Midnight madness in Dongdaemun

A few weeks ago, I went shopping in Dongdaemun with two of my friends. We took a bus from post at 7pm and didn’t return until 3am. We shopped from about 10pm-2am. Even though Dongdaemun is only an hour away from us, by bus, it took three hours to get there because of the Friday night traffic. Although the ride there was long, the trip was worth it! Many of the shops in Dondaemun only open up at night. The holiday decorations were being put up and it made the shopping experience even better. As you can tell from the pictures,it was raining and it was very cold.

You can buy various things at these shops. Anything from socks, gloves, scarves, and hats to purses, underwear, and jewelry. It’s amazing how many people were still out shopping at 2am. Many of the stores were open until 4am.

Sure, I’ll be a Starbucks barista in DISNEY WORLD

A few months ago, I found out that Starbucks was taking over Disney World. Okay, so they are not taking over, but they are moving in! Not only are they moving into Magic Kingdom, they are also moving into Epcot! Two parks with Starbucks? Oh, how I love the magic of Disney! Read about it here in one of my newest favorite blogs.

I’m not going to lie, I get cranky in Disney, even thought I love it so much. My feet hurt after one day, I get tired, and it’s usually way too hot. Now I can stay refreshed and stay up past 10:00 PM for the fireworks and late night parades.

As of now, Disney only offers Nescafe coffee, and I think it’s disgusting. There are a few specialty coffee shops here and there, but for the most part it’s Nescafe all the way. Last time we went in summer 2011, I bought my own Starbucks and brewed it in the room. If you haven’t already noticed, I’m set in my Starbucks and Disney-ways, for life. Our next trip to Disney is unofficially planned for Summer 2014! It’s going to be a big family vacation.

I have really been missing Starbucks lately. I hate the one here on post; it’s overpriced, understaffed, and isn’t serving my Gingerbread Latte this holiday season. The ones off post are even MORE overpriced and also do not sell Gingerbread Lattes. The Starbucks here also do not have Pumpkin Spice Lattes, but at least I was able to have a few when I was back in the states. When I say overpriced I mean more expensive than in the states. I am fine with paying full price in the states, since I do not work there anymore, but I am not fine with being ripped off!

This year is my first Christmas season in five years without my beloved  Starbucks job(we had a love/hate relationship.) You never realize how great something is until it’s gone. What I would give to have angry customers demand their drinks to be made faster, hear non-stop Christmas music, and eat Cranberry Bliss Bars every single day.

December 2009, with Josie and Ashley.

Homemade clementine muffins

I have been expanding my culinary skills for the past few weeks and have been trying to cook all sorts of different foods. Yesterday, I bought a big bowl worth of clementines for 3,000 won (roughly $2.75) from the street market and brought them home for me and Jim. Today, I noticed they were already really ripe. I realized that there was no way we were going to eat them all before they went bad and I didn’t want to waste them, so I decided to make something yummy out of them.

I went to Google and typed in, “What to cook with clementines.”  Two recipes kept popping up: one for chicken and one for muffins.

I boiled 10 clementines on the stove (for one hour) and continued to puree them into a sauce. I used half of the puree for this muffin recipe and put the rest in the fridge for tomorrow night’s chicken entrée. I did not puree the clementines with the skin, even though the muffin recipe said you could (and should.) I did however, drop the clementines in ice water before peeling them so that I would not burn myself from hot clementine juice.

Turns out, I can add homemade muffins to my cooking success stories. I don’t know how good or bad there are for you, but I do know that they are delicious. These will be great for breakfast for the next couple days while Jim is off.

I also made three with chocolate chips in them, just to see if they would be good or not. I really like chocolate covered orange candy, so I figured why not give it a shot.