DBGB next to CBGB
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A perfectly dressed waitress assisting Emi at DBGB, a casual meets up-scaled all American food prepared by 5 star French chef, Daniel Bloulud. Check out their funky funk website here, www.danielnyc.com
14 varieties of house made gorgeous links and kick ass burgers prepared in simple 3 ways are the perfect matches for their extensive 22 draft beers and more of bottled ones. Lively and bit 90’s decor makes you feel like you are in somewhere out in some European Metropolitan city. Friendly and speedy service and surprisingly well priced ( quite affordable for the line of super star chef Daniel Bloulud’s restaurant) menu is perfect for a couple or a gathering for a big group of 10 or so. We did not make a reservation as it was a brunch for us but I would recommend you do make one if you are going for a dinner.
The restaurant was designed by Thomas Schlesser inspired by the history of the neighborhood in Bowery Street area, the Restaurant supply district consisting of show casing hefty copper pots and pans hanging off the modern shelving system that carry through out the entire restaurant. But you can’t avoid the classic French bistro coming through to you while you are dinning as you see the handsome waiting staff dressed in long aprons and more than enough of good old classic dishes like Stake tartar, Oysters and house made Foie Gras. We absolutely loved our 2 links and Gael’s burger and well chilled draft beer and fresh lemonade accompanied. When the food arrived it didn’t look like enough amount but quickly you would realize there is more than enough of love to satisfy your hunger.
OK enough of me and let me share some pics of the food!
The lighter color one up front is Left Hand Milk Stout, co ( creamy, roasty deliciousness) and the darker one behind is Spice Route Eye Ale ( rich rye ale brewed with peppercorn) . Check out the Beer Menu.
This is Canard $14, Duck and Pork sausage with crushed rice and 2 all over easy. Delicious! Juicy and well seasoned just yummy!
Tunisinne Lamb and mint merguez with harissa lemon braised, spinach and chickpeas. $15.
Gael chose ” The Yankee” , 6oz beef Burger. Simple straight up beautiful classic burger. Very Gael.
And refreshing Lemonade!
The front room and the bar and the back room below.
Good food and casual yet polished ambiance. Try it its delicious!
And DBGB is located right next door to CBGB now turned into a John Varvatos‘ Men’s wear boutique. So after our happy meals, we made a quick visit to the shop where many original decor or let’s say more of history of CBGB has kept with glass show cases. Good job Varvatos! I am so glad this important history of NYC did not turn into a some gym or another cheap deli!!!!
Changing room.
Now watch New York Magazine’s Store Tour of John Varvatos.
LoVe NYC!!!
You robot me.
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Super Awesome Chanel Make Up Campaign for year 2011 ever since the first Prada robot key chain how many years ago…? I personally have the one in the middle below but lost certain parts of it… ( Emi please get on it and fix it for me!)
And…This is ” Love Robot” I got from Emi and Gael for this year’s Valentine day.
Then there was ” Grande” McQueen’s year 1999 robot sprayed dress. Are you all going to see Andrew Bolton curated Alexander McQueen exhibition at Met ? It runs through July 31st.
Then also there was Bjork’s ” All is Full of Love”
And Michel Gondry and Bjork’s Paint Piano. My favorite Youtube clip. Not really a robot but I do think this is robot related as mechanical function of it all.
Toyota’s Robot Violinist. CRAZY.
Then Sony’s Dancing Robots. Smooth.
OK, Enough now!
But
Go Future!
Brooklyn: New Heaven for Fleaing!
Filed Under Brooklyn, Culture, Fashion, Flea, For the Weekend, NYC, Vintage | 3 Comments
A new handsome home for “Artists & Fleas” in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. North 7 between Whythe and Kent.
