Favourites (11/12 2016)

1. I finally got around to watching Reply 1988 (응답하라1988) and it was so good! This drama originally aired in November 2015 and is part of the "Reply" series which depicts storylines of families in different decades (this one being in 1988, and past series being in 1994 and 1997). It's really interesting to see how people lived in Korea during the late 80s (following the Seoul Olympics) and it blows my mind how trendy things/fashion in Korea were the same as those that existed in Canada/America during the same time -- without the internet! Seeing people function without smartphone capability is also quite bewildering. You can watch it with English subtitles here~ #TeamJunghwan

2. Can you tell it's the end of the semester? More awesome TV: Orphan Black. I'm not usually into science fiction-y type shows/movies, but I luuv it. It's filmed in Toronto so the Ontario license plates and Canadian currency make me feel at home. Also, Helena is everything.

3. A few months ago, we tried 규카츠 (gyoo-ka-tche?) in Daegu which earned its way into my last favourites  post. Since then, we've been on the hunt for a similar restaurant that is closer to home. We haven't found any gyookatche that compares, but we stumbled upon another great food: fire chicken creamy noodles (불닭크림볶음면). They are as intense as they sound. We found them at a restaurant in Gwangju called Kobe Gyookatche (고베 규카츠) and while the gyookatche didn't impress us, those noodles did. What makes it 100% is the inch of cream on top. So much yums.

4. A huge shopping complex (롯데아울렛) opened in our small town of Mokpo recently which houses some brand name shops and new, exciting restaurants; one of which is Dookki (두끼..... writing the name in English made me realize it sounds like 'dookie' is but we're going to just pretend that it relates to that album by Green Day rather than this. Moving on.)

Ddeokbokki is awesome. For those not in the know, ddeokbokki is a Korean food that is often sold from food stalls on the side of the road and contains squishy rice cakes in a spicy/sweet/heavenly, red sauce. This restaurant is the first I've seen that really takes ddeokbokki to the next level. You are given a jug of water and an empty silver bowl atop a stove element; the rest is up to you. There are assortments of sauces (really spicy, not so spicy, curry flavoured...), rice cakes (the standard, the heart-shaped...), noodles, vegetables. There is also deep fried sweet potato, chicken, and dumplings which you can dip-dip in the sauce. Altogether it's 8,000 won (~$8) per person, but the cheese fondue (which I highly recommend) bumps it up to around 10,000 won (~$10) depending how many people you share with.

5. I've been piddling my money away on vending machine/gashapon/capsule toys and trying to pass it off as "finding joy in small things". I really don't think that's how the expression is supposed to be interpreted, and we've gone a bit overboard, but

they're

so

cute

I usually go for gudetama, while PH goes for this sleeping animals series. More recently we've discovered sleeping animals who also appear to have imbibed. They're cute but when we go bankrupt I'll deny everything.