Sundubu

 

Sundubu jjigae is a pretty great winter dish. It's a little like a stew and it's pretty hearty stuff.

It's made with, among other things, tofu. When the soup arrives to the table, bubbling hot, you crack an egg into the mixture from a basket on the table leaving it to cook/poach or you can mix it in.



Naturally since this is Korea there are lots of side dishes because they no mess aroung when it comes to your sideplate.

Rice comes cooked in some stoneware, also piping hot. What you do is fill your bowl and pour the ricewater from the kettle onto the rice cooked onto the bottom. It rehydrates the rice and gives it a nice flavor.

Miaow

 

On a trip into town we went looking for a cafe called 'The Pie Hole' that Helen had visited. Instead we found this.

 

 

 

Cue squealing and hysterical laughter along with a strong case of 'THIS, I gotta see'

 



This particular branch was in Shinchon. There are several more, bigger too, in places like Hondae and various airports.

As you can see they really went all out with the theme. There's silhouettes cut into everything and logos stamped absolutely everywhere.

Honestly, it's really for the best that they focused on decor. The food and service wasn't the best especially for what you're paying.

[The above picture has mysteriously rotated. Weird.] At least the latte art was cute.

Adorable foul-tasting cookies. :D All of the food served has a Hello Kitty theme and is reputedly 'meh'. No one seems to praise the food in these places. This is another establishment where you are not attending for the consumables at any rate.

The cafe was crazy busy and only started to quiet down when we were getting ready to leave. The staff were on the hop constantly.

They gave us (cute) disposable cups which is really common in cafes anyway. I got to watch a woman, in a reality tv style fascination, as she spent several minutes holding up the line and arguing with the staff in english because she wanted one of their mugs and not a paper mug finding it super offensive/being too good for one/being allergic/she just wanted one.

She wasn't particularly clear on that point. The staff simply repeated their policy of disposable cups only when they're busy saying they don't have time to collect and wash mugs then. (We could see this to be true.)

Either way, lady there's a hell of a line behind your outrage.

Everything else being said I did indulge myself and my inner eight-year-old. Hanbok!Kitty to go with my Furisode!Kitty.

Hello Kitty Cafe. The food kinda sucks. But the decoration may rot your teeth with sugary sweet cuteness.

Taekwondo

I'm not the sporty type.....at all.

 

Nevertheless, when Stephanie and Helen found a Taekwondo place I went "Ooh, me too."

 

Here we are a few weeks into our white belt.  My dobok makes me look fat(ter). :C

Master Yu, our main teacher is in the middle. Master Kim, beside Helen, took on a lot of our basic training.

 

Poor guys, putting up with us.





 

Despite all of the muscle pain (watching me climb stairs must have been prime entertainment material) it was a lot of fun.

I really enjoyed it. When you nail a kick on the target it can be oddly satisfying.

 

I learned a lot about the philosophy, manners and the masters were always particular about correcting our technique.

We're pretty sure they went easy on us because we're weak little foreigners. (Me in particular. Helen, however, must have some Glaswegian brawler in her.)
"Aoife! Why you so tired?"
"I'm old and weak."

So I explain to Master Kim whois only about 18 and can do pretty amazing flying spin kicks in the air.

I do admittedly lack a certain fighting spirit. When we started to learn sparring or break boards I was wimpy and sissy about it. Basically Scooby Doo.

My yellow streak aside, let me say "Do it, do it, do it"
Taekwondo is great! A large portion of it is simply fitness (Needs work) and balance.

Some of the stances I found difficult because I have no muscle strength At. All. My mantra is always "Needs more training. Needs lots more training."

Despite all that I did manage to get a belt.

Why am I in the middle? The test is super formal and intimidating. I mixed up all my blocks and I took this test with a chesty cough, which I managed to surpress but I was still very short of breath. Boo my luck.

On the plus side I broke this with my kick. Not very impressive by comparative standards but pretty damn good for me.

Unfortunately, the girls were leaving then. First Stephanie left, then Helen did leaving me alone at training. Bwaaaaaaahh. TT_TT.

It's a lot more fun training with others. But not long before I ended my classes for my return home I got my next belt! :)
Personally I don't think I should have gotten it since I messed up a good few times but I did so yayss. (Behold how articulate I am.)

Green belt ahoy. This calls for more training. You don't get that black belt by standing still.

A Present

I swear to god, you have no idea how close I came to getting Fearghal one of these.

The expression on his face, and everyone else,  would have been wonderful.

Poutine

This is Poutine. Thank you Canada.

Free Dance Lessons

 

I'll give you one guess as to where I found this stand with handy-dandy flashing lights to guide your dancing feet.

 

 

Only one thing to do then....

 

 

Puppies!!!

Everyone loves puppies. (If you don't then you're either allergic or simply wrong.)

Unless you're a child,  or as comparatively mature as one, you understand that adorable and affectionate as one may be they are still living things with wants and needs.  A crucial couple that might be an issue with city dwellers here is exercise space and companionship. Dogs are social animals and keeping them shut up in your apartment all day can't be good for them. On that note handbags can't be healthy either.

[On an aside: While I understand certain breeds may need a coat for the harsh winter, I don't think hot pink blusher really suits a pomeranian. Also, Lady I don't care how far you're going there's no need to push your springer spaniel around in a baby buggy.]

One way city-dwellers address this or merely fulfil their need to play with some dogs is to visit a dog cafe.

I went with some others to visit cafe pawz in Gangnam.

This was a pretty good establishment. It is attahed to a training school and a veterinarian service. They also sell actual puppies, snacks, toys and embarrassing costumes to force your handbag dog into. (I'm sure that Golden retriever was wearing an expression of utmost relief.)

You certainly do not visit places for this for the food. (It's pretty unimpressive anyway.) You're either there to socialize your own dog or to play with others. I would point out that not buying anything is unlikely to make you popular with the staff. There is no entrance fee so even if you don't want something, you should still buy something for the sake of civility. I mean, these people are constantly on poop patrol. (Thank the gods) Respect is due!

The cafe keeps their own dogs too. The bigger breeds mostly belong to the cafe but a couple come from outside.

You can buy treatsand feed the dogs. It's not too surprising to see the smaller breeds on the table. No very hygienic but you don't come here to eat yourself.

Well, I enjoyed it.  It was certainly something I'd never seen before.

Okay, Okay. A cat cafe too.