Restaurant 1OR8, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
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Restaurant 1OR8, 66 south 2nd Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Our friend Tobias recommended it, so we went, we ate and we loved it! Spacious layout with cool high ceiling. White and lots of white. Modern yet cozy. Comfy. Great service at right price. It was a very pleasant experience. Bit of Fusion. Japanese with a french twist. But not too tricked up. Just right amount of twist. Hearty and clean. Beautiful sushi with perfectly cooked rice. Fluffy and light. Not too hard or sticky. And most of all, just right amount of it. I hate when sushi has stupid amount of rice. Or rice overpowers the sushi in any form. It fails. Interesting small dishes with hefty amount of daily specials.
You walk by the front Bar area then it quickly leads you to the main dining room. Loving the white painted white and white branches. The hostess will lead you to the table then a friendly waiter will come and totally take care of you from A to Z.
99% Japanese Staff. Which I like to give a credit for. 3 sushi men, waiters, hostess, kitchen staffs.. Almost everyone of them at 1or8.
This is the view of Sushi bar from where we were seated. I am liking it. A lot!
A quick peek at the Menu. The first page.
2 of each 3 kinds including the Kumamoto. Oyster sampler, one of the specials of the day. Served with Yuzu Soy sauce and lemon.
Tuna Tartar with Wasabi Guacamole on top, dried lemon, dried tomato and dried zucchini as a garnish and they are actually quite lovely themselves to taste.
Sukiyaki Terrine with a poached egg. It’s a lovely dish but it was bit too cold to our palette. But an interesting dish with layers of slices of rib eye, spinach, shitake mushroom, onions soaked in Sukiyaki broth sort of. And Gael breaks it all.
The most delicious dumpling I ever had. Crystal thinnest and finest skin with plump and freshest shrimps with chives filling. Heartly made and heartly cooked. Deeelishous! And an interesting match with Gael’s top and the dumpling plate.
And… Sorry I Did not take pics of every dish we had for the night. But we loved all the dishes and especially the Sushi we tried except the ” Double Salmon: on the special Sushi role list… But we loved Eel and Shrimp tempura. Quietly warm yet simple and light. Mushroom Tuna was excellent with good bite of Enoki mushroom, red pepper and asparagus. We chose sake by carafe. 2 of them at the end. “Chikurin”, Junmai Sake that carries round and earthy taste. We loved it! Gael’s miso soup was also excellent with home made soft tofu in it. Also we shared a starter of warm Mussles from the daily special and it was very lovely with pickled strings of lemons in it. For more different dishes, please check out their website, www.oneoreightbk.com
And… the Dessert was amazing and very different. Very Japanese in terms of the ingridients but not so traditonal the way they were executed. The contrast between sweet, warm, crunch, cold, salty, warm and even bit of bitterness. Great great dessert! We tried 2 and both were daily specials.
A Chestnut flan with Caramel ice cream, an almond biscotto and caramel sauce over the flan. The focus on this dish is not the sweetness as most of other typical desserts are. This dish was all about Aroma ( the true essence of Chestnut and slightly bitter caramel ice cream) and crunch but not hard and touch of chewiness of Almond biscotto. Nothing on this is really sweet but it was perfectly lovely as a dessert. Very beautiful.
An Ajuki red bean tart with Green Tea ice cream. The ice cream was the best kind ever! Gael loved it! The Tart is bit like bread and also cake like at the same time. Again not so sweet here even though the Ice cream was, but it was perfect amount of play on contrast of flavors here.
Totally Satisfied!!
The Bar area.
Great food and a Great place!
Valentine morning was unusually colorful. Or was it just me up earlier..? Beautiful Sun rising. Getting into a week long of Holiday presentation at work, honestly there’s no room for me to think about Valentine or anything else really, and Valentine is not a day that is on my list of things do in general. Chocolate? Naaaaaa.
But guess What I Get from my 2 coolest men!! The sweet smart free standing Robot Trophy, The LOVE!
