♥ Blessed Christmas 2016!

Wishing all of you a Blessed Merry Christmas! (:

Sumikko Gurashi Christmas Tree  ¥3,900+tax

 Snoopy @ Facebook

May your Christmas be filled with God's...

deep JOY

PEACE that transcends all understanding

 & abundant LOVE

♥ 

25.12.16

♥21 달콤한 단지

달콤한  단지 (Seoul. Ewha)

Went back to Seoul again over the June holidays for a solo getaway/recharge/quiet time. (:

On my list of places to go was Ewha - just to reminisce on my summer exchange and to see how it has changed after 2 years.

Initially, I wanted to go back to Alice in cupcake cafe to pay another visit to the sweet friendly owner but unfortunately,  she was busy that day and someone else was helping her.  

(Glad that the cafe is still there though - seeing how the cafe scene in Korea is so dynamic, with shops opening for business and others closing down everyday)

Anyway, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as just further down the road i spotted this...

The desserts looked too cute to miss!

The blinds were down so i tried looking for their opening hours on the door to no avail. 

Thought that perhaps this shop had closed down so i decided to peek through the window to see if the cafe is still in operation. 

To my surprise, the door opened a few seconds later and a lady asked me if i was looking for someone.

Told her i was wondering if the cafe was open and wanted to try their dessert.

She asked how many people were with me and when i said i was alone she consulted another person inside and decided to let me into the cafe before opening hours! (:

 #perksoftravellingalone   

The lady who opened the door was actually the mom of this mommy-daughter duo cafe. And they were busy in the midst of preparing the desserts for the day (:

 The daughter self-learnt (!!) how to make the cute meringue figurines. Was super impressed by the detail and variety of meringues she made.

The mom is in charge of preparing the dessert cup base which is essentially brownies layered with flavoured cream. 

 

 Bunny and carrot meringues baking in the oven. (Too cute!)

 

My dessert in-progress

 

They had just started preparing the dessert base and the mom was super kind to let me choose the flavour i wanted and prepared it fresh on the spot! (:

My order! Strawberry meringue dessert ₩4,800
Even cuter in real-life! 

The rabbit on the plate and the 오미차 (five-flavour tea)  is 서비스

(the term "service" in Korea is to describe extra freebies that restaurant/shops/cafe usually give their customers)

The meringues were really delicious - not too sweet and just crispy enough (not heavy and soggy)

I'm usually not a fan of macarons as i find that even the shell is too sweet but these meringues were really perfect (:

The dessert base itself was pretty delicious too, the brownie was moist and chocolately though i felt that the strawberry cream could have had a stronger strawberry flavour.

All-in-all, i enjoyed the dessert. Also surprised that it was so reasonably priced as cakes in Korea usually cost at least ₩5,000 - ₩7,000!

The 엄마딸 team were super sweet, chatting with each other while preparing the desserts and it was so heartwarming to see the mom being so supportive of her daughter and the two of them being able to bond over the daughter's love for the craft. (:

Chatted with them a little about their shop, when they started and how they learnt to create the desserts. (: They were super friendly and kind,  answering my questions and also kept giving me more and more 서비스!

계란!

강치 

 Was looking at the daughter piping more figurines and thought that she was making fish -shaped meringues. 

They told me it was 강치 but I didn't know it meant sealion. 

They were so earnest in trying to explain that it was a sealion that they searched through their previous batch of meringues and gave me this pink one. haha! so sweet of them

As i was about to leave, they told me to come visit again. Told them i was in Seoul for holiday so this would be my only visit. Upon hearing that, the mom searched for a little gift for me , which was a brownie square, similar to the ones they used for the dessert base. (': too sweet of them!

 ♥ 

The really friendly and sweet 엄마딸 team!

The cute AND delicious desserts (: 

Thank you 엄마딸 team for this memorable, sweet experience! (:

 달콤한  단지

Nearest station : Ewha Women's University station Exit 2 (10 min walk) 

On the left of Ewha University's main entrance 

I forgot to note the exact opening hours but they open at 1pm. For Sundays if i recall, they either rest/open slightly later. 

15.06.16

Around Japan - Nishiki Market

Snapshots of Kyoto's Nishiki Market.

An old/traditional market which is worth a visit just to look at all the delicacies (: 

 Love the roof (:

 Always love how the Japanese posters are so kawaii~

 Cookies for dogs (:

 Traditional Japanese Sweets (: Too cute/pretty to eat!

 All the ready-made dishes look so delicious!

 Ironsmith handcrafting a cooking knife. Super interesting shop selling traditional cooking knives / cooking utensils. 

And of course, a few shops selling touristy knick knacks, love these Japanese style crafts.
 (Not too sure what these sort of crafts are called)

Definitely worth a visit if you have time to spare in Kyoto or as a wet weather plan (which was what we did on our rainy day there) (: 

Happy Mother's Day ♥

Thank you for everything

 ♥

Around Singapore - Mother's Day cakes (:

Mother's Day is coming!

Always interesting to see the various shops' creations (:


Spotted this at Taka's food basement. Too cute!   

Flor Patisserie Mother's Day Deco Cake (chocolate)

SGD $ 56.10 (15cm) – SGD $ 280.50 (30cm)

 A clearer (prettier) picture

 photo credits to Flor Patisserie
 

You can order it online @ their website!

Other special creations @ Taka's food basement (: 

____________________________

Wednesday Brunch time with the mom

 Was craving for some ice cream and waffles and decided to head to Star Vista, only to find that the 2 ice cream shops only open at 12noon ):

Headed to Cedele to see what they offer and was pleasantly surprised to see that this outlet has ice cream! (:

 And....they had a Mother's Day cake (:

Perfect for a pre-Mother's day celebration with my mom ;)

 Cedele Strawberry Angel Mother's Day Cake

$8.00 (slice)
 $62.00 (8') 

 If you eat there you can get:
Cake and Ice-cream Set $9.50 (better value!)

 

Order it online!

♥

Around Singapore - a Vanishing Trade...

Went to Great World City for lunch and headed to our regular post-lunch hangout - THAT CD shop - only to find this! 

 ):

 

 THAT CD shop was a huge part of my life, especially before there was YouTube (or the internet for that matter. haha)

Remember heading to this outlet as well as their outlet at Tanglin Mall on Sundays after lunch. It was a real treat to scour the rows and rows of CD for an album that we wanted, or just to see what hidden gems there were.

And of course, getting to buy the CD (back when i was in primary/secondary school), was a rare treat too. 

Remembered that my first few albums were:

 A*teens

Original Disney compilations

 Disney Refresh [This was one of my favourites but I lost it and have been searching for it on iTunes and online but apparently it is no longer produced ): ]

Westlife

Blue

 [#90's kid (:]

 The test-listen CD stations.

And the Showcase row where you could listen to the latest CDs. (:

(There are supposed to be CDs here of course. hahha. but they were all sold out as it was the last day) 

Was glad that i stumbled on it on their last day and managed to take some pictures to do a post!

 Thank you for all the memories! (':