#from pics of some korean bbq i ate :)

[sanchomps]

meat cube studies

[coletteleeblog]

Nong Khai, Thailand

Saturday, March 14, 2015

At 7:00am Saksay came to get us and drop Colette and I off at the van depot so we could travel with Nong to Udon Thani and then on to Nong Khai to meet up with him and the four girls who went in his car. We paid 160 baht each (about $7.50 Cdn) to make the 3.5 hour journey north to the border and what would be the first glimpse of the Mekong River.

This was very exciting for me because I have known Saksay pretty much for as long as I can remember and I my limited understanding up to this point is that his family had escaped across the Mekong River in 1974 to get away from war torn Laos. I have a much better understanding of his trip to Canada now and am so much richer for getting to know this side of Saksay. He is an amazing person and I can only say that what he is doing to show us around is not easy for him and that it is a very self less thing he is doing. Traveling by yourself is one thing...adding another 6 people into your winter "escape", like he is doing...is a whole different experience.

He brought us to a little alleyway right behind the walking street where the night market is held each Saturday evening. We walked down and found a guest house that was able to accommodate our family of six in a traditional Thai house. It came complete with two king size bed's, so we are tripling up in each bed. I unfortunately have Colette and Madeline in my bed… Which makes for a pretty rest less night! They are definitely the two most interesting sleepers in our household and I'm stuck with them!! LOL. The cost of this little slice of Thai "paradise" is 1000 Baht/night ( about $40).

Time for an epiphany from Colette and I quote her words. "We are definitely learning to adapt to a whole different set of standards, in order to do the things that are becoming important to us, to make each of our dreams possible. " I must remind her of that the next time we have another livestock scare...oh... here is more, she wanted me to add this also.

Also from Colette "I think the biggest thing we are seeing & learning on this trip, is how people here live happily with fewer possessions , they spend their money very wisely, and they use whatever skills they have to earn money, every little bit counts. When we see what, as little as, 50 cents can buy over here, it really makes you see the value so much more. I've also gotten used to living in conditions that I first thought to be very uncomfortable and I now have a deeper understanding for how lucky we are in Canada." Erik's interpretation..." WOW, life is going to be more appreciated when going home...no bugs...and I probably won't buy anymore stuff because I am so happy with what I have" Hee Hee LOL. Probably get in trouble for this!! JK

Colette is right. We have learned how to be content and happy wherever we are. With much or with little. I am so impressed with all my girls and how adaptable we are all becoming. Other than the stress that accompanies trying to get 5 women moving out the door I believe we might be starting to squabble less. I definitely can say that we are one close family and that we are having a ton of fun with Saksay and Nong.

Back to our Nong Khai trip. After we got settled in our guesthouse and had a bit of a rest we went to have lunch and see the indoor covered market. More rest and then we ventured back out in the evening to see the night market which had absolutely taken over the walking street. This is where we ate our supper, managed to snag about a dozen free Pepsi's and watch some entertainment. Some was good, some was just bad. I will post a video of the "good" and just explain that the bad takes English humor to a whole new level of sexual perversion that would have been best left in someone's head!! The Thais seemed to flock to the "bad" and Saksay said it is comedy!! Let's just say I fear Peter Saunders may have enjoyed it!! Yikes.

After that it was off to bed because Saksay said he would be here to get us at 8:00 to go for an outing. True to his style that was the understatement of this Nong Khai trip. What he did was ferry us (it takes two trips in his Opal Swift (Geo Metro) to take us anywhere) to one of the most amazing thing I may have ever seen. It was right up there with my trip to Casa Loma in Toronto. We went to Sala Kaeo Kou and it was amazing. Things are so different here. Where else could your climb to the third floor of the museum part of the temple and see the mummified remains of the person who put this together.

Here is the story I was told...I probably will not Google this but choose to believe this account of Sala Kaeo Kou (which is probably correct). The wealthy Laotian man responsible for this had wanted to build it in Laos but was not allowed so he came to Thailand and created it. The communist Laos party had him killed before he was able to finish it (I don't think he intended to ever really finish it, given the magnitude of what he was creating) and the Thai government chose to keep it in this unfinished state. They charge about $.80 Cdn to help with the upkeep of the grounds. Absolutely astounding. For those of you following us @ our https://instagram.com/thailand_adventure_2015/ page you have seen some of the pics already.

