Seoul, Korea: Day 1

Just before leaving Taipei, a gate announcement was made: our boarding time was delayed to 2:30pm, but we would depart as scheduled, and that the airline apologized for the delay. Our original boarding time was 2:15pm, and I'm pretty sure there's no way an American airline would bother to announce, let alone apologize, for a 15 minute delay. In the end we boarded at 2:25pm anyway.

We arrived in Seoul on time with all our luggage intact. D nearly forgot his warmup jacket on the airplane, but he remembered in the terminal and ran back to get it. When he got there, the flight attendants had already discovered it and tagged it by seat number; he showed them his boarding pass to get it back.

Everything in Korea seems to be supremely organized. The airport is clean and easy to navigate, we cleared customs quickly as there were many queues, and when we got out there was a big screen telling us where to get our luggage, by carousel number. After exiting the airport, we headed for the KAL limousine bus ticket counter, where we bought two tickets for about $11 apiece, to travel 80 minutes to our hotel, the Westin Chosun Seoul. There were probably 20 different bus stands, all numbered. Once we got into the right line, a baggage handler came by to tag our bags, and then later, a woman in a hotel uniform came by to check us off of her reservations list. There was basically no danger of us feeling lost at all.

The bus itself was super nice too; large leather chairs, tons of legroom, and a big screen TV at the front, playing Korean soap operas.

The view from the back of the bus:


The ride was nearly 80 minutes long, but it went by really quickly, and we arrived at our hotel around 8:30pm.

Apparently the hotel representative at the airport had automatically checked us in as soon as she found us, so as soon as we arrived, the bellhop whisked us and our luggage to the front desk to pick up our keys, and then we were immediately escorted to our rooms. Speaking of which, the keys worked by proximity sensor, so there was never any fiddling with the locks. Awesome.

We took about an hour to shower, change, and examine our rooms (great view of Seoul Plaza) and then asked the concierge for a dinner recommendation. She said it was pretty late for most restaurants, but she finally pointed us to Arirang, just across the street. I managed to trip over the curb on the way there and twisted my foot, which was unfortunate as we had quite a bit of sightseeing planned for the next day, but I decided not to worry about it for the time being.

Arirang served Korean BBQ; sliced beef and marinated beef, which of course came with tons of side dishes. The marinated beef and the side dishes were good, but the sliced beef was not very good at all; very fatty and hard to chew. The price wasn't exactly the cheapest, either, but I guess we couldn't be too picky at nearly 10pm.

getting crafty

My sister is getting married in a few months, and I am one of the two maids of honor, and the only local one, so of course it fell upon me to plan the pre-wedding festivities.

Neither my sister nor I are big fans of traditional bridal showers or bachelorette parties, so I planned a totally different kind of event, and I think it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.

As an aside, one would think that being stuck in an airport for 9 hours during a layover would suck, but with free wi-fi and lots of cheap Taiwanese eats to be had, I'm actually kind of enjoying it. For instance, I usually never have time to catch up on blogging. Okay, back on topic...

We started the weekend at Doodlebug, an arts and crafts studio in Marin. I had booked the six of us for a "glass fusing" class, which sounded a bit boring at first ("glue pieces of glass to other pieces of class, and then fuse") but turned out to be really creative and fun, and took us the entire allotted two hour timeslot.

The seven of us ended up with very different designs:








Each of the pieces will be fused together until smooth, and then "slumped" into a plate shape, so we can keep them and use them as serving plates. (It takes awhile to get time in the super-hot oven, so we have to pick up the plates later.) The best part is, we only paid $30 per person for all of the time, materials, and instruction.

After the class we were starving, which was good because I had booked us brunch at the nearby Barefoot Cafe. Their portion sizes were huge, and the food was quite good, too. My favorites were the pear and almond pancakes, and the crab benedict:



After brunch we were pretty food coma-ed so we just hung out at my parents' house for awhile playing silly Facebook games and chatting.

Around 3:30pm, we started our cooking class. I had hired a chef to come to my parents' house, to teach the seven of us to make various "small plates". The menu items that I chose were: traditional Mexican ceviche, sweet corn & basil soup, crab & fuji apple salad w/ endive, tomato & basil & gruyere on puff pastry, wild mushroom & parmesan risotto, and braised shortrib on a toasted roll w/ horseradish & chive cream.

