I Kid You Not!

This is a picture of a map I saw in Kangwondo. Apparently, there's a cafe called "The Bicycle Thief" there. Thoughts?

Jaebudo.

Weekends are, and have always been a day for adventure. Saturday usually begins with a breakfast eaten either at home, or along the snail-paced traffic leading to the place we fancy.

One particular Saturday in June, we included a new stop in our weekend itinerary: Jaebudo. We basked in the sun all afternoon, got dirty and played in the mud till the sunset came. Here's how Jaebudo looks like.

We stayed until about 8 pm, not minding the mosquitoes and the darkness of the vast open space. Our adventure ended in a Kalguksu restaurant and it turned out to be the best hand-made Kalguksu we've ever tasted! I wasn't able to take photos of it, however I do have a photo that looks a lot like it. It was from our visit to Daebudo. Read my old post here if you've got plenty of time to kill.

Cravings.

I'm craving for some patpingsu!

Gangchon's Gugok Falls.

After our mini-food adventure in Chuncheon, we made a quick stop to Gangchon. It's not really a happening place and there's nothing much you could do there. But there's a place there that we like to visit called Gugok Falls. It takes about an half an hour from Gangchon station by car, but if you're feeling more adventurous, you can either hike or rent an ATV or scooter to get there. The view along the way is quite random; the usual clusters of mountains, old countryside villages, and rice fields.

Gugok Falls is located in the midst of a big park. It gets pretty crowded here, so if you're looking for some peace and quiet, then this place might not be for you. But if you're cool with hordes of tourists, noisy kids and plenty of ATV/scooter riding guys out to impress their girlfriends then you'll probably enjoy this place.

A 10 - minute hike is all you need to see the falls. Here's how it looks..

Chuncheon's Dalk Galbi Street.

Whenever I think about Chuncheon, it's hard not to associate it with food. Sure we all know about Chuncheon's local specialty dish called Dalk Galbi, but who knew there's a street there named after it?

All the restaurants serve nothing but Dalk Galbi.

All the restaurants look promising, but this particular restaurant caught my eye.

What's great about this restaurant is that it was featured in a local and foreign TV show... It also appeared in newspapers saying it's the best...

This is how it looks when they serve it.

And this is how it looks right after cooking... It was absolutely delicious!



But their serving is a bit small so we ordered another dish.. This time it was Makguksu.. A spicy noodle dish that's also famous in the area.

The next time you visit Chuncheon, try visiting Dalk Galbi street. It sure as hell worth the travel.

Total "Eclipse" Of My Heart.

So yesterday kind of started off awfully. I had a massive headache and was absolutely exhausted for no reason. I take it as a result of not eating enough, trying to make amends for all that crap I ate the past few days. But on the upside, I found myself in a better mood later that evening. Of course, why wouldn't I be? I got to see Edward Cullen's immortal hotness once again, and that ought to place a positive spin on whatever crap I've been feeling.

Chris read some pretty bad reviews about it and was absolutely dreading to see it with me. But I simply can't find it in me to care about such reviews, after all critics can say whatever they want, the movie will still be a hit and bite them in their sorry asses. But I'm gonna be honest, the movie sucked.... big time. The other annoying part was Chris's non stop whining, but thank the Lord junk foods were invented for it silenced his cynical mouth.

I find it retarded though that as much as I hate all the absurdities and awkwardness of the plot, I really did enjoy it. But I'm not gonna go as far as recommending it to you guys. Like I said, the movie is ridiculously absurd, and unless you're a die hard fan, it'll be hard to stay glued to your seat. In my case, all I needed was a pasty Edward Cullen (and dare I say, a shirtless Jacob Black) to get my blood pumping and mouth drooling for the entire 2 hours!

That's all for now. I've got to head out to the grocery to buy a couple of things (I'm making pasta for dinner). Hope you all have great weekend!!!

Gapyeong, Baby!

I mentioned in my previous post that Chris and I celebrated our anniversary. The day itself we spent in Bundang Cafe Village and the other part we spent in Gapyeong. That's right.. Gapyeong again. I lost count how many times I visited this place, but it was only this time that I really got to enjoy it to the hilt. It was a short 2-day trip, but a really nice one. We stayed at this beautiful wooden pension in the middle of the woods. Here's how it looks.