Here are the way the workers were cutting foliage out of one of the monuments. They had first set up a ladder barely high enough to hack off the first tree that had started to grow out of a part of the monument before finding 2 VERY long pieces of bamboo that the worker was going to tie himself off to and shinny up to the very top to get the last tree hacked back. I estimate it was about 6 stories high...definitely not up to Canadian safety standards. Not that I am at all in favor of the ridiculous rules we have at home but this may have been easier with a lift of some sort!! We left before I was able to witness the (I hope) successful accomplishment of this task.

After the two trip ferrying of the Lee's ( and Nong) back to our guesthouse for a nap Saksay had another treat up his sleeve. He took us to the big Nong Khai night market over by the train station where we bought Hailey a new pair of Crocs and another soccer jersey and short set. She looks absolutely adorable in these and now has 2. Her crocs were to replace the set she was wearing which had a hole worn right through the bottoms...yes she has been walking ALOT.

He wasn't done yet though and for the foodies out there this one would have been right up your alley. We went to a traditional Korean BBQ where we were totally out of our comfort zone to start with. They put a propane fired grill/cauldron on the table and you go up to the buffet and grab whatever you want to cook yourself. It would not be an exaggeration to say that we only recognized a third of these "potential" ingredients...but with help from our benevolent tour director we were soon on our way to creating a masterpiece of supper. I was the most adventurous trying a lot of the available food, including shrimp, stuffed squid, 3 types of mushrooms (including the apply named pigs ears that grow as tree fungus), bacon wrapped straw mushrooms, side pork, chicken, beef, glass noodles, Chinese spinach, cabbage and to finish it off...self serve hard ice cream. Why don't you comment and ask Emma what it feels like the morning after when you eat 4 bowls of ice cream!?!

2 Opal trips later and home we were to get ready for the monumental VISA run. Monumental because this is officially a milestone in our trip. We have been in Thailand for exactly 2 months. What a blessing to be able to experience this trip.

Well I think Colette will write the blog entry for our trip to Laos tomorrow so stay tuned...

Hailey's quote of the day, "Here dad let me give you a kiss...(smack's a kiss on my cheek)...there now I'm married." To who I ask. "Daaaad,to you of course!!"

[sarahcaramba]

Some of the foods I ate in Korea (unedited pics). 

팥빙수 (Patbingsu; Korean Shaved Ice)- Shaved green tea ice cream. I had it with my cousin, JiHoon, before he left for the military. This was the place where I learned how safe Korea was. We sat down, and I had my bag. We had to use the restroom, so I took my bag. He told me to leave it on the chair. I asked him why... someone might steal it. He laughed and said, “Huh? No one is going to touch your bag, it’s yours?”. Really good shaved ice. It’s nice because I feel like the icecream in Merica is really heavy and rich... like you know when you have Haagen Daz and you get thirsty when you take a couple bites? This was really refreshing yet sweet. 

닭강정 (Dakgangjeong; Korean Fried Chicken)- Fried chicken in Korea is different from the fried chicken in America. It’s so fucking good. I had a lot. It’s... indescribable. Chicken and beer is a big thing in Korea.

족발 (Jokbal; Pig Feet)- This is a Korean delicacy.. yeah pig feet, a delicacy, kind of funny huh? It tasted really good. My relatives were telling me it’s really good for you because it’s full of collagen. It was very rich and tasty. It’s like 50% jello texture and then 50% normal pork texture. The white people we were with ate it so well. Good for them. 

감자전 (Gamjajeon; Potato Pancake)- This was really good. I mean everything was good. At first I thought it was going to be very plain and boring because it’s just fried potato.. so I thought it would taste like hash browns or just like potatoes but it didn’t... I can’t describe the taste, but it was different and so good I ordered seconds. Dipped in soy sauce, mmm.

삼겹살 (Samgyeopsal; Pork Belly BBQ)- This was a staple for my trip in Korea. I had it several times. Wrap it in lettuce or sesame leaves with some fried kimchi + other banchan = heaven in your mouth. 

