Category Archives: Sit-Down Dining

Thanksgiving Sushi

Welcome back dear friends and apologies for the delay in postings…. also pardon for the half camera half iPhone photos in this post. Someone, without mentioning names, cough-cough Mrs. B, forgot to pack extra batteries. Unthinkable, right? OOpsie…

Over Thanksgiving, we had the opportunity to visit Tokyo, Japan. What an amazing experience, seriously wayyy too short, but definitely another one of the most memorable things I will have experienced in my 20’s.

Japan is such an incredible place, even after all the country has been through in the last few years, it just fascinated me. Getting the opportunity to experience another Asian culture first hand was just indescribable, both peaceful and yet shiny and bright disarray, both enchanting and eccentric, both clean and cluttered. As we zipped around Tokyo, I felt as if our minds and eyes were on constant overload, a very familiar feeling from when we first landed in South Korea to live.

We landed at Narita International Airport, took the The Narita Express or N’EX to our hotel in Shinjuku, where we check in at the Shinjuku Prince Hotel. Nothing fancy, perfectly simple, conveniently located in the center of Kabuki-cho, one of Japan’s best entertainment districts, not to mention only a 5-minute walk to and from the Shinjuku subway station. We highly recommend it!

Because we’ve lived in South Korea now over two years we have had our fill of Korean food, we were on the hunt specifically for Japanese cuisine. We feasted on Yakitori (焼き鳥) AKA grilled chicken on a stick, absolutely delicious, at TORIGEN HAMAMATSUCYOUTEN 鳥元浜松町店! Of course we had gyoza/Pot stickers, and spicy ramen from UMAUMA HIKARIETEN うま馬ヒカリエ店. UmaUma is a Hakata-style ramen noodle shop of long-standing (since 1953), seriously slurp worthy! We indulged on Japan’s longest-running crêpe shop, Marion crêpe, that started life as a food truck in 1976 and offers over fifty mouth-watering combinations to include curry tuna. We ate wasabi ice-cream and drank the most delightful banana cream lattes, and honey loaf. Just when you thought we left out one of the most important foodie items….we absolutely knew we could not leave Japan without savoring some fresh-cut sushi from Sushi Kyotatsu すし京辰.

We walked, and walked, and walked… all over the Shibuya, Harajuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo, and Roppongi area. We took in all the sights and sounds offered in each area. The most notable and most memorable being the Meiji Jingu Shrine, the teenage girls all dressed up like human baby dolls in the Harajuku market area, the busy and largest pedestrian scramble, the bright twinkling night view from Tokyo Tower – Japan’s version of the Eiffel tower, the volcanic Hakone mountains via cable car, the Owakudani Valley, literally called Hell Valley where an ancient crater with sulfurous hot springs have steam rising from crevasses in the ground, took a pirate ship across Lake Ashi, and drove up Mt. Fuji. Oh and throw in a very fast ride on the bullet train too! Whew!

At Hell Valley the smell of sulfur was pretty pungent, however we didn’t let that stop us from getting our hands on the black eggs. These hard black boiled eggs are believed to add 3 years to your life per egg eaten. We love life so you know we each ate two eggs! Who wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to add 6 years to your life? I’m not kidding when I say these eggs were some of the best hard boiled we’ve had!

Even though the weather was perfect, we were not able to hike any of Mt. Fuji. The mountain is only open for hiking during two summer months, July and August. The guide we had told us that we were very lucky that our view of Fuji was so clear. We also lucked out and were able to drive to the 5th station because the weather permitted. We munched on Mt. Fuji melon pan or pineapple bun! The bread was freshly baked in front of us and they sprinkled some cocoa powder and confection sugar on top, which made a nice sweet-bitter contrast mmmmm. We then watched the sun set behind the mountain, truly magical and quite a way to end our adventures in Japan.

Planning a trip to Japan? Check out the locations:

Shinjuku Prince Hotel
1-30-1 Kabukicho, Shinjuku, Tokyo Prefecture 160-8487, Japan

TORIGEN HAMAMATSUCYOUTEN 鳥元浜松町店
Kure Grinding Wheel Building 1F, 2-1-5, Hamamatsucho, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 105-0013

UMAUMA HIKARIETEN うま馬ヒカリエ店.
Shibuya Hikarie 7F, 2-21-1, Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, 150-0002

Marion Crêpe
1-6-15 Jingu-mae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo (東京都渋谷区神宮前1-6-15)

Sushi Kyotatsu すし京辰
Narita Airport Terminal 1, No.3 Satellite, 3rd Floor Tokyo, Japan

Meiji Jingu Shrine 明治神宮
1-1 Yoyogikamizonocho, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan ‎

Tokyo Tower 東京タワ
４-２-８, Minato Tokyo 105-0011, Japan

Volcanic Hakone mountains

Owakudani Valley “Hell Valley” 大涌谷

Mt. Fuji 富士山

Busan Aquarium Shark Dive

EEK! I’ve been totally slacking on this blog lately! Thank you for your patience during my brief lull. I swear I’m back and refreshed and I have to say it was kind of nice to be disconnected from technology and not whip my camera out for a few weeks! Sometimes you just need that, don’t you agree?

