Lunch at Arthur('s)

After the ass-rapingly hectic week of WOAP, I got three days off this week. And as like my any other days off, I went out for lunch. 

Some of you might remember that I was craving cheese 'roles'. I remembered that Arthur's (not sure if Arthur's or just Arthur..) on Cuba st. did them just couldn't resist! After feeling very fresh after my haircut (which I'm considering getting re-done shorter and spikier) I went down the road to devour some cheese rolls. 

Behold Arthur('s)! *photos stolen without permission from various sources 

 

It is such a cute little place. An old house converted to a restaurant. Steep stairs, little rooms, very homely. It made me comfortable straight away, perhaps because it reminded me so much of Ambeli. 

I already knew what I wanted but still had to look at the menu of course. Two burgers went to the table next to me which looked delicious (and my hairdresser told me it was awesome) so I ordered cheese rolls and the burger as well as Moa pale ale. 

The cheese rolls. WHOA! It was toasted with some sort of black magic I'm sure. To be brutally honest, the filling wasn't awesome but that could just be one of those 'mother's home cooking' type talk. I'm thinking of them Waihopai Rowing Club fundraiser cheese rolls of my Invercargill past. But still, It was so brown, crunchy and delicious. Certainly satisfied my craving anyways. 

And then...the 'Jucy Lucy Burger'. 

Funnily enough, I originally ordered their burger of the day which involved crispy chicken and some other things.......

The waitress comes up and tells me, 'oh we actually have this other Jucy Lucy burger on special as well, which would you prefer?' I opted for the JL burger and it arrived 5 seconds later. Kudos to the waitress, I wouldn't have thought of that if I had fucked up my order! 

Now, I'm a firm believer that burgers (or pizzas for that matter) should be eaten with hands, not knife and fork. But the patty was so thick I couldn't possibly fit it in my mouth so I went to the dark side and used a knife and fork to cut into my burger. 

Now I understand why it's called Juicy Lucy. Oozing out of middle of the inch-thick, juicy beef patty was delicious cheese. Beef and cheese. I was sorted. 

Overall, I very much enjoyed my lunch at Arthur's. I certainly will be visiting again and again whenever I'm craving little bit of my teenagehood. Hornblow & Tania Rowe, if you are reading this, I think you should ditch Fidel's in favour of this place. Coffee is also good and they serve alcohol and good food. A new place you know, just saying :p. 

Liberation Day, All you can drink, and Millions of Peaches.

Hello again!!

So I've had an eventful weekend!

First up is just a photo of what I have seen a lot around over the past few days. The humidity is finally dying down and the monsoon season is over (I hope) so it seems as though this is a good time to dry out your chillies...

This is one families chillies out drying in the sun on the walk to town.

Anyhoo, back to the week just been. Thursday was Liberation Day. This is a national holiday for the liberation of Korea from Japanese occupation in 1945.

Fiona and I thought it would be an awesome time to go to Jekjeong and visit the "Cafe Street" where there is a block that is designed to look like a European cafe area. Along the way we got lost....so stopped of at Paris Baguette for some lunch.

I forget to take photos...and this is why all my photos have have eaten food in them. This is a pastry hotdog. Om Nom.

Super fresh double cheese bagel with cream cheese on the side. It was cheat day, can you tell?!

Looking one way down the main cafe street

Looking the other way...

We stopped off at a little cafe called...wait for it... Cafe. Seriously. Just Cafe. We had something to drink and played a quick, fairly unskillful game of chess to make ourselves feel cultured.

Iced blueberry tea. This came with pine nuts in it but alas, the photo was forgotten until after the first sip. Best blueberry tea I've ever tried.

Some really good lemonade

Cute little rice snacks that came with the lemonade and tea.

Halfway through our wee game of chess.

I won!!! By complete fluke. I'd lost my queen about 5 turns previously.

Hard to see but this is Cafe's sign.

We weren't long at the cafe street as there actually weren't quite as many cafes as we anticipated. in saying that, I would like to go back and try the Italian food as it has a good reputation.

After the Cafe Street we headed towards the train station and wandered through the Emart and found the pet store. This was a new pet store where we found an array of new and unusual pets..

Asian Great Horned Beetle

I apologise for the average photos, it's hard to take them with the shiny plastic container :(

This was the greatest find ever. Hermit crabs in pimped out shells. They were all just crawling around in there!

