No Reservations

I was reunited with my Bourdain fixation. If you don't know Anthony Bourdain, you were probably holed up somewhere so uncool and mundane. Joke! But seriously, he's as solid as ice, so cool it hurts. I sound like a lovestruck teenager and if you look him up on the net and see his picture, you'll probably say, WTH! No worries, you're excused. Watch No Reservations and you'll probably download the whole season.


This guy is living my dream! There are so many travel and food shows. Next to Bourdain, I like Bobby Chinn and David Zimmern. But they don't come close. Bourdain is the real deal for me. Blunt and straightforward, interesting without trying so hard. He doesn't have to do acrobatic facial expressions or let out silly remarks. He travels around the world, samples the dishes, makes interesting commentaries, mingles with the locals and everything's transformed into one helluva show. He eats street food with so much gusto, you just wanna buy a plane ticket and fly to his destination. So convincing! I love No Reservations! He might have been placed in a situation wherein he eats something others would not consider as food. But he's Bourdain, he will eat it. He's like Bear Grylls, invincible (on TV)!


Our friend, Mike, gave us seasons worth of No Reservations and it got me so motivated to write my appraisals... so that I will have time to watch. Haha! I'm replaying his feature on the Philippines and I can almost smell Pilipinas. He tried www.market manila.com 's lechon and decided that we have 'The best pig... Ever!' Yehey!

Travels are not exactly cheap. They require preparations and saving up. For me, the next best thing to experiencing a place is food. And if it's too much. You have Bourdain. No reservations required. Just sit back, relax and let Bourdain be.

~Photos are all taken from the tv screen while watching No Reservations~



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Kamsahamnida!

The Urban Dictionary gave me 11 definitions of Foodie, the most popular of which is:
~A person that spends a keen amount of attention and energy on knowing the ingredients of food, the proper preparation of food, and finds great enjoyment in top-notch ingredients and exemplary preparation.
A foodie is not necessarily a food snob, only enjoying delicacies and/or food items difficult to obtain and/or expensive foods; though, that is a variety of foodie.

But the definition I can relate to the most is:
~A foodie is a person who loves or has a deep admiration for food and eating food. Does not neccesarily have to be fat, but like eating. They might feel happy or very at peace when being around food.
If you like food, you are a foodie.

I guess that makes most of us a foodie. Now you can add another description of yourself in your resume.

I'm here again in Seoul and that's where the 'foodie' thing was coming from. I would love to go on holiday here just to eat. I'm only here for 24 hours, not much time so that's exactly what I did. I ate. A lot!

Sabasaba chicken.


It's like BonChon, Kyochon or Charlie Chicken. Korean style fried chicken's the tastiest fried chicken I've ever tried so far. This was my mission, to try the real thing. They do it so well here! It was crispy on the outside, the meat was juicy and the glaze was just right, it was not overwhelming, enough to make you take a couple more. They had so many chicken flavors and I chose the garlic soy. Yummy!


The place was busy with football fans, glad we had a corner table so we managed an almost peaceful dinner.


Let's look at the small details: a small bin for chicken bones, 2 forks instead of a knife and fork (I ate with my fingers though), a side dish and some crisps before the chicken arrived. The side was radish. It was so fresh and bursting with flavor(sweet, sour and salty plus that distinct radish taste all at once!) It's unlimited so you can order as much as you want.


Mission accomplished! Nomnomnom...

After dinner, we went straight to the supermarket. Food again! This is actually my thing. I love cooking so it follows that I enjoy going to supermarkets. I can spend hours and hours, wandering around.


Kimchi, noodles, condiments and so much more! How I wish I can read and understand Korean! This supermarket is called E-mart, two levels of Korean goodness! Pictured above is my favorite tea. It's a brown rice green tea which you can have hot or cold.

My stay here will never be complete without my favorite Korean BBQ!


Clockwise: BBQ, kimchi soup (my favorite!), rice with kimchi soup and seaweeds and side dishes.

I asked for a business card only to find out later that it was all in Korean. This is in Gang nam area and at 10:30am, I was the only one having BBQ! Sweet!


I will not lie. It was too early and too much for me, I felt sick after my meal haha! But it was so good, I know I will come back, I always do.

On a totally different note, Seoul has done so well for itself. The city's really clean. I'm so familiar with busy subways and underground, I almost got scared walking alone in the underground. :)


There goes my 24 hours! Kamsahamnida, Korea!

~Kamsahamnida means thank you in Korean~


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Location:Seoul, South Korea

From South Africa, with love.

Random sweetness from Paolo after his trip.




I love mashed avocados with condensed milk. Sweet potatoes don't make me feel bad as much as French fries do and Bio oil really does wonders. My skin's no longer afraid of winter or summer! White chocolate and almond, two of my loves in one bite. Happiness doesn't have to be pricey! :)



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Home is everywhere!

My job takes me around the world. It's not always easy. My relationship with my job is like any normal relationship, it's a hot and cold kind of thing. And like any long term relationship, though there are those not so good days, there are so many wonderful, happy memories that I've had with my job, I really do not see myself in any other industry right now.



The most remarkable I guess, from the whole experience I've had with my job is that I have become more independent. I have learned to appreciate time with myself-- being alone does not necessarily mean being lonely.


I don't feel awkward having a meal at a restaurant on my own, have learned to take subways and buses in foreign countries-- some of which don't even have English directions. I have enjoyed meeting people from all walks of life, and have enjoyed the company of people, whose country I only hear of when I watch Ms. Universe! :) I meet hundreds of strangers every single day, and have realized that strangers aren't strange after all. They can be the kindest people, even if you don't share the same language. I have realized that yes, the world can be mean sometimes, but there's enough goodness. You just have to be more open. I also have learned that it's possible to feel 'home' everywhere.


I just came back from a week long trip. My body's drained, having endured massive timezone changes! However, I'm really thankful for yet another opportunity. I was able to visit my high school classmates/friends who are now permanently based in Australia. After a week of stuffing myself with oily food, I was able to have a home cooked meal at Kris and Sheila's place. Love to Shei's mom who took me back to Zambales with her cooking :) It really felt like home. They even packed my dinner! I requested for dried fish and boiled vegetables and got so much more! We had danggit, pinakbet, fried fish, fried eggplant, bagoong, lots of rice and my favorite salted egg. It was so yummy!


So cute to see my high school friends enjoy being first time parents.


And so inspiring to see that their love brought the super adorable and doll-like Kaley.



Yes, I'm always on the go, always on the move. Thanks God, I have a choice! I can either wallow on the fact that my real home has a flight distance of 4,000 plus miles, or I can help myself by trying to find 'home' everywhere I go. Naman, being human, I sometimes wallow.
But most days, I try to help myself and make it more simple. Home can be a lovely set of pillows and a comfortable bed in my hotel room,


It can be as simple as a cup of Milo on a cold rainy weather or a soft poached egg, sandwiched between toasted multigrain loaves (after a 14 hour flight, this almost defined happiness! Ang babaw! Haha! :)


It can be watching my favorite tv show or reading my Yes magazines when I prefer to stay in.







It can be having McDonald's fries, coke and a Mcflurry, too when I wanna be bad! It can be having a carbo overload of pasta in the middle of the night when I can't sleep and definitely, it can be having a home cooked meal with people you grew up with (this is really comforting, I don't think it's even necessary to describe).

Indeed, home is everywhere! With determination, luck, and a little bit of help from your friends, it is achievable. So if you're somewhere in between, or is not exactly at home right now, I wish you luck in finding and creating your 'home'.


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