Soooo… before getting into all the holiday jazz. What’s been going on lately in our world? Well, we took the KTX (Fast Train) from Seoul to Busan where Mr. B scuba dove in the Busan aquarium tank with sharks, sea turtles and goliath grouper. It was just as exciting for me to watch and snap away outside of the tank as he bubbled by for two hours.

2013_11_23 Busan Shark Dive

2013_11_23 Busan Shark Dive

Strangers

What I love about Seoul is that I never know day-to-day, week to week, what I am going to get myself into, or who I am going to meet. The adventures are always endless and the choices are so grandiose. Do I hike? bike? head to a coffee shop? be a tourist? head to the east coast beaches? shop? Or, do I decide to hop on a train and just explore a random train stop?

This weekend I decided to get myself back down to Seoul, specifically the Itaewon area and pick up freshly baked bread, as well as stop by and see my friend Mipa at her newly opened bake shop PLANT. Again, big surprise decisions made around food. I don’t care, I am not ashamed to admit that… my belly and my soul truly needed it.

The bakery of choice was Maybell 메이벨 베이커리오월의종. Maybell has been listed as one of the top 7 must get to bakeries if you ever find yourself in Seoul. What I love about Maybell is that you are not going to bite into a scrumptious crusty piece of bread to find chunks of corn or a crazy hot dog. Yes, I am serious.. it happens more than I’d like to admit here. I pick dainty little wonderfully looking creations from places like Paris Baguette, example a strawberry harmonica…and then there is a hotdog hiding in there! You think I’d learn too? No, I am almost always startled and find myself saying, “What in the world is this doing in here?” Oh Korea, ha-ha!

Maybell is the real deal, it’s true to form European-style bread. I knew that I had to get there quickly because they sell out rather early in the day. Well, I guess I wasn’t the only one with bread on the brain this afternoon, I got there and stood in a line that looped around the tiny bakery. Not to worry, there still was plenty of choices and I still was able to snag my favorites; cranberry rye, a loaf of rye, and ciabatta.

When leaving Maybell to head to PLANT, every time I’d moved my bag or bump it, the aroma of the bread would just swirl right out and up into my nostrils. Mmmmm… I could live in bakery if I could smell that all day everyday.

Prices: Baguettes ₩3,000; sourdough loaf ₩5,000

Hours: Monday-Saturday, noon-6 p.m., closed on Sundays

Address: 737-2 Hannam 2-dong, Yongsan-gu (용산구 한남2동 737-2);+82 02 792 5561

Conveniently Maybell isn’t that far from PLANT. I arrived at PLANT at the right time because there were only two woman sipping drinks and sharing conversation, eventually each seat at the three tables would become filled, as well as people waiting to grab a seat. This bit of lull gave me the chance to talk with Mipa for a few minutes. I asked about how she was doing and how business was, I was pleased to hear that she had been really busy and the business was going well. I then asked if I could snap a few photos for the blog because I wanted to help get the word out about her and her partners bake shop. She of course permitted and went back into her glass baking sanctuary to start on my lunch order.

Mipa is incredibly sweet and incredibly talented. She is very passionate about being vegan and loves to share her ideals and values through her food and blog. I knew that I had to grab lunch after seeing her post’s earlier in the week. The lunch menu for this afternoon was a tuna and chickpea salad or a teriyaki Tofu Sandwich. I wanted both! The decision was way to hard! In that moment I really wished Mr. B was with me so that he could get one option and I could get the other. I decided to ask the expert, Mipa. I explained that I needed to save room for a delicious treat afterwards, naturally. Mipa suggested the sandwich then, so the sandwich is what I ordered. Right away I decided that my treat afterwards would be a slice of red velvet cake with cashew cream frosting. All I can say is that both my belly and my soul are filled and oh so happy. The food was out of this world.

