Election Day Public Holiday

Can you believe they give people are day off over here to encourage them to vote?? How fab.

Back home it's compulsory and always on a Saturday, so everyone inevitably ends up wasting half their weekend lining up for those silly poll booths and handing in vote for a party who's policies they have absolutely no idea about . Ok, not everyone, because those with a brain know that it wont matter which team they choose anyway... and therefore hand in either a donkey vote or one for the Greens. I've just given away what I've been doing for the last 10 years. Ha.

Anyway, I digress. Very few people here are bothered to vote, so it just ends up being a day off in the middle of the week for everyone. Hooray!

On this lovely day, we took Noodley for a walk to my favorite French bakery/restaurant in the world - PAULS. 

Sat outside cos we thought they wouldn't let us in with Noodle...

But they actually told us we could bring her in!! Must be cos she's so cute :D

Noodlepie being very good under the table. She's so placid, I'm still yet to hear her bark for the first time!!

I finally brought the DSLR out... haven't been practising for ages, and forgotten pretty much everything I've learned. Have decided that I should start shooting my own fashion columns from now on in order to stay motivated. It's always such a hassle coordinating with the photographer anyway, and I always feel bad cos they have to spend so much time with me.

The goodies in the window:

MAN (aka tryhard in a Ferrari shirt even though he doesn't drive one):

My $10 orange juice and Noodle trying to figure out why this tiny little thing is worth $10...

What I EATED:

The bestest homemade yoghurt in Korea, maybe even the world:

Happy Noodle with Tryhard Daddy in Pretend Pagoda:

Dinnertime!!!

We finally made it to Berlin (courtesy of Eloquence magazine, thank you) - the restaurant/bar I've been hearing so much about. 

Verdict = SUPER cocktails, great little terrace, and very good fusion food!!!

Nice little cove with a mini art exhibition is LOVE:

Wanna know what an extra 2.5kg looks like? HERE:

*shudders*

But would like to point out to Mags that I'm wearing the emerald crystal Swarovski earrings you gave me for my bridal shower for the first time!! So sorry it took me so long, I was waiting for the perfect green dress :)

Burnt Orange Martini and Frozen something Lime mocktail (it was sooooo good, like a creamy lime milkshake with cookie bits):

Tofu & Avocado (entree) and Green Curry Chicken Vermicelli (main, which I ate as an entree heehee):

Japanese Soy Salmon & Pesto Chicken with Tomato Gratin:

Honestly, for a place that is not supposed to be a real restaurant, the food was more restaurant quality than most of the places posing as restaurants around here...

The only thing I wasn't happy about was all the smokers in the room - and it was too small to have a non-smoking section. I told them it was no problem, but 5 seconds later, the manager hops in with a little fan thingy for me to blow the smoke away!

OK, thumbs up Berlin.

Just a few more appetizers on the menu and I think you've won me over!

xxoo

Froggie's Bday @ Pierre Gagnaire

We finally made it to Pierre Gagnaire :D

After saying we were going to go for the last year, I finally got off my lazy ass and did something good - I booked it. 3 star Michelin restaurants are hard to come by in Seoul, and I believe this may be the only one. Truly a great experience, we had a French waiter whose accent neither of us could understand, and my manager even called them up ahead of time to suprise us with a bottle of Moët Rosé... on him - how nice!

Great table, gorgeous view. The days are getting longer now!!

He's reading a card here written by N (the other one) *winks*

Appetisers. My faves were that green thing u and that stick thing. When you bite into it, it is sooo full of flavour, very interesting mix of textures...

Entrees:

Langoustines , green tea Liebig

Key jo gae cannelloni with mang gae, poutargue toast

 Scallops slices, mango cream and omiza jelly

(yup, I cut and paste from the menu haha)

Lobster corolla coated with a Sauternes butter with crunchy cauliflower marinière, fennel, énoki mushroom and golden celeriac

Grilled inkfish and foie gras velouté with leek with sweet onion petals acidulated with curry

Tomato / watermelon granité; provençal ratatouille

Taking a break. He's drunk already.

Filet of beef / Mimosa caviar, tender cabbage with turnip
Red foam, cep mushroom ice-cream

Slice of John Dory seized in a chili butter, melted grapefruit with Campari with potato salad and cucumber

Another break. I am starting to get full, and even though extremely appreciative that the head chef is making amendments to the menu as per my requests, am still a little buggered that there are things that I cant eat and drink :(

Thin slices of Emmental, pounded walnuts and Paris mushroom salad

Camembert mousseline, fruit jelly wrapped with an almond leaf and sage

Stilton, dry fig ravioli

Pierre Gagnaire desserts & petite fours

The special birthday cake I requested - made just for Froggie and served on a stone!

WHAT a fantastic cake this was. Every layer of pastry was different, as were the fillings. Divine divine divine!! I feel sorry for all the ppl who were not having bdays and therefore did not get to experience this marvelous creation:

In the S/S Collection Zegna suit that I bought for him (with his own money, of course):

WE!!!

