Hanging out. Shopping. Eating

Ever since the CORE shopping center in the Downtown of my city got renovated, a number of great stores, awesome food choices (at the food court) came along, not to mention the stunning architecture and interior design-- compared to the super gheto looking mall few years back!

froshberg Gelato

Green apple Gelato! YUM!

I think everyone knows what gelato is, it's ice cream really, but Italian style. And with gelato, I personally think it is lighter, less rich and creamy compared to the usual "ice cream". In fact, with gelato, there are way more interesting flavors comparing to the normal ice cream choices like bubble gum, vanilla, chocolate, tiger, etc. With gelato, you get more choices such as nutella, coconut, watermelon, grapefruit, green apple, pistachio, etc. After walking in the heat and eating such a large Korean lunch, my friends and I stopped by the gelato place in the mall to chill from the heat. The place we have gone to is called Froshberg Gelato, it  opened since  renovation completed, but I have never been to it before. If I could rate the gelato place, I would give it a 4 out of 5, I absolutely loved the design of this concession, and the servers were absolutely polite and kind. Most importantly, the  amount of gelato you get for a single scoop is more than enough for a person, so it is really worth your money! But why did I knock of one point? Not because of crappy services or unreasonable pricing, but the fact that they ran out of Pistachio gelato... definitely will have to go back another day to try it out!

Fruit Bursting Flavors!

Grapefruit/Watermelon and Green Apple Gelato with my 2 friends!

I mentioned before, that gelato has more fresh fruit flavors to pick from compared to usual ice cream. So for the first time trying out this place,I took the recommendation from my friend and  picked a  light fruit flavor -- GREEN APPLE! How to describe it? Maybe because I was feeling kinda bloated  from the heaviness of the Korean lunch, so having green apple help lighten up my bloated stomach. The sweetish & sour taste really sparked my taste buds and help me feel refreshed from the heat and bloated sensation. My other friend, who had been hear before, ordered two scoops of different flavors....watermelon and grapefruit. Although I only tasted a little bit of both, comparing the two flavors she picked, I prefer the grapefruit flavor more. I mean, the watermelon was great, but some how I felt that the watermelon flavor almost tasted too much like children's toothpaste. Whereas, the grapefruit flavor had the tingy, sour, refreshing taste to it; similar to the green apple. But, I guess if you combine the two flavors together, it's like "perfect couple match" the sweet light taste of watermelon balanced out well with the sour and refreshing taste of grapefruit.

A stroll in the Garden.......

One thing I really like about  the City Center mall is the close to nature feeling it has 4 seasons a year. This mall has a interior garden build in that is incorporated into the food court, the garden is called "Devonian Garden"... so it's almost like you're chilling and eating out in nature, without all the bugs and birds crowding around your food. The garden has fishes, trees and plants in a modernized design. However, compared to its previous layout (before renovation) it has become much smaller. But then again, you can't really complain after seeing how clean and eco- friendly it looks. I guess it's a good way to incorporate the garden to be part of the food court, you can go for a quick stroll "in the park" after munching on a whole bunch of calories.








Well that's all for today!
Little Stars

Korean Food Fun

 I've developed a  love for Korean Cuisine since the first time I tried it a few years ago. Since my first try, I have always gone back to the same restaurant trying out their different items. And never once has this restaurant failed to impress me! Today's food adventure will be about the Korean restaurant near the Downtown of the city I live in.

A whole table of great food! Just like a banquet!

Korean cuisine is known for its colourful appearance, bold, strong tastes of sweet, sour, spicy, and salty. Every year when a special occasion comes up (whether a birthday, Mother's Day, or Father's Day etc.) we  would go out to try the various cuisines that our city has to offer. Korean Cuisine has been one of our top favorites (maybe because the Hallyu wave is also influencing us in one way or another). After being introduced to the Korean culture, the first thing that catches the attention of my family and I is of    course food.

Today, we decided to have a small celebration of Father's Day as a family, along with a very close friend of my brother as well as my friend. As always, our top choice is our favorite Korean Restaurant --Korean Village. We knew Saturdays would be quite busy, so I made a reservation the day before. So this time we didn't have to wait 20 mintues. Once we stepped out our van, the aroma of LA Galbi filled the air. Since I just finished church activities I was extremely hungry and couldn't wait to get inside the restaurant.

Korean Barbeque

Korean Barbeque

As always, we order their set combos for 3-4 people and on top of it order some entrees and apetitzers. I really like their barbeque, there is a variety of meats or "gogi" including "Bulgogi" (marinated beef), "Ttakgogi" (marniated Chicken) and "Dwejigogi" (marinated pork), as well as "LA Galbi" (which are like beef ribs I believe).. In their barbeque, they always include fresh lettuce pieces for the pork so we could make our own "Samgyeopsal". (^______^) if you watch korean dramas you could probably guess what "Samgyeopsal" is. It is basically fatty pork grilled and wrapped in lettuce. Oftentimes, the dramas show people eating this along with drinking Soju.