Once we tore ourselves away from the craziness that was pets in Korea, we headed to Bundang for some dinner. We found ourselves an awesome sushi restaurant!

Salmon roe, prawn, salmon, calamari and tuna.

It was a sushi train but we were a little early so we ordered our own.

The best bit of the Tuna....the fatty part. Melt in your mouth goodness. Otoro.

Jae likes to claim I food cheated on him by getting Otoro with out him present. We left the sushi place and I found this guy in the street making these awesome sugar and baking soda creations. This has to be my favourite street food! It tastes just like hokey pokey from the middle of a crunchie bar.

The trick it to eat the cracker thing without breaking the print in the middle and you can get another one for free. I usually break it though :(

On my way home from Bundang I found 1000 won (worth about a dollar). My lucky day!

Sitting at the bus stop and I had to share this, almost all the kids wear some form of Crocs. It's terrible.

Back at work on Friday and then off again on Saturday. It was Jaehyun's birthday on Friday and we were all having family lunch. Stopped by the farm to catch up with the parents.

Mushroom conveyor belt!

Plastic wrapping machine

Jae's parents house.

Office and mushroom container prep

We headed off to...actually I have no idea where for lunch. On the menu was cold noodles and tonkatsu. I had the fish tonkatsu which was really nice but I definitely had menu envy when the cold noodles came out for everyone else!

Lunch menu!

My meal with some cold noodles on the side

After Lunch we went to Apa's cousin's farm in Cheongju to check out the peaches. In true Korean style, I came home from this trip with a big box of peaches and a big box of mushrooms.

Peach farm

Peach protection

Millions of peaches!!

I ate way too much peach that day...

Jaehyun, Jieun and I left the parents to hangout and headed back to Bundang. on the way we stopped and I got myself this nasty nasty NASTY energy drink for the night ahead. Did the trick tho!!

Dinner! Fried chicken from the street with spicy sauce

I caught the train from Bundang to Seoul to meet up with Eric in Gangnam. We were eventually joined by a few others and we headed to the bar. I was lead to believe it was a roof top party however we are sorely mistaken. This was all made up by the fact that it was all you can drink from 7-11pm for only 20,000 won plus free entry and a free drink at the next club. The people who came to the pub for the drinks mostly spoke English and there was a lot of foreigners there too. The idea, I believe, is to encourage getting to know Koreans and vice versa. With some of the cool new people that we met we headed to the next club.

Club with free entry and drinks!

This club was HUGE. The music was pumping and the drinks were not cheap but it was a lot of fun.

This is what happens when I try and take photos when I'm drunk...half a forehead and a bad flash.

Needless to say, no more pictures from that point on...

I had planned on trying to get home that night but failed miserably and ended up going to a love motel with my friend to sleep it off. Love motels...these are wonderful relatively easy to find places that you can pay for by the hour or the night. Unfortunately for Koreans, they mostly live with their parents until they are married so there is not much of an opportunity for them to have sex at home. This is why love motels exist. They are cheap, easy to get to, offer sex toys in vending machines and are almost completely anonymous. The front desk had a big shield where you couldn't see them and they couldn't see you. It was awesome. Also, as an aside, can have anything (foodwise) delivered to the motel. I finally arrived home in Gwangju at about 5:30pm. Epic night and cannot wait to do it all again!!!

Next time I stay at a love motel, I'll remember to take photos to share with you all.

Much love,

Ally

Gangnam Style, Fabulous Fashion and Hedgehogs

Hello everyone!!!

The first week back at school has been good! Everyone enjoyed their holiday and everyone came back safe and sound. We had the hottest day of the year last week. 36 degrees. I thanked many a deity that I was inside with aircon.

Here is a shot of my usual school lunch.  I get a soup, usually one type of meat (maybe a second if there was leftovers from yesterday) and a couple types of kimchi. We also get rice but I'm avoiding it for the time being in hopes of shifting a few kilos. It's all help yourself which is awesome.

Clockwise from soup. Warm something brother with potato and cucumber in it, leftover mildly spicy pork from yesterday, fish cake balls (amazing), regular kimchi and some other kimchi that I'm not entirely sure what it was made of...