At the back of the pension, there's a huge meadow bordered by tall pine trees and cascading mountains. There are also wild bushes and plenty of colorful flowers surrounding it (which reminds me of "Twilight" by the way). There are no words to articulately describe how beautiful it is over there.




There's also a small stream at the side of meadow.



The meadow, the stream, the pine trees and wildflowers are all amazing, but those are just the tip of the iceberg. Not far from the pension, there is a huge river called Noksu and we had a blast there despite the water being icy cold.

We spent the rest of the day in the river getting wet and watching people catch fish. When we grew hungry, we headed back to the pension to eat dinner. Along the way, we passed by an old lady selling raspberries and Chris bought some for me. It was the first time I tasted fresh raspberries, I only had frozen ones before.. ^^:

As soon as we got back, Chris started grilling the meat we bought from the meat shop earlier that day. **The cylindrical white ones are rice cakes or what they all tteok here.

This is the best way to eat it: get some lettuce, put the meat in there, some kimchi, a thin slice of garlic and ssamjang. Wrap it all together and pop it in your mouth. .. DELICIOUS!

Camping is no fun without a kick of alcohol right? That night we had some chilled makgeolli and dongdongju...

I'm gonna write more about our amazing adventure later. Meanwhile, I got to get ready cause Chris is coming back soon and we're gonna watch ECLIPSE later. God I can't wait!

Have a great one folks!

P.S. Sorry if my writing is a bit off today. I'm still a little high from the Kaldereta I tasted earlier. I'll do better next time, promise.

What's For Lunch?!

... Kaldereta!!!

Yesterday, I got a chance to visit a foreign foodmart in Itaewon, Seoul for the first time. I wound up buying a couple of things, one of which is Mother's Best Kaldereta Mix from the Philippines. Kalderetang Baka (Spicy Beef Stew) happens to be my favorite dish of all time. I haven't tasted it in months so I decided to cook it for lunch today.

Here's how...

I used: A kilogram of beef cut into large cubes, 2 medium sized potatoes, 1 small carrot, red bellpepper, onion and garlic. The other two ingredient that gave this dish a super savory boost are:

The Kaldereta Mix..

and Hunt's Tomato Paste (I used about 3 tbsp of this).

So first, I boiled the beef in medium high heat. I didn't use pressure cooker, just a regular pot so it took about an hour before it became tender. Then I added the potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, tomato paste and the kaldereta mix and let it boil for another 10 minutes. Lastly, I added the red bell peppers. You may notice I didn't add salt or pepper, the kaldereta mix already took care of that.

See folks, it's that simple.. The result is by far the best kaldereta I've ever tasted in my life. The sauce is so thick and flavorful, veggies are not at all overcooked, and man.. the meat is so tender!!! That kaldereta mix is really a life saver.

I can't wait till Chris taste this!

Then Came Healing.

Since the start of summer, stress has just been too much and it was all too overwhelming. I was in the brink of falling apart, loneliness and insecurities enveloping every inch of my body. When that happens, depression is nearby, biding it's time, simply waiting. It can be triggered by a simple argument between Chris and I, a phone call from my sick Mom, or something as innocent as a trip to the weighing scale. So when we suddenly found a day of nothing but free time, I couldn't think of a better way to spend it than watching the sun set. You might be thinking, what good could it possibly do to me? It heals me, believe it or not. Nothing calms me more than seeing the pure, unadulterated sun setting in the horizon. The expanse of colors it creates and everything else below it takes my breath away. Beautiful does not quite cover it... It's calming, soothing and it makes me, dare I say, hopeful about life in general. It takes me out of that uncomfortable limbo, away from the maddening self-hate and bitterness I feel. There is a certain element of realization it brings, to look at the positive side and not dwell on the negatives. It gets me to think that all that is waiting for me at the end of the night is another day... only better.


Pictures taken at Jecheon, around 6:30 pm Korea time.

I hope everyone else is fairing better than I am. You all stay positive alright?!

Mads Langer-ed.

It's June 30th, end of the month. What a very tiring and daunting month it has been! I have spent the vast majority of the month mulling. Just mulling over everything that is going on in my life right now.. I can say with no hint of doubt in my mind that if I did not have my time alone I would either implode and self destruct, or go completely crazy. Neither particularly appeals to me.