순두부 and 황태구이 (Sundubu and Hwang-Tae Gui; Soft Tofu Soup and Spicy Grilled Polluck)- Simple and refreshing. They had really good banchan here. I kept sending pics of the banchan to my Mom asking if she can make them.

닭구이 (Dak Gui; Chicken Barbecue)- I love chicken more than beef, so this was so goooooooooooooood. It hit the spot. Plus with the rice cakes + sweet potatoes, fuck.

I was lucky and fortunate enough to eat something new each day. New day, new restaurant. I didn’t take pictures of everything because it was just too good to wait. I never realized how good Korean food is. The fruits here were crazy too! Super sweet and tender. For example, I wasn’t crazy about watermelons before this trip, but when I tried Korea’s watermelons, I was hooked. I also tried their plums, which we don’t have in America, and I couldn’t stop eating them. My mom bought some plums from the Korean market (not exactly the same) and some rice cakes when I came back, and I genuinely asked her why they tasted weird.. but she told me I’m back in America and the taste just isn’t as good here. 

I appreciate my Mom’s home food so much more now. I’m eating everything she makes now because I’m just now realizing how good her food is. 

Also, I lost weight despite eating so much because a lot of the foods are served with banchan + using the car isn’t as common. We walked a lot and ran a lot from the rain. 

[wandering-ish]

(reposting this post from last year because it won’t show in my travel tag and it annoys me quite a bit (((a whole fucking lot))))

5 years ago and last year, I didn’t appreciate Korean food much. But during my last trip to Seoul, I learned to love the food I didn’t even like before! In fact, I spent quite a lot on food >__> So I decided to get the most out of the spending by… writing it down. My overlimit credit card and I proudly present:

SEOUL CULINARY DIARY

Fried chicken 양념 치킨 (yangnyeom chicken) is the first meal I had during the trip. Getting exhausted and hungry while trying to find Sinseonggak Jajangmyeon from Gongdeok Station, a hole in the wall chicken place got me interested. The owner saw me hesitating in front of her shop so she encouraged me to go inside, and I went. The place only had one table with 2 chairs. I was doubting at first, but ended up ordering half and half chicken set with fries. I was actually trying to order rice, but they don’t have it there (fortunately so, because I ended up struggling to finish the chicken). They served the chicken and fries with coleslaw and 치킨 무 (chicken mu) aka cubed radish pickle. Not much to say other than how amazingly delicious the chicken was, it’s like KFC but a zillion times better. Asked for more coleslaw because it was so good, fresh cabbage and tasty mayo. Also, I used to not like chicken mu but I ended up enjoying it. What I was surprsied about was that this little restaurant accepts credit card! They have that cashier machine thingy too. Really impressed. My guess was it was sponsored by the government for small businesses. If only the government here does that too~

My visit to Hello Kitty Cafe at Hongdae was planned. Pretty easy to find, you can follow this map here. I instantly chose strawberry mousse because it was the most representative of Hello Kitty. Tastes good, but nothing special. For drink, I ordered sweet potato latte because it seemed unique. It tastes just like our sweet potato, but in liquid phase. Overall, this place was nice to hang and chat, but the dessert was quite expensive. The mousse alone was 11500 KRW (around 130k IDR / 10 USD).

Still hungry after dessert and strolling around Hongdae, Izakaya bar was my next stop. Though it was a Japanese bar, it had 막걸리 (makgeolli aka Korean rice wine). The price for 1 litre of makgeolli was only 8000 KRW (87k IDR / 6.7 USD). Unfortunately, they asked me to order one food menu too aside from drink, so I ordered beef okonomiyaki (sadly it had shrimp and octopus too, so I didn’t enjoy it much). The makgeolli was nice. You had to drink it with a tin bowl. Felt quite buzzed by the end of the night because I had to finish half of this jar, possibly more.