Here’s the better picture of him. Isn’t he so cute? He’s heavy as I always like with anything. I Always associate the weight with the quality. So Emi and Gael did an awesome job by choosing my kind of heavy materials to create the robot!
The heart in magic clay was Gael’s contribution and his power to bring this robot to a life. I just can’t get enough of this! And his sweet and numbered face!
Robot’s awesome legs, two feet and adorable little bum!
His feet. Check out the cool studs under his right foot.
And the proud and happy winner!
And the Feast follows!
Fresh Salmon and Tuna Crudo with Lime Lemon Cilantro Rock salt dipping. It melts in your mouth. Soooo Goood!
What do you call it in a fancy way, the palette cleanser sort of. Truffled Honey and the Truffle Pecorino., the Double Truffle!
Followed by Truffle gnocchi with Enoki mushroom cream sauce. Creeaammyyy.
Gael’s Duct taped Valentine card for us. The main middle area design is a bird with dotted feathers… Rocking and Rolling Gael!
Now the after meal dessert!
Emi, You are the best father Gael can ever have and You are THE Love of my life.
LOvE you both So Much!
Thank you for the best Valentine I ever had!!!
Where the old meets the new: Ssamji Gil, Insadong, Seoul
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Ssamji Gil in Insadong, Seoul
This is my fourth time visiting Insadong since the first time I went with Mom and Emi when my brother got married about 9 years ago. Somehow Insadong always brings me some sort of nostalgia that actually I really don’t know about that well… But I secretly love that vague and warm nostalgia about my own fantasy of what old Seoul would have been. I was born in early 70’s so I wasn’t there to live the middle of all but I would have loved it and I don’t know why, but I think I am right about guessing Insadong today somehow carries that old charm of 70’s Seoul. I just feel it. I really like the fact that good portion of Insadong does not allow any cars around. It’s laid back luxury you can have in the middle of busy Seoul. Or in any metropolitan city. It’s relaxing… Insadong then (1392-1910) was dominated by Art school, ” Dowhawon”, is still adorned by many writers, artists and craftsmen. It’s bit bohemian and very traditional despite how commercial it could be yet I am Sssooo thankful that Seoul really is doing a great job to reserve such an area like this till today keeping much character and authenticity. How do you know the new is good if you don’t know the old. I believe. Then a few years ago, Ssamji Gil has opened up in Isandong. Ssmjigil is somewhat a mall with 70 shops of small businesses. Hand made soaps, paper shop, a little boutiques sell their one of kind things… And I believe this small mall became a catalyst for the revitalization of Insadong. Unlike other common malls, Ssamjigil sets back allowing the complex to blend into the street-scape. It was quite a generous and considerate decision from the investor and developer point of view. You know how it can easily become. High-rises of million shops selling whatever that is. More money and higher density. But Ssamji Gil is bit different. It’s a quite low rise structure made out of concrete, metal, glass and wood definitely feeling modern yet warm and approachable by having this open layout using ramp style passage ways (think Guggenheim Museum in NYC but done in rectangular shape rather circular line being able to to house shops easily on the linear lines). The overall style of Ssamji Gil is easy and airy with naive looking signage, kind of business and an open court yard. It’s a relatively new mall in this old area yet again it’s modern enough to feel relevant to today’s society. Ssamji Gil has set a perfect sort of new direction for good old Insadong.
Ssamji Gil Court Yard.
A few of actual stair cases in the mall. A stair way to get to underground level where there are small Korean restaurants and cafes.
Visitors’ scribbles on the washed concrete wall. It looks quite interesting. Below, cute mural of an elevator area.
A miniature artist shop. These low sitting tables full of yummy traditional Korean food and snack with Soju are 2/3 of size of your palm. Cute, ha?
Then, cousin Yoonhee and I stopped by at this traditional Korean Accessory shop, Gabe. Cute window captures our eyes. Below, 2 little hats and a pair of baby shoes.
