Girlie Day

On Friday Nicole and I had a luxurious day of relaxation and bliss.  

We started out at the Flying Pan brunch spot in Itaewon.  I loved this place!  

  

Unlike Butterfingers which is very modern in its decor, the Flying Pan is cute with a classic country cottage style that doesn't go overboard.  There are many restaurants and coffee shops in Korea that take the cute and make it obnoxious.  Flying Pan is not in that category.  

I ordered the eggs benedict (without the ham) and although it wasn't the layered benedict on English muffins that I was expecting, it was quite good.  My only complaint was that I wish the tomato had been sliced so that I could better eat it on my benedict.  

Nicole got some kind of salad and an Americano.  We each also got the little potato salad on the side.  I normally don't like potato salad, but this may have been some of the best potato salad I have ever tasted!  

Our bill for the meal came to about w44,000 total ($36.86).  True, it's not cheap, but it was a splurge day.  

After our delicious brunch we took a short taxi ride to Hannam-dong to go to Spa Day.   I'd highly recommend this place as well.  (see website)  I got the Package D which was a full body massage, facial, and foot massage and cost me w150,000 ($125 -- much cheaper than in the US for a nice place like it was).  Nicole got a back/neck/shoulders massage and a pedicure.  We were there for 2.5 hours!  It was perfect.  

books, indian food, and hugs

Last Saturday Jennifer and I went to Itaewon to check out What The Book again.  (see part 4 of this entry to read about the bookstore).  

In my last entry I noted that it was smaller than I had expected it to be, but you can see here that they really maximize their space effectively.  Check out that wall of books!  

I bought two books, Blessings, by Anna Quindlen, because I love everything I've ever read by her, and The Girls, by Lori Lansens.  I had never heard of this novel, nor had I heard of the author, but I picked it up on a whim and found myself drawn to it immediately.  Before I start those books though I need to read my new book club book, Things Fall Apart.   

After the bookstore Jennifer and I wandered up and down the streets of Itaewon in search of food to eat.  Things in that area are surprisingly expensive and nothing we found was exactly right.  Finally, when we were at about our point of desperation, a man handing out flyers in the street came to our rescue with an all-you-can-eat Indian buffet for about w10,000 (I can't recall exactly).

The restaurant is tucked away off the main drag, then left by a convenience store, right down an alley and then left again down a little side street.  Even with a map on the flyer, we never would have made it save for the restaurant's owner who was staked out by the first alley waiting for his customer prey to hopelessly wander around searching for his place.

 

The food was decent for a buffet and if I was in the area I'd go there again though I certainly wouldn't make a special trip for it.  Although I prefer soft and fluffy naan, the thin crunchy kind that they serve there was good enough.  Jennifer said the lamb was delicious, but I refused to eat it on principle.  I liked the samosas because they were bland and not spicy, which is precisely the reason Jennifer didn't like them.

After dinner we took a short taxi ride to Myong-dong for some night shopping.  I think that place is always crowded!

A maddening sea of people!  

It's wonderful. 

Free Hugs! 

PS: Check out the girl in slippers!

 

Once in a Blue Moon

Highlight of the week:

I got cable television!

I ordered the package that cost just under w10,000 and has about 60 channels but for some reason they actually gave me the 75 channel package instead.  There are about 5 or so English channels at any given time and most of them are terrible.  I watched the show Numb3rs for the first time in my life. Eh.  I also watched the movie While You Were Sleeping.  Nothing all that great so far, but it's still nice to have the TV to keep me company at night.


Highlights of this weekend include:
1.  Now Bar
2.  Itaewon
3.  Once in a Blue Moon
4.  What the Book?

1.  Now Bar
I didn't take many pictures this weekend so you'll have to pardon me on that one.  As always, I stayed out way later than anticipated.  The Now Bar has some way of making me lose all concept of time and it's 3am before I know it.  At Now Bar I played darts and it turns out that I'm really good at darts!  I may have to start being a dart shark.

2.  Itaewon
Thanksgiving is coming up this Thursday and I'm very excited.  Thanksgiving is my absolute, hands-down favorite holiday.  Koreans don't really eat turkey but they are available -- at a hefty price.  A turkey that would only feed 3 people costs around $80 or so.  My brother, Natalie, and I decided that we will have chicken instead this year since you can get chicken for just $8.

Some other things that are necessities for Thanksgiving are also not readily available in the regular grocery store such as cranberry sauce, pumpkin puree, jello, and pie crust.  I was able to go to a foreign food mart aptly called Foreign Food Mart and buy all of the aforementioned items sans pie crust.  I may have to just buy a pumpkin & pecan pie at the Paris Baguette.

 
The Foreign Food Mart is located in Itaewon and sells mostly Indian food but some American foods too like Kashi cereal and Pop-Tarts.  I wouldn't make shopping there a regular habit though.  The store is messy and there was food spilling from the aisles onto the floor.  Additionally, I think everything had a slight layer of dust to it.  But, when you need your Jell-o...






Paris Baguette is a Korean bakery that likes to think it is French.  Don't be fooled.  It is not.  But, they do regularly sell Pecan Pie.  If my microwave pumpkin pie fails, there is alway the Paris Baguette to save me.








For dinner I went to a Thai place that, honestly, had better decor than it did food.  It was called Buddha's Belly and it is located on the second floor of a building in an alley off the main strip of Iteawon.  I'm a big fan of eating atmosphere.  Sometimes food tastes better just because of the restaurant's decor.  In this case the decor was what I would call luxury-industrial.  The chairs all had a velour covering to them and the colors were all in rich grays, reds, and blacks.  I felt stylish and elegant eating there.  I was slightly disappointed in the Pad Thai with Tofu that I got though.  While it was fine, it wasn't really delicious either.  


3.  Once in a Blue Moon

After Thai food it was off to Apgujong which is an area of Gangnam and is like Seoul's Beverly Hills.  They even have a Rodeo Drive Street.

This area also has the best jazz club in town.  With the exception of the ridiculously high drink prices, I loved it.  The people that I was with, Jennifer and her two friends, reminded me that the w14,000 glass of wine I had was really not that bad since there was no cover charge to enter and if you think of it like that then it's not so expensive anymore.  Well maybe, but I would have gotten another glass of wine if it was cheaper...    

Anyway, the jazz was great and I'm glad I got to go!

Getting back home to Suwon, however, was not so great.  I got totally disoriented on the main street in Gangnam and couldn't figure out which direction I needed to take the bus back home.  I walked up and down and up and down for close to an hour before I spotted my bus-- naturally going in the opposite direction I was convinced I had to go.  It was 1am when I got back to my house.

4.  What the Book?

While in Itaewon on Saturday I also stopped by the bookstore, What the Book.  It was just a building or two away from the Foreign Mart.  It's known to be the best English bookstore in Korea but it was a lot smaller than I had expected.  Still, it did not disappoint and I found a book that I was looking for, The Glass Castle.

I spent my Sunday afternoon at Tom N Toms reading my new book, drinking a latte, and eating a pretzel.  Tom N Toms makes great soft pretzels.









Back to school on Monday...!