Seoul was raining the next day, so a bowl of  삼계탕 (samgyetang aka ginseng chicken soup) seemed like a good choice for lunch. Personally, I am not really fond of samgyetang. I think it lacks the spice, but maybe it’s because my tongue is too used to overly spiced Indonesian food. Anyways, Tosokchon Samgyetang is a famous place, so I went there. The atmosphere was great there. I got the middle floor seat, sitting between a chinese tourist family and a couple of college guys. Ordered one regular samgyetang (there are a few types of samgyetang, but I chose the cheapest one, of course), a bottle of soju, and one pajeon. The pajeon came so late I thought they forgot this (they didn’t write the order, but only remembered it in their head). Pajeon had shrimp and octopus so I had to remove them before eating them. Samgyetang tastes like samgyetang did, I didn’t have improved opinion of it. But the weird part was I kind of didn’t hate soju anymore?? I used to dislike it, because it smelled like nail polish remover and tasted like how nail polish remover probably tastes like. Still smelled vividly like that, but I could finish half a bottle (probably more) of it. Obviously I got drunk in the middle of the day and passed out on the train ride.

SUM Cafe is located near Cheongdam Station Exit 6. I took pics and took a look at the magazines displayed there, but apparently you couldn’t sit in the cafe and read magazine without buying anything, so I ordered a lemon tart + coffee set. The lemon tart tastes just like those lemon biscuits from Khong Guan assorted biscuits tin. I meant it in a good way, because I like them biscuits. But this tart was way to overpriced. I went downstairs to take a look at the new SUM Market. It was a mini market, but the goods are packaged with SM artist names or arts on it, and sold about 5-10 times more expensive than the regular goods with regular packaging. In other words, the place was a capitalist hell. Sadly I still bought a thing, aka a bottle of SHINee’s sparkling water. Sounds ridiculous, but it was the least ridiculous thing of all things there. It was also the cheapest.

I got drunk for the 2nd time that day, this time at a bar called Oz in Itaewon. Last year I went to why not, the bar across from it, but it was too quiet and exclusive, so I chose Oz for a new experience. Because it was early, the bar still only had a few people. The bar was small with only bar seats available. The bartenders were CUTE and they tried to chat with us, albeit struggling while doing so. I ordered Banana Bomb, aka banana uyu mixed with vodka. Unexpectedly, it was really tasty. I wish we had banana uyu here so I could make this drink every other weekend. I can’t recall what others drank, but mine was the tastiest. Tho I didn’t reject Luthfi’s offer to finish his drink.

On the morning of my Railbike+Nami+Garden of Morning Calm Tour, I went to 7-11 to buy snacks. I was about to buy my favorite snack aka Thor’s Pretzel. But like dramatic fated meeting of lovers in kdramas, I stumbled upon a 2+1 deal for Cheese In The Trap potato chips! As a passionate CITT fan ☠webtoon only☠ I instantly bought it. I finished those three tubes mostly by myself during the whole day trip.

At Nami Island, I had lunch in the BBQ restaurant. Originally, I only ordered the pork one, but the restaurant won’t let 2 people share one set. Finally, one pork set, one chicken set, a bowl of dwenjang jjigae, and two bowls of rice were ordered. Plates of banchan and lettuce were served as well. Dwenjang jjigae came first, so I ate it with rice because it was cold and I was hungry. Personally, I didn’t enjoy it very much. Then, the meat came and I got into the grilling. I tried the wrap with kimchi and pickled chilli, but I ended up liking it without. Maybe because I’m not into Korean pickled things in general. All in all, the grilled pork and chicken was A++++ and I ate very happily. Most likely because it was the first time I ate rice in 4 days.

As I arrived at the Garden of the Morning Calm, I saw stalls of street food and I spotted The French Fries Coated Corndog!! I never found it in Seoul, so it got me super excited. After I finished going around the park, I went to buy it right away. They offered a few choice of sauce such as tomato ketchup, mustard, etc. I chose garlic. It was way tastier and better than the other corndog. I was so pleased. It was also so big and fulfilling.

The last day in Seoul, I chose to have brunch at Myeongdong Kyoja. Located near artbox in Myeongdong, it was easy to find. Famous for its 칼국수 (kalguksu aka knife cut homemade noodle), I ordered that along with a set of 만두 (mandu aka dumpling). Kalguksu had the width and thickness of pho noodle and the broth looked thick and rich but it was refreshing and not heavy. It got minced meat (pork? I think) and four dumplings. I enjoyed it very much. The portion was big, tho. And I still had to eat half of the dumpling set too. It was too much, but it was a great meal nonetheless. I had to poop before eating to reserve some space for the food.