I ended up getting one of “Norigae”, a tasseled pendant sort of women’s accessories for traditional Korean dresses. They are all hand made and depends on ow elaborate the design is and materials are, the prices starts from $30.00 up to couple grands. Norigae ws widely used for women in royal family and “Ghi Seng”, the geisha of Korea. Norigae was attached to “Gorum”, a long tie for the traditional Korean outfit, “HanBok”’s shirt.
Hanbok’s shirt, “jugori” and Noriae.
Colorful paper boxes for ” Norigae”. I picked out the top one. Hot pink with black trim.
The shop, Gabe carries all sort of little accessories as these thimbles as well as small pillows for needles, hairpins, textiles and more…
Another thing that really caught my eyes were this hair accessories. You know Emiliano does hair, so whenever I see interesting thing that related to hair styling or tools, I like to take a look at them. ( and it was a little for Emi ). The hairpiece is called ” Tzchokmuri” a braided hair and the main big hair pin that is used to secure the braid to the head is called ” Binnye”.
A fabulous Binnye, the hairpin. It comes all different sizes, designs, materials and all ( Gold, silver, white gold….)
More Binnye and other hair accessories.
A simple hair do here. Just one Binnye and Tzchomuri. It’s quite beautiful.
After quite a time we spent at Gabe, Yoonhee and I headed up to the top floor where there is a lovely passage way with a wooden deck: a garden meets pedestrian board walk like vibe. It’s really really lovely here. I can’t imagine how it would be during Spring and Summer with bloomed flowers and lush green leaves.. and of course more cafes to visit there…
Leaving Ssamji Gil… No that’s not me standing there…!
I just can’t get enough of Korean street food even though most of time i pass it. This is Hottuck, a sort of cryspy pancake that is fried on a hot griddle with sweet syrup inside. Sweet, hot and crispy! yoonhee and I did not pass it this time. It was delicious!
Crispy Sweet Hottuck!
A herb shop in Insadong.
Insadong is also the best bet to taste varieties of Korean Teas. There are many small and big scaled beautiful traditional tea houses with galleries and beautiful court yards. Kyungin Gallery. is one of many well known Tea Houses where also has a galley And It is my favorite tea house in Insadong. The Insadong street stretches about 700m offering fun and rich opportunities to taste traditional culture and art of Korea. And it is my little nostalgia of old Seoul. Go visit and enjoy the laid back old fun and also the new fun of Ssamji gil!
A small cultural melting pot of Seoul: Hong Ik University Town.
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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.
Cheap and Cheerful! : Namdaemun Market, Seoul
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Entering the Namdaemun Market!
“Cheap and Cheerful” is the best way to describe this well adorned open market, Namdaemun by both locals and foreign visitors from the all around the world. Whole sale and Retail on everything you can imagine! All sort of snacks and Korean Street food , leggings, jeans, nuts, plates, socks, furs, bags… You name it. They are all affordable and fun. You will sure find something and everything! Namdaemun Market is located right next to Shinsegye Department store in Myung Dong. I met up with my dear cousin Yoonhee and we went for a little stroll around!
“Gamegol” King Dumpling House, expect the gigantic dumplings and longest line!
Yum Yum Yum! Below, Hand cut noodle soup place. It’s freezing cold out but it does not stop making good hearty noodle. It’s typical scene here to find people wokring and cooking outside of store front. It’s a true open market.
Fried fish cakes with veggie bits. It’s a great snack for the cold days. Strangers standing next you sharing the moment of munching hot fried fish cakes worms up the cold air.
Order one and the second order is on the house. Short strip of indoor food vendors. Noodles, hot soups , bibimbap… friendly smiles greet you the second you walk into.
Deep fried veggie Ho-Ttuck : crispy sticky rice and corn flower dough filled with veggie and glass noodle filling… and Korean sausages and fish cakes on the grill. Ho-Ttuck is usually filled with sweet syrup. So this is a bit hybrid.
All different kind of miso paste and chilly paste. Seasoned in and made in various ways. Pickled sesame lives and other pickles. These are the best side dish for simple hot steamy rice!