Below is a picture of a puppy I drew for one of my students. I have discovered that getting in on their drawing time is a real positive way of connecting with them individually and it's heaps of fun.

Saturday was awful weather...

Shot from the bus going into Seoul in the middle of a thunderstorm. 

But we powered through (I left my umbrella at home so had to buy another one and this means i have accumulated three of them so far) and made it to COEX where we went to the 2nd Annual Korea Style Week!!!

Even got official looking passes 

Korea Style Week was kind of like an expo with events on the runway - including styling classes etc however we didn't stay long enough for that stuff and it was all in Korean anyway :(

There were everything from independent jewellery designers to big companies and a range of styles from minimalist to crazy hiphop including a very cool "Fucken Pumpkin" brand. I a couple things myself, a ring that is being made for me in my size and this awesome thick felt tote bag.

I love this bag for the monochromatic feel and the structured style. It makes it perfect for carrying my books to my Korean lessons and goes with just about anything :) I can't wait for my ring to arrive!

We left the Style Week Expo and went back into the main mall and had lunch. This was my first average choice when making up my mind about what to have and having no idea what everything was.

Seaweed soup. Good but not quite the filling lunch I was after. 

There was also some sort of shell fish I had not eaten before in the bottom, they looked like little green boogers. Tasted OK though.

What I should have got, Spicy Pork Bimibap

Galbi Bimimbap

We wandered around COEX for a while and then headed off to Gangnam for some fancy people spotting.

First stop in Gangnam - KRISPY KREME STORE!!!

This is the doughnut machine. First time I saw it going and when it's going it means that the original glaze doughnuts are fresh off the line so they are warm, soft and sticky. 

Heaven in a snack.

I limited myself to one because EVERYTIME I go to Gangnam I will buy one and I do not need a Krispy Kreme sized bum.

Once I was done with my fattie moment, we wandered the streets checking out the street vendors. I found a sweet pair of oversized Karen Walker rip off sunglasses for 10000 won and nabbed myself a bargain. I had to tear myself away from the animal hoodies. Will save that look for winter snugglies I think.

Here I am sporting my fake KW sunglasses with my best model face.

We also spotted another Irish pub and decided it was time for a break. I desperately needed a cider and I think Marie and Fiona needed a drink too. 

Spotted from the window of the pub, advertising for plastic surgery. This shit is EVERYWHERE. It's scary.

Dinner at the pub. These were enormous and really tasty. Especially with the spicy sauce.

That ended up being the end of our day really. We were all knackered and it was time to head home for the day.

Sunday was super lazy and I met Fiona at the Emart to have dinner. We also wandered around Emart checking out if we could find any craft supplies that I was after. Didn't find anything useful there however, we did find the pet section....

Hedgehogs

Hamsters

Birds

I want a hedgehog so badly....I almost wish they would die within a year so that I could get one!!

Had dinner at Phomein in the Emart complex. I have spicy friend chicken and it was amazeballs. accidentally ate a chili though and that definitely wasn't amazeballs. Food was amazing but the cup size left a little to be desired.

Iced green tea for ants?!

Following that we wandered around Gawangju for a while and when for a stroll through Daiso and found some interesting things.

Decorate your UGLY spray bottles and make them fit into your home decor with this beautiful poodle cover! 

Yet another household item for ants. I should have added my hand to this picture so you could see how really very small it was. It fits in my hand.

While looking for the cupcake place, we stumbled across a frozen yogurt place. 

The yogurt needed a little sauce but other than that was pretty good.

School has been pretty much the same. My lessons in Bundang are going really well and the new people I'm meeting are super cool! I'm hoping to manage to meet up with a few outside of the lessons and English conversations when I work up the courage to ask for some phone numbers.

As a side, I started watching a new TV series called Wilfred with Elijah Wood. It's about a guy who sees his next door neighbours dog as a big Australian guy in a dog suit. Hilarious and very weird. Totally worth it. I started watching this after I ran out of episode of Orange is the New Black to watch. Another excellent series about an upper-middle class woman convict of drug smuggling and sent to prison. Right up my ally really.

Anyhoo, I'll leave it there this week. On Thursday is independence day and I'm hoping to go to Dongdaemun this weekend as well so hopefully I'll have fresh stories next week.

Much love!

Ally