Cheese Sticks and Pizza....

Horeee....ada cheese stick bikinan Mamanya anak-anak. Homemade cheese sticks....

Hmmm....kejunya moloooor dan meleleh. So tempting.

...and homemade pizza...full of cheese....mozzarella......yummyyyyy. 집에서 만든  치즈피자..그리고 치즈스틱.

Thank you Mama....

It's a perfect dinner in this cold weather.

잘 먹었어용. 

Since we ate the first ones so fast.....

.....Mama made the 2nd round....this time...it's even creamier and. ....with ABC Chilli sauce...it's even better.

Homemade Pizza

Not only that it's great, but it's delicious as well. Thanks tomy kids' Mom for making this for us.

Two kinds of toppings ...inside.  wait.. what? Inside? The toppings? ㅋㅋㅋ

Let's enjoy this, Freya!!!

Yg pasti:  insyaallah halal.

HOME MADE PIZZA!!

Mama surprised us with pizza. Not any kind of pizza. It's the one she made by herself!

So that explained the "thud thud" sound I overheard early in the afternoon..when she was making the dough!!+ 

Put it inside a box....dada....완성!!!

Homemade pizza!!! That I could not eat since it was full with toppings like sausages. ...meat...chicken....oh well.

I would wait for the veggie version.

All about Those Cheese + home-made dish

Second day of Lunar New Year holiday....hmmm let's order something to celebrate it. No ttekokkuk...just yet. But....instead we had some pizza.

The new pizza was in for tasting. All that cheese! Ok....we gave it a try!

*** worth the price....for something new.

As a matter of fact, we had nasi gurih for our breakfast...plus tofu and tempe.

Plus....this "kim kremes" as we call it.

Tttt...that's it.

Pizza Making Time!!!

Pizza time. Eyra was helping her Mom making pizza! Yeaach, now we're proud to say that we can make pizza at home. Of course, thanks to chef Sangjin Ko....we now know the secret recipe of how to 'cheat' in making a delicious home-made pizza. 

Gee...I forgot why she was shocked like this. The moment I clicked on my camera butter..I may have said something that might've shocked her...anyway..that's not important..she ended up finishing 'garnishing' her pizza. 

Thanks to the 'magic' of oven...everything's within reach when it comes to 'enjoying' food we otherwise only dreamed of--due to, well, you know....:) 

da..da.....the fresh-from-the-oven pizza. This one is specially made for me..wait...no...it has some meat in it...

All in all, Eyra and her Mom made three different pizza one time at a time...to be our dinner and breakfast for the following morning...*left-over time*

An Early Imlek (Lunar New Year) Celebration?? Not Quite So.

Ready to get set and go for the first night-out again in Jogja? You betcha. We sort of 'dragged' ourselves out of the 'lair' of our remote neighborhood about 45-minute drive from downtown...to go 'downtown' and..what we meant by downtown was no other than Ambarukmo Plaza a.k.a. Amplaz--as we affectionately call this home-sweet-home plaza.

As soon as we got out of the car, the bell boy at the entrance greeted us by saying that it had been quite a while since we last visited the plaza.

hahaha...we're so distinguishable from other guests..since we're used to coming to Amplaz once a week. 

Happy Chinese New Year or Imlek in Indonesia or 설날 (Seollal) in Korea.

This year, it so happens that we're spending the holiday in Jogjakarta & Kediri. 

Then....it would not have been 'US' had we not deliberately 'invited' ourselves to Pizza Hut. Yes, we never went to Pizza Hut in Korea. First, it's so expensive in Korea. Second, there are none we could eat. Well....we're so excited that we could 'savor' our appetite or longing for PH. And...avocado juice...was the highlight. It's so yummy and delicious.   

Eyra, Razqa (their cousin), and Eyra: the trio who are always on their best energy and shape whenever the term 'dine-out' came out of our 'vocabulary list' during our visit to hometown: Jogjakarta.

Pizza-Making Class with Sangjin Ko

Finally, after prolonging and postponing it for about 3 weeks or so, the Moms could mingle together ...to meet the Chef Ko Sangjin who would teach them how to make pizza. 

*Thought the weather was freezing outside, they just could not handle another postponement. 

the venue was our place which happened to be just around the center of the all activities for that one particular afternoon. First, all ingredients were packed and then the chemical class-like hand outs were distributed. 

So began the class with some commotions along the way.

But, that's a natural sign of any gathering, right?) 

Since I didn't participate, I couldn't figure out what they're making.

But one thing for sure, most of the Moms were having fun, though.

@ Mr. Pizza: A Dinner

Did you have fun, gals? Sure they did. 

They were so excited when we told them that we would dine out. Especially..as they found out that we would have pizza over dinner. Hmm...having pizza is actually a bit hard right here in Korea where most of the ingredients are meat that we cannot eat. So, the only safe choice we could have is (chuckles) always to make sure that we have either vegetarian pizzas or seafood pizzas. 

So, the other day (Monday night), we met our two students who happened to be also studying in Seoul. Diana (white jilbab): arrived a year ago to start her MA at Hanyang University. And Hesti (black jilbab): just graduated a week ago from Ehwa Womans University.

So, the occasion: was to welcome Diana and at the same time to congratulate Hesti on her graduation.

Once again: Eyra and Freya could not keep themselves quiet for a while. They kept on moving about the place: Oh, they loved seeing the cook make pizza live. Yes: one of the characteristics of Mr. Pizza is that customers have a chance to see the pizzas being made right in front of their eyes.  

Now it's a picture where my wife's in it^^. See all the girls are clad in jilbab. And I was the only man in the group. One man with three women in jilbab and two kids:)^^ I wonder if there were other customers who might have misunderstood the situation like: 

"Wow, that man has three women!!!!^^^ hahahahahahahahahaha

Of course...I was just making fun of myself.