So I’ll say the real golden time for the Flea markets in NYC was then about 10-15 years ago when Manhattan was still managing some low rises and a few empty lots including outdoor parking lots near Chelsea. Remember the big parking lot with $1.00 admission? It was real chilled and cool same time with ton of vendors bragging awesome mint condition vintage clothing’s picked out from some old ladies’ closets from the upstate NY or kicking mid century Danish numbers or Art deco pieces under the beautiful summer sky of sexy Manhattan Island. We always spotted John Galiano in his acid wash disco jean or Anna Sui in her blacker than black bangs and her whimsical yet dark outfits. I learned how petite the designer Alaia was then while I was trying on this big 70’s Miami floral floor length caftan over my shorts and a tank top. Every Saturday was me, Jaehee day spending pretty much an entire day browsing, trying on and bargaining on pair of little heels or cutest sun dresses. Ahhhh I loved it sooo Much!!! Also then vintages were that much younger so they were in better condition. My impressive collection of vintage clothing had really started then. I just loved it all.
When Millennium arrived, things started changing. NYC went crazy riding on so called ” Luxury Condo” business buying up all the empty lots including my beloved weekend flea lots. Ahhh… So disappointing and heart breaking. Ugliness of Home Depot tasted not so luxury buildings were coming in pushing away charming and fun filled such NY things away. There’s still one left inside of parking place called ” The Garage” on 25th street on Sundays in Chelsea area still keeping the tradition in authentic styles and vibe. Then Hell’s Kitchen and all others started but they are just not the same at all. But today is bit different. Manhattan being over developped in general forces to find alaternatives outside of the city. The answer? It’s Brooklyn. Housing, Restaurants, Art, Music and Flea Markets. Young, talented and broke handsome people of city started flowing into down town Brooklyn like Fort Greene and Williamsberg from lower east side and east village. Bettern rent and less compettition brought in new kind of mainds and brains for new food culture in Brooklyn. There are so much more undergournd scenes in Brookly now especialy for fashion and music which goes side by side. Things are ineterstin ghere in Brooklyn. And that includes also Flea markets and vinatage shops!
Artists & Fleas houses many independent designers and numerous excellent vintage vendors. This one above I love! It’s very Janis Joplin from the 70’s. Hippie, Rock and Roll and bit of Voo-doo all mixed in. This booth is located right by the entrace to your right hand side.
Then there is a New home for Sunday portion of famous and beloved ” Brooklyn FLea” also in Williamsberg right by the “Artist & Fleas”. North 6 between Kent and East river. Below, one of over 300 vendors at the Brooklyn Flea. You will also find him on Saturday Brooklyn Flea at Fort Greene, Layfayette between Flermont and Venderbuilt.
Yummmm! The Porchetta Sandwich guys at Saturday Brooklyn Flea. And here check out the vendor list.
Then there are Vintage shops in Brooklyn. Many. There are many especially in Park Slope now! Check out “ Guvnor’s” on 5th avenue between Lincoln and Berkeley, Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Love the shop. It’s small L.A in Brooklyn! Two vintage motos welcome you at the entrance.
Here at Govnor’s, you will find equal amount of boys and girls vintages complete down to accessories.
Just about a block away from the Govnor’s, there is ” Odd Twins” more of feminine version with bit flea market vibe. Check it out!
Hey there will be a party at Odd Twin on April 15th celebrating their 2 year anniversary. Free beer and a live band!
By the way, nice floor at the Odd Twin.
While Emi picking out a few vintage records, I picked up a set 5 very cute grid printed glasses. I think they are awesome! $4.00 each any vinyl and $35.00 for the glass set.
There they are where I spotted. The shop has small objects everywhere up for sale.
And here’s my own shop and showroom, Lacasapark! 542 Washington Ave between Fulton and Atlantic.
I carry ton of awesome jeweleries, high end designer vintages to rare find collectibles!
And here are a few of my favorite vintage places in Brooklyn!
From Pretzel to Prada, NYC!!!
Filed Under Culture, Design, Family, Fashion, Film, For the Weekend, Gael, NYC, Shops, Street, Tokyo/Japan | Leave a Comment
Regardless you are Japanese or not, many NYC peeps were there to support to raise every dime to help Japan’s Tsunami relief. Union Square, NYC.
Last weekend, Emi was busy working with Beppe shooting Alegri’s Spring Campaign. So it meant a day date with Gael for me!