When the girls were here on the weekend, they wanted to celebrate Froggie's bday together, but I refused cos his friend Nathan is coming next week, which would mean he would get 3 celebrations while I only get 2!! NO FAIR.

And just a little note at the end here... Hilary Clinton is here today discussing WTF we're gonna do about North Korea. A few ppl have expressed worry for us over here, but I think everyone's take is that if the North do anything to us, they will be completely slaughtered by the US so it's unlikely anything serious will happen. The nation is on full alert though, with propaganda blaring from loudspeakers all the time, and a number of precautionary measures being taken. The KRW has dropped so low, which is really really sad for us, but that's the way market speculation works, I guess. Sometimes I forget that we are actually in the middle of a war zone, and that the first place to be likely bombed is Yeouido (where we live) as it holds the entire stock exchange and National Assembly.

DIES.

Pray for us to live!!!

xxoo

Xtine & LC's visit

Sorry this is so late! They left 2 weeks ago, but then I had the in-laws over, and since then I have been too sick to bother with anything.

Boooo....

Anyhoooo, here are some of LC's lovely pictures that she left on my desktop.

Cakes, coffee & other dessert... Mmmmmm, what we do best :)

Hello Kitty cafe!!

The Princess cafe that is actually called something else, but I like to call it the Princess cafe cos I can never remember what it's called...

The girls out exploring Seoul:

Our last night out. I MISS YOU BEAUTIFUL GIRLS!!!

Spent an hour skyping with Xtine tonight cos I was so sick and depressed. Felt immediately better afterwards :)

Oh, and hubby is back from Shanghai tonight! Hope he got me a pressie otherwise he is SO DEAD.

xxoo

P.S. BoyzIIMen rocked hardcore!! Even in my deliriously cold-medicine drugged up state, I mustered up the energy to sing along and scream hysterically. Seriously, I've never heard anyone else sound that great live. Truly the kings of R'n'B - magical! (think there are some pics on fb that I got tagged in). Oh, and P.P.S.... that decision that I had to make re. who to take cost me a friend. Ridic, huh. Over a pair of tickets. Ugh. Dont wanna go into it....

Ladies who Brunch, Lugo gorgefest, & Jazzzzzz....

There was once a girl who vowed she would go on an extreme diet in order to fit into her bridesmaids dress...

SHE LIED.

Let's see - in the space of 2 days this is what I have eaten:

Seafood brunch & dessert buffet @ Momo, The Courtyard Marriott:

Brunching with the Arirang ladies @ Tasting Room in Cheongdam-dong. The whole group of girlies here are newsreaders, weather chicks, pop program announcers and DJs on Arirang TV & Radio. No wonder they're such a good looking bunch!

Oh, and one of them is also a photographer - awesome pics huh! Except for my elephant thighs (far right)... ewws. 

 

And the winner is: NY restaurant Lugos comes to Seoul. And being media, we get first dibs on everything. And I mean... everything. I would probably throw up if it wasn't so goooooood ~~

But the surprising highlight came right at the end of the night. We were invited to a jazz concert and I had no expectations... it's always times like that when you are BLOWN AWAY!!! And I truly was. The singer looked like a retard, but he sang like a monster! Looooooved it.

By the way, I counted and just yesterday alone I had 34 different dishes and 6 standard drinks. I'm so UNREAL! The BEST dieter ever!!! High FIVE mofos!

xxoo

p.s. Many thanks to Missy Linda who gave me the great idea of making collages of my food pics! Now you don't have to scroll for a hundred years looking at the stuff I ate LOL

p.p.s. BV lust satiated. Check Dress Me Pretty fanpage for pic - more pics of fab shopping to come!

Valentines '10

It's a long weekend over here for Lunar New Year but as we have no family to celebrate with, we decided we might as well celebrate this silly occasion.

My Valentines outfit :D

We had the 5-course meal @ Table 34, the French restaurant on top of the Grand Intercontinental. Voted as one of the top five restaurants in Seoul, it has a beautiful interior and we got a private room... but other than that I have no idea how it got it's rating.

Overpriced ho-hum food:

...but, as per usual, the meal was saved by the wine:  

... and the dessert as well. YUMS.

We HEART Bordeaux...

 

NEXT: The highlight! We've always known about those hotels that have a pool table in the room, but never got a chance to go to one. I suprised Froggie and booked one for the night :)

Pool table, computers, velvet couches, 2 plasma screens and a heart-shaped jacuzzi. Nice!

& ME!!!

 

 

My (chocolate) letter for him:

 

His Valentines card for me (and a Where's Wally book heehee):

Next day = dirty hair + hangover + Valentines Day the movie...

And we did promise no presents this year, but we got something anyway... a house! Yup, we bought our first investment property in Sydney - a little apartment near my mum's house :) We bought it without even looking at it LOL - we're so brave... and we didnt even get the first home owner's grant! Boooo. Oh well, it's just for fun anyway, and maybe Emily can turn it into a music studio later.

Happy Valentines Day my friends! Lots of love to you all!!! ♥

xxoo