Food in Korea- Instant Rice Cake Soup (Tteokguk)

Not long ago, I went grocery shopping with my suite mates. We saw these bowls of instant meals and we really wanted to try it. Each costed just a little over W1,000. I had no lunch plans today so I decided to try it out and if it is good, I'll probably buy more and stock them up in the dorm room. This is how the cover looks like. It is around the size of a medium sized cup noodle bowl.

**Fact:  Tteokguk literally translates into Rice Cake Soup. It is traditionally eaten by Koreans on New Year's Day.**

Tteokguk pic 1

When I opened up the box, I was pleasantly surprised to find packets of different things individually wrapped. I was expecting the tteok (rice cakes) at the bottom of the bowl like how the instant noodles are already at the bottom of cup noodle packets. I was also surprised to see a spoon included! That wasn't something I was expecting either but I was glad to have it.

Tteokguk pic 2

Next, I added the tteok and around half a packet of the seasoning (yellow packet) into the bowl and added hot water. (I accidentally added some of the garnishing as well.) On the cover, it said you have to add boiling water to the mixture and let it sit for 3 minutes. I did not have a kettle so I added hot water but it worked fine too! After adding the garnishing, the soup looked delicious!!

Tteokguk pic 3

After doing a taste test, I found out that my soup was TOO BLAND!! Apparently, I added too much water to my soup. I emptied the seasoning packet into the soup and it tasted much better.

**Note to self: Add water only to cover the rice cakes! Or you'll have to add lots of seasoning and not be able to finish the soup!**

Tteokguk pic 4

The texture of the rice cakes were not as good as fresh ones, and the soup did not have the sweet taste that normal rice cake soups will have, but for an instant meal, this was quite enjoyable. I especially loved the garnish that you add in the end.

As a meal, I'd probably rate this rice cake soup a 3.5/5. The meal only consisted of the rice cakes, the soup with seasoning, and the garnishing. From a nutritional point of view, this meal is high in calories (400+ kcal) considering it was lacking in both protein and fiber, and it is probably high in sodium as well. For a more nutritious meal with this instant tteokguk, you'll probably have to add vegetables and an egg into it. On the other hand, this bowl of rice cakes is extremely filling. I wasn't able to finish the whole bowl even though I was quite hungry because of the huge portion of rice cake they gave. It was very easy, and quick to prepare as well. So although it isn't a suitable for daily meals, it is definitely something that makes a good meal when you are in a rush!

An accidental adventure- Lotte Fitin at Dongdaemun History & Cultural Park Station

It has already been 3 weeks since I reached Korea! I'm sorry I didn't have time to update this blog because I was busy adapting to Korea, school and shopping. This blog is going to from the first week of my trip. On the 1st of July, I made a dinner appointment with my aunt and cousin at Dongdaemun. I was supposed to meet them at 7pm but I reached at 6 pm at Dongdaemun History & Cultural Park Station. Feeling adventurous, I took out my phone to take pictures, and began exploring the place.

It felt like a carnival at the entrance to this building. There were very interesting exhibits/ models/ standees carrying umbrellas when I walked passes this building.

Exhibit outside of Lotte Fittin

I dismissed the thought of shopping at a shopping mall and chose to walk down to the underground shopping area instead of into the building.

Escalator down to the Underground Shopping Area

When I went down 2 flights of escalator, this was the sight that greeted me. There was also an entrance to the mall from underground. The picture below shows the walkway facing away from the mall. The stalls there mostly sold office wear.

Underground Shopping Area

When I walked further down, I realized that this underground shopping area was actually very big. The main items they sold, however were these:

Sport attire clothes

Before going to this underground shopping mall, I was exploring the shop houses on the ground floor. I the shops there all sold sports equipments and attires. I should have known then that this area was designated to sell sports things but since the underground shopping areas that I have been to previously sold cosmetics, shoes and clothes, I was not expecting an entire sports attire underground shopping area! I walked past the entire stretch of stalls and back but I did not see anything that interested me.

It still wasn't time for me to meet my aunt therefore I succumbed to the lure of the new building Lotte Fitin. I went in through the basement entrance.

The main signboard of the building

 There was an electronic area in the basement with Suzy posing with a camera.

Suzy standee

I felt that the lights on the escalator were very pretty so I took a picture of it too!

Escalator- Lotte Fitin

The customer service personnel had such cute uniform! I wanted to walk closer to take a picture but I was afraid it would be rude for me to do that. She had a cute hat, scarf and dress combination! (Click on the picture for a clearer view!)

