Amacarano

I've been on a macaron trend the past month, almost baking macarons every weekend for some occasion or another. These were requested by my coffee loving cousin when we had a barbeque session the other day.

Espresso macarons with espresso buttercream and salted caramel

Seoul 2011: Korean Food

This is a long overdue continuation post on the third part of photos for my Seoul trip last month. I've actually uploaded the pictures a week ago, but haven't had the time to think of the words to go with, cos I was busy at work, and also, I'd been feeling a 'lil under the weather.

My two favourite cuisines are Japanese, and the other, Korean. I can eat Japanese or Korean food anytime and everyday and probably wouldn't get tired of it. I was the planner for the trip, and I made sure to Google for must-eat foods besides shopping and sightseeing activities.

Be warned. It's an image heavy post ahead...

Koreans love their soju. In Korea, do as the Koreans do.

Salted buttered popcorn macarons with salted caramel

Ever since I saw this, it had never left the top of my macaron flavours to-make list. I mean, salted buttered popcorn and salted caramel? Hello? Do I really need to even attempt to persuade you? ;)

Seoul 2011: Shopping & Miscellaneous

Shopping in Seoul is quite awesome if I might say so. I bought like quite a lot of clothes and shoes. A pity I didn't get any cute bags, but hey, I think my wallet thank me for that already. And, shopping in Korea will be better still if you're like a size 6, cos the Korean girls are quite petite! Not to say I didn't get to shop, but I'm just sayin'...

Hair salon in Ewha Women's University Fashion Street; Shoes shops are aplenty

Seoul 2011: Sightseeing

Seoul pictures! I took over 900 plus photos on my 9-days vacation before reducing it to 738 (and that's not counting photos from my Sister's camera...). In reality, I think I took more, but cos my card memory ran outta space, I had to keep deleting photos in my last two days there and ration precious memory space. There was just so much to photograph.

I'm sorting the photo into categories rather than days, as it would be easier to read and there's going to be four main parts - sightseeing, shopping (entertaining), korean food and cafe culture. More on each category later.

I've condensed the bulk of photos that I've edited and posted on my Facebook album as the I doubt anyone would appreciate waiting for a webpage to load all of the 140ish photos I've picked out to upload and labelled under Sightseeing. These are some of my favourites (especially the ones that are of a single shot instead of a collage), so I hope to share them on the blog.

Places that I went for sightseeing for these photos are - 경복궁(Gyeongbokgong Palace), 쌈지길 (Ssamziegil), 남산골한옥마을 (Namsangol Hanok Village) and 남산 (Nam San).

경복궁 (Gyeongbokgong Palace) is one of the most popular palace in Seoul that is visited by many tourists daily, and the name is roughly translated as "Palace of Shining Happiness". It was built in the Joseon Dynasty and is being restored into its original form prior to its near destruction by the Japanese government in the early 20th century.

경복궁 (Gyeongbokgong Palace)

Loco moco

Loco moco. What's that? I've never heard of this dish before until I was researching on how to cook minced beef. Loco moco is a dish native to Hawaiian cuisine. The essential loco moco consists of white rice, topped with a hamburger patty, a fried egg, and brown gravy. Just imagine. Gravy, a beef patty, and a sunny side fried egg? You've so got me hooked, lined and sinkered.

 Loco moco

Purple sweet potato chiffon

I'm back from my trip to Seoul! Lots to talk about and lots to share, I just need time to settle back into the usual routine (aka work, big sigh.).

Anyway, before I left for Seoul, I had some purple sweet potatoes in the house that needed using up. I decided to make something with them before I left for my vacation, thus, the purple sweet potato chiffon cake.

 Purple sweet potato chiffon