Vegan Miscellaneous Things

So before my massive post on Cambodia I was looking at smaller things to talk about. I found three things to discuss. One was Coexistence Vegan Cafe in Dapsimni. 

Coexistence Vegan Cafe is basically what it is in the title; it is a cafe that offers vegan goodies. It is very close to where I live and I absolutely love it! The ladies are nice and the food is decent. They have a simple menu so they could focus more on quality over quantity, and they seem to portray a love for animals and a love for vegan culture. I think restaurants like these offer a bit of humanity to the lesser known and less popular parts of Korea. Dapsimni isn't like itaewon or hongdae, so there isn't a large foreigner base or even a liberal viewpoint. Having Coexistence Vegan Cafe in Dapsimni is like finding a designer bag at a discounted store, or finding a great book at the library. Coexistence Vegan Cafe is a great place and I highly recommend it. Go out of exit four and walk down the street. Turn left at the fruit seller guy and go straight for about four blocks. Coexistence Vegan Cafe will be on your left. It is a fun bright yellow building. Also there is an animal rescue right next door so you should check it out.

Cafe Sukkra is a jazzy little cafe in Hongdae, and proves the point that Hongdae is actually good. While there might be a huge uproar on this confession, i feel like to should make it, I personally did not like Hongdae. I always figured it was an area for wannabe hipsters and huge fraternity assholes. However there is a calmer side to the district. Going left, from exit nine you can see a more relaxed setting. Cafe Sukkra exemplifies that feeling. It offers a healthier meal set, with large vegan options to make you feel comfortable and less processed. The better thing is that Whole*istic provides their cooking there. So you can experience the deliciousness of raw vegan food. There is even vegan hot chocolate which is rich and delicious all at the same time.

For some strange reason I forgot that there is very few vegan or even healthy items in South Korea and convinced myself at the notion that I can cook totally gourmet vegan meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I have become a lot wiser to that foolish thought but beforehand I managed to scrounger up a chia seed pudding for one of my breakfasts. The chia seed pudding is very easy to make. Basically all you need is....

1/2 cup of chia seeds

a smidge of maple syrup

a smidge of cinnamon 

1 cup of soy milk

Mix that shit all together, keep it in the fridge for about 12 hours, and there you have it.

I'll try to throw up some more posts soon!

Marche@!

I've been hearing about it, but I have never gone, until now. 

There is a artisan market called Marche@ that occasionally sets up shop in different areas in Seoul. It is called Marche@ because wherever it is, where it was at would finish the name. That might seem horribly confusing but let me give you an example. Let's say Marche@ was at Los Angeles May 23rd. On that day, it would be called Marche@Los Angeles. My friend and I decided to go to the May 12th one, and I was so happy because of it.

Look at these beautiful people eating their beautiful food

Everything about this place was great. EVERYTHING. I didn't buy much but I got a couple of free things. I got a bag, a beeswax candle (I KNOW, NOT VEGAN), and I managed to get a DELICIOUS lentil burger, and a great candle.

I've seen blogs writing about Mellowsong's candles. They're soy candles beautifully designed like little animals. I got the owl which was ADORABLE. I don't think I could ever use it because it is just way too nice.

Cute 

 cuter

too fucking adorable

Having that candle is great because the smell of lavender cascades through my small little apartment. I really loved my experience at Marche, and I am sure as hell going to the one on June 2nd!

What do you think of my candle?

Another Fantastic Art Show

A long time ago I was very fortunate to visit Eva Armisén's art show. Eva Armisén creates whimsical pieces that reflect the exact feeling of happiness. In all of her lovely works, Eva Armisén brings a childlike beauty that also contains a mixture of elegance and fun. With her small incorporation of Spanish words, the viewer sees the european personality that everyone wants to emulate. 

I managed to make it to the opening. Even though they were about to close, I got to see a couple of her pieces. The show was at the Seoul Auction House Horim Art Center. The gallery is in Sinsa so the whole area looks classy and nice. It was pretty much perfect for the show.

