Mandu Madness

My sleeping patterns have been very messed up since reading week :( I stay up for no reason, missed and have been extra late for class, ay yi yi! I've been way too relaxed about work this semester and feel like I have a lot of catch up to do :/ My classes are interesting so I don't mind the reading, I've just been lazy. Time is going by so fast...I'm planning for Easter break right now, and then classes end, I have exams, and its over!

Things on my mind:

• construction of tradition & romanticized notion of history
  
• normalization of gendered speech and acting (did you know German has a female, male, and neutral nouns?)
• being "cultured" and class discrimination
  

As I previously mentioned, I've been doing a lot of cooking here. Thanks to Aeri's Kitchen and Maangchi, I've been making a lot of Korean food =P And I just found this blog Closet Cooking that makes me want to be more experimental and try new things. My flatmate Pauline took a Chinese cooking class and made beef dumplings for us one night (see above pictures). After that, I was inspired to try! So I used Aeri's kimchi mandu recipe.

Preparing the mandu fillings. Ingredients: veggies, noodles, beef, and, of course, kimchi :)



I ran out of the store bought wrappers and made my own. Mad tedious -_-



Yay my creations! The whitish ones are the store bought wrappers and the rest are made from scratch.



Mandu fail.

You're supposed to freeze them all separately, and then can store them together in a bag. I threw them all in a bag. And now have a giant lump of mandu.



I still had mandu filling left so I made more and this time froze them separately. I also made 2 mini mandus because I can. And they're adorable. :)

Hmm...where to go for break? Sweden? Brussels? Sleep for days? What to do what to do...

Excursions: Bristol & Bath

The Royal Crescent. Bath, England.

Hello friends! This past week was reading week for me, basically a holiday (vacation). I finally got out of London and visited Bristol and Bath. Yeah yeah! Bristol was realllly nice, not too small town, not too big city, lots to see and do, friendly people. Bath was too touristy, and not enough to do, unless you wanted to spend money. It was nice to get out for a few days!

Oh, and btw. You! Yes, you reading this! I would appreciate if you left a comment. Thank you :) And prepare to scroll...there are lotsa pictures :)


First stop: Bristol

My first time making kimbap! We prepared some for the journey :D

We took the megabus! I still have to run to make it to the megabus on time, even in London haha :( It was cold and rainy/snowy when we arrived.

So, we settled into a nice cafe to collect ourselves and make a plan for exploring.

I think that was actually one of the University of Bristol buildings.
Are you curious where this path leads? Well, I can't tell you haha all I just took a picture of it :)

Friends.

View from the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Rainy like always. Castle-like building!

Look at the itty bitty cars. Mini :)

Windy.
Hello!

Haha this picture cracks me up. Can you tell it was very cold and wet?

Lots of small, cute and expensive boutiques. The last word is the most important:(

Sorry for the blurryness but gigantic modern shopping mall/center! The entrances are open to the streets, hard to describe but very cool :)

All the different condiments they offered at the restaurant we ate dinner at.

On the way to the hostel we slept at, we turn on the street to find a bunch of drunk guys. Some are peeing on the wall. Then we pass a pole & table dancing restaurant. Our hostel is right next door. There are two shady men smoking in front o.0 Thankfully, the place itself was clean and nice.

Second day was sunny and beautiful! The weather really affects your mood.

Can you find me?
It looks like this street is really long, but the first pic was on the way up, and the second, down haha.

Full English breakfast: beans, poached eggs, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms, and toast.
I liked the way the graffiti looked in the front of the church...

Second (and last) Day: Bath

The Royal Crescent.

Too big to fit in one shot.

Afternoon tea break. Very tired.

Chai tea that looks pretty but tasted eh.

Man playing a violin. Standing on a rope in the air o.0
Bath Abbey.

Steak pie. Finally, good pub food!

Inside or rather under the crust. I think normally the meat is inside a regular pie crust.

Good bye!