From Where I Sip: Leonidas Cafe!

I have always claimed that theirs is the best coffee in Seoul!
How else can you describe an iced cafe mocha mixed with Belgian chocolate?

(One free chocolate for every coffee ordered at Leonidas!)

Before I continue on with my From Where I Sip series, I just want to write this shoutout to Leonidas Chocolates and Cafe. Yes, they sell the best chocolates, but they make the best coffee, too!  I first discovered their chocolatey cafe mocha at their Myeong-dong cafe years ago, which then closed, and then recently opened again. 

And I always thought I always had to run to Myeong-dong to get the best iced cafe mocha in Seoul...until they opened a cafe in Itaewon!

Their coffee shop used to be the one occupied by Jubilee coffee, just above Olive Young. That location is one of the best places to people-watch in Itaewon. You order your coffee, sit by the window, chat with friends, and look down at everyone passing, enjoying and having a good time in Itaewon! 

Of course, when I visited their Itaewon coffee shop for the first time this week, I ordered for an iced cafe mocha! And just like before, the rich chocolatey-ness of the coffee flooded my palate with flavorful enjoyment, which momentarily let me forget that I had to work overtime that night. Ha-ha-ha!

               (My chocolates are inside this metal heart!)

So, thanks to the Leonidas baristas Randy and Cora, I was able to enjoy the best chocolate coffee in Seoul again. I told them both that I would be back. Hopefully, next week!

It's More Pan In The Philippines!

Yes, it is absolutely more 'pan' (bread) in the Philippines, so to speak!

Most Filipinos have sweet tooth. And I am one of them. Like everyone else, I grew up enjoying different kinds of breads, cakes, and other sweet pastries and delicacies. 

             (As usual, my domestic in-flight snacks of 
                 'salab' and mamon from El Ideal)

That's why when I fly home, I make sure I get to enjoy all of them, plus a few other favorites. I really don't mind gaining more weight. After all, it's only my luggage that gets weighed in at the airline's check-in counter, and not me. Ha-ha-ha!

                   (Brunch at Bizu in Greenbelt 3! Thanks, Tina!)

                              (Macaroons from Bizu!)

And while I usually enjoyed chocolate cakes, brazo de mercedes, ensaimadas, fruit cakes and other sugary recipes on land, I also bring my own snacks on my flights back to Manila and then to Seoul, to make sure my enjoyment continues...up there at 30,000 feet, or higher!

                                    (Puto kutsinta and 
                     ready-to-fly-to-Korea ube halaya!)

                               (Dolor's sapin-sapin and 
        Cafe Mary Grace's chorizo and green olive pasta!)

My check-in luggage would always be full with sweets, aside from my clothes and toiletries. Perhaps, if the Customs would x-ray my suitcase, they'd always find that half of it is garments, and the other half is...diabetes. Ha-ha-ha! But I can only bring so much, which would only last for a couple of weeks. 

(Checking in my luggage with all my brazo de mercedes and              sweets; my weight allowance was 30 kilos.)

        (A sunny afternoon flying out from Manila to Seoul)

        (The best in-flight snacks ever: turon, sapin-sapin and             Jamaican beef patty. And soda with ice, of course!)

But thanks to thoughtful friends, I am able to enjoy these goodies in Seoul a few times in a year. And just last week, I enjoyed the best cheese rolls in the Philippines again! Thanks to Cielo and Mary Grace for bringing me some Mary Grace cheese rolls, suman and banana chips. A shout-out also to Marlu for the Salazar hopia, which I'm digesting as I upload this blog. Ha-ha-ha!

                     (And maybe Salazar hopia and 
                      Bizu macaroons before landing.)

(And I won this pouch during CebuPac's in-flight game!)

Just like the cool spring weather in Korea, these delights are always welcome any day...and night! I sometimes microwave a piece of the ube-pinipig suman for midnight snacks! The cheese rolls were reserved for breakfast and a pack of the Salazar hopia was for afternoon snacks.