We were at the Union Square movie theater to see Johnny Depp’s Rango ( quite surreal for the 7 year old boy! ) then strolled through Union Square farmer’s market ( spring branches, tulips and all) and not to forget to donate for Japan’s Tsumani relief, then quick yummy Korean lunch at Manna! It was bit windy but beautiful as sun was shinning and quite lovely to have a small walk down to Soho. We also checked out great Prada store on Broadway as I wanted Gael to know ” What a great shop means” pointing out at amazing murals in the store, the fab transparent cylinder shaped elevator, fabulous Spring 11 line of acid Bananas and Monkeys that takes you back to the 70’s swanky sea side Castiglioncello or Porto Fino in Italy ( just imagine Sofia Lauren and Marcelo Mastroianni sipping on chilled campari preferably listening to her own song ” Soldi Soldi Soldi from Boccaccio 70″ despite their kicking Super modern Spring Campaign… And the fab custom jeweleries in bright colored resins of everything you can or cant imagine!! KidRobot is always a must stop as Gael just absolutely loves the place and he gets to pick a small something. Then stop at the corner of Prince street to watch a street band singing Motown songs as munching on pretzels then the last stop at Pearl river! When was the last time I was at the Pear River?!! As much as I love nick nacks and all that chachkis, Pearl river can absolutely satisfy you on a dime! Hopefully Pearl river will never close down as my beloved Canal Jean has long gone from Soho since when…? Ahhh I ssssso miss my Canal Jean filled with the best everything from vintage army pants to $10.00 wool coats! Hip. Cheap. And understated Massive Hit! I just found out that Canal Jean had re opened up on Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn, so I must check it out and I hope it will not disappoint me… Anyway, it’s always a big fun to walk around and do “me and Gael thing two of us together” in the city. Go shopping, movies on a shared kids’ package, street food, fancy shops, spoil him a little with sepecial purchase then stop and watch oh so amazing break dancers on the street of NYC. And what else… oh and just chatting and catching up hand in hand and it just feels so right to spend some descent time with my little cool son on the weekend… Love you Gael and love you NYC!!!
And… the pics!
Proud Gael after a small donation for Japan.
Beautiful colors of bundles of hanging wool yarns.
Is spring here yet…????
Gael inside the Prada store, Soho.
Prada Spring 11 !
Watch this!
The absolute reason why you love NYC! Prince street.
At the shop, KidRobot, Soho.
And the NYC babes.
A street band, Soho.
MAC meets Wonder Woman, Spring street.
And… Mommy and Gael… Cheeeeese!
Indigo, Indigo, Indigo: Merci now, Paris
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The Fiat 500 covered in printed patch work of Indigo patterns at shop’s front court yard, the car is always an anecdote of what you will see the inside of the shop, Merci
This man was shopping the entire shop on Skype via I phone.
I find the Merci as one of the most inspiring places as they always approach one thing that far, deep in such interesting ways from every different angle possible from what you put on your body to what you put down on the dinner table, sleep in, cuddle in, carry in, travel with or whatever that is. The relevancy to your everyday life is powerful. Merci’s at that point where they can take anything regardless what the world is into and make the most out of in the best yet approachable way to every individual in all different ages. It makes you desire it. You fancy it and dream of what it would be like if you brought that 2 glasses with blue bottom to your own little home from the shop and serve fresh lemonade to your best friend visits you. It makes your skin tingle to fancy to have that bright blue couch with your loved ones sitting in your living room while you are cooking something delicious possibly wearing that indigo linen apron on with bright orange lipstic on and how fun it would be that everything matches and your lips will just flirt the whole thing.
Merci beautifully stimulates your senses and thoughts that you may have not thinking of or feeling for a long time.
Healthy inspiration you have needed.
If you are in Paris, this is the One you must check out!
The City of Design, Copenhagen’s Best
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Zarahvoigt, Copenhagen
Eriko Makimura designed the coolest jewelries inspired by Klaus Nomi are sold at Zarahvoigt, Copenhagen.
It totally excites me to see these amazing jewelries inspired by Klaus Nomi who was a German countertenor who was known for his bizarrely visionary theatrical live performances, heavy make ups, unusual costumes and highly stylized hair do that crosses with his musical world and the style world of Electronics, Art Deco, Opera, New Wave, Baroque, Disco, Cynth pop and Experimental. I am sure many of you already know who Klaus Nomi was as he also sang with David Bowie on Saturday Night Live and done a few concerts. Anyway, either you love it or not, Klaus Nomi had his own strong color and voice in his style. And the designer and also a pianist Eriko Makimura had done a FAB job translating her muse Nomi to this super cool mini collection of Plexiglases jewelries. Take a look at a few pics from a killer cool custom jewelry shop, Zarahvoigt!
