All posts tagged: seoul

Made | A Review

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Just a little jaunt down the road from John Cook Deli Meats, in Apgujeong, sits MADE (backwards d). From the outside, it looks like a run of the mill, albeit cool and modern, cafe. But, inside is a new American restaurant who is doing some good things with good food. In the evening, it boasts a pretty good little Italian American menu with lots of meatballs, pasta and some baked ziti which smelled just like St. Louis. You can pick and choose from the menu giving you a “made to order” type of meal. In the evening, MADE also has a few choice options from its brunch menu like Avocado Eggs Benedict, which I devoured on my first stop. They are pretty amazing, if not a bit too rich, but it went down the gullet anyway. So in my second trip to MADE, I wanted to enjoy the full brunch menu they have on the weekends. I saw a post on the Fat Girl’s Food Guide to Eating in Korea , to my utter delight, that they had real American-style …

Another Happy Review!

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You guys, I’ve been so happy this week! We received a very sweet review with excellent pictures to accompany our promotional box  with The Homespun Chics! Sarah reviewed each item individually and has nice insight into our motivations behind including each item. According to their website: The Homespun Chics is a PR-friendly lifestyle and review blog owned and operated by a mom and daughter duo. We are in constant search of quality products & subscription boxes, crafty projects, places to travel, and delicious recipes. We offer fun reader giveaways and coupons when possible. The Homespun Chics strive to promote businesses and people that inspire us! A mom and daughter duo….too cute! And a big thank you to Sarah for reviewing our box! Please check out their review! NEW! Hanbox Subscription Box Preview   You can check out our website or put your order in for a subscription too! Hanbox    

Our First Review!

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Our first Hanbox review came in last week! We sent out a preview box to get the ball rolling and get our name out into the world. The ladies at Beeju Boxes graciously accepted it and posted a very nice review. My favorite part, the socks I hesitated buying and sending were actually a hit! Yay! According to their website, Beeju is: A popular Subscription Box review website featuring around a dozen bloggers, each with a different niche and specialty. Also on the site is an active box directory that’s constantly being updated, as well as coupons, deals and spoilers.   You can find the review at Beeju Boxes and loads of pictures of our sample box here: Hanbox – Preview Box Review & July/August Box Spoiler If you would like to subscribe to Hanbox, please visit our website!! Hanbox If you want to see more of what’s inside, please visit our Instagram and Facebook Pages! Instagram: @myhanbox Facebook:Hanbox

Jaha Son Mandu | Korean Dumplings

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This was one of the greater Korean food experiences I’ve had in Seoul. I love mandu. I love big ones, baby ones, fluffy ones…I love them all. Then I discovered mandu casserole, Mandu Jeongol, and my life will never be the same. It’s unbelievably scrumptious and I don’t use that word often. The pot is heated at your table and it’s packed with spicy broth, veggies and meat.  To balance out the meat in our casserole, we tried two other vegetarian options, the kimchi  mandu and cucumber and mushroom mandu. We washed my new favorite food down with a Korean wine made from black raspberries, Bokbunjajoo. You can buy it pretty much anywhere, but it’s delicious and I love it. It’s thick, sweetness was a perfect sidekick to the most amazing dumplings. Looking for Jaha Son is not for the faint of heart…it’s tucked far back in Baum-dong. If my Korean friend, Phil hadn’t been there, I would have had a hard time finding it. He was able to tell a taxi driver just where to …

Nonhyeon | at home series

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For a long time in Korea, I used the word home as the placeholder of the city I had left to come to another country. As time marched on and that, “just one more year, probably” became a more permanent move, I grew to call Seoul my home and St. Louis, back home. I’m sure this is no surprise for someone who has lived abroad for some time. Nonhyeon has been my home for over three years now. I’ve grown to love certain dimensions of it and not love, to be kind, other parts. The nightlife, for one, has grown very tiresome. I’m too old, too sensitive, and too picky to want to see some of the scenes I’ve witnessed. Just ungodly things…on my way to work at 8:30 am for the most part. However, on the other side of that crazy coin, Nonhyeon is getting much more adorable. If you avoid the main strip of bars and noraebangs with drunks out until 2 or 3 in the afternoon from the night before, you can find loads of coffee …