Serious prep for night visitors. All ready to be grilled here. They include beef, pork, seafood, shrimp, pig’s feet… and what else? Noodles to be stir fried, ramen to be boiled, Spicy sticky rice: Ttuk bok gi.. ” Pojang Macha” : tented night cart , That ’s how I would translate. It’s nightly event you can taste all sort thing on stick in Korea usually in the open market or even any streets throughout the city. The lady is literally putting plastic tent over her cart with seatings and all.
One of a street vendor selling pile of winter jackets. First comes first served, You pick it and you pay it! Haha, You must stop to see him!
Fur Fur and more Fur! I know it’s a Global trend right now but here you will see hundreds of vendors selling all sort of fur items.
More dumplings! You will see temporary plastic tents over the entrance to fight the cold everywhere. It has been only 10 degrees F in Seoul.
Rustic traditional style plates and bowls. I loooovvvveee them! Stone bowls for Steaming rice or making hot pots and Bibimbap… Yum!
So beautiful! Metal pots. They come in all different size. The bigger the better I would say!
If you are in Seoul, check out this Hustle Bustle everyday Open Market ” Namdaemun”!
Get cheap fun clothing and accessories and groceries and taste hearty and affordable all sort of street food!
Heavenly BBQ! :Samwon Garden, Seoul
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Day 1 in Seoul office with everyone! We had accomplished a lot and thought we would have sort of a team dinner yet at the end just 5 of us. And that’s all good and intimate. Heading out from Hotel, we are quite excite to try this ” The BBQ Place” in Seoul that concierge has recommended : Samwon Garden
Seoul by night has much Christmas like vibe still around the city with countless christmas lights beautifully wrapped around tall branches and it’s quite pretty. Approahcing to Samwon Garden in a taxi, we all are wooing and ahhhhing over thousands and billions of tiny christmas lights covered their ” Garden” in impressive way. I must say, it’s bit Goddy and… it’s too much…? But then we are all loving it. It’s sort of good bad. You know what I mean!
Entering , crossing over a foot bridge to the main hall. It’s freezing cold in Seoul and all over Korea ( record breaking coldest days have come in 90 years). Iittle ponds here and there have been completely frozen. Where are my penguins?
Oh I am loving this old pagoda roofed floor to ceiling glass walled house main hall. It’s quite beautiful. The view from the inside looking out to the garden of Samwon by season must be quite lovely. I see frozen ponds and water falls all around the main hall, so during other seasons will have quite a view here. Traditional blue and red lights hanging off the roof are familiar. It’s charming. I am home!
The BBQ place. So we order the Marinated ribs ( Gal-Bi) and 2 different cuts of Marinated Bulgogi, one near the neck and one fillet mignon they suggested us to try both. Beautiful wooden charcoal arrives. Instant warmth tickles your face. It feels good. By the way, charcoal grills are much better than the gas grill in my opinion.
The brass ( ?) grill plate arrives. It was designed in a very smart way. The flat top holds the grilled bits of meat, so they don’t get to keep cooking and get dry. Sort of concaved little pools will hold all the juice of meat and also broth that is usually served with Bulgogi. I need one of this.
The Grill is ready to go!
Marinated Galbi ( ribs). It has been filleted, marinated and wrapped to be grilled. Filleting helps for beef to get marinated evenly and gets cooked evenly and quickly. It keeps the meat even more tender and well arounds the flavor. Now the restaurant servers will come and help you first by un-wrapping the meat and trimming the bones off the meat using cooking sheers. Typical scene.
It’s a heaven!!!!!! It’s really delicious! They kept bringing more side dishes. I mean honestly, isn’t that the beauty of why we all love Korean food apart from it’s flavor and textures and all. But the Side dishes get you really excite! Hellen and Cynthia’s hands get busy!