I suppose I'm avoiding the underlyring issue of all this gloom and doom (I find it difficult to say the particulars, I hope you all understand). I am admittedly too fragile and too coward to deal with the entirety of it. So my old faithful, my tried and tested savior comes to light: MUSIC. It aids my focus, helps funnel my energy to things that are worth doing.

In this light, I wanna share a bit of the music I've been listening to: MADS LANGER - a Danish singer who has the ability to turn my mood from bad to pleasant. He's a genious artist and I'm smitten by him big time! My playlist from now on is going to be all about him.

All of his songs are pretty good, but my favorite remains to be "Beauty Of The Dark." A song I stumbled upon while watching Vampire Diaries. I don't particularly like posting lyrics of songs in my blog cause I think it's pointless.. But in this case, it gets to me.. so much that I'm willing to post it right here.

***

The beauty of the dark is the beauty of you
I dream of dreaming dreams of you but nightmares always block the view I can't sleep

The beauty of silence is the noise of no words
When everything I listen for is here when you walk in the door tonight


Where is the light in your deep dark room?
A shock of white could save you from your shadow
Why is the dark behind the moon?
Out of reach until the light is shattered


The ugly things I do for beauty
If you could see what's real in me then maybe beauty wouldn't be so cruel

Where is the light in your deep dark room?
A shock of white could save you from your shadow
Why is the dark behind the moon?
Out of reach until the light is shattered


If you wanna know more about Mads Langer, do check this site http://www.madslanger.dk/.

Korean Food Project: Figure-Friendly Chapchae.

Chris came back home really early on Friday, and bugged me to prepare something noddle-y for dinner. I wasn't in the mood to eat or cook anything (the smell of food is kind of revolting these days), but he rarely makes a request like that so I dutifully obliged. I checked our perpetually understocked fridge and somehow I came up with a few veggies... perfect! Next, I rummaged the storage cabinet and found an old pack of chapchae noodles and thankfully, it wasn't expired yet. Chapchae isn't really a main dish here. It's more of a side dish served alongside stews and meat dishes. But together with rice, kimchi and a few other banchan, it can be considered a decent meal and ought to give him a noodle fix.

Since I'm bent to lose weight, I wanted to make my chapchae as healthy as possible; no meat, less oil and lots of veggies. And again, pardon me if my ingredients and methods are kind of different from the usual..

Here's what I used: 300 grams of chapchae noodles (soaked in water for 15 minutes), cabbage, carrots, bell peppers, onions and minced garlic. I veered away from meat and used re-hydrated mushrooms and shrimp - both are rich in flavor and enough to give chapchae a savory boost.




First, I sauteed the vegetables in 1 tbsp of olive oil. 2 minutes is probably good, you don't want your veggies to be overcooked. *Many presumes olive oil as light and low in calorie, but go easy on using it. Olive oil packs in a whopping 120 cal/tbsp.




I added the shrimp and mushrooms and stirred it for about 3 minutes.

Next, I added the noodles, a cup of water (you could use chicken or beef broth instead of water)

and half a cup of soysauce. Let it sit for about 5 minutes till the liquid evaporates. And lastly, season it with salt and pepper. *Like most Korean dishes, this dish calls for sesame oil, but I don't particularly like the flavor of that.

And here's the finished product.. A figure-friendly chapchae that's bursting with flavor!

I don't mean to brag but Chris said it's the most delicious chapchae he has ever tasted. He ate it with rice and few other stuff, while I only had a small serving of it and nothing else. He found it weird that I eat it by itself, he doesn't know that for us Pinoys, it's taboo to eat noodles with rice. ^^;

Anniversary Date.

Yesterday was our 5th year anniversary. I'm not sure if it's a side of Chris's zany culture I don't particularly get, but he likes to think of our anniversary as the day we first met. But knowing Chris who tends to forget his own birthdays and stuff, I wasn't expecting anything to happen that day. Besides, it fell on a Thursday which means he's busy as hell at work.

