Moshi moshi.

What is your favorite Japanese restaurant to frequent?

I used to go to Sushi Zanmai whenever I want a cheap Japanese food fix, but let's face it, the food there is at best mediocre! That being said, I found another cheap Japanese restaurant recently-- Ichiban Boshi-- a lot of varieties, and price is very reasonable. Another place I like is Hokano in Uptown, a friendly neighborhood Japanese restaurant.

For slightly more expensive Japanese food, I was exposed to Hokkaido Ichiba (in Gardens) and Watami (Pavilion) thanks to Audrey and Ringo. I have never eaten anything other than Japanese food with them wtf. I've tried Kampachi a million years ago, and I can't really remember the taste of the food, but I have heard that the hotel's branch (in Equatorial) is better than the one in Pavilion though! One of the best Japanese restaurants that I have been to would be Fukuya (also 'cause of Audrey, for her birthday!), and Hanare in Intermark (for MY birthday), hehehe.

Let me know if you have any good Japanese restaurants to recommend! :)

Rakuzen used to be an old favorite too! But I ceased going there 'cause of it is on the pricey side. But when the parental units pay, it's a different story. :P




Grilled yellow fin tuna which dad recommended-- better than the usual grilled saba!




Soft shell crab sushi, my favorite!





A really refreshing crab salad-- two thumbs up for this because of the heaploads of fresh crabmeat. I think there was more crabmeat than vegetable leaves! :O


Outfit:





Wearing another favorite AZORIAS dress. Ruffled hems always make me feel extra happy for no reason, and it's also an excellent choice of attire for stuffing the tummy 'cause it's loose and comfortable! :D




Adding a quirky touch in the form of a gold mesh tie necklace.






Leopard print collar dress with ruffled hem: AZORIAS (similar one here)
Gold mesh tie necklace: Singapore
Bracelets: All from Korea
Black knot suede platforms: Topshop
Black backpack with grosgrain ribbon: Korea


And if you have been to Publika, I am sure you have been frustrated by the wonky phone connection there (no line at all!). During our entire dinner we were cut off from the world. Well, apparently, in Publika, you can only get phone connection at very few selected areas.

This is how we looked like when we stumbled upon one of those areas and our phone's service was revived momentarily:

One day in Myeongdong.

I am obviously on a roll! Going to continue blogging about Korea!

Starting riiiiiight at the beginning-- first day in Seoul with Jing.




Lunch was at Myeongdong Gyoza (obviously located at Myeongdong), which served mandoo that I talked about here.

Teeny's Korean friend brought us here last year, and apparently it is really famous, even amongst tourists! When I told the boyfriend about the place, he told me that he has read about it in his copy of Lonely Planet. Food is decent, and very apt if you are craving for hot food (especially hot noodles)-- 'cause in Korea it's not easy to find hot soupy noodles (besides ramyeon)!




Portion is huge so we both shared a bowl of knife-sliced noodles (galguksu).




Galguksu. The secret is to eat everything with the garlicky sauce, yum.


We both ended up still hungry FOL. We forgot that we do not have average appetites, haha.




Fake demure face before digging in.


Outfits!














Floral print cowl-neck satin bubble hem dress with asymmetrical waist: Korea
Pale peach rhinestone necklace: Korea
Baby blue tassel diamante chain bracelet: Korea
White encrusted bangle: F21
Purple bangle: Topshop
Watch: DKNY
Rings: Korea
Pink pumps with gold ankle cuff: Gallo
Bag: Miu Miu


Also, something worth announcing! I was wearing GRAY contact lens! It's big news because I have always stuck to brown or clear contacts.

I have always wanted to try gray contacts, because of Aishwarya Rai who has THE most amazing gray eyes which you can just stare into forever...



Why are the windows to her soul so much prettier than the windows to mine wtf.





But nevermind! I IZ CAN HAVE GRAY EYES TOO! Love the very subtle gray, especially perfect for someone like me who is venturing out of her comfort zone.




My lens are Ash Collection (I was wearing Ash Grey btw), and the face of the lenses is the beautiful Chikako (top Japanese model whom you can surely recognize from any Vivi magazine!).



Eyes that can kill, sigh.


Ok, too depressing to talk about other people's pretty eyes. Continuing on about our day in Myeongdong! Actually nothing much to talk about also, we basically walked around and shopped, with my utmost priority-- to find a perfect earcap for my iPhone. -_-

We walked till 9pm (also made a dash for Lotte, because there is free duty shopping there-- toiletries are much cheaper there, like 30%? I usually buy my SKII and Shishedo there!), and we were pooped by then. Randomly walked into a cafe for refreshments.




