Everyone loves ice cream (and gelato), however, the definition of what ice cream is or what would be relative equivalents might differ in the eyes of Koreans. Since 2013, sales of ice cream market size has decreased from 1.6 Billion USD to 910.9 million USD due to increased competition from shaved ice stores, juice shops and cafes. All these sell what would be considered "ice cream equivalents." Subsequently, sales of ice cream have suffered as well dropping from 850 million USD in 2014 to 810 million USD in 2016 ( Food Industry Statistics , Nielsen Korea). However, ice cream is not suffering an irreversible downtrend. The largest competitor for the last few years have been the popularity of the snow shaved ice chain Sulbing. In 2013 they had only 33 stores in Korea but in 2014 this number exploded to 482 in 2014. However in 2015 they only added 8 more stores ( Joeilbo News ). I have personally seen a number of these stores close in the last year in prominent areas. In c...

Ssang Ssang Bar (Chocolate Couple Bar) Ssang Ssang Bar, you are the cupid of ice cream. You are dressed in gold and adorn with a red heart  Underneath you have delicious chocolate spiked with two sticks. What am I supposed to do with you Ssang Ssang Bar? Share? Sigh... Ssang Ssang bar... I loathe thee  You are the chocolate bar shared by couples, but you taste so good, I cannot. You show the darkness of my soul as I indulge in both halves- one for each hand, alternating between. Ssang Ssang bar... if you were larger in size, I would consider sharing (but probably not) Maybe if I found a worthy beau, I would share. Ssang Ssang Bar could you introduce me? Ssang Ssang Bar (Chocolate Couple Bar)

The sun was out for a hot second today and after my walk I decided to buy everyone at my office some ice cream. Luckily, a convenience store had stuff for sale so I picked up 4 random bars (one I picked only for myself and was unwilling to share) and went back to the office. The first one is a walnut and sunflower bar, the second (서주아이스주) was a frozen milk bar, Ssang Ssang Bar is a double fudge bar and the melona is a honey dew bar. I asked everyone to pick out one at random, but I purposely steered people away from my Ssang Ssang Bar. Unfortunately, Soonim wanted it, so we had to split it.  I recommend everyone to pick up some Korean ice cream for their friends. It's good stuff and one of the best parts of summer! Dan Stephanie and Hyejin Sunim with the Ssang Ssang Bar

Taegukdang Monaka Ice-Cream I hope you've been following Michelle's Ice-Cream Diaries . She has been doing an amazing job of photographing them. When I see her pictures of the ice-cream, I instantly want to go out and eat that ice-cream. Well, finally, I got to eat the Taegukdang Monaka Ice-cream. Sorry, Michelle, but not my favorite. Sure, it tastes clean- but honestly, it tastes like nothing. I guess they are still using the recipe from the 70's. (Still, love you Michelle^^) Dan

So this is what I do instead of working, I photo-document and dissect my ice cream. But come on~ you've gotta hand it to the Koreans for coming up with some awesome ice cream concoctions! So far this is my favorite, Gookhwabbang(국화빵) ice cream love the layering of all the textures and the red bean flavor mixed with the vanilla ice cream. So chewy, so cold, so good.

I know there are better mint chocolate chip ice creams in the world, but I like Baskin Robbin's version the best. Once a month I just need to go get it. Maybe it's a childhood thing. I remember that my my mother liked to buy it from Wawa (Northeast American convenience store chain that's a trillion times better than 7-11). I think I need to get some today.