Makan Malam....

Kali ini kita pergi ke Frigga. Tdk jauh dari rumah dan murah juga. 

Sdh langganan pula kita di sini. Banyak juga yg bisa dinikmati.

...apalagi utk vegetarian spt saya.

나같은 채식주의자에게 잘 적절한 메뉴.

Hyosowon: The 1st Vegetarian Restaurant Ever!!

Well, I really never thought that there would be this fully-booked vegetarian restaurant in Seoul. Not that I am being oblivious or anything, it is just that I did not bother myself trying to search for one.:) 

WEll..with the meat-eating culture so rampant:-) (sorry for my language)...in Korea, I just thought that it's a slim chance for me to even find one-I mean the veggie restaurant. 

But I was wrong...

Then..came along the day when Mr. Lee cw...asked us to have lunch together. At first..I was adamant since ..going out lunch taking along my whole family would only mean....one thing: making sure that all the food is halal and then...making sure that all of us can eat the food....:)

to our suprise...Mr. Lee took us (literally) surprised us by taking us to this ....vegetarian-restaurant. 

It's lunch time..and we got to wait for our turn to be served...well, it's buffet, of course.

But..we were so oblivious of the fact that even vegetarian restaurant has become somewhat an IT-thing to hang out in Seoul--at least for some. 

well...it's been a year ..wait..more I guess...the last time we met..was like in 2012 in Spring..so..it's a good thing that we could meet him again. Well, he used to be teaching at our university back home in Jogjakarta.

so..he was like...'Wow the kids have grown up...!" 

okay..this is the interior the restaurant where we savored our first all-vegetarian-food-restaurant.--> Hyosowon. 

After having our lunch, we're now ready for another adventure... 

oh..right..it's December and the Christmas-season was like all over the place.

where were these taken? at Sadang station!

Tapas?????

Had a dinner with my professor and friends at one of the sophisticated restaurants @ Apgujeong. Well, what to expect from this stylish restaurant.

I would not have gone into one of these had I not been invited. I mean..I would have had hard time deciding what to eat...being a vegetarian.

So...of all the arrays of food being ordered the other night, I could not make up my mind of what to eat. But, of course it did not mean that I did not eat anything.

Well, I should have caught each food as they were being served. But, the only thing that I remembered taking a picture of....is this Tapas. I think this is a Spanish dish or Mexican dish?* (need citation:) ^^

anyway...this is how it looked like.

I thought I would not be able to enjoy, but as it turned out...there were some other food I could easily enjoy. Too bad..I did not take the pics of them.

* One thing for sure, I did have a great time experiencing different food at a somewhat different world, i.e. Apgujeong. 

A Dinner with Ilya's Parents

I've been wanting to post this entry for quite some time since I did enjoy the time when the parents of my  pal right here in Korea invited me to have dinner with them. So, it was Ilya's parents' special visit to Korea that made it even more meaningful. Ilya--my friend and kind-of-my-younger-brother from Kazakhstan  --had been so busy the week his parents visited him in Korea last December (2011).

 We had this special dinner at a Chinese restaurant just around the block near our campus.
I remembered vividly that it was a chilly and windy night of December. But, the warmth of the dinner and especially Ilya's parents and auntie made it worthwhile for me to remember the occasion.
One thing I treasured: they even ordered just a special food for me since they'd known (thanks to Ilya) that I happened to be a vegetarian.
.....
Some of our friends were also invited in the dinner: Aigerim, Yelena, Aizhan (three of them from Kazakhstan), and Taekcho (from China).
The best part: it was such a wonderful occasion since it was (surprise...surprise) a customary (is it?) in Kazakhstan to bring along some present to their guests. Wow what a treat.









I mean...I got this whole bunch of candies and fruits from Kazakhstan...that I would not have tasted, had I not known these friends of mine. Amazing, right?
(more pictures and stories of these colorful candies later on^^ my other entry).

Another thing that I want to keep in mind was the fact that both of Ilya's parents did invite us to their homeland should we have a chance of going there. Why not. It would be such a great trip should I be able to realize this dream of going to Ilya's country--someday. Fingers crossed? ^^. Some say dreams do come true, right?

Lotte Mart

I just found this new mart near my campus. It is just about 5 minute walk from the main gate. I found it quite interesting since the price of most of the stuffs are only 999 Won or at least it has 999 tag that entails its price; e.g. the price would be about 1,999 Won, or 1499 Won, or 2999 Won.




Well, it is just psychologically cheap for most people who may find it harder to convert their currency into Won. But, as for me...it is considerably cheap and convenient...for me...as I am a vegetarian and I can find lots of stuffs that I can eat there:)
horrrayy

Salad of the Day :)

Kog Kamu Bisa Hidup?

Saya seorang vegetarian (daging, ikan, ayam dls..tak pernah saya makanJ. Tak (pernah) merokok. Tak (suka) minum kopi. Jadi kalau teman-teman saya sejak dua hari lalu ‘pesta’ sate kambing, sapi, rendang, dan seabrek makanan serba daging…apalagi pas Idul Adha…hmmm saya hanya bisa ikut merayakan saja—tanpa merasakan seperti apa daging itu. Memang…tak ada keinginan untuk makan. Jadi, bukan masalah.

Yang jadi masalah adalah pertanyaan-pertanyaan de javu yang sering kali saya terima.

“Ray, kog kamu bisa hidup?” kata yang satu. “Daging tak mau, ngerokok ndak, kopi juga nggak? Terusngapain hidup?” Waduh..pertanyaan yang satu ini…cukup menggelikan buat saya.

“Memangnya orang hidup harus makan daging?” begitu pikir saya. Tapi, saya memang bisa memahami teman-teman saya yang sering kali bertanya dan (mungkin) penasaran mengapa kog tak sekali pun saya tertarik untuk menikmati salah satu makanan terenak di dunia ini: daging. Benarkah?

Jawaban saya sering kali, “ Iya, ya..kenapa ya, tapi tak apa kog, karena saya sudah cukup dengan makanan lain non daging.” Lain halnya kalau saya jadi vegetarian karena saya ada alergi atau karena pantangan. Mungkin pas Idul Adha kemarin saya aka jadi orang yang tersiksa karena ingiiiin sekali makan nikmatnya daging tapi tak boleh karena pantangan.

Intinya…dengan vegetarian saya paling tidak banyak didekati oleh teman-teman pas acara makan bareng , prasmanan, atau di acara-acara lain yang pastinya banyak menu daging. Mereka ‘meminta’ bagian saya atau biasanya saya yang duluan memberikan daging, ayam, atau ikan jatah saya pada mereka…

Sebaliknya..saya mendapatkan krupuk atau sayuran milik mereka…

Kadang ‘barter’, kadang tak perlu ‘barter’ pun saya sudah senang..karena saya tak harus menyisakan makanan…:)

Akhirnya…pertanyaan ‘Kog kamu bisa hidup?’ sepertinya akan terus menemaniku…