Sorry for the bad photo

Lovely

Eva Armisén has earned some fame because she was chosen to be the art designer for some of the Skin Food cosmetic line.

The Elephant is my favorite

I want one!

What I wore

After the art show I was a bit peckish so I bought some TTeokbokki snack chips. They're a bit strange but I like them. They has a sugary charge at first followed by a kick of spicy. You can get them from the 7-11 convenience store or the g-25 connivence store.

One serious barcode

It is pretty weird/good

I had a great experience. I loved it a lot.

 What picture did you like?

More Of My Crazy Vegan Cooking

So, I am so far keeping up with my promise. I have another entry. 

It's full of food, cause that's all I care about now.

It's the only thing I care about.

#1

Another delicious stir fry

Honestly I think I mastered the stir fry, but it's probably considered the easiest thing to make. Whatever, I'm damn proud of myself. I made this a while ago so I might be a tad off my recipe...

• 1/3 of a pumpkin 
• 1/3 of a onion
• 4 garlics
• 3 bok choy bulbs
• 1/4 of enoki mushrooms
• 1/4 of a tofu block
• oil
• nutritional yeast
• braggs liquid amino

I basically do what I usually do with all my stir fries. I put the oil in a saucepan with some chopped up garlic and onion, and I wait for all of it to heat up and get nice and soft. After that I throw a dash of nutritional yeast to get it crispy and so I can have my B12 vitamins. Then I put in the mushrooms, pumpkins, and bok choy in that order. I top it up with a sprig of braggs and some diced up tofu, and I'm done!

#2 

A soufflé! jk it's another stir fry 

I know I shouldn't write about every stir fry I make, but seriously I am super proud of what I make.

• 1/3 of a pumpkin 
• 1/3 of a onion
• 5 or 6 of those little bouquets of broccoli
• 4 garlics
• 3 bok choy bulbs
• 1/4 of enoki mushrooms
• 1/4 of a tofu block
• oil
• nutritional yeast
• braggs liquid amino

Basically it is the same instructions as #1 but this incorporates broccoli. Try putting the broccoli in after the mushrooms so it can be a bit soft but still crispy.

#3

The god warrior salad

This was a special treat. It contains one thing I can't find in South Korea, and one thing that is hard to find in South Korea. Quinoa is as foreign to South Koreans as peeing standing up is to me, and avocado is only found in the English owned giant supermarket HomePlus, which is taxicab drive away. Basically I combined the two to make one of my favorite dishes I always made in California. I'm going to call it the god warrior salad because that is what I felt like when I was eating it; I felt like a god warrior.

• nutritional yeast
• 1/4 of a cup of quinoa
• 1/2 of a avocado
• pinch of salt
• 3 or 4 red lettuce leaves chopped and diced

Boil the quinoa or cook the quinoa in a pot. Mash the 1/2 of the avocado and add a pinch of nutritional yeast and the salt. Once you have a great mashed consistency, mix it with the quinoa. Once that is done, throw it on the bed of lettuce and then bob's your uncle. Well, actually, I don't know much about your family.

Are they nice?

Garobee Buffet in Gangnam

So I feel like I've been cheating on you...

I haven't been out a lot, but I have been to some vegan restaurants, and I haven't written about it.

I'm sorry

Yeah I'm super sorry about my own inconsistency. Truthfully I've been feeling like I've been cheating myself a lot. I've stopped reading, and I barely write in my blog, or write in general.

I'm going to try to change that.

What I am going to do is write a new entry every tuesday, thursday, and one of the weekend days. I figure I can remain true to myself, my vegan beliefs, and I could find a great way to collect my thoughts.

So first, I will talk about Garobee. 

