Food aside

Well my die-hard readers, you're foremost in my mind as I worry about not being able to find time to post to this most illustrious record of my life. These days are a little busier than usual. Amongst other things, I've begun my studies towards a masters in Applied Linguistics. For those not in the know, I'm doing this part-time by correspondence from the University of Birmingham in England. I'm also working over-time to keep the cash a flowin' as well as preparing for a visit back to Canada in June. For those especially in the dark, my little brother is tying the knot this coming June and gosh darned it if I'm not so honoured as to be a member of the wedding party! So keep your eyes peeled folks, special tour dates in Montreal and Ottawa will be announced here first!!

The perfect breakfast???

After such an exciting night out, the next morning I felt in need of something special for breakfast. I took a look in my fridge, and remembered a special package I'd recently recieved from Mum: this package contained instant Hollandaise sauce! So without further delay, I cranked up my toaster oven and gas range and got a cookin'...
And would you look at that!
Eggs Florentine with a side of hash browns, roasted cherry tomatoes and peppers, and seasoned spinach stems (no sense in wastin' em me thinks...)

Eat, drink and become angelic

Last Saturday, myself and cronies Chris and Colin headed to a restaurant in the busy section of town. I'd been there once before with Amanda and wanted to give the special another go. This place is a 'meat house', where the you grill your meat over a charcoal fire set in the middle of your table (which can be a little smoky). A common type of establishment in this land, but this place has a killer special. First you get a plate with 3 kinds of raw meat. This is then followed by a plate of various shellfish and spicy side dishes, which you also grill. It's good stuff I tells ya.
This place is additionally fun cause you get to sit on little plastic stools on a ground of what's basically gravel. When we went, it was quite busy but since the weather's quite pleasant these days, we got to sit outside and watch the world pass us by. A group of girls briefly paused near us, and one looked a little shocked when I shrieked with delight as I pointed to her groin area. She was wearing a belt buckle that said "I (heart) beer". We three were very impressed.
Later that night we went to a newish bar in a different neighbourhood. The proprietor is trying to get some sort of worldly theme going, which allowed me to catch a shot of the Blessed Colin.

In the search of GoodBeer...

I've often complained about the sorry state of the beer in Korea. Well, myself and my co-worker John have finally taken matters into our own hands. We ordered some beer-making materials, sterilized and mixed...We're hoping by the end of the week to have a concoction worthy of bottling. We fear, however, that we may have botched the first batch. Shortly after mixing, we realized we'd used 4 litres too much water. Also, after a few days, our brew doesn't seem to be bubbling as it should. We're not sure if it's because we used too much water, the yeast was no good, or if we're just not clever. We remain undaunted - John is currently researching how we can rectify this mess and if worse comes to worse, we'll just whip up another batch. Hey, you're allowed to screw up the first time!

It's that time of year...

...when Korea feels the plague of the Yellow Dust. Sounds like a weird B movie title, but it's something real. Every spring, the Gobi desert in neighbouring China and Mongolia experiences massive dust storms, which blow on over to Korea. As I've always been in the south-east corner of the peninsula, I've not really experienced this phenomenon but apparently the dust can be pretty bad at times, made worse by the fact it carries with it alot of pollution.

Happy Birthday to me...~

As some of you may know, April 12 is the anniversary of my birth. This year the 12th fell on a Tuesday, which is no good for revelry, so the festivities took place last Saturday. We met for dinner, and then after dinner, we 'worked' a building in the neighbourhood. In this building, 3 of the 7 floors are bars. Previously there had been 4 bars, but sadly 'Bobby London' recenlty closed down. So we started on the 7th floor, and worked our way down to the basement, which had a 'norae-bang' (노래방), or singing room. See pictures of the action packed night here.

Cosmetic Magic

To help you take care of those pesky lips and eyes.

Handphone mania

Here in Korea, cell phones are big business. Everyone and their dog has got a fancy gizmo that not only rings in full stereo sound, but takes high resolution photos, stores mp3s and has a selection of groovy video games. If you're so inclined you can also do some banking using your phone: check your balance or transfer funds.

I've had an eleven-year-old student take a call in class (almost threw her out the window), watched people find their way in darkened theaters by the glow of their phone display, and seen people using a USB cable to plug into what's essentially a box at the side of the road, downloading their photos and then printing them on the spot.

Well today I witnessed a new high in handphone mania. At the swimming pool, a speedo-clad man hopped out and grabbed a carefully wrapped towel. As he slowly unravelled it, I wondered what he had in there - a drink? medecine? But of course, it was his handphone; not a moment later he was chatting away. Even his friends had a little chuckle at his expense.

It's true!!

If you've ever visited Montreal, and it happened to be night time, you may have noticed a very large glowing cross atop Mount-Royal. As long as I've seen it, it's always glowed white. There's always been a rumour circling that when the Pope died, the cross' colour would change to purple. Well it has!