Heart of Five Poems - Café 5cijung

Café 5cijung is a quaint and dainty gallery café in Garosugil ("Tree lined Road"), Shinsa-dong. Once a seedy ajusshi drinking hole, the area has seen renovations the past couple of years and has been reborn with chic trendy cafés and chef-owned restaurants. It is now one of the favorite neighborhoods for Vogue-y women and GQesque men. Style is carried in a friendly and casual manner and is distinctive to Garosugil, unlike some other uber-trendy spots that can be regarded as intimidating.

Café 5cijung represents five (5) + ci (or si, poem) + jung (heart, affection) and when you enter the café you can immediately recognize why. When you walk into Café 5cijung the first impression you get is 'cozy'. The café itself isn't that large and I've been told that many customers ask if there is a second floor. (There isn't.) The warm ivory walls, soft wood chairs and tables, small details in nooks create an intimate ambiance. The small kitchenette is visibly open and you can smell scones being baked and salads being tossed.

Unsurprisingly, the ambiance being as such, the clientele were mostly women when I visited. The owner, who is as lovely as the place itself, remarked that there were days when not a single male customer would visit. Apparently Korean men aren't that comfortable being in a completely open space, especially if that space blooms with femininity and if mostly occupied by women. (Probable typical inner reaction : "Too much estrogen! Arrrgh! Panic!")

The café is well known for its light menu. The most popular seemed to be 'soft persimmon', a persimmon sorbet - we were the only table that hadn't ordered it. (None of us were keen on persimmon.) Scones with perfect texture are provided with every drink you order and can also be bought separately. Ginseng milk is another unique seller.

They have a short but effective wine list; the selection being the owner's preference and mostly chosen to be accompaniment for the dishes on the menu.

We ordered a lot of salads. There was a cheese platter and we also had the scones but no photos of those. I think I was busy eating.

A light crisp pizza. As you might notice, the portions are extremely girl-friendly. Not meant to be a dining place for guys, unless said guy is on a super-diet.

Took a picture of my Junko Mizuno Qee (I don't have to mention that I'm a doll and toy geek every single time, do I?) with the vase of flowers that was on the table. Perfect color match, don't ya think?
Café 5cijung's site : http://www.5cijung.com/

Of Dessert and Rabbits

Finally caught up with RJ this month. I think we see one another about twice a year. Considering that there are "close" friends of mine whom I haven't seen in years, I think that's a quite good average.
I'm one of those people who firmly believe that 'no news is good news' and if I know a person is doing fine, I'm pretty okay with that. Besides, what with the interwebs and mobile phones and extra application paraphenalia, you are constantly communicating with people anyway.

Japanese ramen for lunch (which I neglected to take a picture of) and dessert at Cafe aA in Hongdae. We weren't planning on dessert but the picture in the menu looked so scrumptious we decided to share.

Wonder Molly was impressed with its grandeur.

Since it wouldn't be normal without a goofy picture of me, here I am posing in prop "bug eyes" sunglasses (aka Nicole Richie sunglasses) with one of RJ's rabbits. Why he has rabbits, I didn't ask.

RJ's radio show 'On the Pulse' is on the air weekdays. It's in English and you can listen on the internet. Check it out~!

Life is a Blur

I remember being startled by the calendar declaring September. Now September is slipping away and if I hadn't been a diligent (i.e. OCD) diarykeeper I would have no idea what I have done the past several weeks. My memory is a complete blur.

Although I don't announce it here, I've been keeping up with my Napzzak Project and posting quite regularly. The latest batch was taken on Namsan (South Mountain) on a cloudy drizzling day.

Girl with Seoul Tower in background

Seoul is surrounded by hills and mountains. Namsan sits right in the middle of the city, though. Despite all the urban growth crowding in, it has held to its nature, both figuratively and literally.
Look at all the wildlife you can encounter!

The pheasants are slow, so they're easier to spot. (Hee hee hee.)

You can either walk up by the hiking trail through the pines and breathe in their scent while lounging in the rest areas...

...or you can walk up alongside the paved roadway and rest in more conventional benches.

I hiked the first half and switched to the pavement the latter half. Took a self portrait on the way. I love how goofy I look in these things.

At the top is Seoul Tower. Didn't take a picture of it (like all those years in Paris I never took a photo of the Eiffel Tower) but there was a floating wire man waiting in the plaza just dying to be photographed. See?

There was another man further on, who appeared to be flying in an elegant swan pose.

The floating sculptures are part of French artist Cedric Le Borgne's Travellers series. They will be installed there until the end of 2010. I plan to go again at night to take a picture with the spotlights shining.