Tag Archives: New City

Presidents Day Weekend

This weekend we were invited to grab a bite to eat in New City with some of our friends.

Of course we forgot the camera….sorry! However we were able to snap a few pictures with the good ole iPhone.

Our friends took us to a restaurant we haven’t tried out yet. We were pretty excited!

Sorry we also do not know the proper name for the restaurant…maybe some help from our Korean friends? šŸ˜‰ the location is in very close proximity to the jihaeng station in new city. Look for the 7 gram coffee shop and directly across from it you will see the place.

20120225-223908.jpg

(Inside. Floor and table dining available).

20120225-223603.jpg

(oops…forgot to get a shot of the start to the meal. We will leave you with the dinner aftermath).

20120225-223625.jpg

The night was still young, we went for drinks. Especially when our friends found out that we still haven’t tried Soju. Yes! You read that correctly!

20120225-225020.jpg

Where does one go for some drinks? Miller Time, of course! Haha! Also a first for the Bees!

20120225-225236.jpg

The bar was actually alot of fun! Great atmosphere. We REALLY enjoyed the cherry Soju. Lordy, that drink is seriously dangerous! You’ve got to try it out!

20120225-225448.jpg

The bar features a nice selection of your typical bar foods.

20120225-225604.jpg

Bonus….Engrish spotted!

20120225-225705.jpg

You know Mr. B had a fint or two… šŸ˜‰

20120225-225855.jpg

The bar keeps you munching on popcorn as you order drinks. They even brought out a free plate of tasty French fries. Score!

20120225-230203.jpg

20120225-230313.jpg

So now I’m sure you are intrigued by the fortunes, right? Well, the bar serves you fortune cookies with your first round of drinks. You match the pictures on the back of your fortune with the ones they have posted on the board. Free drink!!

Well, our group didn’t have a match.

But…

We did get to watch a group of Korean girls get completely annihilated celebrating a birthday. Fun times!! No, really! It was comical!!

20120225-230717.jpg

THANKS GUYS!! Until next time šŸ™‚ šŸ™‚

20120225-230824.jpg

Fishy Friday

iPhone shots of Korean sushi dinner in New City(restaurant located directly across from women’s cultural center) with Mrs. B’s work ladies.

Much like most meals in Korea, the sides and various dishes just kept coming and coming. I found myself more and more impressed with each new item brought out to our table. Mmm! Korean sushi was a tad different but what a treat and experience!

20120109-221854.jpg

20120109-222009.jpg

20120109-222021.jpg

20120109-221904.jpg

20120109-221916.jpg

20120109-221925.jpg

20120109-222030.jpg

20120109-221934.jpg

20120109-221950.jpg

20120109-221959.jpg

Duck Dinner and Goodbyes

Some of our dear friends are leaving to go back stateside this week. They are truly going to be missed!

We wish them the very best of luck and know when we visit California one day we will meet back up again. šŸ™‚

We are ever so thankful for the acceptingness, niceness, friendship, and just compassion this couple has given us both since we’ve been in South Korea.

Mac and Candy, we miss you already! Please keep in touch! We hope you enjoy the nice warm temperatures and get a good giggle thinking about us while we are freezing our butts off this winter in the arctic of Korea.

iPhone Pictures of our duck dinner

20111220-221730.jpg

20111220-221739.jpg

The Perfect Summer Day

Wait, is there such a thing as the perfect summer day in South Korea? Typically a summer day consist of heat, heat, oh yea more heat, and throw in some major humidity! Today however was absolutely perfect! Yes it was HOT but we were able to get out and enjoy it with some new friends in Dongjeom. Dongjeom is only 7km (5 miles) away from Dongducheon and is very popular among Koreans on days like today.

If you viewed the pictures already you will see that we cooled off in a stream. We loved it! We were the only Americans there and the Koreans welcomed us right away. For as little as 50,000 KRW you got to order/grill all sorts of great foods, have your own personal cabana-style set up all day, park for free, and soak in the rays. We were surprised at the soaking of rays part because usually Koreans avoid exposing there skin to the sun at all costs.

There was a sweet Korean family that squirted us with water guns and got into a splash fight with us too….(Don’t worry we learned a valuable lesson recently and we safe guarded the camera from water with our lives). Meaning Mrs. B took one for the team and got soaked!

After some time spent cooling down we decided to towel off and head to Herb Island. Those of you familiar with our past blog post know that we have been there multiple times now. Each time we go back we see or try something new. This time we can add blueberry herb ice-cream, boy’s in bubble, full body chair massages, and tasting herbal teas to the list. We are telling you that you’ve got to visit Herb Island if you are ever in the neighborhood.