               (Mary Grace cheese rolls arriving in Seoul!)

          (Mary Grace cheese rolls as breakfast in Korea)

Although there are also a lot of sweet delicacies and fancy pastries here in Seoul, having these goodies I enjoyed growing up is an entirely different thing on its own. The local desserts and snacks here just can't compare.

From ensaimadas to otap to piaya to panara; let's throw in bibingka, barquillos and empanada, puto manapla and hopia...I could go on and on, but I'm salivating now! I have to stop! Ha-ha-ha!

With all that variety of baked, steamed or fried goodies, it's indeed more pan in the Philippines!

                   (Mary Grace goodies arrive in Seoul!)

A PInoy At The Movies: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

(The offiicial Korean poster. 

Whose image do you think

is so photoshopped?)

Having seen the actual shoot of Avengers 2, Age of Ultron, here in Seoul, I was encouraged to watch this film, which is part of Marvel Studio's superhero series of films. Chris Evans was here in Seoul to film his scenes in Avengers 2, by the way. But lucky were his fans who saw him.

As a superhero film, Captain America: The Winter Soldier was expected to be super. And it was! Even on the early minutes of the movie, anyone can see that Captain American isn't somebody you mess with. Chris Evans, with all his bulked-up muscles, could still be Captain America even without his shield. 

And looking at the official poster above, although we all know that Scarlett Johansson has the body, I don't think her waistline is that small. Can we at least be realistic with her built since she's a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, which means she needs to eat her carbs and pizza to fight off bad guys in hand-to-hand combat? And her red hair in the film isn't that long. Natasha Romanoff's cut was just above her shoulder. Oh, well. So Photoshopped.

If you saw the first of the series, Captain American: The First Avenger, it would be easier for you to understand the beginnings of this superhero. In this film, his early years from being drafted as a soldier in World War II were told in dialogues and a few visits to the Smithsonian.

Even though this was more than two hours long, the fast pacing of the film and the action scenes made sure everyone in the audience were kept awake and eager to enjoy the next action scene.

And speaking of action scenes, the ambush of Nick Fury in the middle of Washington D.C. was especially amazing. As he was being shot at, chased and bumped at, I was thinking what it would have felt like to see such explosive and violent stunts involving dozens of cars in Gangnam. Instead of those fiery mash-up, what I saw, along with hundreds of spectators that day in Gangnam, were slow-moving cars in front of shops and cafes. It wasn't even a chase; it looked more like a parade. Ha-ha-ha! (Watch the video here.)

And being a superhero action film, that wasn't the only action I enjoyed. There were more, and you should watch it.

Perhaps, the only disappointment for me was Robert Redford playing a S.H.I.E.L.D. senior official, Alexander Pierce. Although he turned out to be a bad guy, Redford looked more like a professor in his role in Lions For Lambs, a film with Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise released in 2007. (That's also where I first saw Andrew Garfield in a film before he went 'Social' and 'Spidey'). Here, Redford looked so bland, monotonous and preachy. With white hair and a few wrinkles, I could play his role! Ha-ha-ha! 

What surprised me in the movie was the sudden appearance of Emily VanCamp of the drama series, Revenge, who was Chris Evan's neighbor and turned out to be an agent. She definitely could use the martial arts skills she learned from the drama series in this film. (But I wondered why she hasn't used those in breaking Victoria Grayson's neck as part of her revenge). 

I love watching superhero films because the superhero always wins in the end. But Captain America is different in a way. He was an exemplary soldier before he became a superhero. He's a gentleman, respectful and ready to do anything for his country, with or without a shield. 

In the meantime, can Marvel Studios please hurry up the next Marvel comics movie?

Cherry Blossoms....From Nam-san With Love!

I would have wanted to quote James Bond's From Russia With Love, but we're not in Russia. We're in Korea! Specifically, in Seoul!