It was really fun; we learned knife skills for tomatoes, onions, and garlic, what fresh horseradish looked like, how to properly make a traditional mirepoix, how to roll out puff pastry, how to treat apples and endives so they wouldn't wilt/brown, and lots more. We finished up around 7:30-8pm, at which point we were exhausted but ravenous again, despite having snacked on all of the dishes during the cooking process. Nevertheless, the eleven of us (seven cooks plus four relatives who had come just for dinner) were totally unable to finish all the food that the chef had brought, and ended up eating the food for midnight snack, for breakfast, and even the following Monday.

Here are some photos of the food, both during and after the class...

mixing the ceviche:


gorgeous organic Roma tomatoes:


prepping the wild mushrooms for the risotto:


sweet corn & basil soup, almost done:


grating fresh horseradish:


the dinner table:


closeup on the crab & endive salad:


puff pastry:


braised shortrib sandwich (assembly required):


I was very happy with the chef, the way she taught us, and the fresh and delicious organic ingredients that she brought for us. She normally teaches for Cooks Boulevard in San Francisco, and I think my mother was inspired to possibly try some of the regular classes.

There were no more formal events that evening, but we had a fun night of hanging out before going to bed.

The next morning we had a lazy Sunday brunch at home. My mom made both sweet and savory crepes, fresh scallion pancakes, and served tons of fruit as well (blueberries, strawberries, peaches, grapes, and more).

That afternoon we headed back to San Francisco to have afternoon tea at Crown & Crumpet, a tea salon in Ghiradelli Square. It's very very pink, and very much not my style, but I knew my sister would get an over-the-top kick out of it.

Witness the pinkness...

there was a gigantic fake wedding cake centerpiece, which was later removed to make room for food:


the sugar had molded white and pink doves in it:


finally, the good stuff:


party favor for the bride-to-be:


After six pots of tea and some gift giving, we all went home. I didn't bother with dinner, but did take some Kara's Cupcakes home to share with friends, as they were right next door.

partying in style

A few weeks ago, D and I attended a birthday party in San Francisco. It was fabulous; there's really no other word for it.

The party started with brunch at La Mar, a great Peruvian restaurant in San Francisco. We'd been there once before, and had found the food delicious, if a little bit pricey. The setting is gorgeous; it's located at Pier 1.5, right next to the Ferry Building, and has a great view:


The guests of honor had requested that everyone be dressed in white, and although my selection of white clothing was extremely limited, I managed to throw together something that looked halfway decent. I thought at first that it was a bit silly, but in the end, the visual effect with all of the 30+ guests dressed in all-white was really great.

The menu was pre-arranged; we feasted on various cebiches, cherry tomato and heart of palm salad, mini lamb spring rolls (yum!), lomo saltado (beef with tomatoes and onions, very familiar from my recent Peru trip), and a seafood fried rice dish.

After brunch we hung out for awhile on the patio where we were seated, before heading over to the Hotel Vitale. There, the Cielo Terrace was decked out with couches, heating lamps, and a live jazz band. Here's the view from the terrace:


Inside, there was tons of wine, champagne, and even more food. There were cheeses and charcuteries, mini cupcakes, cheese puffs, homemade marshmallows, caramel corn, and tons of other snacks. After a few hours, the catering staff brought out additional desserts: mini root beer floats, mini champagne sorbet floats, and coffee pot du creme. Of course, I had to try them all...

At this point it was after 5pm, but we had made plans to meet up with another friend to celebrate her birthday that evening. Our reservation at Bix was for 6pm, so we had to take off just as the remaining guests were lighting up their Cuban cigars.

Amazingly, I actually managed to eat nearly half of my lobster pasta dish, as well as half of the famous brioche chocolate bread pudding for dessert. I thought the food was okay but I was actually a bit disappointed in the bread pudding; it came with a big scoop of whipped cream and I think it would have been better with ice cream, or something a little sweeter. The ambience was excellent, though, and the four of us enjoyed our nice dinner.

In retrospect, I should have expected the profusion of food at the party, given what I know about the guests of honor. Next time I'll definitely know better than to double book on them!

around the world

D and I have just embarked on a trip around the world.

We started planning our trip last year, and did a lot of research before buying a Star Alliance RTW ticket. It's actually a really good deal; roughly $3000 for economy class (for up to 29,000 miles and 16 segments), you can take up to a whole year to complete the trip, and all you have to do is start and stop in the same place, and keep going (mostly) in one direction, East or West.

