The Married Life Archives | Page 8 of 50

Happy Hour While Watching Kdramas

18 August 2013 Ibyang Sanchez 0 Comments Category: Food, Korean Flair, The Married Life

We miss the night life in Seoul, particularly the kind where we had drinks at a market place on our last night in Seoul. We had a drink of Makkoli (Korean Rice Beer) and ate a plate of fried food. It was such a memorable travel and foodie experience–one of our best times in Seoul. After so many months, we got around to finding a liquor shop that sells Korean alcohol and that’s where we found a lot of bottles of Soju and Makkoli (also known as Makgeolli).

We bought two bottles of Makkoli because there were two brands available…we bought one of each. On Friday night, we celebrated the end of a busy work week by opening one bottle while we watch episodes of a Korean drama we are currently finishing.

If you find Soju too strong for your taste, try the Makkoli. It’s smoother than beer so it’s easier to drink. We read the information on the bottle and found that it’s healthy too! Its formulation includes Lactobacillus, the stuff used in the production of yogurt and cheese.

Happy hour won’t be complete without munching on something. Last Friday’s choice were flavoured popcorn from Korea.

We enjoyed two small tubs of flavoured popcorns: Creamy Caramel and Butter & Cheese. The Creamy Caramel is similar to Goldilocks Caramel Popcorn (from the Philippines) but only it’s not too sweet and sticky while the Butter & Cheese had the right amount of saltiness. We got these at Tong Li Supermarket and hope that it will always be available from now on.

Having a drink of Makkoli and eating snacks from Korea while we watch Kdramas eases our longing to be in Seoul. We know one day we’ll be back there again. But for now, we’re happy to enjoy a Korean-inspired happy hour at home.

Koreatown Fridate: Dinner at Wooden Bowl

6 August 2013 Ibyang Sanchez 3 Comments Category: Charmed Life of a Mrs, Food, The Married Life

So how was your weekend?

Mine was lovely. The Husband seemed to have caught the same vibrant vibe I had when August started that our mojo for de-cluttering and cleaning house are back. On Saturday morning, I was able to de-clutter our shoe storage. On Sunday, we cleaned house and de-cluttered our paper files. It was a weekend of rest, play and chores. On top of it all, we got to have our Fridate at Koreatown.

Oh I’ve missed Koreatown (Strathfield, NSW). It’s been weeks since I’ve visited and seeing it on Friday made me very happy. It’s our first date after my semi-hibernation and where do we go? Koreatown, of course.

As per usual, I had my “Me” time at “My Sweet Memory Cafe” before dinner. I brought “Sakura” (the name of my macbook air) with me so I can write while enjoying a cup of Iced Coffee and Vanilla Cupcake.

Their Iced Coffee is something I always enjoy because they add a lot of ice cream in it. This coffee ain’t strong so it was a perfect afternoon treat for someone who would like to sleep at a decent time in the evening. Unfortunately, the vanilla cupcake wasn’t as yummy as it looked. It was actually dry. They’ve had better cupcakes so maybe I just got a bad one that day.

When Hubby arrived, we dropped by the Korean Dollar Store and Hanaro Mart where we looked at kitchen stuff and bought a few grocery items.

We were supposed to have dinner at our favourite Korean restaurant but there was already a queue for a table. We decided to try Wooden Bowl. The photos outside their resto boasted of delicious Korean Fried Chicken (KFC) so why not? We haven’t eaten KFC in a long time.

Wooden Bowl was busy as well but thankfully, a couple vacated a table as we entered. A quick look at the menu and we realized that Wooden Bowl also offered popular Chinese dishes.

We got ourselves a half order of the Korean Fried Chicken in Soy and big bowl of Black Bean Noodle.

The Korean Fried Chicken had a juicy taste of soy and mild chili (You can request for a spicier flavour). The skin had a thick but flavourful breading and it wasn’t as crispy. We’re used to thin and crispy skinned KFCs but even if we’re expectating for something similar, the delicious flavour of their KFC made up for it.

The Black Bean Noodle had a huge serving. So huge that you can easily share it with two or three persons. We didn’t order rice as this was enough for me and the Husband. I enjoyed their version of the Black Bean Noodle. It was perfectly seasoned and the balance of sweet and salty was just right.