The shop carries also their fantastic and huge range of amazing custom designed jewelries made right in their studio in the back of the shop. If you are ever in Copenhagen, this is a must check out! If John Galiano didn’t say what he had to say about all that and still was with Christian Dior, and stopped by at this shop, you will see these jewelries at his next couture runway! I mean the range they have are magnificent!
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Louisiana Museum, Copenhagen
The main entrance to the wonderful Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
About half an hour car ride on a main highway from the Copenhagen downtown, Louisiana Museum of Art is located in Denmark on the North Zealand Coast, the spot maybe the one of the most sexiest points in the world looking out to the beautiful Baltic sea, where connects both Art and Architecture in such an open and natural way.
Louisiana Museum of Art pays a huge credit to MoMA in New York for it’s inspiration to broaden the concept of modern art to include architecture, design, photography and film. And Louisiana has hugely succeeded the total yet one solid concept to interact all of these in such a natural way. Beautiful sun light filled physical space again filled in highly intellectual art and designs including outdoor sculptures by such artists as Serra, Calder and Giacometti. My personal favorites!
Honestly visiting this museum was the highlight of the day for all of us and we definitely had a good kick out of visiting this beautiful artful space. The museum was running a special exhibition on Picasso as well , so it was an extra special visit for us.
Love how this pic turned out! It’s Picasso’s owl inside of a glass case in the exhibition juxtaposing the life size Picasso’s poster behind on the exhibition wall. A picture of Picasso working on this owl right here .
One of my favorite from the Picasso exhibition. Absolutely loving the colors here: black, grey, the perfect red, yellow and the cream mellows the yellow then crisp white that lifts the whole play on red and yellow. It’s titled as “Stills under the lamp”.
Near the museum’s cafe. Brick, wood, metal, glass and the nature. It becomes the one. Amazing views and natural light wrap you around wherever you are in the museum.
An open yet super cozy cafe with a million dollar view to the Baltic Ocean. The Fire place rocks.
Back inside at kid’s workshop room.
Now at the museum shop right by the entrance. Even though Louisiana started the concept based on MoMA, I must say the Louisiana shop product is much better in general and more integrated to everyday life. Functional.
By the way neon orange, or some sort of fiery orange is everywhere in Copenhagen. More colors below.
One more last look at good old beautiful oil paintings by Danish painter, Harald Giersing.
Viva Louisiana! LOvE ArT! LOvE it aLL!
Entrance to F.I.T, NYC. Going up to the Board room to judge the best talents in Design schools around the Nation.
I have met Joe Medved a while ago. A nice and much approachable man who had founded Joe’s Blackbook, a fine recruitment and consulting firm in the creative, retail, luxury goods as well as fragrance and beauty industry. I always felt a bit different quality in Joe from any other headhunters in other recruitment companies. Definitely hip, more human and genuine yet also much much professional.
And I got a nice email from him not long ago inviting me to be the one of judges to vote the best talent in the US’ top design schools in Women’s and Men’s wear design to win the very first Joe’s Blackbook Scholoship, an impressive amount of $10,000 for each winner and two winners will be collaborating a line of product with NYC based Men’s wear designer, UNIS to be sold at hip and much happening ACE Hotel exclusively. The participating schools are as follow: FIT, Parsons, Academy of Art, Otis, California College of the Arts, RISD, Philadelphia University, University of Cincinnati, Kent State University, SCAD and CCAD.
It has been so many years that I have come to visit my own school, FIT. The buildings are the same as since I had graduated back in 1997! The dorm building are the same and the same trees… I guess the only change will be the new talents and new restless blood dreaming for the next best in Art and Design! Ahhh, It’s an exiting and beautiful thing to throw yourself at what you do and what you love with your talent that God gave you. Especially during the school years. Somehow it’s more pure and fearless. You may lack a bit of fine tuning but you are all the way out there not thinking of any commercialism which is the biggest and hardest wall you will hit when you step into the real battles after the school! Anyway, walking in to the C building lobby of FIT, so many flash backs are going through my mind and bit excite about over 120 portfolio submissions that I will look through!
