Had an absolutely glorious day today. My mom had to take care of some stuff in Seoul, so we decided to capitalize on her trip by having an awesome day of mother-daughter bonding at Insadong. First, for lunch, we ended up eating han-jungshik at 'Jirisan,' the same traditional Korean restaurant my friends and I ate at last weekend! :) Actually, we were originally planning on eating at Dimibang, but when we got there, we found that Dimibang restaurant has closed! For good! There was a sign saying that they have closed their doors, and that they thank everyone for their support over the years. Whaat?! I looked through the glass entrance doors, and sure enough, everything was bare and torn down, and the menu sign outside had been kicked in. I was shocked because they seemed to be open just this past Saturday. I'm sorry I didn't get to eat there before they shut their doors because from what I heard, it was a popular, well-known vegetarian restaurant. Shame shame.
Anyyyyway~ So that's how we ended up at 'Jirisan'. Even though I ate there just this past Saturday, it was allll good. Delicious food never gets boring. We both ordered the han-jung-shik menu, which actually included a few new banchans than last time. Unfortunately, my camera was acting up and I couldn't get any photos of lunch. Blast. But believe me when I say the food was thoroughly delicious, and worth its 14,000 price.
Then after a good walk around the neighborhood to burn off some of our energy, we went to one of the many tea houses on the main Insadong strip. My mom ordered the 'Omija & Lemon' tea, while I got the 'Su-jung-gwa' tea, and we got a plate of puffed rice desserts for 'service.' Tea houses in Insadong ain't cheap, but oh man, I do love 'em. Thankfully, my camera decided to start behaving again, because I would've been seriously depressed if I hadn't been able to photograph these drinks!
My 'Su-jung-gwa' tea was the bombdiggity. It was basically a sweet cinnamon tea that had a heart-shaped piece of pear, some pine nuts, and a big chunk of dried persimmon. This is probably my new favorite tea. I love cinnamon, and this tea takes that love to a whole new level.
Here is the persimmon I fished out from the bottom of the bowl. It was like finding gold at the end of the rainbow...
And here's my mom's Omija-lemon tea. Both teas were so lovely and refreshing, but also on the very sweet side. Luckily, I had some water with me, which I used to dilute the sweetness. Bottomless tea! :)
Fried, puffy rice desserts. Hm, these would make very delicious 'styrofoam packaging'.
Here's our view from our balcony table. It was such lovely weather today! Warm, yet breezy~
Some cool window-art.
While looking around Insadong, we also stopped at Bizeun, a fancy rice cake shop.
They have so many different types and flavors of rice cakes, it's quite a sight. Everything looks so adorable and precious... almost too precious to eat.
My mom bought two of those 'manju's' to take back to Cheonan.
Phew~ So that was my day out at Insadong with my umma. I can't wait to go back and try some of the other tea-houses. I think I'm hooked on that cinnamon-persimmon tea.
Oh, and my mom also brought some loot for me! Check out the goodies:
A big bag of raw almonds.
Misu-garu (미숫가루). This is a popular Korean powder made from a variety of toasted grains and beans (this particular blend is made from 11 different grains/beans/corn).
Koreans love to mix this powder with cold water or soymilk for a delicious, cold, nutty-flavored shake. It's also delicious mixed in with cereal.
This would probably make a great post-workout shake, especially if blended with some soy milk and a banana. Yum!
She also got me a stainless steel water bottle! For the longest time, I've wanted an alternative bottle to my old Nalgene that is so big, heavy and clunky to carry around, and now I have one! Thanks umma~
So today was pretty great. I wish my dad could've made the trip too, but he was too busy... :( Next time~ Oh, and after Insadong with my mom, I met up with Yunseo and Candys to watch 'Eclipse'. hahaa... It was aiight. I got lost when it came to all the vampire politics. I guess that's what happens when you don't read the books first.