You just gotta love crazy competitiveness between the pizza companies to add more and more ostentatious toppings in order to create a sense of value for their consumers. I guess it is the only way for the big pizza shops to create higher margins (these pizzas go for 30-40 usd a pie). These calorie bombs look interesting but I am on a diet these days so I am not willing to waste a day of working out for a pizza topped with ribs, mayonnaise, different types of cheese and a steamed egg crust. I guess the way that Koreans eat though one pizza would feed 8, because of the family-style way of eating. (In my house we would order 2 giant pizzas and wings and breadsticks and soda to feed our family of 5.)

Anyway, I was passing by Mr. Pizza to see their new pizza offerings. Their new pizza is the "Eggta" which is a like a egg tart in a pizza. The rim is streamed egg and below that they have lots of cheese like a Chicago deep dish and then it is topped with "real steak," potatoes, Brie cheese and veggies. Yeah. Heart attack.

They have others such as the Ohmy Rib which is pizza topped with ribs.

Not to be outdone, Pizza Hut has the "Crown Pocket" which has a sweet potatoe crust topped with a dollop of cream cheese.

It's alive! I am so proud. It is bubbling and yeasty and has a acidic, vinegary taste (yes, I tasted it) in two more days my starter should be strong enough to make some great bread and pizza doughs ( I have plans for you my pretty).

Like I had mentioned before, it is easy enough to do.

I think this is how the first bakers started making bread.

I can't wait until I start baking with it.

Dan

I went to Toucan last night on Gyeongnidan Street. I had been there a long time ago and I thought it was ok, but I was a bit turned odd because the chef told me that the chicken wasn't very good that day because he was sick. It didn't give me much confidence in the food and it made me worried about eating there.

This time around I didn't have to worry absolutely that (or at least I hope). When we got there on the Saturday night the place was packed and we had a 15 minute wait. There isn't a hostess to wait on you or anything and you just line up and wait and the staff sits you as seats come available. There is no table service either so you have to order at the counter. They will bring the food to table at least.

The food is good. The chicken is flavorful but it seems more like the sauce is poured on the chicken just before baking in the oven. I feel they could have improved the flavor by either brining it or marinating it in the sauce.

The jerk sauce does taste reminiscent of jerk seasoning but I can't say it was as authentic as I had in Jamaica. Also, they served this was a USA BBQ sauce. It didn't really pair well. It is a decent attempt. The orange chicken was a little sweet but the sauce was ok. I liked the fried garlic chips on the orange chicken. This was served with an apple sauce-like sauce which was good. The best part were the thin and crisp potato chips. I could eat them all day.

Recommended.

Daily Delights
Shopping day in Dongdaemun

Breakfast: Waffles and Coffee at Beans Bin
If you are going to climb the epic shopping mountain of Dondaemun, them you have to get a hearty breakfast with lots of coffee. Beans Bin coffee in the shopping complex of Doota is a great first spot. They have freshly made waffles with many different toppings. Get your sugar and caffeine fix here.

Beans Bin Coffee
Location: Doota 3rd Floor
Cost: 12,000

Lunch: Mongolian Buuz and Khuushuur at Darkhan
The Dongdaemun area is the central point for many different ethnicities such as Mongolian, Uzbekistan and Russian. Darkhan offers authentic Mongolian fare such as steamed meat dumplings called buuz and fried meat stuffed pastries called khuushuur. Their lamb platter with rice and vegetables are good as well. If you are brave try their hot (sour) yogurt tea.

Darkhan
Cost: 7,000
Seoul, Jung-gu, Gwanghuidong 1-ga 188-5
02-2278-4633

Dinner: Marinated Pork Trotters at Pyeong-ando Jip
Pyeong-ando Jip is famous for their marinated pig’s feet and during the dinner rush you’ll often see a line out the door even in winter. The owner, now grandmother, Lee Gyeong-soon is a no nonsense woman that is all about efficiency and order. You can get platters of sliced pigs feet with kimchi and leaves for wrapping and bindaetteok (mung bean pancakes)

Pyeongangdo-jip
Cost: 15,000 a person
Jung-gu, Jangchungdong 1-ga, 62-16
02-2279-9759

Dessert: Medovnik from Ala Do
This is a decadent crumb cake that has layers of icing and honey. It is delicious with a cup of hot tea. They have many other Uzbek delights as well such as chocolate cakes and lamb pastries.