While sitting there reading my book and enjoying each bite of my sandwich, I ended up shared my table with another woman who looked to be the same age as me. We ended up exchanged a few stories, laughing together, and eventually chatting through our entire lunch while sitting there. It’s incredible when you meet a stranger that you are so comfortable with that you feel you knew practically your entire life. Again, I chalk the experience up to the unknown magic and endless possibility of Seoul. We made sure to exchange contacts and hope to get together again soon. Perhaps even at PLANT where it all began?

Directions to PLANT: ( Straight from Mipa, herself)

Itaewon Station, Line 6, exit 4. Come out the exit and walk straight, down Itaewon road. There will be a Converse store on your left. Immediately after Converse, turn left into the narrow alleyway with steps. Walk down the steps and cross the next intersection. Continue walking straight and go down an alleyway, passing a pasta restaurant on your left. Keep walking a little further and PLANT will be on your right. 5-7 minute walk from the station.

서울시 용산구 이태원동 63-15
Phone: 070-4115-8388
Hours: Tues-Sun 11am-7pm. Lunch service starts at noon.
Closed on Mondays.

Good Friends

The other night, we went to dinner with our friends to celebrate their “wedding anniversary”.

It was so great getting to meet new friends as well as their mother that flew into town.

I failed to take any good photos of the dinner… Tsk…I know. I was caught up in the conversations and laughter.

Dinner was amazing! (Oliva Garden, what a cute play on words, reminds me of a stateside chain….hmmm)

Good friends are the best!

Directions to the restaurant:

Oliva retaurant is conveniently located around the corner from the US embassy and just one block west of Gyeongbokgun Palace.

If you are traveling by subway, go to Gyeongbokgun Station, and walk out exit 3. Walk straight for about 5-7 minutes (about 100m) and you will see the restaurant on the right side about 1-2 minutes PAST the starbucks. If you reach an LG Digital store, you have JUST past the restaurant.

35-28 Tongui-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea
서울 종로구 통의동 35-28
+82 2-733-3056

http://www.oliva.kr/

공씨네주먹밥 Kong’s Riceball

I often find that little hole in the wall places are the best kind of places. They typically serve some of the most unusual and delicious little finds. Take our secret restaurant for instance. It’s so off the beaten path and it has some of the best food we’ve eaten since living in Korea. I guess that’s why we really can’t let the week go by without grabbing dinner there at a minimum once.

Last night I got a text from my girlfriend Mary asking if I wanted to meet up for lunch at a little hole in the wall near both of our homes, Kong’s Riceball. It’s been on my list of places to check out because every time we pass it on walks we chuckle to ourselves. Humorous name, right? Plus the slogan reads, “Get some FUN – Fast Unique Nutritious.” Obviously it was hook, line, and sinker.

I’m sure you can guess what Kong’s serves up…if you guessed rice balls, you are wrong. Just kidding, of course its riceballs silly!

You get a choice of filling like tuna, spicy grilled chicken, spicy anchovy, flying fish and cheese, marinated beef, roasted pork, crab meat and broccoli, salmon, spam and even kimchi. These little guys remind me of the Korean kimbap triangles that are sold in convenience stores here, only BETTER.

Kong’s forms a ball with the seasoned rice, sticks the filling in the center, and then roll it in roasted sea laver or seaweed. It’s really tasty, I promise! Plus, it’s really convenient and would be a great snack for when you are on the go. We got the flying fish row, the crab meat and broccoli, and pumpkin porridge. I completely forgot to post the cost! Super cheap! Mine was only 6,000W!

Check it out and let me know what you think!

718-1 Jihaeng-dong
Dongducheon-si, Gyeonggi-do
031-859-5383
http://kongsriceball.co.kr/

Then for a little sweet treat pop on over to Cafe 7 Gram across the street, just like we may or may not have…

Date Night: Chinese Restaurant – Gong-Hwa-Choon

What are your thoughts on Chinese food? (Besides the cute little take out containers and fortune cookies)

I find that you either like it, or you don’t. Up until a few years ago I found myself not really caring for it. Mostly I think because it upset my stomach. There was never any one menu item that pushed me over the edge, it was all of them. I later found out that I might have had a stomach sensitivity to MSG. Mr. B always enjoyed Chinese food and his stomach never seemed to mind it. Wait, wait, wait… let me rephrase that… This entire time I should have been more PC and used the term American-Chinese food. However, we did take a trip to China since living in Asia, we both agreed we liked our Americanized version more so. Snobs right? HA-HA.

Anywho, like America, Korea does Chinese food too, Korean-Chinese. I mostly find that the main dish served in a Korean-Chinese restaurant is jajangmyeon. In Chinese they call it zhajiangmian. Some places serve up a superb dish of jajangmyeon, while others offer a very sad and bland black bean blob onto of noodles. It’s hit or miss.