Hanbox | My New Venture

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This month my Portland-based friend Gina and I finally started promoting a shop that has been a couple years in the making…our own subscription box business! Our shop idea has gone through several key changes through our planning and vast amount of discussions. In the end, we decided a Korean lifestyle box was the way to go! We are in love with this idea! Now, it seems like such an obvious thing to do we both love Korea and the Korean culture. I have always loved shopping for all the unique Korean products and giving them to friends and family back home. Now I can do it lucratively! 😀 So we have created Hanbox! This is easily one of my proudest moments…this idea we had that came to fruition. Hanbox is our Korean lifestyle subscription box. Each month we will carefully choose the items to include from the wide varieties of Korean accessories, stationery, cosmetics and more. We chose the name and logo from the hanbok, a traditional Korean dress. We think it perfectly encapsulates Korea and her style. We hope …

Vegan Saag Paneer | with Grilled Flat Bread

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The first time I tried Saag Paneer I thought, “This cheese tastes very tofu-y.” So when I saw a recipe for it on Connoisseurusveg, I wondered why I hadn’t thought of that before. 🙂 She’s a genius. This came out really good, guys. It’s creamy and well flavored. The pan fried tofu works perfectly as a cheese stand in. Indian food just got a whole lot easier around my kitchen! I paired it with a really easy grilled flatbread recipe because making naan would have required some yogurt, and soy yogurt is impossible to buy here. The flatbread kept me on a vegan track! It would also be amazing with some jasmine rice. Vegan Saag Paneer recipe slightly adapted from Connoisseurusveg! Grilled Flatbread recipe slightly adapted from Food52. VEGAN SAAG PANEER Ingredients: 1 chopped onion 1 TBSP grated fresh ginger 3-4 minced garlic cloves 4-5 cups washed, fresh spinach 2 TBSP olive oil 2 full cups extra firm tofu, drained and cut into cubes 1 TSP turmeric 1 cup vegetable broth juice of 1/2 a lemon 1 TSP ground cumin, 1 TSP garam masala, 2 TSP sugar, ½ TSP salt 3/4 cup coconut …

Searching for France | Seorae Village

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Seorae Village is not the easiest of cultural hubs to get to. In fact, it’s placed in such a distance to the closest subway stop, that it keeps the streams of people away for much of the time. A wonderful discovery on a sunny Sunday afternoon. This was my third time to the area, and I was hunting for more French influence than ever. Sadly, however, the proximity to the subway hasn’t stopped this area from being infected with the old standards here in Korea like Tom ‘n Toms, Paris Baguette and others. Not to mention, the last time I visited this area, I had the most delicious French style baguette sandwich at Paris Croissant and when I visited this time, there was nothing but Korean style be-pickled and be-sauced sandwiches that I couldn’t bring myself to try. Le sigh. Seorae Maeul grew up French around the Lysee Francais, a school which teaches in French as a first language. Something like 40% of the population in this area are French. The area has it’s charm, to be sure, but there is …

Dore Dore Cafe | A Review

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This place, man. It’s so easy to see why the popularity took off into outer space.The desserts are gorgeous, the coffee is good, each modern floor is decorated with  simple but beautiful design, and there are windows and light for your rainbow cake to bask in. It’s basically Instagram-heaven. The major problem with Dore Dore is the aforementioned popularity and if you get there anytime around dinner, forget about getting a seat. And if you do make a deal with the devil for a seat, forget about a nice, blissfully quiet atmosphere. Koreans like to whoop it up…even in cafes. Basically, every place you go around this area, if it’s even a little crowded, will sound like you’re in a bar late at night and it’s ladies drink free night. Ah, Korea. You do like to have fun at the expense of my sensitive ears. The first time Phil and I tried this place on a Saturday evening all three floors were packed. There was no chance of getting a seat and it was so loud …

Seochon-dong | Hanoks & Whimsy

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  Situated to the West of Gyeongbokgung, Seochon, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Seoul, is an obvious treasure. It’s name is simply, “west village,” but that doesn’t embody the liveliness and warmth that you can experience here. Seochon hanoks were under threat of massive redevelopment and destruction up until 2008. The concerned took measures to ensure the preservation of the hanoks in this area, like that of Bukchon, the hanok village on the other side of Gyeongbokgung. And we should thank our lucky stars that this beautiful area has been saved and updated so that generations to come can walk through the streets and buy up all the things. Or just look around, that’s okay too. 🙂 In Robert J. Fouser’s book, Hanok, The Korean House, he explains how this area is an example of the neo-traditional style, or the “mixed hanok.” This new genre allows for experimentation and, perhaps more importantly, the expression of the owner’s personality. Like the city of Seoul itself, they appear similar from afar but sparkle with the color of individuality up close. Not to …