In and around: Hongdae Artsy Fartsy

So many opportunities for potentially gag-worthy pictures (e.g. me with fobby heart arms above my head, standing next to Shadow Girl.) Must... resist... temptation... ㅎㅎ

Beer cocktails in Hongdae

Like I said, I know little to nothing about alcohol.



Like who knew a beer cocktail could actually be yummy?

S darling, we're coming here (refer to picture above) once you get to Seoul. And when I say "here" it's because I don't know the name of the place and chances are high that I would not be able to find it again on my own. ; ) Luckily I've recruited a couple Hongdae experts to fulfill all of our Hongdae needs. Start making a list.

Chucks around Hongdae

When I saw a poster for this weekend's street art festival in Hongdae, I got pretty excited. I should have read the fine print - it turned out to be a Converse sponsored shoe design center... still, it was fun, and since I'm rarely around Hongdae, I used it as an opportunity to snap a few photos here and there.

I would totally put this in my living room. Oh right, I don't have a living room. In fact, this shoe may be bigger than my room.



People were trading in their plain Chucks for personalized versions made by these ladies. So bummed, the one day I was NOT wearing my sneakers... : (



Would you wear...?



It's a bug, it's a shoe, it's a bug made out of a shoe!



Cartoon Billie Joe.



We ran into some other random sights, like the Statue of Liberty. I tried to take a picture with him/her but it moved before Anna could press the button. That was a pretty freaky moment.



Street performance...





On video -



I want to take more pictures here. Anyone want to be my subject? : )



Is this GANGSTA or what? Haha.



We had seen this handsome pup earlier in the day, and ran into him a second time, only to realize he was the cotton candy guy's mascot. The doggy became quite popular with the crowd, and it took about 5 seconds for a circle of people to gather and whip out their cell phone cams.



Adorable.



Yes, these shoes (and every other display pair in the store) were CELLOPHANED.



I'm considering buying one of these bags. Thoughts?



Paper clip wall.



Hmm, this reminds me of someone...



...Whatever happened to Clippy?!





: )

Reasons to run

Note: Errrrgggghhh, I practically wrote an entire food essay for this post, but once again, my browser froze on me, and I lost most of the text. Succumbing to laziness, rather than re-writing, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

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I've pretty much failed all attempts to "eat healthy," and looking at some of my recent pics just adds salt to the wound. Since I can't give up the food, I'm thinking about getting off my butt and hitting the track a bit more - inspired by Onni and Janice, who've completed a half marathon and full marathon this weekend, respectively. Congrats, girls!!!

Without further ado, I present to you, Reasons to Run.

Cashew nut chicken and rice cake (떡) & scorched rice (누룽지) stir fry from Fish and Grill (a chain) in Yeouido. Tasty!



Chicken skewers from a "fusion" bar (in fact, it might have been called "Fusion Bar") in Hongdae.



Cheese ddukbokki from Minto, whose concept I will explain at some later date. This actually tasted better than I expected.



Fried rice cake skewers, covered in yummy, sweet, and tangy goo and topped with peanuts. Matt, I know you hate dduk, but I really think you'd enjoy this version.



My favorite rice cake donut from Paris Baguette. For you Hawaii folks, it's a got a similar consistency to fried poi mochi (though it's glazed and less oily).



Curry chicken croquette from Paris Baguette. Nothing to write home about. : (



Chocolate triangle pie from Mickey D's.*** It's like a realllllly greasy version of a chocolate napple from Napoleon's bakery. Oh my gosh, I miss Napoleon's - but apparently online ordering is coming soon! Do you think they'd ship to Korea??



***(I'm sorry, Matt & Grace, I broke the rule again! I don't know if this is any consolation, but they make a point of only using Australian beef in McD's Korean chains, though it's for different (current and silly) political reasons. I'm not positive Australia's meat industry is any friendlier than the US of A's... well, I'm fresh out of excuses, aren't I?)

And on a non-food note - congratulations, SJ, if you read this... this picture is marking HISTORY, isn't it?! ^^

Okonomiyaki: Part 3

A friend and I have an ongoing race to be the first to visit Top Cloud, the restaurant on the 33rd floor of Jongno Tower. It's a pretty neat looking building - my snapshot below (from the '07 trip) does not do it justice - you really ought to check out the architect's site if groovy buildings are your sort of thing.



So the joke originates from the fact that he thinks I've been to more places in Seoul than he - the original Seoulite - has, which usually leads to conversation like this:

What about having dinner in ______? Have you checked out the area before?
Yeah, maybe once. Let's go!
No.
What?
You've already been there.
So?
No.

A few of us met up in Hongdae and searched for some dinner. HY suggested okonomiyaki, and we actually walked by a couple of okonomiyaki places before she decided on, of course, THE okonomiyaki restaurant. It looked strangely familiar... and it hit me. I had been here once before during the restaurant's grand opening with some pals from Japan.

My friend's reaction? Priceless. Muhahaha. ^^

Fried kimchee and octopus. This is what you call "localization."



Shrimp okonomiyaki. Normally, the shrimp is supposed to be mixed in with the rest of the ingredients, but they picked it out since I don't eat it (aw, so sweet ^^), which resulted in a couple, "Did the shrimp just jump out of the okonomiyaki?" glances from the cooks at our table.



Yakisoba. Yum! Hard to go wrong with yakisoba.



The goofy, happy eaters. Somebody needs to learn how to do a countdown! *cough*
*Click here to check out the homemade version of okonomiyaki.



After dinner, we visited some beer bar that I probably wouldn't be able to find again if I tried. To my surprise, for once, there was no Hite to be found, haha!



We had been talking about London when I saw Hoegaarden on the menu... I ordered it to reminisce over the first time I tried it in Soho with S.



The same night we randomly ran into Joshua Jackson and Patrick Stewart...



I wouldn't be able to do this quite as easily 10 years ago. I heart you, Blogger.

Hongdae Festival

In a previous post, I mentioned a thing or two about college festivals in Korea... this week I went with a friend to his school's (Hongik Univ.) 3 day bash. Although "not as big as Yonsei's," it still felt like one big fun block party.

You can play games...

Take cheesy pictures...

(Click here for the accidental video version.)

Get distracted...

Watch a concert or two...

Dynamic Duo (Korean rap group) singing "Ring My Bell..."

Student band singing "Welcome to the Jungle..."

Their "cheer team..."

Or just find a tent to sit in, and eat up!

KH's group had prime real estate - close enough so we could watch the concert from behind the stage.

Unfortunately this was their $7 version of "nachos and cheese," which we got a kick out of. I'm sure they raised a good amount of cash! : )

Come to think of it, it was sort of like a tailgate party, minus the football.