Ever since my sister got here last week, it's just been go-go-go, non-stop! There's been quite a whirlwind of activity that I haven't had much opportunity to sit down and blog about it all~ I'm officially behind.
After the road trip up from Busan to Cheonan, I returned back to Seoul on Wednesday night. But I wasn't in Seoul for long because on Saturday, my family went on another day trip, this time to the West Coast of Korea. We originally wanted to go somewhere like Seorak mountain and go camping like last year, but that just wasn't in the cards this time, so we settled on a quick day trip to Mallipo Beach (만리포), which was about a 3 hour drive from Cheonan. Apparently, this past weekend was a popular vacation date, so we got stuck in some traffic along with the rest of Korea who also had the same idea to get on the road and head to the beach. But in the end, it wasn't too bad.
Actually, the main purpose of going to Mallipo was to check out the Chollipo Arboretum that is in that area (I shall blog about that next, in a separate post). However, we decided that before we explored the luscious botanic gardens there, we would have a picnic lunch by the beach! So before we headed out that morning, my mom and I rushed to assemble a simple yet healthy lunch of tofu-dwenjang sandwiches, rice, various banchans, and fresh veggies.
As soon as we arrived at Mallipo, we went to one side of the beach that was less populated (aka, fewer screaming children), rented a parasol, and promptly spread out our picnic loot. The long drive and the stressful traffic worked up quite an appetite!
I made tofu sandwiches for my family to taste.
The sandwiches turned out different than usual because my mom didn't have any yellow mustard in her kitchen. It still tasted okay though~
Some random banchans: kimchi, pickled onions and garlic cloves, and ssam-jang dip for the veggies.
Long green peppers and fresh cukes~
Mm, I love ssam!
And what could be a better way to end a superb lunch by the sea, than to cleanse the palate with a variety of fresh fruit! Honey dew melons, frozen mango chunks, watermelon, and kiwi, all refreshingly cold from the cool ice box. Too good for words.
The weather was rather overcast and muggy with humidity, but it still felt nice to be by the ocean, especially with my whole family. We weren't on the beach for long though, because we were excited to get to the botanical garden! I have to break up the events of this outing into two separate posts because there are just way too many photos and thoughts to process. :) Stay tuned!