As an answer to a previous post question, YES, Herb Island sells pre-potted herbs and flowers, so bring some won. The prices seemed reasonable.

After Herb-Island our stomach’s were all grumbling. Our new friends asked if we wanted to join them for dinner and we gladly accepted! We drove into New City (Dongducheon) and went to a place that we have wanted to try out from our numerous night walks. The restaurant is Twae Rang Such Ur K/Go K/GI. Such means basically to grill or charcoal, and K/Go K/GI is the meat. We were all impressed with the Kal-mege-Sal (We might have butchered that spelling, many apologies). Basically we had seasoned meat that was not oily and grilled perfectly right at our table! We had sprouts, kimchi (and this kimchi would be a perfect beginners kimchi to try, not too much fish sauce), rice, and bean soup. Mmmm! We left stuffed and will definitely go back again!

We both got home saying what a fun filled day we had with such awesome company. We look forward to many more great adventures into the future with them both!

Friday Night Farewell

Itā€™s F-R-I-D-A-Y!! Woot-woot. Can you tell we are a little excited for the weekend? Whatā€™s on the agenda you ask? Well we are planning to try a Korean buffet style restaurant located in New City. The restaurant is located on the second floor of a building directly across from the Jihaeng train station. We havenā€™t included the name because we still need to obtain the correct spelling to provide it.
We ended up walking because it wasnā€™t raining for once and itā€™s in rather close walking distance to where we live.

Anyways, our dear friend Brad will be joining us tonight. Brad is leaving Korea in a few days and will be reuniting finally with his family back in the states. We are going to miss Brad dearly, however, we are really glad that we got the chance to get to know him and become good friends with him. We know that no matter where our travels take us we will still maintain a connection and hopefully one day get to meet back up again. Brad, if you are reading this we are praying for your safe travels and awesome homecoming!

Well folks this post is going to be short and sweet. We will post pictures of our night when we get home later.

Eat Drink and be Merryā€¦.

That is exactly what we did tonight. If you are familiar with our past blog posts you know that we really enjoyed the food and experience at the Dino Meat Restaurant the last time we went. The past two weeks have been a bit of a blur with travel, trips, anniversaries, birthdays, and new ventures to come. To officially kick of the weekend we dined at Dino Meats with some great friends!

We were sat towards the back of the restaurant due to it being a busy Friday night. We ended up in a section that had tables reserved for a large party. We basically had the entire back part of the restaurant to ourselves until the large party came towards the end of our meal. We loved it! We had plenty of room to stretch out and just enjoy ourselves.

The large party consisted of various aged Koreanā€™s celebrating with a lot of grilled meat and a lot of soju. We loved to watch the ladies as they all started with their hair down but as they continued to drink the soju they would pull it back into a ponytail. Each time they would take a shot of the soju their cheeks and faces would take on a rosier shade.Ā  It was incredible to watch how they effortlessly shoved the different types of meats wrapped in lettuce and other sides into their mouths. We all got a kick out of it because no matter how hard we would tried to shovel leaves into our mouths the same way it never quite worked out. Although this time I was prepared with a tide-stick just in case.

We ended up selecting some new types of meat this time. Doris and I were on a search mission for meat that we had loved the last time we were here. It was thinly sliced meat that reminded us of a cheese-steak minus the cheese from the states.Ā  There was much debate around who thought what meat it was. In the end everything was amazing and we left with our bellies very full.

After dinner everyone came back to our place to enjoy some coffee and strawberry shortcake. We ended up calling it a night before eleven because we knew we had to get up bright and early the next morning for the DMZ Tour.

 

There is a New Pho in Town

I met one of the sweetest ladies on the Cherry Blossom Trip and we have kept in touch ever since. Today she asked if I wanted to go for lunch with her and her sweet baby twins (One boy and one girl) to a new Vietnamese restaurant, Pho Bien, within walking distance located near both of our places. I was super excited because I have enjoyed getting to know her and her family and we have such a good time when we are together!

Right off the bat we took notice and thought it was worth mentioning that this place is super-super kid friendly! They have high-chairs, booster seats, even a changing room dedicated to children with extra supplies like diapers and such for those sometimes unavoidable accidents. Honestly, from the outside of the restaurant and the cool trendy vibe we got once inside we never really would have thought this place was this kid friendly!