The first stop is Seoul, Korea (well, we're currently in the Taipei airport, but that's practically our second home, airport-wise). I expect to be eating and photo-blogging lots of yummy Korean food very soon...

Sacramento

I went to visit my cousin in Sacramento (well really Folsom) a couple of weeks ago. He took us cousins (four of us, plus his brother) downtown to look at the state capitol, we stopped by "Old Town", and then we had dinner at a fun Japanese place called Mikuni. Afterwards, we hung out for awhile at a nearby hookah lounge (my favorite was the watermelon mint), and then we retired to his (huge) house, where his roommate and several of his work friends were playing Rock Band and pouring kamikaze shots. It was a fun weekend.

On the way home I was thinking that it's amazing that I've lived in California for practically my entire life, and up until a few weeks ago I'd never been to the state capitol. I drive by Sacramento several times every winter on the way to Tahoe, and I never stop. (On the other hand, I almost always swing by Ikeda's.) Anyway, I'm glad that I finally did make the effort to visit; Old Town was charming (plus, I very much enjoyed the caramel corn I bought at the candy store), and downtown definitely exceeded expectations.

fair point

Overheard this morning:

girl:	Man, wearing heels sucks. Guys are so lucky.
guy:	What are you talking about? It sucks for guys. We can't wear heels because it's socially unacceptable, even though if we did, it would make our legs look HOT.

language versatility

A friend was just telling me about an episode that happened at her work today.

A Swiss coworker came over and started talking to the guy next to her in French, at length and in detail. Her neighbor, an Indian immigrant, didn't bat an eye, and answered in French as well. Finally, the Swiss guy said, "Oh my god. I've just been speaking to you in French, haven't I? I'm so tired today."

I thought that was really cool. It seems very European to be so comfortable with multiple languages, that you can be accidentally speaking the wrong one for several minutes.

I was also curious as to how the Indian coworker had been able to respond so well in French, and it turned out that he had taken French in high school, and then Spanish and Italian in college and later. If only I had learned French that well in high school...

brunching in Berkeley

On the way to Sacramento on Saturday, four of us stopped for brunch at 900 Grayson, a restaurant in a cute neighborhood in Berkeley. Their most famous dishes (according to Yelp) were the Demon Lover (chicken & waffles) and the Grayson burger, and we tried both:



The chicken was delicious; tender and juicy and lightly spicy. The waffle was good too, and although the reviews recommended choosing gravy, I liked the maple syrup version. The burger was fine, but not that exciting, although the fries were good.

I myself ordered the "Time-Life Cookbook", which consisted of a Gouda omelet, hash browns, and an apple salad. Both the hash browns and the omelet were very tasty, but the apples were so-so:


Overall we enjoyed our brunch very much, and I would definitely venture back if I happened to be in Berkeley on a Saturday morning. (The restaurant isn't open on Sundays.)

Humphry Slocombe, take two

D and I were in SF yesterday afternoon, and had an hour to grab some dinner before heading to the Oakland Coliseum for the third annual A's luxury box outing. We decided to grab a burrito at El Farolito (so yummy!), and had Humphry Slocombe ice cream for dessert, since it was right around the corner. I liked it lots better this time; the Secret Breakfast was excellent, the Black Sesame was pretty good (if not quite strong enough in flavor, for me), and the taste of Thai Chili Lime I had was not bad either, but we couldn't order it due to D's aversion to anything spicy.

wow, sometimes the system works

This morning I got a call from a credit card company, for a card that I don't use much anymore. They wanted to verify a $850 transaction for bestbuy.com. Of course, I hadn't tried to buy anything from bestbuy.com. By the time I called them back, there had been several other attempted purchases: on sears.com, iTunes, and Snapfish.

Thanks to the fraud monitoring software, none of the transactions had been approved, and the card already had been disabled. After I called, they immediately cancelled the card and put a new one in the mail. Pretty cool.

heart attack on a plate

We had a milestone at work last week called "Blueberry Pancake". In honor of passing that milestone, one of our chefs made us a special brunch today. There were eggs, potatoes, a delicious jalapeno and veggie frittata, and two special blueberry pancake-themed dishes.

The first consisted of a sandwich of two blueberry pancakes wrapping bacon and jam, battered and deep fried. The second was a pancake and donut bread pudding. I confess the first one was a little heavy for me, but the second was delicious and I ate a ton of it. Our chefs rock.



