Brown Sugar Kitchen

After living in Seoul for almost a year, one of the things that I missed from the States is a good American breakfast with perfectly cooked runny eggs on the side. I didn't realize that I've been taking runny eggs for granted when I was still living there. Mainly because there are a good number of places that can cook 'em the way I like it that I can easily go to when I'm craving 'em. But turned out, it is something that I rarely encountered in Seoul for some reasons. The places I went to mostly overcooked their eggs, so I didn't get to taste those thick runny yolks very often. (Prolly need to go for a runny eggs finding mission next time :P)

Anyways, after an 11-hours flight and waking up too early because of the jet lag, going for a good American breakfast sounds like an excellent idea. Went to go try Brown Sugar Kitchen in Oakland and their breakfast was delicious. Plus their poached eggs were perfect! For my next visit, I think I'm gonna have to try their famous buttermilk fried chicken & cornmeal waffle cos everybody seemed to ordered that menu item ;)

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Do Stuff

Two good friends of mine launched their own Youtube channel today and I couldn't be any happier for them. I've been so excited and looking forward to this since the day they shared their ideas and showed me the sneak peek to their first video. Now that they have officially launched their channel, I got to finally watched the whole video of their Budapest trip and it is beautifully done. The cinematography is on point.

For those of you who are interested in going places, trying things, and doing stuff, check out Soo Zee & Leigh's new channel Do Stuff on Youtube!

Now I think I gotta go watch that Wes Anderson's movie. 

And oh, hope everybody had a great Valentine's day! :)

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Royal Guard Changing Ceremony

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw this ceremony was "the royal guards sure have a really cool uniform". My eyes were feasting on the colors of fabrics that the guards were wearing. I mean, how can you not, really? Plus they have really cool hats, flags, weapons, and musical instruments too. There are two royal guard changing ceremonies that you see in Seoul, one in Gyeongbokgung Palace (경복궁), and the other one at Deoksugung Palace (덕수궁), which is the one I went to. The ceremony itself took about 20 minutes or so, consisting of the guards marching out of the gate bearing flags and playing traditional musical instruments, the exchange of guards, and the final march accompanied by the traditional musical instruments once again. I would probably recommend checking this ceremony out at least once because it's pretty interesting. Since it's a scheduled ceremony, you can check out the time to see it here before coming to Deoksugung Palace.

Fun fact: I had to get pretty close to the guards to get the low-angle shot and when the head guard saw me squatting in front of him, he stared directly at my camera for a good minute without blinking. He's so cool for being a good sport about it. 

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The Mill SF

During one of my trips to San Francisco, my mom and I managed to do a couple of coffee shops hopping sessions when we were there. Even thought we both don't drink coffee, I think we both enjoy visiting new places and be in a different environment once in a while. Plus we both have an appreciation of nicely designed spaces, such as this one. The Mill is probably one of the more popular cafe spot in San Francisco and I can see why after visiting the place. Plenty of natural light, open space, and nicely designed interiors make it a good place to just chill out or to get some work down. Try out their famous toasts and Fourbarrel coffee if you ever decided to come check out the place. 

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Year of the Monkey

Just a quick sort post wishing you guys a happy Chinese (Lunar) new year 2016 for those who are celebrating. Hoping for a prosperous great year of the monkey for everybody. And for those who are in South Korea, 설날 잘 보내세요. 새해 복 많이 받으세요 ^^

Hope everybody is spending time with your loved ones, eating lots of good food, gathering (or handing out) those red envelopes or taking advantage of this long weekend to do something you enjoy :) Cheers!