Ibyang

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.

Thursday Spent With Girlfriends

16 August 2013 Ibyang Sanchez 1 Comments Category: Charmed Life of a Mrs, Cherished Memories

Spent another Thursday off work with girlfriends. This time we celebrated the birthday of Jasper, one of my friends’ beloved dog.

Jasper turned five years old this month and we’re so happy he’s still one happy, healthy dog. We hope he stays that way for a long time.

Food was abundant as per usual. We all brought something to share with everyone. We started off with Bruschetta for appetizer.

We had Asian Noodles and Pesto Pasta–for long life! 🙂

I cooked Pork Binagoongan while one of our friends brought Charcoal-grilled Chicken (no photo).

Dessert was special as well. We had Custard Cake and Cupcakes topped with Meringue which were perfect with coffee and tea.

Before we went home, we all had a cup of Taho (sweet tofu with caramel and tapioca pearls), a great finale to a day of fun times, great conversations and good food.

Beauty Stash: OPI Vintage Minnie Minis

12 August 2013 Ibyang Sanchez 1 Comments Category: Beauty Stash

Here’s another cute find of mine.

OPI Nail Polish is one of the famous brands in the market because of its wonderful colours and safe formulation (no formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate and toulene). I have tried OPI and found out that it doesn’t chip easily.

A few months ago, I found these cute-sized OPI bottles containing red and pink colours as a tribute to Minnie Mouse.

They even named the colours in honour of Minnie.

From left to right:

RapiDry Top Coat. Non-yellowing, ends smears, smudges and streaks.

I’m All Ears. For those who love a shimmery magenta.

The Color of Minnie. The red that is the colour of Minnie Mouse.

If You Moust You Moust. For pretty-in-Pink nails in matte.

The little bottles come in 3.75ml which perfect for someone like me who would like to try different colours and didn’t want the trouble of finishing up a bottle.

Found these at CatchOfTheDay.com.au

Dinner at Won Jo (Strathfield, NSW)

11 August 2013 Ibyang Sanchez 2 Comments Category: Food, Restaurants, Shopping Finds

I’ve caught the busy bug at work. My load at the office has developed into a slow avalanche that it’s been quite a challenge to balance my time between home duties, work, blogging and time for myself. I don’t mind busy times though. I’ve always welcomed challenges that keep me in my toes and problem solving situations that keep my mind active.

Sometimes I don’t mind long days at work too as long as it ends up with dinner out with the Husband. Last Thursday, the Husband took me to dinner at Won Jo, our favourite Korean restaurant in Koreatown (Strathfield). We just had dinner in Koreatown the previous week but our attempt at dining at Won Jo failed then, we craved to go back.

A colouful Banchan. Won Jo serves several Banchan dishes and it’s refillable too.

We ordered our comfort Korean food that night.

We started off with Seafood Pancake. Won Jo’s seafood pancake has lots of seafood and little batter (just enough to hold the seafood in). Korean pancakes are usually eaten as appetizers but this particular Seafood Pancake has generous seafood in it that you can actually eat it with rice. It’s huge as well. We only ate one-fourth of this pancake and took the rest home.

The Husband got himself a huge bowl of Pork Bibimbap. The pork was a bit spicy and flavourful. Perfect for the huge portions of vegetables and rice.

Since it was a cold night, I had a bowl of still boiling Spicy Beef Stew. So comforting to eat with rice with it’s hot soup.

With tummies full, we decided to walk around Koreatown. We found a liquor shop with Soju and Korean wines; a grocery store that sells Korean ice cream and a chemist that sells Korean cosmetics.

These were our loots that night: Makgolli (Korean rice wine), Binggrae Melona Ice Waffle and Binggrae Summer Crush.

I was also fortunate to find a pencil lip colour on sale. It was a MISSHA Soft Crayon Lip Rouge and it even came with a sharpener. Can’t wait to try it.

If we’re going to end long days at work with dinner and a bit of shopping, I wouldn’t mind. But of course, we can’t do this everyday. But I’m glad for nights like this to occur in order to give us a break from our busy work.

Won Jo Korean BBQ Restaurant
33a The Boulevarde, Strathfield NSW
Phone: 9746 7041

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