This week we moved our date night to tonight. YEY! You know what that means…new adventure! We decided to check out a Chinese restaurant that we eyed on a walk in passing a few weeks back. The restaurant is called Gong-Hwa-Choon. The map coordinates are listed below and will open up on a google map if you ever find yourself in the Dongducheon area.

The food was really good and oh goodness, plentiful. We even took leftover homes! The service was excellent! Plus they deliver too! We ordered SET D and shared again, think plentiful.

Menu: (All spelling and description taken directly from menu)

Noodle A: Jajangmyeon – Noodle with black bean pasta sauce 3,000W

Noodle B: Ganjajang- Noodle with fried black bean paste sauce 5,000W

Noodle C: Jjamppong- Spicy noodle soup with some seafood and vegetables 4,000W

Noodle D: Samseon-Jjamppong- Spicy noodle soup with various seafood and vegetables. More deep flavored soup 8,000W

Noodle E: Woo-Dong- Japanese noodle with tempura and vegetable in soy sauce and dashi soup 5,000W

Noodle F: Seafood Fried Jajang- Noodle with fried black bean paste, various seafood and vegetables 15,000W (2 portion)

Noodle G: Seafood fried jjamppong- Spicy noodle with various seafood and vegetables without soup 15,000W (2 portion)

Rice A: Fried Rice- Fried Rice with fried egg and vegetables with black bean paste sauce 5,000W

Rice B: Shrimp Fried Rice- Fried rice with shrimp, fried egg, and vegetables 7,000W

Rice C: Omelet Rice-Rice covered with egg 6,000W

Rice D: Jajang Rice- White rice with black sauce 5,000W

Rice E: Jjang Ppong Rice- White rice with spicy noodle soup with seafood and vegetables 6,000W

Rice F: Jap-Chae Rice- White rice with cellophane noodles, sliced vegetables and pork 6,000W

Special A: Fried dumplings- Fried dumplings stuffed with minced pork and vegetables 4,000W

Special B: Steamed Dumplings- Steamed dumpling stuffed with minced pork and vegetables 4,000W

Special C: Sweet & Sour Pork- Fried pork with sweet & sour sauce S-15,000W, M-20,000W, L-25,000W (sharable dish)

Special D: Kanso Shrimp- Fried shrimp with sweet & spicy sauce 30,000W (sharable dish)

Special E: Jap-Chae- Cellophane noodle with sliced vegetables and pork 15,000W (sharable dish)

Special F: Kan Poong Gi- Fried Chicken with sweet and spicy sauce 22,000W (sharable dish)

Set A: Special C, 2 noodle A, special A 15,000W

Set B: Special C, 1 noodle C, 1 noodle A, special A 16,000W

Set C: Special C, noodle F, special A 19,000W

Set D: Special C, noodle G, special A 20,000W

Grab the map coordinates HERE

Good, Bad, Everything in Between

Many apologies, lately I feel like I’ve been rather inconstant with keeping up on our blog. I know it’s only been a week or so since the last update, but it feels like months have went by that I’ve left you all hanging. Life has certainly been fast paced here for the bees. Travel, wonky work hours, and life, just plain life. Now I’m left trying to catch up on my e-mails, blogger friends, pen pal, books, and the heaping pile of laundry that’s bursting at the seams every time I open our walk in. The only real comforting fact to subside my OCD is that i know my grandma’s advise would be, it’s not going anywhere, you will get to it when you can get to it. She’s sweet! I won’t even get started on the fact I haven’t put any thought into packing for my trip to Cambodia yet. Eek! Yes, that’s this Friday…more on that later.

Lets start with the good! I like to jump off on a positive not anyways.

Over the weekend we decided to get more adventurous and try out another new restaurant. Sweet victory! We loved it! Excellent duck and outstanding sides. Of course I included photos for you, even threw in a bonus video too. Sorry for the iPhone quality guys. Can I just point out how ingenious is that table with the built-in rotisserie! Oh Korea, you make being foodies so easy!

Onto the bad…no sugar coating…the place below was the pits. Period.

So whats everything in between? Planning to leave for my Habitat for Humanity trip in Cambodia this FRIDAY!

I wasn’t kidding, fast track life lately! I feel like it was just yesterday kicking off my build fundraising for my team. Here we are almost $2,000 later and boarding a plane soon. Everyone keeps asking me if I’m ready, if I’m excited, if I’m worried. Yes, yes, and yes!

