It's been a very strange week... There's been some company drama as the Swine Flu has hit closer to home. As a result, we've all been ordered to work from home, which has resulted in me feeling like I'm in isolation or something, because I haven't had much human contact all week!
Anyhoo, my mum came over after she dropped my sister off at the airport on Monday. We went grocery shopping together at the open market behind my house. Every time we go there together, we end up buying a bunch of dduk (rice cakes). There are so many dduk stalls and they all look so colorful and delicious. We got three packets for 5000won. Don't worry, we didn't eat all of it. Dduk freezes and defrosts pretty well, so I have some stored in my freezer. :)
The first one (the half-eaten one) is a bean/date dduk, the second, dduk covered in toasted bean powder (?), and the last is called 'ssook dduk' which is made using a certain kind of wild greens/herb (?), and has beans and chestnuts on top. I used to hate rice cakes, but started loving them about 1 year ago. What was I thinking?! Rice cake is soooo good and the texture has totally grown on me.
Lately, my neighborhood seems to be doing a major renovation/development project, because there is construction going on all over the place. The drilling and banging sounds wake me up every morning. One cool thing though, is that a new coffee shop opened up really close to my house. It's a Korean franchise called 'Caffe Bene' (yea, a total rip-off of 'Coffee Bean'), which specializes in waffles and gelato. I finally checked it out this week.
Their interior is nice and spacious, with large booths, and comfy chairs, and it looks like they have wireless internet. However, they don't have soymilk, so I just ordered a 'Peppermint Herb Iced Tea' (4000 won -expensive!!). I wouldn't go back for the drinks alone, but its convenient location might take me back...