Side Dishes, Soup, and Bibimbap

The next thing included in this combo is the pork bone and potatoe soup. I would have to say, I like this soup more in the cold winter, than the summer. As it is a pretty filling soup. Next, we also had the numerous side dishes including kimchi, kimchi raddish, eggplant, pickled radish strippes, and bean sprouts. the typical side dishes. The combo we ordered also came with deep fried "mandu" (dumplings) and a seafood pancake (filled with green onion and various seafood pieces). The first entree we ordered was Bibimpab, unlike the usual ones we see online, this one included a soup/stew-like seafood bowl that you use to mix with the "bap" (rice). It is perhaps one of the more spicier dishes of the whole meal.

Naengmyeon

Naengmyeon

Mustard and vinegar for the Naengmyeon

 But today, the dish that I really enjoyed was not from the combo, rather it was one of the noodle dishes we ordered. Mul Naengmyun. Or Cold noodles in a broth. Now that summer is arriving and the weather starts to turn hot. I often look for more refreshing items when I eat out. I remember last year, I was on YouTube watching "Eat Your Kimchi" by Simon and Martina and they introduced 'Naengmyeon" in one of their videos. When I saw it on the menu today, I quickly made a suggestion to order it and boy I was super happy I Did.

"Mul Naengmyeon", if I did not recall the name wrong, is the non spicy cold noodles. Like Simon and Martina mentioned in their video, the large bowl of noodles came with the vinegar and mustard for you to mix in the soup. On top of the chewy noodles and broth are strips of cucumber and meat (pork) with a piece of egg. After mixing in the vinegar and mustard. I took my first bite. I have to say, I LOVE IT. The sweet and sour taste of the soup makes it really appetizing, as well the  tangy sensation of the mustard makes you want to crave for more :) Super 짱!!!


Thanks and Have a great day!
Little Stars

Mini Radish Doll and Rooftop Prince OST has Arrived!

My Mini Radish Doll!

I am actually quite surprised that my merchandise arrived a little earlier than expected. Back at the end of may I ordered the Rooftop Prince merchandise, and including ordering etc, it usually takes up to two weeks or more after all payments and merchandise have cleared and are ready to be shipped on YesAsia. Today has been a pretty boring and dull day until this happened ;).

Rooftop Prince OST Part 2 includes the awesome instrumentals!

When I was on my way out to go teach piano, my dad who just arrived home from work looked at me cunningly and smiled, showing me the small box of my goodies! I am personally really satisfied with the OSTs, at first I did not expect much from the OSTs, I was thinking there would probably be the CD and maybe a small lyrics booklet. Little did I know that the lyrics booklet included some really nice photos from the Drama's photo shoot as well as a small collection of behind the scene photos.
( ^_____^ ) Awesome eye candy!
 Right now I just can't stop staring at my mini Radish Doll that's just standing on top of my speakers while listening to the OSTs. Super happy today. I thought I would show you some pictures of my cute Rooftop Prince goodies!

Thanks!
Little Stars

Japanese Cuisine Exploration

Toro Sushi

I am a big fan of food... I love going around the city and trying out various types of food with friends. This post, I will be introducing a newly opened Japanese Restaurant that is close to my church. The restaurant is called Daruma. Before the owners of Daruma came, the previous Japanese Restaurant that was at the same spot was also one of my favorites, but the family that owned the previous one  (aka Sushi Hibiki) decided to close down their business and move back to Japan or something like that.

Chirashi (Various sashimi on top of vinegar rice)

So, yes, when I found out it would be closed down I was really sad and worried that I wouldn't be able to try out the "family style" Japanese Cuisine again.

Luckily, 3 weeks after the closure of Sushi Hibiki, Daruma opened. And to my surprise, Daruma is also a family owned business, allowing me to once again taste the "family style" cuisine.

Takoyaki

My Friend and I didn't order very much as we just wanted to try out their menu first. The first thing we ordered was Toro Sushi. Since we're both girls, the small portion was okay for us, I liked that the sushi rice wasn't dominated by the vinegar taste.Well balanced!      

The next item we ordered was Takoyaki. I have only seen Takoyaki in anime or Japanese films. I never really actually tried the fried octopus snack until my visit to Daruma. I instantly fell in love with this awesome snack. The chef made it extremely appealing to the eyes by including thin dried bonito fish flakes that would move around/ giggle on top of the freshly made Takoyaki. It was at the same time tasty and super cute!!

The last dish we ordered was Chrashi Sushi. I've had Chirashi back when Sushi Hibiki was there, so I wanted to try out Daruma's style of the same dish. I was really glad that Chirashi included lemon slices for us to squeeze the juice on top of the sashimi pieces to enhance the fresh taste of the seafood. I don't recall Sushi Hibiki having that, so when I saw the lemon slices, I was pretty surprised. I am not sure if any of you have been to sushi restaurants that don't really keep their standards of freshness and you end up having "warm" sashimi etc. To me, that is really gross. I was really happy and glad that Daruma kept their fish cool and fresh making my dinner experience so much more enjoyable. I didn't have to worry about eating something that didn't appear fresh.

To conclude: I really enjoyed my experience at Daruma! The decorations and layout of the restaurant did not change very much, so it still had that "small sushi shop" feel to it. The small layout definitely made the eating experience a little more fun!

Thanks for visiting!
Little Stars