A quiet afternoon strolland tea@two MRT stops from OryuDong

I can't recall which MRT stop it was, but it was one or two stops away from Oryu-Dong. We decided to have an aimless walk around since we only had 2 hours free time before the 6 pm evening service at the sanctuary.

Paris Baguette, is a well established franchise bakery all over Korea can be found in almost every street available. At first, I thought it was a franchise bakery originating from France (from its name), but surprisingly, it was started by 2 Korean ladies who have great passion for baking. Today, there are more than 3000 franchises throughout the world, and they are also big in the US. WOW.

The other bakery that is also pretty obvious in the eyes of a streetwalker, is the "Boulangerie". I really wonder why most bakeries here are named with a whiff of French, rather than building a local brand name.

Bakeries excite me, especially ones that are nicely decorated with pastries deliciously presented. It inspires me all the time. Sighs. When can I finally fullfill this dream?

 

I ordered Boulangerie's trademark pastry, the cream puff. The cream.... Oh...my...gosh, was so light, fluffy, sweet, and cold too. Each bite can make one close their eyes, and smile like idiots. It cost about 1500 - 2000 won (Can't recall the exact amount)

 

This was the strawberry shortcake. The pastry is a lot harder than the puff above, a little mixture of cake-like and brownie-like. The cream used was quite similar as the one above, but somehow the tougher texture of the pastry blended well with the sweet cream and the slightly sourish strawberry slices. This was 2500 - 3000 won (Erm.. I think)

After a quick bite of sweet deliciousness, we strolled along aimlessly looking at the surroundings. Up ahead, we saw this stall where this hardworking Korean lady was busy making some local pastries and also cooking waffles on the hot pan.

Out of curiosity ( we were already FULL), we bought one to try it out. It was rather hollow on the inside, and the inner lining of the pastry was coated with cinnamon and butter. I think our local Hiao Pia/ Kaya Kok rawks this over anytime! 1000 won for this.

Nearby the MRT stop, there was tiny local coffee shop, called Coffee AD. The shop is no larger than an average bedroom, therefore the owner arranged tables outside by the pathway. The breeze was so strong at this time that anything left on the tables were blown away.

 

I found the decor of the coffee shop really adorable. If only the weather and road/walkways/public transport systems back in Malaysia permit locals to walk safely and conveniently, we may be able to have more shops like these which will create a more interesting makan environment for us. I wouldn't mind popping by for a cuppa coffee from this store everyday walking to work.

I ordered an ice blended green tea shake, which was one of the best I ever drank. Super sincere with the green tea powder, not sweet, and the ice was nicely blended (very fine). YUMS! Especially drinking this while sitting outside, enjoying the strong cold breeze.

Peaceful. Amen.

fried chicken and chips and all corns poppy@Korean Restaurant nearby PKC, Oryu Dong

It was my first time ever eating a butterless, oil free, charcoal flavoured popcorn. Initially, it did taste peculiar to me, but after awhile, you get a hang of eating them. Somehow, the crunchiness of popcorn remained and without the caramel usually found in our local popcorns, you can really go on and on eating them (Free flow by the way)

 

I like how they served beer too. This was as extremely huge jug, built in two plastic layers. I suspect it helps maintain the coolness of the beer. I once drank from a pint with similar design as well (two layers of glass) in Shanghai. Not sure what difference does it make to the beer, but I guess, psychologically, i felt that my beer tasted fresher and cooler than regular pint beers.

Icey cold beer without greasy food is totally NOT COOL. Hence, we ordered a plate of fried drummets with chips and potato balls. Bear in mind, this was not dinner, but supper (just two hours after dinner) Yikes!

 

And who were we kidding? Beer + Fried greasy deliciousness = happy ending with fruits? 

This was the biggest pile of fruits served as desserts, that I had ever encountered. Usually, these come in the usual watermelon or papaya slices. 

Korea rawks!

OK. I thought this was crazy cool. Instead of putting in coins/tokens and using the joystick to navigate the clamp, aiming for cheap looking stuffed toys in the arcade, why not clamp REAL LOBSTERS?