But, with more and more Moslems students coming to Korea or Seoul in particular, I am hoping that more and more people are more accustomed and welcome to seeing women in jilbab. 

After all, Korea is transforming itself into a multicultural society. 

And we are a part of Korean society at the moment. 

Oh..ah..about the pizza: We loved it. We love Mr. Pizza.!!!!

A small party, it was..

A party? yes...I guess it was a kind of luggage packaging party. My fellow students who happened to be on a trip to Korea spent three day visit at hour house. Two day trip in Seoul had apparently made their luggage bloated. They bought lots of Korean souvenirs...from Namdaemun.

Farah and Nano bought most of the souvenirs not for themselves....but rather...most of them were the request of others. ^^So, a night before they left Seoul, they got to pack all of the things they bought.

To end the day of their visit, their other fellow friends who happened to be currently spending their 1-year program at Kyunghee University (Melizza & Asma) came to our house and ...this was when the party started. 

Simply to have a light dinner or so, I packed the meat-free pizzas from Seoul Cheese Pizza which happened to be our fave pizza in the neighborhood. Inexpensive, clean, yummy, and more importantly..it served no-ham nor no pork pizza ....that we could just order upon request. 

Another pizza, eh?

Got kinda bored (hmmm I dunno as to whether 'bored' is the right word for it) of having to eat instant rice--the one that I have to put in the microwave before consuming. Yep, that IS the kind of food that I consume almost everyday right here in Seoul. It is all simply because we are not allowed to cook our own food:) well, I understand that it is for the good reasons like avoiding any irresponsible persons from setting fire to the dorm out of their clumsiness or ignorance. So, the management might as well prohibit any cooking activities.
OK ..back to my entry...
Since it's been like two months since I got in Seoul...and get myself accustomed to consume instant food, today I felt like wanting to have something else....
But...no matter how hard I tried to think of what to eat...
my brain seemed not to cooperate...^^
Instead of having the so-called  slow food like healthy Korean food that I like such as bibimbap or anything with tofu in it......, I talked myself out of the blue.....to have a pizza.

Yes....it was pizza for lunch.
Since the last time I bought one ...I remembered not being able to eat it all up by myself...I asked Wawan to split the bill. It turned out that he found it OK, too.
OK then...off we went to the same pizza place that I went to the previous week.
Only this time, I did not order veggie pizza, instead we had potato pizza with cheese, mozzarella, onion, garlic, paprika, sweet corn, mushrooms, and of course...the potato on it. ( I guessed there must be some other ingredients..that I simply do not know of).
Then...'tis a good lunch indeed. It was a good thing that we could have different kind of lunch.
OK...enough for today.

Pizza Time

What's the buzz word for today in my head? Pizza.

What's the fuzz about it? Fiesta.
Well, I just want to pamper myself with something that I want to eat today.
It's my second time: ordering a pizza of my fave at this pizza house.
It's near, cheap, and all veggies:) That's just what I like about it.
Seoul Cheese Pizza or how it is called is a small pizza house right at the back of my language institute.
A 1 minute jump away from the class.
Oh I remembered having this pizza last semester. Right. It was when I was in the previous class.


 Ok. back to today's story.
I just got finished having my class where the teacher asked each student about the midterm result. Since it was an achievement for me ......for having got a good mark (at least to my --beyond--expectation)..I thought of having to pamper or treat myself with something. So, Pizza just popped out my head...and there I was. I was zooming into this pizza house and ordered the vegetable pizza.
For about 15 minutes or so of waiting, finally the pizza that I ordered just oozed out of the kitchen. ^^
Nicely wrapped with a red ribbon on it, I was bringing it to my room where I had my sumptuous lunch ever. (Does it mean that I never had one before?;) oooooooooohhhhhh
well, you see...I got to live properly in the sense that I cannot just use the money recklessly....even for a 6,000 Won pizza...I got to wait for something this good to happen...:) ^^
I will always be thankful and cherish the day when I could just eat whatever I want to have.
As a student on a scholarship, I could not just use the money at the expense of my daily necessities. So, that includes being able to constrain or to restrain myself from eating expensive food.
As a student on a foreign land, I got to make myself aware that I cannot just throw myself into the seemingly edible and affordable food--where the fact says the opposite.
That is why...I was so happy to have this pizza that I was saving it for my dinner....:) ^^. sounds pathetic....well, not for those who understand how a foreign student must cope with the budget adjustment of their own.
Once again,....I was sooo happy to be able to eat this pizza.

oh, back to my story at the pizza house;
while I was waiting for my pizza, I got this idea of capturing the interior of this humble pizza house.
then...
even before eating it, I took my time to take some shots of this pizza.
oh....it looks so nice.
Thank You God. Alhamdulillah for having blessed me with a chance to be able to eat pizza.
^^

Pizza, anyone?

It turned out that Pizza is more than just Pizza Hut in Seoul.
It has transcended into more than just a pizza. Well, traditionally added ingredients dotted the maze of pizza-hut like shops in Korea--at least in Seoul where I live.
Mr. Pizza(?), Papa John's, Seoul Pizza, Domino (for sure), Seoul Cheese Pizza..and more of seemingly endless choices of pizza houses.

Lunch = Pizza (?) ^^

So, this time around, we went to a nearby pizza house just behind our language institute.
This time, we went with our sonsaengnim who treated us with lots of pizza.
I love it since this shop offers three kinds of veggie pizzas--a haven for a vegetarian like me.
The potato, cheese, and vegetable pizzas are already in the agenda of my next visit.
What's more: it's comparatively cheap, for it costs only 6,000 Won or about US$ 6 for a medium-size one--which turned out to be enough for 2 or 3 people.
Ok. Done that. Been there.