Jessica does not do meat. So we order this delicious stone bowl steamed rice that comes with pancakes, Korean miso stone pot ( Sooooooo Gooooood), and many other it’s own side dishes. The rice that is cooked in this stone bowl is just amazingly delicious. It has dried date, mixed beans, chestnut , slice if ginseng and all sitting pretty on the top of the bed of rice. They will bring you a bowl of hot rice water to pour it into the stone bowl when the rice is done, so you can make little porridge yourself.
One more look!
Here we go the frozen water fall and the pond. It was -16 degree C = 7 degree F. You may do BBQ and ice skating here. Hahaha!
I bet they serve meals here during the warm seasons. Pretty isn’t it?
Samwon Garden is quite well known to both locals and foreign visitors. They had held prestigious events and also do weddings and big parties in their event halls. The garden is much open and big with big rocks and trees that are arranged which reminds me of old Korean landscapes. I imagine it’s quite lovely with flowers and much green and lush trees here during other seasons. The food was excellent! I would usually like to hang at little places that I stumbled into if you noticed but it was really fun eating and enjoying the view outside with office buddies. It’s a great place to go with bunch of friends and family. Despite the fancy setting, it’s totally casual. And again expect great food here.
La Vida Yucateca, Mexico
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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!!
Back to Heyri Art Valley, Korea: It’s family time!
Filed Under Architecture, Art, Book, Design, Family, Food, Seoul/Korea, Shops, Travel | 1 Comment
This trip is coming to an end and actually I am not feeling so great, so staying at Aunt’s home for a day with family feels priceless. Aunt and uncle have been living in Heyri Art Valley now for a few years and I think that is so great and am very happy for them to have such a beautiful living space in this artistic community sharing all the creative thoughts and life style. So excite to have really hearty good home food after the 2 weeks of trip on the road!!
A fine artist ( oil painting and pottery), story teller, farmer, amazing organic home cook and my aunt chopping and cooking. These leaves( Sorry, I do not recall what this was at all! Aunt had used maybe good 10 different kind of herbs and some kind of leaves from her garden to cook with) are going into her steamed rice with shitake mushrooms.
Sauteed home grown squash: Cut them in chunks and start them with olive oil in a hot wok, garlic, fresh red chili chunks, salt cured baby shrimps… And Mom helping!
Oven broiled herring; Aunt poured over soy sauce with chopped green scallion right before serving it and below is quickly blenched calamaris on the bed of fresh baby sesame leaves and mixed green from aunt’s garden. You dip them in the vinegary chili sauce. Delicious!
Dinner table is coming together! Sliced cucumber dressed in chili paste and vinegar, baby radish kim chi, mountain vegies steamed and dressed in sesame seeds, garlic, onion, olive oil…
Yeah, dinner is on the table! Steamed vegie rice, Kim chi soup, calamari, more kim chi Broiled herring, steamed squash leaves for ” ssam: wrap”, and many more. And a glass of red… Happy Happy! Cousin Yoonhee on the left and her hubby, Sanghun back in the kitchen area. That was the most amazing Korean food in a long time! We chatted, laughed and ate again and again. It was so nice to have everyone together in one place and enjoyed each others…!
The next morning after another big morning meal ( ha!), Aunt, Mom and I went out for a stroll around the Art Valley. There were quite a few exhibitions including a famous Korean singer, Jo Young Nam’s Solo exhibition at ” Hangil Gallery” right by the Aunt’s place.
These plastic pieces with design are called ” Wha-To”: pretty much Korean ‘Cards”, like Poker in a sense. The artist had used wha-to in such a clever way. Wha-To is such a gamble that is beloved by entire nation for a longest time and also a national issue since people over do this down to loose their homes and family. Some people get so addict to this… like any other gambles out there.
Oh The Artist loves, the poet ‘ Lee Sang’..!
And again, the whole culture of architecture in Heyri Art Valley is quite innovative. Every building in the valley needs to be consist of using Metal, Glass, Wood , Rocks and Concrete as main materials with no pointy roof and painted exterior. It sounds bit limiting yet also it harmonizes the valley as a whole and also I believe it pushes the architects to be creative in different area such as shape, light and space.