I find myself soul-searching a lot, looking for ways to give a piece of myself, my heart, to something meaningful in this world. What an opportunity with Habitat! I get to build a home for a deserving family, give them a forever place. In so many ways I know this will fill my heart temporary. I’m ready to give my all! My sweat, my energy, my manpower. Oivay, sweat…did you see those temperatures above? I’m thinking there will be plenty of sweat to give.

I’m excited to learn about the Cambodia culture and way of life, work hand and hand with the people, be a tourist, and disconnect completely from all the technology that bogs me down. Yes, worry, had to mention that of too. What can I say? I’m a worry wort. With any trip outside of the norm there is always the element of worry, right? Mr. B made me make two deals. One, come back alive, and two I cannot bring any children back with me. Does this man know me or what? Shushhh don’t tell him I admitted that openly.

Cherio! I’m off to finish up and finalize all the in between things before leaving on my trip, but I’ll be back soon with lots of exciting things to share!

Petra Palace

After a very eventful trip to Seoul today, with my friend Mrs. P and precious baby G, I’m home. Yes, what originally was planned as a fun-filled get out and explore Seoul trip took a slight chaotic turn for the worse. Without getting into all the crazy details lets just say that an unplanned trip to Samsung Hospital unfortunately took up most of our Seoul fun. No worries friends and family, I am doing just fine now.

I can’t write off the entire day, we did find a great place to grab a falafel on flat bread.

Originally we attempted to check out a little French bistro, however after further review of the late lunch menu, we needed a little bit more than snails and a cheese dish to fill us up. We walked up and down the main street in Iteawon. Now, if you ever get to visit this section, you will see there are endless options to eat at. We were just being difficult and could not commit on a place. Searching, searching, searching, walking, walking, walking. . . Finally, we stumbled upon Petra Palace. Frankly the smell is what drew us in. The outside was nothing extravagant. We figured why not!

WOW! What an amazing little gem we found! Petra Palace is a rather small restaurant that serves simple Arabic cuisine. Dishes include falafel, humus, and shawarma. Mrs. P and I each ordered falafel’s on flat bread. The wraps were accompanied with a side of french-fries sprinkled with a delightful spice from Jordan. Final verdict, loved every bite and cannot wait to go back and try more!

Until the next adventure!

James’ Pizza

Speaking of another place that hasn’t changed, we visited James’ Pizza. You know the type of place where all of the locals know each other and when you walk in the whole place turns and looks at you, they know you are an outsider. It’s okay.. we figured they don’t get to see many Korean’s in this part of the world. Just kidding.

James’ is known for their hot cheese pizza. We know you are thinking, what makes this hole in the wall so special? Three words, hot, cheese, pizza! Not just any cheese, but spicy american cheese served on a rectangle shaped pizza.

Mr. B and his family have such fond memories of James’ and have been frequenting for years and years. I was lucky to get introduced to this dusty coal region gem when I first met Mr. B. In the summer we’d swim and run up to James’ pizza and order a half-baked hot cheese pizza, take home bake the rest of the way and devour it. Those were the days!

Yes, the menu is very small and hasn’t expanded very much over the 50 some years that the doors have been open, but that’s okay with its crowd. James’ knows what they do well, and boy do they really do it well!

This time our friend Scott tagged along with us, this was his first time. He’s now hooked and is already planning his next visit. Unfortunately Scott also learned the hard way about James hot cheese pizza fresh out of the oven. Molten lava temp’d cheese! Eek! Watch out for that! The melting of the roof of your mouth will be with you for days, but the experience is well worth it in the end. Just ask Scott!

Isabella’s

Besides sensing a food pattern here, I am sure you can tell how much we love our italian cuisine. Due to bad weather our prior dinner engagement at Ghezzi’s fell through. Our friend Scott came to the rescue and suggested that we try out a newly opened restaurant called Isabella’s restaurant and Cocktail Lounge. Sure, why not!

The restaurant is located on the main street that runs through downtown Selinsgrove, PA. The building that the restaurant sits in is what used to be an old bank. Once you are inside you will still find many remnants of the bank in the decor. Old bank ledgers piled on the window ledges, knobs placed all around still from the original bank, the bar area being used is an old teller box, the vault visible from the bar and dining area propped wide open and used as a prepping station. All and all it really boast a Victorian era vibe. We instantly fell in love and we hadn’t even seen the menu, nor tasted the food.

The service was fantastic! The food was outstanding! So much so that we ended up going back a second time while we were home too. We have high hopes that when we are back visiting in the area that the restaurant still operates because we will certainly go back again!

The restaurant is located on 23 S. Market St., Selinsgrove, PA. Hours are Monday to Saturday from 4- 11 p.m.