Information desk

 I felt that the concept of the interior of the building was rather unique. the shops had round areas instead of the square ones we usually wee.

Interior View 1 

Interior View 2

I managed to spot a Charles & Keith store inside!

Charles & Keith Store

This is a picture of the interior design of the washroom. I love how they have more space with mirror than sinks for us to touch up on our make up.

Female washroom

This is supposedly the flush for the toilet. But being me, I did not know which buttons to press. (There was no button where the arrow is pointing at at the top of this device.) I tried pressing different combinations of the buttons on it but nothing happened.

Toilet device

So, the caveman in me finally resorted to the traditional method of flushing…

Toilet- Lotte fitin

Flush!

The toilets are very conveniently located at one corner of the mall. They had water fountains on the way to the washrooms too!

Washroom walkway

 This is how the water fountain looks like. The slot on the top right is a disposable cup dispenser. You can fill up the disposable cup with water from the dispenser, and throw it away into the flap below the cup slot.

Water fountain- Lotte Fission

This is the most expensive item I saw on display. This dress alone is W348,000! I came to a conclusion that this brand Bustier is probably a designer boutique.

Bustier Dress

 Remember how I said that the entrance to this building felt like a carnival? It was because it was the opening of the building. They hired balloon scepters, hosts, and street performers to attract people into the building.

Balloon Sculptor

Balloon Sculptor 2

Gift Station and Balloon Sculptor

 There was also this lucky wheel/ prize wheel beside the prize booth. The host invited me to spin on it.

Prize Wheel

 I won this can of coffee from the spin!

Canned coffee

Stilt Walker

I forgot how I walked to this building from the exit I was at by the time I came out of the shopping mall. Luckily, there are always these maps around train stations to help pedestrians find their way!

Local Map

Walking away from Lotte Fitin, I took one final shot of the building.

Hong Kong Travel package: Flight and Hotel Part III

United Airlines

Continuing from the first and the second post about the package bought from zuji.com, in this post, I'll be writing about the flight to and from Hong Kong on United Airlines.

When my mum and I reached the place to check in for the flight, I was slightly taken aback to see that that were around 8 security guards sorting us into queues and asking us questions. I found out after that that security was tight because firstly United Airlines was a US carrier, and secondly the flight was going to the US after stopping over at Hong Kong. I didn't feel like I should be taking pictures of the security guards there so I didn't. Its too bad that I didn't though 'cos it isn't something that we would see everyday. I wanted to take pictures during our journey back but there were no security guards when we were at the Hong Kong airport.

The plane was big. But maybe that is just in comparison to my expectations. I've been taking budget planes and small airlines so much that I didn't think that I would be taking such a big plane. If I had to estimate, the size of the plane I took is the size of a normal Singapore Airlines plane. Here are some pictures of my plane.

United Airlines Plane view 1

United Airlines Plane view 2

The stability of the plane was really good (because the plane was large). This was probably also because I haven't flown in full fledged carriers in a really long time. I used to have very bad ear pains when I fly during the accenting and descending parts of the journey because of the pressure, but both flights with United were really nice, smooth and comfortable. There was a little bit of turbulence on our flight back but it felt very controlled and was a little like a mini roller coaster. Even during the turbulence, the flight was very comfortable.

The only thing that was not as impressive from the flight was the food from Singapore to Hong Kong. In their defense, the food provided when we were on our way back from Hong Kong to Singapore was not bad. The flight attendants brought out big plastic bags and encouraged passengers to recycle their rubbish near the end of the flight. I was impressed by this because the attendants got the passengers involved in recycling. However, this move felt slightly fake because it only happened once on my return trip. Nonetheless, it is quite a good marketing strategy if they are just doing it merely for that purpose.

Boarding Pass

Another thing I should mention is the friendliness of the counter staff of the Hong Kong Check-in area. She could tell that we were not fluent in Cantonese therefore she wrote down what she wanted to convey for us to better understand her.

My verdict:
If I got a chance to, I would definitely want to go on United Airlines again! I know I have already said this a few times but I really had a very comfortable 4 hour flight from Singapore to Hong Kong. The service was wonderful, the seats were comfortable and the entertainment was quite up to date. I managed to watch Les Miserables during my trip on 12th May! As a whole, i was satisfied by the package provided by zuji.com and I am also definitely going to use it again when I am traveling!