Solo Korea Trip - Happy Birthday Unnie!

Travelogue

Hi! Sorry everyone that I went MIA again. Was really busy and I don't even have much time to rest. Like now, my head hurts like hell. I have been having this horrible headache for the past 2 days. Never did it stop hurting at all.

Anyways, back to my Korea trip!

14th of April, 2014! The 3rd day of the solo trip to Korea and it was my sister's 30th birthday!

Started my day out alone with a packet of White Grape Yogurt Drink while waiting for the train to Hongdae! And yes, the hotel I was staying at is in this wulu station Dapsimni.

Guess I'll do a separate post on the hotel I stayed at another time.

I personally feel that it's a good place to stay at and budget enough, too!

Anyways, so yes I made my way to Hongdae in the morning for a little shopping! 

If you see this shop, you know you're near...

See the sign up there?

TADA!!! The MAIN store of Style Nanda!

Ok. I'm still not exactly a fan of Korean fashion. The main reason why I wanted to go there is go get 3CE cosmetics. LOL!

Look! There's even Style Nanda vending machine! LOL~

Ok. I can't really show you how is it inside but here's a short video that I sneakily shot. *oops!*

Next! I headed to Sogang University to meet my sister who was studying Korean there that time!

Seriously, I've always wish that my school has such a place for students to just laze around in between lessons. But no~ we do not have such a place in campus here in Singapore. *sobs*

Lunch with my sister, Jeffrey (my sis's friend in Secondary School) and her classmates in Sogang!

So multi-nation! There's Singaporeans, Malaysian, Japanese, Swedish and... what's the last one. Australian if I didn't remember wrongly.  

And yes! I LOVE ddeokbokki!!!

Order all your favourite ingredients and there you have it in a pot!

And that's not all!

When you're done, ask the ajuma to add in fried rice! Super delicious!!!

Even if you're full with all the goodness from ddeokbokki, you will sure still eat the rice! Just too yummy to miss!

Next! The birthday girl decided to bring us to the best jimjilbang in Yongsan!

Looks so high class ya?

It's actually really affordable for just the entrance fee to enjoy all the different types of baths.

Massages and other services are kinda expensive but still affordable.

Just entrance fee alone is 11,000 won which is around SGD 11-12 only?! And you can actually spend a good half a day there!

First is to get changed!

Camwhore with my sister!

Blurred the background just in case...

Us and our goat hats!

Yes, my sis and I made Jeffrey do this with us! LOL!!!

At the Jade room!

Traditional room!

It's just way too hot for my sister so she just stood outside to help us take photo.

And after a hot room, the ice cold room!!!

Jeffrey and the small snowman

My sis and the big snowman!

And me? Of course the big snowman! HAHA!!

Time for some snacks! Got sikhye and charcoal eggs!

Sikhye is super yummy!!

And like in dramas, we play scissors, paper, stone and the winner gets to hit the egg onto the loser's forehead to crack the egg!

YEAH!!! The birthday girl wins!!!

Look at my sister's evil face!

Poor Jeffrey. The egg didn't break at all!

After that, we split up to go and enjoy the different baths before heading to dinner with my sister's Korean friends!

Dinner with Jake and Su Bin!

Ok. I don't know Jake's Korean name and Su Bin does not have a English name. 

And YEA!!! Super fresh fish from the fish market just beside! 

After dinner, we spotted Gongcha cafe before heading home and the poor girl who have been living in Korea for one and a half months miss bubble tea so we stopped by for bubble tea.

A little cake as the birthday cake!

I must say Gongcha in Korea has more flavours and feels healthier. 

Less sweet and they have more "healthier" flavours like Ginger Milk Tea that I had.

Found this little cutie at the train station to accompany you while you wait for train. So cute right?!

So yup! We headed "home".

Relax after a long day watching We Got Married Global Edition 2 on TV that day with the ridiculously huge TV in my room.

Seriously, it takes up almost that entire wall it is on! Just look at my small jacket hanging in the background!

Oki! That's all for the 3rd day of my solo trip in Korea in April!

See you soon!

Korean Spicy Rice Cake 떡볶이

Hi everyone!
Ok! It's been a long time since I last blog on recipes for food.
This is gonna be the first time I'm blogging on recipe that's not on dessert.
Lol~

I totally love Korean Spicy Rice Cake ever since like 6-7 years ago.
Although I'm a person that doesn't eat chili and either do I usually spicy food but still I love TteokBokKi!

Yup, korean spicy rice cake is called 떡볶이 in Korean pronounced as Tteok-Bok-Ki　（トッポッキ）.



So now! I'm gonna share with everyone how to cook TteokBokKi yourself!
Ok. I wanna add that this recipe is what I came up with after looking through many different recipes I can find online and on YouTube.
I modified the recipe a little cos I couldn't find some ingredients.

So! Here's the ingredients needed, or rather I used!

Onions

Carrot

Spring onions

A packet of TteokBokKi.
I bought this packet from the Korean 'supermarket' at Square2.

TteokBokKi paste.
You can always get TteokBokKi sauce instead if you don't feel confident making your own sauce.
But if you do get the sauce, you can just heat the sauce and put in the rice cake, cook at low heat till the rice cake is soft

The packet of tteokbokki I bought. Got this packet for around $6.
There are quite a few choices of tteokbokki at the supermarket so I just bought the cheapest one. =P



The TteokBokKi paste I bought. I got this bottle for around $4. Seriously...
I still have half a bottle left even after making that huge pot of tteokbokki!



Ok. I read online in a certain recipe that if you buy the instant tteokbokki like the one I bought, you have to soak it in water for around 20 minutes first.

Seriously, I think that's a huge mistake!

I'm not too sure about other brands, but if you're gonna get the exact packet that I got, DO NOT SOAK IT!!! Just leave it out to defrost while you prepare the other ingredients.



So yes, I soaked my rice cake. T-T

I seriously think that's why my rice cake was not able to absorb the taste of the sauce later on because it's "filled with water"! TAT



Cut my onions into big slices as I'm making onion stock for the base instead of anchovy stock as I couldn't find them!
So if you could, it's of course better to use anchovy to boil you stock first!



Carrots and spring onions prepared!



3-4 cups of water + onions + carrots

Like mentioned, if you have anchovy, use anchovy and boil them in 4 cups of water for about 10 mins.



So yes... leave it to boil for around 10 mins.



While waiting, grab a drink! Muahahaha~

OK. If you're wondering, yes I bleached my eyebrows that's why they are so much lighter.
And this photo was taken like 2-3 days after I bleached them.
TADA! Now you know... Lol



Drained the water for the rice cakes after I finished my packet of drink.



So after boiling for around 10 mins, if you used anchovy, remove them from the water.



Else, let's continue!



Add about 350ml of tteokbokki paste into the stock.
If you want your tteokbokki to be more spicy, well go ahead and add more!

By right, you need to add in some sugar depending on how sweet you want your rice cake to be, I didn't add in any cause there's no more sugar in the house! T-T

So ya, if you're adding, you can add before or after the tteokbokki paste. =)



Stir well!



Add in your rice cakes!



Stir well



Let it boil for about 3 minutes on medium heat.
Remember to check and stir well from time to time.



Add in spring onions



Leave it to boil on low heat till sauce thickens.
And still, remember to check from time to time and stir well! =)



And TADA!!! Your very own TteokBokKi!





드립니다！（いただきます！）

So I hope everyone enjoy this post on how to cook tteokbokki!

じゃ、今ここまで。
안녕！（バイバイ！）