Faculty Board room at FIT. Judges are flowing in. All the professional designers to Fashion forecasters of prominent US brands such as Gap (myself), TSE, Tommy Hilfiger, Polo Ralph Lauren, DVF, J.Crew, Donna Karen and many more. I believe there are about 15-20 judges in and out of this voting process. It took me about 3 1/2 hours to go through all the work to score, comment and also to rank the top 7 young student designers out of over 100.
Kids are just fine. Kids are superb. Kids are great! Kids blew my mind in some cases. Certain schools definitely stood out. They are even quite professional in terms of presentation and even down to the building a mini collection. Strong separates and new shapes. Colors and all. I saw a new generation and new voices in couture’s world as well. Each project follows certain format in their own creative way. A typed up muse and concept. A mood board/ page to go with. Inspiration pics, fabric or whatever that is. The illustration of collection, Flats, Color stories, even a working sketchbook: by the way my favorite part of all! These kids were already selected by each school before they made to this point. So this compettion is actually really big if you think about.
There will be couple more rounds of judging by different professionals. So what I did was the first round with other designers. I believe most of them are at Director levels. Then second round with Recruiters of the employers and Joe was planning to present the work by the school level, which I thought was brilliant! Then there will be 6 finals to be boiled down to the 2 winners! The reception will happen at Ace hotel in March I believe and I will be surely there to celebrate and embrace the top 2 talents of this young generation!
Me and Joe!
Joe, I like to say how wonderful event you had put together. You are not competing at this point. You are leading the entire recruiting industry by doing this meaningful Scholarship project. You connected all the schools and had them got into a healthy competition and You had connected professionals in the industry. You are developing and finding the newest talents and supporting them. You went out on to the most right people and the right place to do this wonderful project. Thank you so much for the great opportunity for me to give back and a Huge Congratulation to your Very first Scholarship Program event!
Joe, You are Rocking the Fashion Industry! Cheers!
Real. Woman. Glam. Fun: Tom Ford
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Relaxed. Dressing real women in all colors and shapes. Glamours. Sexy.
That’s why you are who you are. Tom Ford.
A small cultural melting pot of Seoul: Hong Ik University Town.
Filed Under Culture, Fashion, Food, Music, Restaurant, Seoul/Korea, Shops, Street, Travel, Vintage | Leave a Comment
Entrance to down and cool complex fun Hong Ik University town (Hong Dae), Seoul
Get on the subway line 2 and literally get off at ”Hong Ik University” station in Shin Chon area. It’s very easy to get around in Seoul by Subways. Just like NY. It’s just more pleasant with fancy double sliding glass doors and velvet covered heated seats. Oh and great phone reception on entire subway line! Clean and Fast. Maybe the best way to get around the town for sure. I took Andrew and Jessica with me to stroll Hong Dae ( Dae means “University” in Korean) and hope to find a perfect little bar restaurant to sip some good sake and munching on little dishes!
If you were ever been in Tokyo, you would notice it right away. Hong Dae town greatly reminds you of Shibuya and Shimo Kitajawa in Tokyo yet less commercial. Bit grunge, bit bohemian, tiny tiny shops and groups of stream of cute and young people. Especially on the weekend nights, it gets much lively. Little cafes and restaurants and bars are everywhere with cute signs and charming attitude. They look interesting. A huge underground music scenes and weekend artist market called ” Free Market (not Flea Market) is also supposed to be quite cool and hip. There supposed to be many young artists from Hong Ik university and outside selling their art and artsy objects while they are creating them in the market. A few indie bands also joins the weekend art fair. It all sounds quite interesting. Hong Dae town is sort of a small meting pot of Young culture of Seoul.
Below, one of many small shops. It says ” Avenue, Hong Dae”
To top off great reputation to have the best Fine Art major in Korea at Hong Dae University, the vibe at this university town is Artsy and Carefree. It’s still commercial yet got lots of character and attitude. You will also find good amount of vintage shops selling accessories and vintage clothing that are from 70’s and on.