Notes: All restaurant stated above (except street snack stalls) accepts credit card and provides free water.

Phew.

So that was my culinary diary from my last trip to Seoul. It was very mind opening. I had a great time and I feel like Seoul will never bore me?? There are still so many restaurants on my list that I have yet to visit. Which means I absolutely have to go back, right?

Right.

[snowfragrance]

California 2017 review part 2

I’m summarizing the stay in downtown LA and Venice Beach/Santa Monica.

Downtown LA

Freehand aka the best hostel ever

We shared a room with two other guys who also went to Anime Expo so that was nice. They were pretty chill.

The Pros:

It’s a hostel so the price is cheaper when compared to the nearby hotels

Located in downtown LA, about a 20 minute walk from the convention center

There are bellhops ready to greet you and help take your bags

Free breakfast (though they had almost the same things for us every morning)

Steady WiFi

Amazing staff (I remembered their names after the first day, they were that amazing)

Very accommodating to requests

Working thermostat

Separate bathroom and shower

Roof top pool and bar

Indoor bar and restaurant

Free gym

Personal storage cubes

 The Cons:

Bunk beds were low. Everyone hit their heads at least once.

The elevators were down a few times. The staff helped drag all our stuff to our rooms on the 8th floor and gave us free drink tokens.

The light in the room was dim but we have our own personal light near our beds

 Free Attractions:

There were lots of gorgeous art murals. There were plenty around Venice Beach too.

Hollywood Sign: We walked through the neighborhood to get to the Hollywood Dog Park for better pictures. Lots of steep inclines and some nice houses. If you want good pics of the sign, go to the dog park and not to the Griffith observatory (which will show up on the gps but is further away).

Hollywood Walk of Fame: Another walk but we didn’t see every star cause that would take forever. I kinda wanted to see Trump’s star to see if it was still there or vandalized but I didn’t care enough to search for it. Really, the stars and sign are just there for pictures...Hollywood itself is very sketch so we didn’t hang around for too long.

Bradbury Building: Location of a couple of movies and TV shows. The inside of the building has some nice intricate iron railings. It looked like it belonged in the movie Inception but it wasn’t filmed there.

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles: not free, $12 admission. Really big and a good way to waste time before our nighttime flight

Food:

Californians like their juicing and organic foods. So healthy! Lots of good food trucks around the convention center.

CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice: Relatively cheap and delicious bubble tea, juices, and teas. There’s one about 5-10 minute away from the convention center.

Bulgogi Hut: We were about 15-20 minutes away from Korean Town so we got to have some all you can eat Korean BBQ. We had BBQ twice but Bulgogi Hut is the best one. Their prices are so cheap for the selection of meats. The side dishes were also good. People line up for hours to dine so go early because they don’t take reservations.

Chocolate Chair:  Went to get the famous Dragon’s Breath for fun. Basically liquid nitrogen over cereal balls. It’s amusing with the smoke coming out your nose. 

Transportation:

We walked and Uber everywhere. But there is also the metro and bus available. We just don’t have the energy to figure out the metro system.

Venice Beach/Santa Monica/Malibu

Venice Beach and Santa Monica was only a couple miles away so we walked back and forth between them. I wanted to go to Malibu to hike to a waterfall but we decided against that and do the state park because it had easier trails. We wanted to do Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. on the Santa Monica Pier but my sister’s BF is deathly allergic to shrimp and they had like 2 options without shrimp. Plus our eating schedules were all over the place so we were never hungry over at the Santa Monica side. 

Venice Beach Hostel

We shared a room with lots of guys. The one from Austria was really friendly. Two girls who looked like they were backpacking talked with us too but then noped out pretty quickly. This one might take the award for worst hostel away from YMCA hostel in Flushing.