Later in the afternoon, I recieved a call from him saying he's gonna bring me somewhere and that I should be ready by 6:30 pm. I was elated by the fact that he remembered! So like a kid getting ready for prom, I spent the next few hours tinkering my very limited wardrobe for stuff I could wear. Well I couldn't find anything decent as most of it are either too large, too formal or too casual. So I just followed my sloppy instinct and wore something plain but comfortable, and prayed he wouldn't bring me to a place that has a dress code or something.

That night, he brought me to this place called Jeongjo-dong Street Cafe in Bundang - a village brimming with so many cute cafes and restaurants all clustered together (think Eastwood City on a much grander scale). We chose this restaurant called "Chic Ami" by the side of the main road and here's what we had:

Seafood Pasta in Cream Sauce.





Roasted Beef, Mushroom and Gorgonzola Cheese Pizza.




After dinner, we went to Cafe Pascucci for a kick of my favorite java, then we were off to explore the neigborhood some more.

Then we drove to a lake park not far from the cafe street. It was such a cute park with fountains and brimming with trees. We stayed there till midnight.

So that's how our special day went. It was simple but so damn memorable. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Danyang Palgyeong.

Three weeks have passed since the election, and though the winners have long been proclaimed, I'm yet to write an entry about the side adventure I had back then. I thought it's worth sharing so here it is....

June 2, Election Day
Our plan was to go to the voting precinct early in the morning so we could have the rest of the afternoon to enjoy. The precinct is merely 5 minutes away by foot from where we live, but it took a lot longer to get there cause we couldn't find a place to park the car. When we finally did, Chris hurriedly entered the booths and registered. I, on the other hand, went to use the restroom and the next thing I knew he already voted! It was sooo fast, we were in and out of the place in 10 minutes!

After that quickie voting, we hit the road going to Danyang, North Chuncheong province. It's a place known for it's 8 scenic wonders, hence the name Danyang Palgyeong (단 양 팔 곙). We planned to visit all of it in one day, so we skipped lunch and went directly to Dodamsambong (도 담 삼 보) - the first the eight wonders. Multitude of tourists come here all year round to see the three gorgeous rock formations that grew in the middle of the river. It's beautiful but it's better to come here right before sunset when the sky turns golden as the rocks look even more stunning then.

And as weird as it may sound, there is a very intriguing story behind those three rocks. It goes something like this; rock no. 1 is the husband, rock no. 2 is the barren wife, and the last rock is the pregnant mistress and they're all part of this one giant love triangle.

Even without the scandalous rocks, the river is already worth the visit. It's beautiful on it's own
and the air is fresh and clean. We walked at the side of the river for some time till we saw a steep stairway that leads to Seokmun (석 문). It's one of Danyang's eight scenic wonders.



Seokmun is a giant rock that formed into a very interesting shape - an arch with trees and plants growing on it. Because of the shape, they called this place the "stone gate".



There is another scenic point far up the mountain, but it requires hiking for hours. Chris wasn't feeling it, so we left the place and went on with our quest to see more of Danyang. We drove till we reached Gosu Cave (고 수 통 굴). The cave was discovered in the 70's and during that period, they unearthed several equipments that dates back from the stone age.

After the cave, we drove towards the downtown area to find some food and saw this place by chance. I don't think it's included among the eight, but it's so beautiful it rightfully deserves a spot there.

We followed the road that leads to Namhan river, Chris said we're gonna go for a boat ride. The scenery along the river is breathtaking, and it pains me to see that the government is breaking it. Pres. Lee Myung Bak has plans of turning it into a canal where ships and boats can pass through. In some parts of the river, the construction has already began, and it turned the water

from green to muddy - not a pretty sight to look at. Thankfully, the construction hasn't started in the area where we took the boat. At least we got a chance to see it's natural beauty before they decide to break it.

So we took the boat for 10,000 won each, and we got the best seats in the house! It's right in front and the view was perfect there!

The captain served as the guide saying bits and pieces about the different mountains and rock formations that we passed by. Of course, Chris was there to translate so I kind of understood what the captain was saying. I understand that some of the eight sights are here, but I couldn't care less. They all look the same to me anyway - all beautiful and spectacular.

The boat ride lasted for an hour, and by the time it reached the dock, it was almost sunset. We thought we've seen enough of Danyang so we decided to go. It was a well-spent holiday, and right now, I'm hurting for another one..