I saw a man slotting in at least 25 coins (not sure how much would that be converting into RM). After observing him, I realised that it would be really difficult for a clamp like that to catch hold of the claw of that giant lobster because its body was just too slippery. After a terrible failure in grabbing hold of any lobster, the man got really frustrated and did a little temper showing, by banging on the machine before walking off. Funny scene!

I guess those lobsters stuck inside could be slightly happier than those found in water tanks in restaurants.

Local ice cream cone@journey back to Seoul

I did a final hike up the top of the Yeoju mountain before departing this wonderful place. Sure ain't easy climbing up, especially in long sleeve clothing. But *thumbs up* I made it! A snapshot view from the top.

An ice cream cone to cool down.. bought from a nearby local sundry shop. Vanilla and cookie flavoured ice cream.

Hmmm.. the taste was average. Walls cornetto chocolate ice cream still rawks! Talking about it.. I'm craving a Magnum now.

3 day seminar@Yeoju.

 

From Seoul, we took an hour plus by bus to this place called Yeoju. A part of the hilly Yeoju is reserved for the congregation members who want to do retreats/prayers and seminars are sometimes held here, just like the launch of the 6th book of the History of Redemption book series.

We were greeted by a gigantic banner, and there were thousands of people from all over the country as well as foreigners actually came to be spiritually blessed.

The hardworking eldresses and congregation members were so kind to prepare food for so many of us. A simple, homely and hearty meal. We were served with a potato gravy, quite spicy, almost like dhall gravy served in a mamak. 

This place provides precious clean water from the top of Yeoju mountain for drinking, bathing, washing etc. Apparently, the water has nutrients and minerals that will help preserve good skin and keep your body in good health. True enough, the water, although looks plain and normal, tastes slightly different from the water we drink. Truly refreshing, cooling and what a blessing! Some of us tapao-ed back several bottles (Kiasu-ness)

Found this huge nail plunged right into the thick, rough, surface of the wall of the cave, where people come in for meditation/prayer. When I saw this nail, I thought of JC's palms, and how humans were so cruel to nail them down His hands. Although He knew this will happen, He who is sinless, died on the cross for our sins.

Let us be able to follow His ways, and crucify our old sinful/worldly/evil/shameful self on the cross daily.

The true high priest.. can we discern it? Are we fullfilling the duties of a true Levite?

Does our faith shine brightly always, like the sun, or shines only when others are around you to lift up your faith, like the moon, whose light comes from the reflection of the sun, or flickering faith, like the twinkling stars?

BBQ Pork at the newly opened Korean restaurant@Nearby Oryu-Dong, Seoul

 The temperature was nearly 10 degrees on that evening, and we'd thought having BBQ for dinner would be a great idea. We stumbled upon this newly opened restaurant behind one of the tiny alleys, almost un-noticed if one walked past by quickly. In spirit of supporting the new owner who was smiling widely, ushering us we'd decided to dine there.

 Pork belly DIY style. Cut as big or as small a slice as you want. Gigantic scissors again!

Well marinated spicy beef, waiting to be snipped off by that black gigantic scissors.



We didn't mind having the pork slices sizzling in front of us. The cold weather masked the smokey heat. I loved the beef, juicy tender and flavourful. The pork belly was too fatty for me, but the rest enjoyed them like fingerlickinggood, especially after dipping the meat into this spicy chilli soy sauce mixture that the owner gave us.

It was from this meal that I learnt to say the delicious word, in Korean. "Mashita!" or "Mashuseyo!" The lady owner was so happy to serve us, I guess we were their first non-Korean patrons. A few locals were also dining there, and I noticed they were observing us, trying to figure out where did we come from since we were speaking in English, mix Hokkien, mix Mandarin, mix a Malay word or two.

While the meat grilled themselves to charcoal perfection, we gambei-ed over Macguli for being here to receive spiritual blessings and the physical blessings that we were about to receive too, from the hot grill.

One of the most memorable meals I had in Korea.