The ” Book House”, a book store above the Hangil Gallery.
Underground level of Moa Gallery is just as bright as or even brighter than any spaces on the ground level. Smart usage of minimum amount of glass panel allows to have maxim effect of enough natural light for the space.
Outside of “Ssamji” galley and below: the stair case to the gallery space.
4 very different Rooms to crash for rent with organic cooking classes and a small roof garden growing greens then 2 gallery spaces: all with peaceful hearty and artsy farming and nature in mind. It’s called ” Field Art School” ( Non Baat Art School). They are not just fully opened yet. The rooms are available for rent already though. Below, the cooking class schedule.
The cooking class room and dining room.
The outdoor lounge: a part of lobby/cafe’ they are building. We have the same lamp in our kitchen!
Cool outdoor passage way. The natural wall-field I like to call it. Love it!
The roof top green garden.
One of the 4 room to rent. Each room is completely different in sizes and layouts. 4 different artists were hired to design each room.
Above and below: 2 gallery spaces and Mom and Aunt…
By the way, I picked out this book ” Seoul, have you ever been places like this? 100 spots you want to check out!” at Hangil Book House. (Aunt’s treat) This book excites me so much!! Beautiful pics and interesting places!
It’s so interesting to me to see all these great movement and ideas at Heyri. Ideas to be closer to the nature in style and a peace in your mind, I feel everything here feels modern yet peaceful but not trendy or fast. Maybe forward and ahead but not fast.
Hopefully Heyri Art Valley will be always the leader of the pack showcasing what you can do with your finance and ideas. A forward thinking that is good for your body and soul!
VivA, HeYri!!!!!
Apgujung-dong & Chungdam-dong: Seoul
Filed Under Architecture, Design, Fashion, Food, Restaurant, Seoul/Korea, Shops, Street, Travel | 1 Comment
Galleria Department Store, Apgujung-Dong, Seoul : Filled with Korean designers and also international designers as Louis Vuitton and all. The Facade covered with giant metal disks are impressive.
Paris to Tokyo to Seoul. It’s getting into week 2 now and this is our last stop for this trip and we are excite to learn about the city. Personally I only started exploring Seoul since the late last year, and it has been pleasant surprise and eye opening for me to re discover my home city where I was born, and I must say it has been hell out of good time and much inspiration I get every time I’m in Seoul, so I am only thankful that I get to do this quite often.
Apgujung-dong was already trendy and popular area then ( south side of Han River since the mid 80’s) to all the hipsters, teen agers and beautiful good looking people chasing the newest trend in fashion and food culture. I still hear the Apgujung-dong is quite popular. Is it the most inspiring? I’ll say ” No” to that but if you ever visit Seoul, You want to check it out. There is a trendy street called ‘ Rodeo’ after the famous fashion street in L.A and there are ton of cafes and bars for entertaining.
Korean peeps looove coffee. And every place me and Cynthia dropped by were delicious. There’s a big chain” Coffee Bean” from L.A and also “Star Bucks” as well but also there are million places of independent coffee shops with all the charm and great ideas.
Then we had stopped for a lunch at ” Gaeh Wa Ok” in this area. Concierge at Park Hyatt in Seoul had suggested for their clean and hearty traditional Korean food. I’m already liking the store front. A traditional Pine on the side and simple wood and iron decor is quite chick and beautiful. ( It’s located right off the Rodeo Street)
White cloth covered chairs become the focal point of this restaurant. Simple and serene wall almost feels like a gallery space.
The menu.
While waiting for the food, a bottle of water and a brass bowl containing a humble steamed corn, sweet potato and garlic is served. The table looks like props arranged for a painter to start his still. And typical hot towels for the customers to refresh before their meal.
Clear Dikon ( radish) kimchi . Not spicy at all. Got clean and refreshing taste. Miso paste to dip fresh cucumber sticks and loose cabbage wraps. Miso paste also works as touch of garnish for any kind of wraps.
