20121229

EATING MY WAY THROUGH SEOUL

KAPPO YOKOMORI



For the past week, I have been eating, eating, and eating. I've never been one to deny myself of the pleasures of eating good food. The photos above are from the restaurant Kappo Yokomori. A family friend owns it and it's absolutely fabulous. It has a "knife and fire" concept which means that everything from the menu is made with either knife and/or fire. Rad. Oh also the ice cream believe it or not is Guinness flavored ice cream! 

AROUND THE CORNER

After my friend and I got our nails done, we had a little bit of extra time. We went to Forever 21 and I picked up an elbow patch sweater (I'll post pictures later), and then decided to go into a nearby café and eat before dinner (basically the story of my life). My life is just a compilation of eating from place to place. We went into Around the Corner and we bought a chocolate and almond croissant and three cheese bread to share. Yum. 

JUAN






Another one of my family friend's restaurant. It's definitely not your traditional Japanese restaurant, so don't expect your typical sushi roll and udon experience. Juan is a kaiseki restaurant, and the menu changes depending on the season. I'm not very talented at explaining food and/or the delicacy of the food, but the point is: so so so good. 

COFFEE BEAN & TEA LEAF

"Simply the Best" chai tea latté of my life. 

GALLERY 494







I guess you could say my family and I got a little carried away... (And I didn't even take a picture of all the things we ate for lunch that day) 

HYUNDAI DEPARTMENT STORE

Love my shaved ice! 

SSG MARKET

THE cuuuuuuutest bunny cupcake

If you've made it through this post and even read all the writing in between, I applaud you/ want to give you the biggest online virtual hug! I only have three days left in Korea, so even more reason to overeat, and even more probability that a ridiculously long food post is coming your way.... 

Enjoy the last few days of 2012! 

20121225

BEAUTY ESSENTIALS

//SKINCARE

NEUTROGENA cleanser, LA ROCHE POSAY effaclar mat moisturizer, CLINIQUE all about eyes de-puffing eye massage, CLEAN & CLEAR blot paper, EOS lip balm

Above are some of my absolute favorite skincare products. I have oily/combination skin so finding skin products that work well for me is always a little bit of a hassle. It's below zero Celcius everyday here in Korea so I have been using my moisturizer obsessively. I picked up the La Roche Posay moisturizer in Paris this summer and I absolutely love it. I don't use too many creams simply because my skin just cannot deal with too many products + I don't really feel the need for a lot of them. 

//MAKEUP

BOBBI BROWN brow kit, SHU UEMURA eyelash curler, STILA liquid liner, URBAN DECAY 24/7 glide on eye pencil, MAYBELLINE falsies mascara, LANCÔME hypnôse doll lashes mascara, TOO FACED natural eye palette, URBAN DECAY 'sin' eyeshadow

I'm not even going to deny it - I am a little obsessed with eye makeup. Face makeup (ex: foundation, bronzer, blush) is just not really my cup of tea. I have oily, acne-prone skin so I do as much as I can to prevent clogging my pores, so I didn't even bring face makeup with me on this trip. (How good of an idea that is? I'm not quite sure...) Anyhow, I rarely- in fact never- wear all of these eye products together but I like emphasizing my eyes through makeup. Mumma and I treated ourselves to the Lancôme mascara a few days ago and so far I'm really liking it. 

//BEAUTY BAGS
From a small boutique in Belgium, From a flea market in Korea last summer

The bag on the left I use to put all my beauty products while traveling and the pink clear envelope I use to put in my everyday products in my bag. 

//IN THE BAG
These three products basically live in my bag.

Just a little short update about my life while I'm posting: I'm currently in Korea for winter break visiting family and whatnot. Eating a crazy amount of food so expect an overload of pictures of food very soon... Merry Christmas! Hope your holidays are filled with lots of love. xxxxx


20121216

NAPA CALIFORNIA

It's kind of a tradition for us to go to Bistro Don Giovanni every time we go up to Napa. Equally as large of a tradition for me is to take a photo of the adorable cat that lives at the Bistro. This time we went it was sleeping on one of the seats in the patio and I nearly squealed with delight. 




Over Thanksgiving break my uncle from Korea visited my family and me so we decided to go on a day trip to Napa. For my family, Napa means an overabundance of good food, dilly dallying around vineyards, and perhaps shopping at the outlets. Though it takes a good two hours to drive there, when we arrive, it is our form of a mini-oasis; it's a way to relieve us from the stress that surrounds us constantly in our daily lives, and for once, just breathe. All we see are miles and miles of vineyards and blue colored mountains in the distance. Though some may perceive this constant view to be dull and uninteresting, I've found that constant is just the thing I need. In my life, everything is constantly changing and the people around me, the things I'm interested in, etc they're all in this crazy dynamic motion of never-ending change- reminds me of a broken roller coaster that just can't stop. And perhaps that is why the endless sameness brings me peace. Does this really make sense to anyone? 

20120929

PARIS, FRANCE



@LOUVRE







 @LADURÉE


@CHAMPS ELYSÉE, ARC DE TRIOMPHE





@EIFFEL TOWER





20120923

INSADONG, KOREA

You know those cities that you've been too so many times that you can just no longer call yourself a visitor but more like a seasonal liver (if there is such term that even exists)? Seoul has always been one of those cities for me. I've gone to Seoul over ten times my whole life so I don't really spend my time doing tourist-y things. I just kind of immediately adapt to my surroundings and just go shopping, eat delicious food, and spend time with family and friends whenever I visit, but this time I decided I needed to actually experience Korea, realizing that I'd never bothered to learn about Korean culture.

So one day I went to Insadong which is basically a medley of Korean culture (think lots of traditional Korean food, artwork, clothing, etc).. 

One of the stores I went to was called Toto. This man basically collected all different kinds of items from old game boards, cigarette cases, food, stickers, you name it and put it in his store. You have to pay money to get in but I decided, "Why not?!" and went inside.

It reminded me of Hoarders but less sad and extremely nostalgic. 


Just one section of Toto. It was around twice this size so you can imagine how stuffed it was in there. It was nostalgic paradise- melancholy in the most wonderful way.














I got a little crazy with the photos.

Oh and to finish this post up: I tried this delicious ice cream while I was in Insadong. It's called dondurma ice cream which is basically from Turkey. It has a really thick and sticky consistency- almost like taffy. And it's absolutely fabulous I adore it I adore it adore it. (Gah I am really craving it as I type..) I tried green tea, vanilla, and chocolate dondurma- all equally fabulous!