(photo courtesy of a more-photographically-talented coworker)

a question of etymology

I used the phrase "laundry list" in a conversation this morning, which made me wonder where the term came from. Was there really a time when it was so common to send laundry out, that people would write up lists of their clothes? Plus, the making of such a list sounds like a pretty tedious chore, in and of itself.

"house" work

I was reading a blog post this morning by a woman who has a "house manager". This person not only does housework, but takes care of things like researching teachers and extracurricular classes for her kids, buying presents for friends and relatives, etc. Basically, the house manager is like an admin for the home.

Anyway, one of her primary points was that we should decide what things we enjoy doing and what things we don't enjoy doing. Then, for those things that we don't enjoy doing, we should figure out how much it would cost to pay someone to do them, and hire someone, if feasible. That got me to thinking of what "house" related tasks I like and dislike.

Things that I like:
- grocery shopping and cooking
- making travel arrangements
- planning social events
- managing personal finances
- taking and organizing photos
- researching and shopping for presents

Things that I hate:
- laundry
- cleaning bathrooms
- vacuuming, mopping, and dusting
- shopping at crowded places like Target, Costco and especially Babies/Toys-R-Us

Things that I tolerate:
- dishes and cleaning kitchens
- driving to physically pick things up
- researching and hiring vendors (e.g. painter, handyman, gardener)

I guess it's no wonder I hire someone to clean my house.

homegrown

Last night, we had some friends over for dinner. We grilled pre-marinated Korean BBQ from our favorite Hankook Korean supermarket, and added banchan, plus several homegrown items: pickled cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, sliced apples with plum powder, and key lime pie. (Okay, only a fourth of the limes were homegrown; our lime tree isn't that prolific yet.) I'm sure it's partly (mostly?) psychological, but for whatever reason, eating stuff that grew in your backyard always seems to taste better.

new low

Resting heart rate: 55. That's an official number, as taken by a Kaiser travel nurse. Yay me.

picky, picky

A couple of weeks ago, D and I got pulled over while driving on 101. We were pretty confused, because there was a fair amount of traffic and we couldn't have been going more than about 40-50mph.

The cop came over and said, license and registration, so we handed them over. Then, he walked over and glanced at front of the car for a second, before explaining.

License plates have a "month" sticker and a "year" sticker. In California, they look like this:


Apparently the "month" sticker on D's rear license plate had fallen off (it's been 8 years since he moved to California, and the DMV never sends new month stickers), and the cop wanted to make sure that his registration hadn't expired, even though he had a valid 2009 year sticker. In the end he let us go, advising us to go to the DMV as soon as possible, to get a new month sticker.

I guess the state is hard up for cash and all, but wow, that's pretty picky.

small world

I was having lunch with a friend earlier today, whom I hadn't seen in awhile. I was telling him about my upcoming travel plans, and mentioned that I'd be going to Dubai.

The following conversation ensued:

him:	When??
me:	Umm...I don't remember. Maybe mid-October-ish?
him:	My friend A is moving to Abu Dhabi next month, to teach English, and I was going to go visit her in late October.
me:	!!! (Abu Dhabi is about 1.5 hour's drive from Dubai.)

We are now considering the possibility of meeting up somewhere in the Middle East; either in the UAE, or maybe in Egypt or Jordan.

how do you spend your time?

I thought this graph illustrating how Americans spend their days was pretty cool.

I was surprised by some of the results. For example:
- The average amount of sleep is 8:36. That seems like a lot. I wish I averaged 8.5 hours of sleep. I guess maybe old people sleep a lot?
- Only 20 minutes a day is spent "playing or watching" sports. For women, the number is even lower, at 13 minutes. No wonder we're obese.
- We only spend an average of 3 hours and 25 minutes working. How is this possible?
- 75% of Americans aged 25-64 are employed. Only 67% of women in this group are employed.
- On average, Americans spend 3:02 a day watching TV/movies. College graduates spend 2:08, and people with advanced degrees spend 1:53. People "not in the labor force" (a separate category from the unemployed; usually homemakers, old people, and teenagers) spend nearly four hours per day watching TV.

just like that

I was driving in downtown Mountain View this morning and saw a squirrel get hit by a car, right in front of me. It practically bounced off of the car and then just lay still. I was late for an appointment (polio booster) so I didn't even think of stopping, but then again, what would I have done? I don't think vets handle squirrels (?), and I'm pretty sure it was probably dead/dying anyway.