Diaries of Korea: Melon Bingsu with Bory and Joanne

Yesterday I hung out with my friends Bory and Joanne. Now, I promised I would avoid posting crappy phone photos on my blog at all cost, but I have to make an exception! I always have so much fun with these two，and I ended up taking way too many photos to not write about it in my diary!


순대 for Dinner:
We met up in Shillim and ate 순대 (sundae) for dinner. They’ve taught me that Guri is famous for 곱창 (gopchang) and Shillim is the place for sundae!

The restaurant had a large, open, cafeteria-style interior. The ajummas that worked there were very attentive and friendly…and almost auntie-like! For example, they put their hands on our backs as they somewhat forcefully—but still kindly—ushered us to our seats. My friends even called out “Aunt” instead of “ajumma” whenever we needed something!

They also said I looked like a doll/barbie, so that made me happy~~


Sticker Photos:
After a fulfilling meal, we took sticker photos! We went to a place called Ulzzang (because it was 1+1, kkkkk). But sadly, our sticker booth didn’t ulzzangify us at all. I’ve yet to find a sticker booth that bulges eyes; none of the ones I've been to did... :<



My friends are so animated and comical when it comes to sticker photos! I couldn’t keep up >.<


Curious about how the ulzzang craze in the west compares to Korea, I asked my friends how most Koreans feel about ulzzang. They replied that some middle and high schoolers may be obsessed about it, but most everyone else doesn’t pay that much mind. It’s mostly the work of photoshop, anyways! (And I don't mean that in a criticizing way, just as a matter of factly!)



Melon Bingsu:

After playing rock, paper, scissors to decide how to split the photos, we headed over to Lga Coffee for melon bingsu! I hear Lga is famous for their unique melon bingsu.

[Warning: If you are easily disturbed by cramped circles, beware of the following pictures! It’s not too terrible, but I myself was even disturbed when I saw photos of the bingsu for the first time.]

Presenting…the infamous melon bingsu!


Topped with vanilla ice cream, the shaved ice is covered with round carve-outs of melon. The whole thing rests inside the carved melon itself! Those colored pieces are tiny bits of chocolate, similar to M&Ms! It also came with a side of red bean sauce.



It is customary to take pictures of and with your food and friends:


(left to right: Joanne, me, Bory)




After watching me take the following “unique” selca shot, my friends were inspired and both chimed, “Oh, I want to too~!” and they followed with the same pose.

Needless to say…I am particularly proud of this picture for that reason… Heehee~ We actually looked hilarious taking those selcas though, if you can imagine it...


After about 5 minutes of selcas and pictures, we *finally* dug in! Upon devouring most of it, we were left with a milky slush. Sipping it with spoons was terribly messy and sticky…but then we decided to use straws! +_+ Smart, smart, we are kkkkkkk





There ended up being a super long wait after we arrived. Imagine that! A 30 minute wait for bingsu! Having sat right at the entrance, we felt a little faceless when we lingered afterwards to chat ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ But thankfully I was back-faced towards the queue, but Bory not so much!


Behind us you can see one of the many who were waiting~



All in all, I actually wouldn’t say the bingsu was SUPER delicious, only because the melon wasn’t that sweet! But it was fun and worth trying anyhow!


It’s always a treat to hang out with Bory and Joanne. Fun girls! Also, my sister is arriving in Seoul today! I’ll be off to pick her up later this afternoon. Other than that, a review and some café posts to come soon! (This time with HQ pictures!)

Tomorrow is Monday already? Oh, sad revelation! The weekend is just too short! Off I go! Enjoy the rest of your weekend; toodle-doos!

Korean Snackies: Chocolate and Chiffon Cake!

It's a Sunday afternoon and I'm feeling pretty chocolatey. So what do I do? Head down to the convenience store and pick up some yummies, of course!

I went in looking for a chocolate bar but I spotted some “Chiffon Cakes” that had me curious. They looked like dense, fudgy brownies! I ended up getting both!



To You chocolate bar:
I was drawn to the retro packaging~




The chocolate had words on it! I thought that was cute ^^



Taste: The first few bites were a little bitter—but I see now that it is 28% cocoa, after all! After that though, it tasted mostly like Hersheys~ Except a wee bit less sweet and less rich! My conclusion: Mm~ It’s a decent chocolate bar! Nothing spectacular though!



Chiffon Cake:
The packaging is so cute! I love the cats~! Happy cats!


Like many snack packages in Korea, it opens like this:

The individual packages had fun doodles on them too ^^




Taste: Mm…the cake is not rich at all! I thought it’d be dense and rich, but it’s quite fluffy and a little tasteless.
My conclusion: Mahhh, I don’t like it...I couldn’t even finish one! T_T I would not feed my sister this when she visits next week!

[Edit: Okay, I guess it's not thaaaattt bad, so much as I was just sick of sweets when I tried it. I still wouldn't recommend bothering with it though. If anything, it's even a little bitter!]

About this new teeny-weeny series: Before I leave Korea, I’d like to have tried most of the commonly-sold snacks in Korea! I had wanted to make a video trying out a bunch of Korean snacks, but the thought of eating all those snacks at once…well, makes me sick to my stomach...literally!

Instead, I thought it'd be more fun to share my experiences of new snacks as I went along, rather than all at once! Unfortunately, this will have to be a teeny-weeny series, since I don’t snack all that much. But nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed this post!