The Pros:

It’s a hostel so the price is cheaper when compared to the nearby hotels

Located right by the boardwalk, literally a few minutes away from the ocean

Free ingredients for breakfast but you have to make it yourself

Allowed us to store our luggage after check out and before check in

 The Cons:

Unreliable WiFi

No AC, I had to keep my window open to keep my room from boiling and the noises from the street made sleep impossible

Toilet and shower were in the same room

No elevators, only stairs

They preferred cash and charged extra to use credit card (which they could have told us or have a disclaimer before we arrived)

Gnats everywhere

No food or drinks in rooms…well we brought water to our rooms anyway, everyone was dehydrated from walking everywhere

 Free Attractions:

Venice Beach

Venice Broadwalk

Venice Canals: First time seeing someone removing a coconut lol. Very pretty area with the houses along the canal costing millions.

Muscle Beach: Arnold Schwarzenegger use to work out there

Santa Monica Pier

Malibu Creek State Park: Bring lots of water cause there were no water fountains in the park when the visitor center is closed. Those were located near the parking lot. It’s got a deep rock pond and a lake. Easy hike trails with little shade along the paths. It has the site where M.A.S.H. was filmed if you are able to walk a couple more miles.

 Food:

We ate around the broadwalk and Main Street. Nothing really amazing…lots of the average American food.

Mao’s Kitchen: The only Chinese restaurant around. Food was decent but the décor was interesting. They have some legit communist propaganda hanging on the walls. To think I would find something like this in CA lol.  

 Transportation:

We walked and Uber everywhere. But there is also the metro and bus available.

 So California was fun, I wouldn’t mind visiting another area again. Don’t think I want to spend a night at Venice Beach again but it’s ok to visit during the day. The smell of weed on the boardwalk is disgusting. Venice Beach is sketchy but Santa Monica is so clean despite being so close. 

[beard-and-bun-eat-nyc-blog]

All you can eat and cook your own meat! [Bun solo (sort of)]

Image description: Exterior signage of the restaurant on a glass door. A round logo featuring a cow with the text “Picnic Garden Korean BBQ. Since 1987″.

Name: Picnic Garden

Cuisine: Korean BBQ

Image description: The interior dining space. Long wooden picnic-style tables each outfitted with a central grilling surface and overhead ventilation units.

Neighborhood: Flushing/Murray Hill, Queens

Cross Streets: 154th and Northern Blvd.

Price: For Korean BBQ AND all you can eat - it’s cheap. PLUS, it’s even cheaper during lunch time. 

Overall: Not the worst, but I wouldn’t go again.

Access Notes: Getting into the restaurant is easy - no stairs or steps of the sort. Do want to mention that for folks who are differently abled, many of the seats can be difficult to get into, so be careful of that. 

Notes: Ok so, this review is going to be pretty mixed. I felt one way about this place but my friends felt pretty differently than I did.  The day started off that I wanted to take some friends to a Korean BBQ place that Beard and I had gone to because I just loved it so much and wanted to share it (we will talk about that on Thursday). One of my friends instead recommended this restaurant, Picnic Garden, because it was cheaper and as much food as you can eat. Sounds great in theory right? So the gang and I headed out to Queens for a Sunday funday.  When we arrived, I was pretty excited. The restaurant appeared clean, modern, and hey, it was kind of exciting that you get to cook your own food. I like my steak medium to medium-rare so I know that I can cook the food how I like. 

Image description: A table with a central grill surface covered in cooking meats, surrounded by plates of various meats at different stages of preparation.

Now here is where the feelings start to change. What I thought was that we would select meat/our orders we want from a menu, and it would be brought out to us as we needed more - I was wrong. They had a big buffet full of raw meat where you went and picked up the meat you wanted (there were sides too like kimchi, rice and some raw veggies, but mostly meat). I felt kinda weird about taking pork and chicken out of these piles that were sitting out in the open getting all oxidized. It didn’t feel right seeing meat out like that, which sort of put me in a bad mental space.

Once I got past that, I did eat some decent foods. Some of the meat just lacked luster and seasoning, but the chicken and the marinated beef were pretty decent to me. My friends all really liked the place - they’re big bargain eaters and really dig their proteins so it was a huge win for them. I personally wouldn’t go again if I was given the choice, but that’s because of my personal tastes and feelings and not necessarily anything done wrong by the establishment. To me, it was just sort of blasé. 4/10