Ala Do
Cost: 5,000
Jung-gu Gwanghui-dong 1-ga 154-1
02-2277-9211

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On day 4 we continued our trekking around Sagada. By this day my legs were water, my back was beat, and my neck was burned. But I'm in the Philippines! Seriously the Philippines is just so beautiful, and the people I was with were just so wonderful that those annoyances were minor and irrelevant. I was ready for anything. On this day we set out early in the morning for a 4 hour round trip hike down to the Bomod-Ok (Big) Falls. This trek definitely wasn't as tough as the one at the Batad Rice Terraces and the weather was quite fair. You start at the top of a hill and hike down through some local neighborhoods. It felt a bit intrusive actually, as you're literally walking through people's backyards with their bathing children, barking dogs, and chickens. But it's also fascinating being able to see some locals and meet their friendly kids. They are obviously used to these strangers walking through and some have set up shop to sell us some much needed beverages.


This is about halfway down. Almost there! Or at least, that's what they kept saying.



As usual...  beautiful rice terraces.

Bomod-Ok (Big) Falls

And it's definitely worth it! It's absolutely beautiful here at the waterfalls. Several groups of people were swimming and so we also had to jump in, with cameras too! We're all bloggers after all.



It's like a worldwide mandate that men much splash women. And this is the point where I ran away, camera protected under shirt.



After that we hiked back up the hill, but half of our group actually got lost. But we found them eventually.



Julia modeling for me again, unknowingly. :) Thanks Julia.



Our tour guide, and a super nice lady.



After this we went back to the Rock Inn Hotel, the beautiful hotel I mentioned in my last post. Here was a typical lunch. Lots of vibrant vegetables and overly salted proteins. Haha.



This dog kept giving me the eye during the lunch....

Sumaguing Cave

After lunch we embarked on another journey to the Sumaguing Cave. This was... INTENSE and AMAZING. Definitely a highlight of this trip. We had around 10 people in our group and 3 tour guides between us to help us get down. Getting to the bottom takes around one hour and each little step needs to be guided with lanterns so each of the guides stayed in front, middle, and behind. To be honest it was a bit scary. The rocks are wet and slippery, the slope is steep, and most of the paths have precarious falls on either side. Also some points require very specific directions for how to get through. For example at one point you have to sit on a ledge, grab the guides arm, rotate your body around, use your feet to guide yourself down the wall, and then make a small hop into the arms of the second guide. This isn't to be discouraging, anyone with a moderate level of fitness can do it, but the slight danger made it all the more interesting.



And inside the cave you'll find some amazing sights. These pictures are taken near the bottom of the cave where flowing water and pools have created beautiful designs.



 

I hope you enjoyed this edition of my trip in the Philippines. Days 5-8 are still on the way, stay tuned.

Arirang: convenient location good Hanwoo and side-dishes

Many tourists arrive late at night in Korea with a hungry belly and many are overwhelmed by the number of restaurants in Korea. The first meal in a new country is important because it will set expectations for the rest of a person's stay. For those that are staying over in the Myeongdong area and craving some barbecue, Arirang comes is alright. I mean it is a bit more expensive than the local places but the atmosphere and the service is great for newly arrived guests.

Located across from the Westin Chosun Hotel, they have English menus and English-speaking servers that will take help cook and show you how to properly eat Korean barbecue. The restaurant prides itself on only serving high-quality Hanwoo beef that is seared over white-hot wood charcoal. They are generous with their side dishes and the sauces. You’ll get a wonderful array of kimchees and salads, fresh leaves and garlic to make your “beef and leaf” wraps and there is a nice variety soju, beer and wines to wash it all down.

I recommend you start out their chadol (thinly sliced marbled beef) and follow that up with some of their marinated beef rib. If you are adventurous, the beef tongue is not a bad option. The place is a bit more upscale but you won’t be disappointed.

I went here with some friends that were not so adventurous about food. They prefer white tablecloth and shiny silver. They were interested in trying Korean BBQ so I thought this was ok. They enjoyed the meal and on subsequent days I was able to take them to more local places. If I had taken them to a loud and smokey BBQ place I knew I would lose them.