Picture from trip advisor

Garobee is a 100% vegan buffet in the Gangnam area. Even though the term "buffet" reminds me too much of the fast food joint Souplantation, it is a regular thing here in Korea, and something you find everywhere. 

just like trash

However the problem with buffets in Korea, is that they offer mostly meat dishes, which, as you know, I really don't want.

just like trash

But Garobee is something different, it is something for me. Like I wrote before, Garobee is a 100% vegan buffet that offers healthy food for the morally conscious. 

OH YEAHHHHHHHH

I have been three times so far and I seen the usual stuff. There is a fake bulgogi that is made out of beans, a vegan curry fried rice, fried mushrooms with a sweet and sour sauce, fake cutlets, glass noodle chow mein, and my personal favorite, balsamic vinaigrette for your oh so scrumptious red leaf salad. 

I would like to rub that all over my mouth 

then eat it.

One of the major things I miss about leaving my beautiful California is the lack of vegetables. So whenever I am at a buffet place like this, I load up on the green. It's my drug. 

In the three times I've been here I've seen one thing change occasionally which is either the vegan fried bean curd, or the mushroom sushi.

I know that I've read some so so reviews about this place, but I really like it. The staff are friendly, and it's good to relax at a restaurant and not second guess what you eat. So if you ever show up in Gangnam, check it out. Get off the Gangnam station exit 11 and walk straight. Pass the UNIQLO and the Baskin Robins until you see a awkward divide that is connected to a parking lot. Turn right and walk up the alley. Then turn left. You should see a Irish pub on your left, and Garobee should be slightly further down on your right. Remember, LOOK UP TO FIND GAROBEE.YOU WON'T REGRET IT.

Would you eat at a vegan buffet?

My first korean wedding!!!

Today was a exciting day.

My across the hall neighbor, who has been giving me various forms of food as well as awkwardly inviting me over to her house for various parties, got married today and I was invited.

In what word, it was unique.

I've only been to one wedding in my life, but I decided I would never want to have a korean wedding.

It was at the hotel near my place and it was in this big tacky room on the second floor.

This is the hall were everyone met up

The weird wedding hall

So I was told by boss that I would be able or, I should be able, to bring a gift to the wedding. Actually he urged me to bring a gift instead of money. Usually for Korean weddings, people bring money instead of gifts. A coworker had a jar of raw honey so she offered for me to give that as a gift. I wrapped that up and made a card. 

I forgot my neighbor's husband's name so I used the name Han. I 

hope to GOD that is his surname and not hers.....

However, my boss is a liar. I came to the wedding hoping to see everyone bringing gifts, and it turns out it was just me. I was running from one area to another trying to figure out what to do with my shitty jar of honey. I basically turned it in to the table of people collecting money and ran away.

The couple had three photos set up. One was in a traditional Korean outfit, another had a western style wedding, and the last had them badmintoning? I didn't get why that was there at all. 

My friend and I went into the main area where they were getting married. There was no where to sit so we stood in the back with the rest. The bride and the groom were really pretty and cute together. Here are all the photos I took of the wedding.

She got a bit emotional

It was sweet

Aww

The groom's friend started singing karaoke style. That was the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me at a wedding. 

Pretty!

For some weird reason the groom motorboated the bride. Everyone thought it was funny. 

I didn't.

Hmm....

The weirdest thing was the giant tv and dj guy which talked into a microphone throughout the whole wedding. It seemed more like a tacky "sweet 16" party instead of a wedding. However that is a normal thing around here.

The outside of the hall was surrounded by these funeral like floral arrangements. It is pretty... but its too much of a cultural difference for me to appreciate it.

Afterwards we broke off and went to the buffet upstairs. Buffets in South Korea are a big thing. This was my food ticket.

And this was my vegan meal.

I assumed the zucchini was fried with a egg batter so I picked it off. There was this dried fruit thing that had dried figs!!!

This was their "just married" car but I don't think they used it. I think it was just there for decoration.

Like I wrote before... cultural differences made the wedding more unique than anything.

This is the outside of the hotel

This one too!

I wore this for the wedding. This might be the annoying "myspace whore" pictures but I thought it wouldn't hurt to share.

What do you guys think?