So, the cherry blossoms have all gone. Unfortunately for some international tourists who arrived late in Korea,  no tree in Seoul bears those white, pink flowers anymore. The blooms have lasted for about a little longer than two weeks, during which time millions of Seoulites and tourists have taken millions of photos and selfies.

Although the most popular spot to enjoy the blooms in Seoul is at Yeouido, the other spot which I always recommended is at Nam-san.  

So, on one of the weekends when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, I dropped by the War Memorial of Korea and took a few photos from that vantage. I think that's the only spot which I could take a photo from, showing the whole mountain. Unless, of course, I break into someone's apartment near Huam-dong in the Yongsan District and take a photo from their window, or rooftop. Ha-ha-ha! 

I didn't anymore go up the mountain to see the blooms. I was sure thousands must also be up there, and I didn't want to join that huge crowd. Been there, done that. But from my spot at the Memorial, I wondered what it would have looked like had the mountain been planted with more cherry blossoms. I could see the cherry blossoms that lined up that one-way road going down from the NSeoul Tower. One can either walk the trail going up or down. Some bike their way up. This path is actually narrow and is being used by the yellow Nam-sam buses as well as the tourist buses. 

So, if you want to take a picture in the middle of the road, you have to watch out for these buses. Otherwise, the bus driver (and all his passengers!) would photobomb your sweet, romantic picture with your boyfriend or girlfriend. Ha-ha-ha!

But once you got that picture, it always will be from Nam-san...with love!

Of Yellow Boats, Yellow Ribbons And White Chrysanthemums

Yup. That's what you'd see if you visit the mourning altar for the Sewol ferry disaster victims at the Seoul Plaza. It was set up for everyone who wanted to offer flowers and prayers for the dead and to condole and sympathize with their families.

Messages from children and adults are written on the yellow ribbons and yellow boats. The ribbons are hanging on the walls, while the boats are sitting on the lawn as if waiting to set sail. 

I went to offer a white chrysanthemum at this altar today. I walked under the white canopy and followed the line. The mourners stood in front of the altar in groups, and before our group went in, each of us was given a white chrysanthemum, a flower that symbolizes grief.  There were two lines in our group and luckily, I was in the second one. A Korean gentleman in black standing to the right of the altar gave instructions to each group and I was able to observe what the mourners on the first line did before our turn. 

                                  (The mourning altar)

The standing in line, the waiting for our turn, the bowing at the altar and the laying of the white chrysanthemum were all routine but done with a sad message of sympathy and a prayer for the victims' eternal rest.  And I wondered.  Was the greed and craving for more profits and money at the expense of the safety and lives of these children a routine, too? And what message does this say to everyone?

Well, the message has always been loud and clear, but I guess nobody was listening. All these decades of advancement and development, Korean society has become materialistic. It seems to me that everyone loves to flaunt new 'this' and new 'that' to friends, relatives, and neighbors. Everyone wants to earn lots of money so they can buy 'this' apartment and 'that' car. And I guess, if the owners behind that ferry company scrimped on safety and loaded the boat with more cargoes because of this greed, then this national tragedy IS the message. 

                           (A mother explaining to her son)

                                      (Yellow boats)

As I was leaving the altar site, I passed the white tents clothed with thousands of yellow ribbons with messages. On the open area were hundreds of yellow paper boats with messages written by children. And perhaps, like most visitors and mourners at the Seoul Plaza these days trying to understand this tragedy, I see not only yellow, white or black. I also see one other color. The color of greed. 

I hope everyone wakes up and realizes this, as it seems the society has forgotten what it actually treasures the most. Because all the time, we're always late to realize what's important to us...until it's gone.

We couldn't be writing messages in yellow ribbons, or even put up altars and offer white chrysanthemums every time there's an avoidable tragedy.  

                      (The white chrysanthemum I offered)

Though those responsible must be held accountable, the authorities should ensure everyone's safety in all modes of transportation so that accidents like this don't happen again. 

Though yellow and white may be the colors that are most obvious these days, it's that other color that is causing all the grief, pain and anger. 

                          (At the Sejong Art Center entrance)