One of vintage shops in the town, Cat’s. Their website. www.lunabagel.com
Andrew trying on a vintage fur vest with leather trim! You know fur is super “In” in Korea and the rest of world. You know!
The ultimate Street food, Thukbokki house. Spicy chili sauce rice cake with fish cake, garlic, sugar and more. This is The national street food of Korea.
Ttuckbokki man stirring Ttuckbokki and next to it, Oden (Japanese fish cake ) on sticks simmering inside Dashi (dried fish based clean broth). Dashi is well known to be the base broth for Udon noodle soup.
It’s typical to see many commercial places located on the second floor in Korea. Or let’s say in Asia in general. Especially in Korea though. A small country and crowded city makes the real estate market impressively expensive. I am not kidding the Seoul real estate market is way way more expensive than Manhattan!
Karaoke building, ZillerOzone. Karaoke, Norebang in Korean, gets quite fancy here in Seoul. Individual rooms with drinks and food you can order in. Private service for private parties and free recording of your entire singing session during the stay. You can walk away with a CD with your own recording.
After a few days of hearty delicious Korean food, We are up for some yummy sake and Japanese bites! We find this small yet wonderful place, ” To-Ra”, a Japanese sake Bar with many tasty dishes! Traditional looking wooden facade and Japanese sign attracted us right away!
The first floor of the sake bar. A tiny place. We almost walked out thinking not enough space for 3 of us but friendly owner stopped us to try the second floor. Actually the third floor. Their entrance is on the semi second floor. The restaurant is located on a smooth hill. You can actually see well lined up sake bottles from the outside. The entrance floor may be able to serve only 10 people in total.
The third floor and To-Ra’s actual second floor. Many more tables and bigger space up here. Low ceiling, mixed and matched chairs and tables are cozily covered by dim and warm orange lighting. It’s perfect for us to tuck ourselves in and do what we wanted to do for this freezing cold night. Order some sake and delicious food and chat the night away…
Little nibbles to start. Bean sprouts. It’s on the house. Delicious!
Hot Oden pot on the table cooker. Various shapes and kinds of Oden. Mushrooms, scallions and Dashi broth. Let it all boil and just dig in!
Fried Squid bites with black squid ink. So crispy and fresh. Squeeze of lemon and Yum Yum Yum! Below Jessica and Andrew…
Quick fried soft tofu sitting in a soy based broth… This was one of my favorite. So tender and so much flavor. I loved it!
Seared tuna with ponzu sauce and side of grilled wild mushroom. It was bit too cold at the center but still yummy. Or we may have been quite full by the time this dish arrived. Regardless, isn’t it pretty!?
Me and Jessica cheering to the night. The last night of great week at the Korea office together.
A view of Hong Dae through a cozy window of “To-Ra” Sake bar.
After a long lovely dinner with Andrew and Jessica, we headed out for a little strolling for the town a bit. ( also needed to walk after that big dinner!) You will find quite many Taro Card readings in the town. About $4.00 a session.
Another Bar, ” Po Cha”. An old traditional signage for a bar: a wooden box lamp. These small details add lots of little charms to Hong Dae town.
Expect to see millions and billions of coffee shops in Seoul. The least interesting thins is the Star Bucks chain in Seoul. There are so many big and small independent coffee shops that make kick ass authentic coffee! I was told most of coffee shop owners will go for a year or two of intense training to Italy to learn roasting coffee beans to making a heart on your cappuccino. No place has disappointed my Italian native trained tongue for a good cup of coffee yet in Seoul.
Good interior and exterior design adds more fun to your cup of coffee.
A cute Sashimi and Japanese cuisine house, ” Wha Dong”. Wha means Flower in Korean.
Bit dirty and cute at the same time. A small street…
People are lined up to get into a club, Cocoon. So Hong Dae town apparently has much appetite for all sort of music like Hip Hop, Jazz, House, Rock, Trans, drum and base and more… The last Friday of each month is a “Club Day”. You can do a club hopping with one single ticket you have purchased. Also it’s a great area to try many small indie bands and other live concerts in Seoul.
Tented Food Carts= Pojang Macha= The best way to taste the most common street food in Korea.
