Birthday

Usually I am pretty excited when it comes to my birthday. I used to have a reputation of telling the whole neighborhood weeks before that I would become a year older and that everyone should get me a present. Now that I have turned 25, I feel like I have nothing to look forward to anymore. This is the year when the body officially begins to decay. No more developing, just decaying. :(

On a lighter note, I found out that Korea can make some legit Italian food. Korea is big on fusion when it comes to foreign dishes and usually always fails on my palate. For my birthday dinner, we booked a spot on the 42nd floor of our apartment building that we have been eyeing for a while. Santa Lucia overlooks the Pyeongchon/Beomgye area and its interior is very romantic. The price is very reasonable and the taste is absolutely delish!

Mussel salad

This appetizer dish tasted like it looked. The restaurant was very generous and the size of the plate was bigger than my place setting. Along with a tasty spring salad came these giant mussels topped with a savory spicy tomato sauce.

Seafood Pasta

As my main dish, I ordered the Seafood Pasta. I wish the quality of this photo was better. This dish came out with a huge crab claw sticking out of the pasta. This creamy dish was filled with tomatoes, broccoli, and little bits of crab and scallops.








I wish I took photos of what my friends ordered, but I know that they enjoyed it as much as I have.

After dinner, we decided to relocate to a bar called The Flair Bar. One disappointment of the night was that this bar adds tax to every drink. This super expensive bar also made the birthday girl go behind the bar with her boyfriend and made them do some weird stuff I will never understand.

Bryan at Flair Bar

Look at this crazy menu at this bar. It starts off looking like a regular liquor box and then fans out to that!
















The rest of the night ends with me acting old and sneaking out of the bar to go to bed. Thanks to my friends for coming out and celebrating this 'awful' day with me!!

2012.

Picture courtesy of Karolina K.

I've done the countdown in Times Square, I've done it at church multiple times, but I have never experienced a new year like this.... :)

Since my lovely friends in Suwon were in charge of the Christmas party, I thought it would be appropriate if I took care of the New Year's. This party was pretty much planned last minute and I think it's safe to say that it turned out pretty awesome. Old and new friends showed up fashionably late and ready to party.

Unlike America, the land of easy party foods, it was tough to come up with snacks to feed my guests. Thanks to handydandy HomePlus, Dave and I were able to whip up some yummy and wallet friendly goodies.

Pomegranate White Sangria
This drink only needs 4 ingredients: Pomegranate seeds, any white wine, sprite, and slices of orange for decoration. This easy to make drink was probably the biggest hit at the party.







Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Sandwiches

Sounds like a handful, but this delicious snack is so easy to make!  Just take the Korean version of Ritz crackers, spread some PB on it and make sandwiches out of them. Melt some chocolate, in this case Ghana chocolate (also popular in Korea), and VOILA! If you want to be fancy, just roast some peanuts, crush them up, and sprinkle on top.

For those who watch their figure
We have a couple of vegetarian friends that we definitely did not want to disappoint. These finger snacks were made by spreading some cream cheese on toasted bread and topping them with  water crest and slices of cucumber. Sounds extremely healthy, but tastes awesome too.







Korean Cho-Bap

I guess this also falls under the vegetarian category. You can find Cho-Bap in sushi restaurants around here, but making them at home is definitely cheaper and it takes no time to make these. A big pack made to feed 4 people cost less than 6,000Won. Just mix rice with the seasoning that comes in the pack, roll them into little balls and stuff them into the delicious marinated tofu pockets that's also included.







We had other snacks like chips and salsa, PB&Banana sandwiches, and pizza. Overall, making all this deliciousness took no time. Dave and I definitely did not slave over the stove and we had more than enough food to feed over 10 people.

Since most of my money was spent on restaurants my first year here, my new year's resolution is to cook more at home. I miss all kinds of food from back in America, and will definitely try to recreate my own version of them using ingredients available in Korea. 2012, please be good to me!

Final spread