Stairway to what seemed like heaven for our famished bodies and tired legs.




But she still found strength to camwhore wtf.




Love the interior. Seoul is full of concept cafes, and the concept of this cafe is semi-outdoor/ garden/ quirky living room!




Jing's refreshing orange float.




Coffee for me despite it being night time 'cause I was feeling sleepy.




Remember I mentioned that we were hungry? We were kinda iffy that they didn't serve proper food-- the only things they had was like cakes, and each piece of cake was about 3000-4000 won (approx. RM10-15), and we didn't really feel like paying for cakes which didn't look that appealing. But surprisingly enough the cakes were complimentary with our drink! Woot!

Although I was out for such a long time that day, amazingly enough my eyes still felt fresh! Very impressed with the Ash Collection contact lens that I got from Eye Love Colors.




Ash Collection lenses are also made in Korea, how apt, hehe. You can wear it for up to 90 days! And what reassures me the most is all the health/ quality certifications that it has obtained-- a big factor because these are my eyes we are talking about!

When you order lenses from Eye Love Colors, it comes with a complimentary lens case (pink! purple!) in a cute sealed bag likes this:



Complimentary lens cases are a great bonus! There was once I forgot to bring my lens case to Singapore, and I had to pay SGD4.50 for one case. T______T

Ash Collection lenses are RM70 per pair on Eye Love Colors, and if you buy 2 boxes, they are RM105.



This is the next color that I am trying.. Ash BLUE! So nervous (strangely excited) about how I will look with them, haha!


Website: http://www.eyelovecolors.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/eyelovecolors

Optimist.

The last 2 weeks of June haven't been great, I have to admit. Jing leaving, then Smalls (my ex-housemate, who left for Sydney for good), certain glitches at work, and tiny misfortunes was happening here and there. It would have been easy to be sucked into all the so-called negativity, but I was determined to keep my spirits up. That being said, I'm quite relieved that July is here.

For instance, just last Friday, we couldn't start our car after leaving work. Turns out that our car battery was dead. WTF right. But in the end, everything worked out fine, because as luck had it, we parked really near a car workshop on that day, and the mechanic changed our car battery easily for us. Teeny was being rather angst-y about the whole incident, but I was trying to think at the bright side of things. For instance, thank god that we were both together when it happened! Imagine if it either of us was alone and stranded, definitely not a good situation to be in considering the recent rise in crime cases! Also, of all days, we parked near a workshop. Our office is in Taipan, and usually it would have been near impossible to get a parking around the shop-lot area, but we managed to on that day. Also, luckily it was quite early when the incident happened (around 5plus pm)! If we left office half an hour later, the workshop would have been closed, and we would be stranded. So yea, I convinced Teeny that everything happened for the best, and on the way home we were howling to songs on the radio.

That is the power of your own thoughts, I guess. In general, I am quite a positive person by nature. I do get agitated very quickly, but I also snap out of it very fast, and is all la-la-la-let's-do-this again. There is a fine line between being optimistic and being a (unrealistic) dreamer though, which I often carefully thread between.

What about you? Are you an optimist or a pessimist? :)

*************************************

Moving on to some Seoul stories! These photos were all taken in early April.




After spicy chicken lunch in Insa-dong, one of my favorite places to visit in Seoul!




Some kind of snack, which reminds me of... poo.




Spike necklace FTW.




This little girl with her miniature bouquet of flowers melted my heart.




At Ssamziegil (in Insa-dong), which is basically an arts center... I love this place! One of the new features that they have is these screens where you can snap instant photos of yourself and have them emailed to your email account. Neat!




Favorite traveling boots.




A mini art installation in Ssamziegil.




Playing art gallery curator, hehehe.


Went to Garosugil (must-go shopping street!) after that to meet Ally, who happened to be in Seoul at the same time! :O :O :O



Such pretty cherry blossoms. I really feel so blessed that I can witness such beautiful sights! :)




Obviously we have a sweet tooth.




With Ally. It is a really surreal (but definitely super cool) to meet with a friend at a totally different country!


Outfit details:



White shirt: Korea
Metallic jeans: H&M
Snake print blazer with pink cuffs: Korea
Gold spike necklace: Korea
Black ankle boots: Korea
Bag: Miu Miu