I would say visiting Hong Dae Town is may be the best way to taste the heart of Young culture in Seoul. With much tiring and suppressing education system in Korea, getting accepted into a college is the biggest deal of your life. And that is ‘ THE TICKET’ to start your true life as an adult. And they will truly enjoy that freedom to live, argue, read and think. And Hong Dae is a really good short cut to glance that Young culture of Korea.
La Vida Yucateca, Mexico
Filed Under Architecture, Culture, Fashion, Food, Merida, Mexico, Shops, Street, Travel | 1 Comment
We don’t know why we are so drawn into Mexico but we are drawn into Mexico and Mexico has been really the one country ( beside our home Italy) we keep exploring through repeated visits and researches. I guess it has something to do with unique culture that we are attracted to rather just beautiful beaches and cool drinks to go with… Anyway, our Christmas and New year’s trip has begun on 21st of December with landing on Cancun to get to our beloved home at our heart, Tulum! Relaxing two days first there… Hanging on the beach, visiting local friends to say hi, nice lunch at El Tabano and other usual little things we love to do and always couple new adventures we stumble into at Tulum. Low key and just magical… but then our journey really kicked off by taking off to Merida to explore the city and it’s color and culture and a few amazing historical haciendas to spend our Christmas. Then we did little hops of chenotes and other spots on a way back to Tulum on the road to Coba. Cenote Il-Kil near Chichen Itza to Valladolid to Tulum to Akumal to Tulum again discovering new favorite spots and unbelievable mother nature and maybe couple paradises so called if it is really ever exists… It feels like we have done tons of things yet we know we have so much more we can explore here in Yucatan along the Mexican Gulf or other towns as Celestun, Uxumal, Progreso and many more. Many towns and villages have similarities yet also each has it’s own character and architectural setting along it’s own history. So each visit is always somewhat unique. So far all the people we met have been so kind and friendly to us. We feel welcomed here. Now we have tasted the top of the iceberg of Mexican culture through the last few years, now I feel we definitely had opened up a can of worm to finish it all up . The rest of the iceberg. Traveling allows us to dream, explore, taste, open up our brain, heart and soul. It makes us un-judge or teach not to judge yet also it makes us to get savvier and savvier to navigate and get to new right exciting things in much creative way. We are passionate about it. It’s inspiring and fun to discover and learn. And it definitely helps us to wear our own distinctive color and style.
We had come across many great moments during our trip and here I like to share the essence of Yucateca culture of all!
Christmas eve at Square, Parque de Santa Lucia, Merida: Dancers getting ready to perform traditional Yucatan dance. Elaborate hair pieces, make up and dressing is all quite beautiful. It’s a small and intimate lovely park. And It totally got me all excite! This was the exact kind of situation I wanted to stumble into! The tradition.
No they are not your typical Mariachi. The traditional songs they sang were quite classy and sort of ” Classic” like.
Christmas Mesa at Cathedral, Merida : I didn’t understand 80% of the mesa, but it didn’t matter to me. We are not even all that religious but it was beautiful to be in the Cathedral of Merida with all the locals to spend the night of Christmas. The quire was humble yet gorgeously beautiful. It nurtured our souls. We prayed for everyone we know and we love. Yes including you. Our life and lives of our family, friends, my people at work, Emiliano’s clients. Everyone. It was fulfilling.
Plaza Grande: stroll after the Mesa on Christmas night. The main square where the Cathedral is. All the buildings were dolled with Christmas lights. Below lovely streets by night in Merida.
Beloved book shop by locals and visitors: Amate Books. A great book shop! Merida.
An amazing Antique shop! I’ll say this shop is quite compatible to the “Olde good thing” in NY. Amazing antique pieces and especially the religious statues and objects are excellent. Circa 1913 statue below. Naive and humble expression is what I learnt about most of folk art and religious figures of Yucatan or it could be through out the Mexico. I also like to blog about Ex Voto: the religious folk art, panel painting with a short story to go with mostly thanking for small everyday life event as we came across through books and visiting antique shops during this trip. They are quite fascinating.
Ahhh, what a beautiful face she has! So wanted to wrap her up to bring with us back home then this shop only accepts cash only. We were middle of nowhere to get close to any bank machine. A good excuse to search more sort of things. And honestly, we felt we needed to learn more about these religious figures before we make any silly purchase.