Restaurants in Korea love to slice things on the table. It’s typical to see waiters using kitchen scissors to do so. This applies to cut noodles, BBQ meat or any other things on the table.
Now our ” Bossam” is ready. Bossam was a treat for the family and a good excuse for Dads to go through a bottle of Soju when moms prepare for ” Kim Jang” : a tradition of big quantity Kim Chi making for long and cold Korean winter. Kim Jang was a good source to take fresh vegetable to survive cold winter especially back in the days where there wasn’t much of winter farming. Clockwise from the left top corner:Filling for Kim Chi with chilli, garlic, salt and other spices before it gets fermented. Pretty much left over from Kim Jang. A stack of salt pickled Korean cabbage ( all cabbages prepared this way before the filling is filled to make Kim Chi), Regular Kimchi with Sesame oil, a bowl of salt cured baby shrimp ( a garnish to add on to Bossam) and finally, the main guy, steamed Pork Belly. How do you eat it? Take a piece of Salt picked cabbage, then a pice of meat, then bit of everything else all stacked up and a big bite out of it. It’s delicious! I believe Momofuku in NY is famous for this and also many restaurants in Korean Town serves this.
This is Soon Dae: kind of Korean sausage with clear noodles in. Steam and sliced and dip it in the simple rock salt with chili flakes or this restaurant also served it with Soy dip with bits of Scallion. Yum!
This restaurant is clean and simple with delicious hearty food! We had very much enjoyed the meal. Here for more info, www.gaewhaok.com
After a delicious lunch, Cythia And I headed out to Chungdam -Dong which is located right next to Apgujung-dong. Chungdam- dong is a quite fancy and rich area of Seoul with expensive residential homes and both international and Korean high end boutiques.
A leather bags and accessories with silver jeweleries. A cool building.
I find this last shop, “Boon The Shop” as an ultimate high end and most beautiful store in Seoul. Apart from architectural beauty, We saw may be the most complete and well edited selection of Marni, Jason Wu, Balenciaga and everything else out of all 3 cities we had visited ( Paris, Tokyo and Seoul). By the way, I really liked the Jason Wu for TSE line…!
It’s exciting to see how Seoul is changing and developing. Seoul is moving forward yet keeping beautiful traditions with modern day twist. A good and tasteful twist. I like it. People go back and see where we had come from and are making the best out of it. Especially if you are an architect, you should really check out Seoul. A lot of interesting things are happening here in Seoul now!
Boon the Shop Address: Gang nam Gu 89-3 tel 542-8006, www.boontheshop.com
Birthday lunch, Livorno, Italy
Filed Under Family, Food, Gael, Restaurant, Travel | 4 Comments
My Birthday lunch on August 10 in Livorno by the sea with Mom and Dad in law, Emi, Gael and me! As you can see we breath and eat sea food. What can we say?!! We are from the ocean and also as a Korean myself, I am raised on eclectic mix of fish and sea food as much as meat and all the vegetable we sport on every meal of the day. By the the way, it’s a really hot day in Livorno (I mean this crazy Heat Wave is happening all around the world)…! Gael’s hair is getting longer and longer and it’s so hot so I gave him a nice pony tail, ( he hates it though! He feels like he looks like a girl with a pony tail he says! haha)
Gosh, Gael’s appetite grows bigger and bigger. This is Gael’s only starter! He has pasta dish coming right up next.
Here’s my dish! Fresh Tagliorini ( more of linguini on this dish, Tagliorini should be bit thinner) with sweet scampi, musseles, vongole with tomato sauce with chopped Scampi meat. I think adding chopped scampi meat was super successful in this. It added ton of more flavor and great texture. Fresh chopped parcley, garlic… Yum Yum YuuuummmmMMM!
Emi’s. 2 grilled scampis and 2 grilled shrimps. Simple and delicious! Mom and Dad’s got grilled squid too.
Patiently waiting for Emi and Gael to be back…. See you next year Livorno!