Savoured our favourite Korean dishes while we enjoyed talking about our favourite things. It was the perfect Fridate to end our busy work week.

Wooden Bowl
29 The Boulevarde, Strathfield
Phone: 02 9746 9077

Mornings In My Creative Space

11 July 2013 Ibyang Sanchez 3 Comments Category: Charmed Life of a Mrs, The Married Life

Mornings are when the Hubby usually finds me in my creative space. It is when he finds me typing away on my laptop, doing photography shoots, stamping on my sketchbook or reading a book. I love the morning light and I love to start my day doing something I love.

In my creative space, I’m usually accompanied by a book, camera, crafty things, a notebook or sketchbook, pencils and a cup of coffee. These are a few things that fuel my inspiration.

Nutella Pancakes

7 July 2013 Ibyang Sanchez 0 Comments Category: Food, The Married Life

Hubby is very busy with work that he’s been working even on weekends. This morning before left for work, I woke up early and made a special breakfast for him–Nutella Pancakes!

There’s really nothing extraordinary with the pancake batter I made, only that I added two teaspoons of Nutella spread on the batter. It was enough to bring a little hazelnut flavour to the pancake. (If you want it more sweet or hazelnut-ty, add more!).

I topped it with caramelised apples (cook apples in brown sugar for a minute or two). The apples brought a bit of tartness to the sweet Nutella Pancakes.

If you want to make your pancakes a little more special, you can add spreads (like Peanut Butter, Nutella, Speculoos, strawberry, etc), nuts or cheese (Ricotta Pancakes are yum!) to the pancake batter.

Happy Sunday!

Vivid Sydney 2013 – Our Favourite Photographs

10 June 2013 Ibyang Sanchez 2 Comments Category: Aussie Life, Charmed Life of a Mrs, Photography, The Married Life, Travel

This is the last instalment of my Vivid Sydney 2013 posts. If you missed the first two parts, please check this and this.

I just want to share a few of our favourite photos from the three nights we went out exploring. Most of these are just shots of the Harbour Bridge and the images on Sydney Opera House.

Under the Harbour Bridge, with the city of Sydney Opera House (left side) and the city of Sydney (right side). I love all the elements in this photograph. Technically, this photo took a lot of tries. Night photography is not easy and to put people into the frame is more challenging (I had to not move for a loooong time). And then we added that “halo heart” around me which made it very tricky. Nevertheless, we are very happy with the result, we did it! Big thanks to our photographer friend Larry, who created this concept.

Vivid Sydney 2013 - Our Favourite Photos

Surrounded by the glowing lights of Sydney. Here’s the Husband who lights up my world with a thousand bright colours {cheesy!! pardon me but that’s really what I wrote in my instagram :)}. It’s seldom that the Husband and I have a decent photo and this one below is a rare moment when a photographer friend makes a superb job of photographing us.

The iconic Harbour Bridge captured in different lights with a backdrop of the city. It was the first time they lit this up for the Vivid Sydney. Two years ago, we were in one of the pillars of this bridge taking photos of Vivid Sydney (VS) from above. This year, we had to go near it…and under it because it’s one of the main attractions of VS.

The Sydney Opera House showed the best spectacular images to-date. The biggest attraction during Vivid Sydney is the Opera House. We always have high expectations when it comes to the lighting of its sails simply because it is Australia’s most famous icon. And this year, the Opera House’ light show exceeded our expectations. It was the most attractive light show of the Opera House and we loved its concept “Play“.

“Play” showed images that reminded us of the 80s such as the cassette tape.

In line with concept of play, an image pertaining to a Pinball Machine was shown.

An image of Luna Park, Australia’s amusement park.

Artworks and movements projected on the Opera House.

I believe this year’s Vivid Sydney was the most successful we’ve had. On the last weekend of Vivid Sydney, we learned that hundreds of people went to the city to see it. The thick crowd was likened to the New Year’s Eve Sydney celebrations. Nowadays, it’s not just Sydneysiders that come to see it but also travellers from all over the world. It’s amazing that this city is slowly becoming known for Vivid Sydney.

Vivid Sydney had a dramatic end on 10th June when on the last few hours, a blanket of fog covered the city. The fog seem to have brought an ambiance of sadness but to me, it was the perfect dreamy way of taking a bow and bidding us adieu.

Vivid Sydney 2013 – Our Darling Harbour Experience