Selvaged old tiles from colonial homes and haciendas. Quite pretty they are… Below, me standing on the elaborate flooring of the colonial home where we stayed at.
Typical street signs. Street is called “Calle” and the most of street does go by the numbers such as : My home is on Calle 66 between Calle 45 and 47.
Gael in front of our colonial home base on Calle 66. Merida. It gets chilly by night and hot during the day.
The main market in Merida. It was quite intense experience for us to go through this market. First of all, it’s monstrously big. And it was the Christmas eve or what..! The market was absolutely packed. And the way everything is laid out, presented, accepted and lived by the people in Merida. It’s cruelly raw and in your face. We were bit shocked. But then we talked to ourselves… You know what? That’s how human live.
Can you just smell what we are smelling here? Live turkeys walk around next to the taco station. It’s crazy and amazing. Moving on to Fish market. Honestly we have skipped the meat area. We have seen them all at Valladolid market. It gets quite intense. Chunk of half of the cow and everything else hanging by the hooks and blood dripping and all… But we were happy to find the fish section here which Valladolid market didn’t have one. Actually seafood were quite fresh. We got half a dozen blue crab and some shrimps to make Christmas dinner before we attended the Mesa at the Cathedral.
I didn’t write a separate blog about our experience at “Hacienda Ochil“;. But here I like to share a few photos of traditional Yucateca food we had at the hacienda. It was hearty and delicious at very reasonable price. Here the chopped fresh garnish for any Yucateca dishes: cilantro, white onion, red onion and radish. Below, Salsa tomate ( no it’s not spicy) and sauteed red onions ( really yummy and sweet)
Lunch at Hacienda Ochil. A casual buffet style here yet the quality is 4 star restaurant with friendly service. And it’s traditional cuisine you want to experience in one of the most beautiful setting.
Hard boiled turkey egg with turkey meatball in a black sauce. ( actually the texture of the eat ball was bit grainy and powdery like. I did not care for it but I tried at least), pork, osso bucco, chicken, rice, sauteed onion all other usual. But really hearty and authentic. Not your double fried beans you know!
Fried tortilla dough with pork meat inside.
The best tortilla that we ever had tasted. EVER! Hand made with Yucateca love! Warm, fresh aroma of corn and just perfect subtle bite to it. Not papery or chewy at all. The perfection. I usually don’t care for any tortilla, so this experience made me pretty much stop eating any other kinds. Snub!
OK, I got it all. Espresso, a shot of Tequila and Sangrita ( A perfect Tequila chaser. a shot of tomato juice and chili, It’s delicious. It tastes sort of like Bloody Mary but san alcohol). The Sangrita goes after the tequila. And the desert plate ranging Dried papaya with queso ( typical and traditional), Pan dulce ( kind of sugared french toast) and of course, flan. Take a better look at Sangrita!
Main Entrance to Hacienda Ochil: about 1o mt car ride from Hacienda Yaxcopoil
Not all Haciendas are this rustic. But we thought it was one good way to dream about how it would have been in it’s shining era. There are many beautiful haciendas available to rent out by the room or even the entire property renovated in fanciest way. They are drop dead gorgeous yet who knows how it had changed from the original condition and details.
The Ceiba tree of Mayan: The largest tree of the Central America beloved by Bats and Harpie eagles. They are gorgeous!
It’s so great to know where things come from. When we stopped by at the local bakery shop after the visit to Ochil and saw those bread, it all made sense. The Ceiba bread!! and below the turtle…
Yes , they are Churros!!!. Hot, Crispy and Swweeeet!! You can really taste the potato. The Churro man told me he uses red potato flower.
An awesome vintage photo we found at the small flea market at Parque de Santa Lucia on Sunday, Merida. This must have been carneballe back in the days somewhere in Mexico. Fantastic costumes and make ups!
I had bit of hard time ot pick out a few photos here out of millions of pictures from millions of moments at Yucatan.
The last picture above will be an anecdote of our new interest in "Ex Voto", especially in religious small paintings done by everyday people. They are fun, naive, shocking and amazing.
Hope you got to taste little bit of it. If you have any question and need more info about specific thing, drop me an email, I can help you.
Go explore!!