Anyway, the price per person here is high if you get galbi (about 50,000-70,000 a person), but the food and service is good.

Arirang
Jung-gu Sogong-dong 72-2
02-318-8085

These days, I have been cooking a lot at home and I have been getting back to making breads. Long ago I used to bake regularly. I didn't do anything fancy, but I would make decent breads, rolls, and sweet breads. I had always used commercial starters in the past, but these days, I have been playing around with using my own starters. Just for fun, I tried to use Korean nurut, which is the yeast used to make Korean rice beer (makgeolli). This wasn't very successful at all and it just turned to alcohol (an alcohol, that I think would turn me blind if I drank it). I tried another complicated recipe that I found in a book that asked for grapes. You can see a recipe here as well. I used Korean grapes for this but the yeast starter didn't quite work as well as I thought and it added a floral, yeasty taste to the bread when baked. It did rise though. I might try this again in the future.

I missed good, hearty sourdoughs and instead of trying to find this at the store, I have been playing around with making it on my own. I looked up on this website http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-basic-sourdough-starter-47337 and they had a simple recipe to do it. So...this time, I'm going simple. I am curious to see if my glass jar filled with flour and water will turn into a starter for sour dough bread.

Updates to come.

In day 3 we continued our intense trekking in Sagada, Mountain Province. Sagada is about 275km north of Manila and is a popular tourist destination for trekking, exploring caves and waterfalls, and other outdoorsy adventures.

We started the day in Banaue with this beautiful breakfast from the hotel.



Again the view outside the hotel is breathtaking. There were constantly birds flying by our window so here I was able to capture one.



While driving down from Banaue towards Sagada we made several stops at particularly beautiful points along the way. This was one such scenic point.



But wait a minute, this looks familiar. Ahhh yes, it's on the 1000 piso note, equivalent to about $25.



I saw this kid here hauling rocks down the hill. It was a reminder that all of these incredibly beautiful rice terraces that are ubiquitous around the country are painstakingly made one stone at a time. I watched this kid carry at least 10 rocks down the hill within the 20 minutes we were stopped here.



We also ran into this traditional Ifugao gentleman who was kind enough to pose for us.



And I thought it was a hilarious site when a group of bloggers run into a local. He was also wearing crocs, which was perfect.



 

Here is a group of farmers tilling the soil.



On the way to Sagada we stopped by the Bontoc Museum. They didn't let us take photos inside so unfortunately I just have to describe it. Inside was a vast array of interesting artifacts and photos from the Mountain Regions. Definitely worth a trip if you are in the neighborhood.



Alessa here is posing next to this handsome rock.



We also stopped for, again, more San Miguel. By the way, San Miguel Light is one of the few beers where I highly recommend the light over the regular. Usually light beers lower the alcohol content and taste watery, but SG light has the same alcohol percentage and tastes crisp and refreshing.



Hyojin photobombed my selfie. Thanks bro.



At lunch we had some delicious vegetables and other things. I didn't want to share all the photos but the veggies were particularly fresh and delicious.



Here we checked into The Rock Inn in Sagada, which was an absolutely wonderful hotel. The staff was cheerful and helpful, the food was delicious, the beds were comfortable, and there were lots of beautiful areas to hang out and talk. Very highly recommended. This next photo is in the attic where I later learned is where some of the staff sleep and we weren't actually supposed to go up to. Julia was kind to model for me.



After a brief rest at the hotel we made our way to Echo Valley to see the Hanging Coffins. After our intense 3-4 hour hike the day before we were glad to hear it was only a 25 minute walk down into the valley to see the coffins. The Hanging Coffins are an old tradition but apparently are still ongoing. The locals hung another coffin there several years ago.



I thought church was particularly beautiful at Echo Valley.



Also, Sagada was particularly cool. The Philippines are famous for being incredibly how, but the temperature and humidity were quite pleasant here.



At night we made our way back to the hotel and had a bonding session with some tequila and lime. I was going to post some more photos but didn't want to embarrass anyone. It got a little crazy.



Here's our Philippine tour guide throughout the whole trip, Omar. Always up for a joke and laugh. Thank God he was there, the trip wouldn’t have been the same without him.



 

That concludes day 3. Stay tuned for day 4 coming up soon.