Good-bye at Berlin and B1

Saturday night was ladies' night dinner at Berlin in Itaewon. Sadly (or happily) everyone will be moving soon.

One person received her dish ten minutes before the other dishes. I've noticed that Korean restaurants often serve food with no regard to timing. I don't know how many times I've eaten my appetizer with my main course or while my husband watches me hungrily. The reason? Since Koreans normally share dishes (pancheon, grilling meats, etc.), timing is unimportant. We joked that our friend should not wait for our meals to eat. As the oldest person at the table, she was suppoed to eat first by Korean culture!

We shared two pitchers of sangria. In Korea, the younger person should pour drinks for the older person. You should never pour your own drink. Here is one of our designated drink pourers:
After dinner we strolled to B1 to meet the guys. (They were having their own dinner.) We drank Suburbans (my friend's signature drink from her bartender days) and snacked on a cookie gift box from Shinsegae Department Store:

A few minutes later the guys came downstairs. My husband was carrying his protein shaker bottle! In a bar!?!

Ladies Night - Mexican Potluck

Not Korean food, but food nonetheless. I hosted my first ever ladies' night on Saturday:Everyone prepared foods from scratch. My friend concocted a "Mexican salad dressing" with cheese, lime, and peppers. We used fresh lime and homemade simple syrup for our strong margaritas.

Here we are before our dinner. We're all leaving within the next four months, and this dinner was a "good-bye" for some.

My dinner plate: chicken enchiladas, salad, refried beans, Spanish rice. I made the refried beans myself using good old bagged beans. It makes a BIG difference.

After dinner we played a get-to-know-you game. The winner won this 'regifted' item. Some of you may recognize it as my husband's Lunar New Year gift! Note the missing bottle.

We finished our meal with fresh cut fruit and this low-fat flan. Delicious!

Holiday Ball and Time for Pee Pee

Our final holiday party of the season was a military holiday ball. The military band played jazzy music, and I won a free manicure. The invitation said "business-formal," but women still wore dramatic ball gowns. I, on the other hand, followed the rules of business-formal, other than the open-toed shoes. Fortunately I had a hand-me-down red dress from my mom, since I'm not one for shopping:The food was standard holiday fare: The stuffing and sweet potatoes were delicious! No Korean food on hand other than kimchi'i. As tradition dictates, we had plenty of toasts:

And also a brigade cake:

Tonight we leave for our trip to Phuket and Ko Phi Phi. Though unrelated, I will post about Thailand's exotic fruits. I'm already craving a certain fruit with white flesh and small, black seeds. I ate it every day during our Koh Samui trip last year. I might post about main dishes, too, if I can handle the spices!

Baker's Annual Cookie Party

Yesterday afternoon we went to the Baker's for a cookie party. I made brownies from scratch for the first time. I always add a 'secret ingredient' when I cook to add excitement. This time I put a mashed banana in the batter. The brownies were so moist and flavorful! I received several compliments. (Even though I accidentally left foil on the bottom of the brownie squares.)
By the way, brownies are very easy to make from scratch. I will never use a box mix again!
Back to the party. Platters of cookies, ranging from coconut-chocolate chip bars to biscotti lined the tables.

Chocolate biscotti on the lower left, flavorful Spearmint mints in the center, walnut tea balls at the top, a store-bought cream puffs at right.

Pecan tart and my mug of mulled wine.

English toffee bars, oatmeal raisin cookies, a soft flan-style dessert, frosted pumpkin cookies, and, to my delight, sliced fuyu persimmon!


Hearty chocolate-peanut butter-oat cookies, snickerdoodles, and the pumpkin cookies.

I'm glad the party was during the afternoon this year. It gave my body enough time for digestion! Next year I would like to find a healthy holiday cookie book. I really do prefer to make and eat healthy treats, even during the holidays. I figured a mashed banana would provide a small quantity of fiber and potassium this year.
Thank you to the Bakers for a great afternoon!

Ice Bar TOKYO

Nothing like Absolut vodka drinks in a below-freezing bar: Our drinks were served in cylinders of ice made in Sweden. I had vodka-banana liquor-mango juice and a vanilla vodka-blue curacao-pineapple juice drinks. Since we were only allowed to stay inside 45 minutes (and because I was freezing cold), we guzzled our drinks.The Tokyo night was balmy after we left this place!

Random Potluck Items

On Saturday night we had a potluck & games night at our apartment. Everyone brought food to share: Nothing to describe since everyone brought American food.

However, a few guests shopped on the economy. I thought one guest had brought a bag of pebbles for decor:

Actually those colorful pebbles were sugary chocolates!

I suppose they are "natural foods" because of their rocky appearance?

Here is a cake from Paris Baguette, a popular bakery:

Korean cake tends to be too light and sugary for my tastes. I never appreciated American cakes until I tried the ones from Korea. (We still appreciated a dessert, though!)

And, finally, cans of Korea's own Cass beer with a lemon twist. What is the "sound of vitality" mentioned on the label?

Piano Man Does Korea

On Saturday night we went to Olympic Stadium for a Billy Joel concert. I hadn't been to an indoor concert since MC Hammer in the late eighties! Anyway, here was the view of the stadium, where Seoul also hosted the Olympics in 1988:For some reason, I assumed that the food vendors would sell standard stadium fare - burgers, beer, pizza, fries, hot dogs. Instead, vendors sold street food from makeshift stands:Concert-goers dined on ramen, tteokpokki, soup, extra greasy dough-covered hot dogs, and canned Cass Beer. Could you imagine trying to take a bowl of soup back to your seat?

Hallowe'en Night in Itaewon

We put on our costumes and headed out to Wolfhound, a popular bar on an Itaewon side street. Festive orange jell-o shots with extremely cheap vodka. Only $1.50 each. I think the sign even advertised them in dollars! (Side note - the awesome exchange rate has now dropped down to 1234 won on the dollar from a high of 1484 on Tuesday.) Chugging down the shots with my friend.
Our next stop was The Bungalow, where we found a private room. This place was pretty dead, but the music was loud. Fortunately we could ring a door bell to receive service.

Back on the street, we saw a Mexican food court competing with the typical Korean food tents. Perhaps a hot dog stand (Koreans love hot dogs) or pizza stand (for the East Coasters) would be more successful. How many people crave an empanada at 2:30AM?

As for us, we headed to our old stand-by, McDonald's. All of us claimed we were only eating there due to a lack of options. I loved how Eric's bulgogi (beef) sandwich was neatly tucked into a cumberbund. So tidy!

Birthday Dinner & Drinks

A group of friends joined me at Buddha Belly, my favorite Thai restaurant, for dinner. I had my typical favorites, a glass of sangria and the Massamon Curry. A Westerner owns the restaurant, and everyone speaks English. We don't struggle much with the language barrior in Itaewon.
In Korea diners do not tip the servers. Instead, the bill includes a service charge. In addition, a tax called the V.A.T. must be paid. We didn't have to pay that tax, though, because Meeran had her embassy tax exemption card!
Our table at the bar didn't come cheap: $270 for two bottles of Absolut vodka, a dish of lemons and limes, cranberry juice, and diet coke. Typically at Korean clubs one must buy an overpriced bottle of liquor for seating privileges.
At least the exchange rate has topped 1400 won per dollar!