we decided to have dinner there late one evening. All the shops were all closed by the got there. We wandered through dimly lit alley ways with stores all boarded up; I thought we were in the wrong place and was about to turn around when saw glimmer of light and heard murmurs of conversation in the distance. At the center of the Gwangjang Market is a lively and bustling food area. There were stalls upon stalls of food vendors, and alleyways dedicated to specific food items, like gimbap or mandu (dumpling) alley! We had the famed mung bean pancake and gimbap- what the market is known for- among other things, like tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) and odeng (fish cakes). Our favourite thing at the market was yukhoe, a Korean steak tartare served with julienned Korean pear. It’s absolutely delicious!

Nvoryangjin Wholesale Fisheries Market

UrbanDepartures_KoreanEats(4)
Nyoryangjin is a wholesale fish market- the largest in Seoul. It’s essentially a huge warehouse filled with vendors selling live, frozen and dried seafood. Being a huge seafood lover, an excursion to Nyoryangjin was the activity I looked forward to most in Seoul.

We went late one morning for lunch. At Noryangjin, you pick your seafood at a stall and then bring it to a restaurant where they prepare a meal for you for a cooking fee. We wandered around the market, before randomly choosing a stall to make our purchase: snapper fish, scallops and shrimp. The total cost of our seafood totaled $40 CAD (it’s likely that we overpaid). The vendor at the stall filleted half our fish for Korean-style sashimi (more accurately called hweh); the rest of our fish was turned into a warm hearty soup. It was the first time we had hweh, which is eaten wrapped in shiso leaves with a dollop of fermented soybean paste. Yummy, but it was the soup that had us at hello; it was so flavourful! The rest of the food was grilled, seasoned only with salt and pepper. That too was delicious.

Since food was pricey, we decided it wasn’t worth money on the sannakji, the infamous raw octopus. The family sitting next to us saw our interest and was kind to share some of theirs with us. Daniel and I had trouble picking up a chopped piece of writhing octopus; it continued to wiggle in our mouths as we tried to swallow it quickly as we could. Not my cup of tea, but it was fun to try!

Kimbap Restaurant Around the Corner

UrbanDepartures_KoreanEats(5)
We ate a lot of good food on our trip: street carts, stalls, restaurants, food courts, cafes and bakeries, old ladies selling food on street corners etc, but our favourite restaurant was a small eatery across the street from our accommodations. The restaurant was rather inconspicuous, without any big signage; I only noticed it because there was lady wearing a chef’s hat standing by the window front. The restaurant specializes in kimbab, offering 8 different kinds of rolls made from the freshest ingredients. The menu is only in Korean and the wait staff do not speak a word of English, but the rolls brought us back over and over again. We ate there at least four times. The food truly was trifecta: fresh, tasty and cheap; a meal, where we would struggle to finish all the food, cost us only 18000 wons (approximately $18 CAD).

Cost of Food

Food was more expensive than anticipated. We tried to mitigate food expenses by cooking in the small kitchen of our accommodations, but we found groceries to be costly as well. We generally ate breakfast at our accommodations, but that’s not to say we wouldn’t stop for a second breakfast (there was a street vendor right outside the subway station that sold spam and eggs on toast- so delicious!). We would “splurge” for lunch or dinner, and eat street food or kimbab for the other meal. On average, we would spend $40 for a big meal for our family of three and then another $10-20 on small eats throughout the day.

Last Word

UrbanDepartures_KoreanEats(6)
Seoul, Korea is a foodie’s haven. There is food at every corner, sold from carts, stalls, restaurants. Skipping the dishes we were familiar with in favour of ones on my Must-Try List, I gained a better appreciation for Korean cuisine. Big Brother loved trying different street food- especially anything on a skewer. The baby in my belly had an affinity for all things spicy and I couldn’t have enough of budae-jjigae (army base stew), instant noodles cooked in a spicy broth with sausages, beans and spam. Daniel enjoyed Korean fried chicken and beer, and would have been happy to have that at every meal if it wasn’t for my mission to try thirty new Korean foods. We were very close to accomplishing my goal and checked off 29 items off the Must-Try List. I am sad to report I was unable to find genang (raw crab marinated in soy sauce) and am continue to search for it here in Toronto. I guess I’ll just have to return to Seoul one day.

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