The waiter was incredibly helpful with setting up the two highchairs, helping wheel the buggy out of the way, and getting our table started with hot tea and water.
The menu has pictures of each dish as well as Korean and English translations. The menu focuses on Vietnamese Pho (of course). The dish is pronounced ā€œfuhā€ and consists of noodles made from rice and is often served with Vietnamese basil, lime, bean sprouts that are added to the soup by the diner. The soup uses fresh, beef bones, whole sides of brisket and flank, traditional herbs, aromatic vegetables and skinless chicken breasts to develop a very savory broth.

Once we ordered the waiter came by with Sprouts, JalapeƱos, onions, and radishes for the Pho dishes. He pointed out and explained that the two sauces were for the steamed red bean buns that we ordered as appetizers.

Mary and I both enjoyed our Pho dishes. Mary ordered the seafood pho and I had the brisket pho. We decided to try Tau Sar Bao (Red Bean Steamed Buns) as an appetizer that was really different but overall tasty.

Most of the pho dishes on the menu ranged from $7,000w on up but note they are a large portion the both of us left much of the broth and some of the steamed buns.
Overall I feel this place deserves 5 out of 5 on everything from the food to the service. We both said we really think this place will make it here!

Please feel free to check out the pictures and if you get a chance to check the place out feel free to let us know what you thought.

Han’s Deli

A friend and I decided to take a walk and grab lunch along the way. We ended up stopping in a few places but changing our minds until we saw the Han Deli sign on the second floor of a building location in New City. The restaurant is located conveniently close to the Dongducheon- Jihaeng train station.

Woot-woot! A deli, or so we thoughtā€¦ ha-ha! There really isnā€™t anything deli-like about this place except for the name and the decor. There are no cold-cuts, veggies, or salads awaiting you to create the perfect sandwich. No, what the ā€œdeliā€ does feature on the menu is about a half-dozen spaghetti dishes, almost a full page of cutlets, all sorts of chicken in different sauces, and of course seafood. Don’t worry the menu features nice pictures of each dish as well as Korean and English translation.

First you will be given the menu when entering the restaurant and when you decide what you are having you go to the counter place your order and pay. Once the food is ready the staff will bring the food to your table. The restaurant is more westernized with scenes from New York and had tall tables and chairs. The young girl taking the oders spoke broken english but really made an effort to try to communicate everything about the order with us.

The prices are fantastic! We had the fish cutlet for $5,600w and the chicken ball Doria for $5,900w. This fish came with radishes, rice, and two decent sized pieces of breaded fish. Much to our surprise the fish was really fresh and really tasty. The chicken ball Doria was just as tasty and had balls of breaded chicken, some sort of rice with a sauce that reminded you of marinara, and cheese melted on top.

We both agreed we would eat here again and try something new. We were told the menu changes seasonally so what we enjoyed this time might be gone next time depending on when we get back there again.

The website is http://www.hansdeli.com . I apologize in advance the pictures are from my iphone.

Childrenā€™s Day ģ–“ė¦°ģ“ė‚  Celebration in New City

Today is an absolutely beautiful day! The sun is shining and it is going to reach a high of 75! What a great day to get outside and take a walk. Larry and I are really hooked on these mixed nuts from Lotte Mart so I thought Iā€™d go grab some more giving me an excuse to get out and enjoy the sunshine.

Before leaving the house I found out today, May 5th, is Koreaā€™s ā€œChildren Dayā€, a holiday that is celebrated to honor children of all ages. How cute is that! Iā€™m not aware of this celebration in the US… but if we do celebrate it, maybe we are just not quite up to speed because we do not have a little bee of our own yet. Anyways, there are various countries that also celebrate this holiday but it may fall on a different day. This special day really reminds me of how the US celebrates Christmas or a birthday because the child is just showered with gifts and fun.

In South Korea, Childrenā€™s Day is pronounced (orini nal). A Korean childrenā€™s writer by the name of Pang Chong-hwan founded the holiday in the year 1923. The holiday represents a childā€™s need for love, devotion, and respect. Childrenā€™s day is also a day to honor adults that have contributed to improving the lives of children.

Many cities have events such as parades or activities set up for the children to participate in for the holiday. The celebration that I got to witness located in New City about 10 minutes away from our apartment had all an entire city street blocked off. On this street there was a large stage where children were performing and dancing around, traditional games and crafts were set up and all sorts of vendors selling items geared towards children.

In Lotte Mart while picking up our mixed nuts I got to see just how crazy the holiday really was. Toys were set up strategically to market the holiday and of course there were children of all ages picking out a new toy with their parents. It was really entertaining to watch each child so eager and excited to pick out a new toy! I only had my iphone so you have to bear with me on a few of these pictures.

I took some quick video with my iphone of the celebration. I thought it was really cute! The kids preforming on stage were really good too!