Evergreen Brickworks

This past Saturday, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and visit the Evergreen Brick Works again.  We arrived around 11am, which in our opinion, is not too late, as we had to make a little detour to the weekend garbage dumpsite to dispose of our 3 bags of garbage which we forgot to put out last garbage collection day (note to self: Civic holiday does not count as statutory holiday, and therefore garbage collection does not postpone).

Anyway, we arrived at the Brick Works at 11am, and already the parking lot was full, with many cars parked in wrong, non-designated spots.  I was going to suggest to leave and go somewhere else, but Kenneth was determined to stay and try out their food for real this time.  So, I went to line up for parking ticket while Kenneth circled around for a parking spot.  Around 11:30am, we found one, and a legitimate one too (we were so tempted to park illegally, like many others; but we were afraid to be ticketed or towed).  So with a legitimate parking spot in hand, we parked our car and walked to the food market with a peace of mind.  I bought the maximum time limit (12 hours), so we could basically park until 11:30pm that day.  Think about it, $1 for 30 mins, and Kenneth was planning on staying for 3 hours (as there were many fun things to do there besides EAT, EAT, EAT!), the $6 (for 12 hours) deal is just too good to pass.

The food and farmer's market.

Our first stop was to get lunch.  We chose the busiest stall there was: Tim Clement Crepes, which specializes in "Crepes, quesadillas, burritos".  Kenneth lined up at the burritos line (which moved pretty quickly, as the flat bread was ready made, just need to be reheated), while I got the snail-paced crêpes line, where each crêpe was made from scratch.  In all, we bought an Egg burritos, a grilled veggie crêpe with an extra free-run egg, and a breakfast crêpe, all for a little under Cdn$30 (which in my opinion, is quite expensive... but everything there is expensive).

The line moved very slowly even though there were two people working on crêpe and only one guy at the burrito stand (I think crêpe and burritos shared the booth).  But as the crêpes are made fresh from scratch, we really can't complain.

The Wong's lining up for food!

This is the breakfast crêpe.  It has ham, free run egg, carmelized onions, green onions, and cheese; and finished with a Hollandaise sauce.  Yum!  (I asked them to take out the onions because the girls don't like it, but I can imagine it tasting even better with it.)

The lady is make my grilled veggies (eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, carmelized onions) crêpe.  It's finished with a roasted garlic sauce.

Here's the roasted garlic sauce being added to my yummy crêpe.

After our "main course", I also went to another booth that sells Chef Susur Lee's "Singapore Coleslaw".  It was something special for Kate, because of all the crispy, deep fried yam slices and edible flower petals.  She had half and I had one and a half (because Kenneth didn't like it... he thinks cabbage has no nutritional value, and probably he did not like the dressing as well).  But Cdn$5 for a small stryofoam bowl of salad is again, quite ridiculous.  It's probably a one-time thing for me.

Susur Lee's Singapore Coleslaw

We also bought other food items from other stalls; like a strawberry, basil & ginger popsicle Cdn$3 (for Kate), lychee and cactus pear popsicle Cdn$3, gingersnap cream filled cookie (for Mackenzie) Cdn$2.50, a raspberry ice-cream cookie sandwich Cdn$4 (shared by Kate and myself), and an Iced green tea infused with blueberry juice Cdn$4.95 from Oikos Tea, which according to tea lover Kenneth, sells very expensive tea (because it was grown by the owner himself, in Ceylon, Sri Lanka).

So here's the end to the food portion of the outing.  I may write the outdoor version later when I have time; but in conclusion, what would I do differently next time?  I'll probably park the car at park and ride at Finch Station (should be free on weekends, right)?  Take the subway to Davisville, and then the shuttle bus to Evergreen Brickwork.  This way, we don't have to worry about parking, and the girls LOVE riding the bus and subway.  That's like hitting THREE birds with one stone... FOUR, if you count the eco-friendly factor too.  

My way of recycling clothes

Mackenzie is growing up very fast and she is (still) potty training.  This only means that her old onesie type underwear no longer works for her.  I had been buying her big girl tank tops as underwear, but I thought it such a waste to throw out all those onesies when they do still fit... it's just that without buckling the claps on the bottom, the underwear sticks out in front and at the back like she has a tail.  So, I took my scissors and sewing machine and altered them to fit Mackenzie now.  Some of these were from Kaitlyn days, so we're really recycling!  I did not have second thoughts about cutting these, because I do not really want baby number 3.  Two girls already keep us way too busy.

My trusty sewing machine of 8 years helped me with this job.

It all started with a bunch of onesies that are too snug to snap the buckles up at the bottom.

I simply cut off the bottom portion, as close to the seam as possible to maximize the length.

And simply sew it up so that it will not fray.

Mackenzie is happy that she can now show her belly button when wearing this undershirt.  In the past, we snapped the buckles up and she can't play with her belly button freely.

She is happy that mommy altered the shirts.  She thinks these are NEW!

How it looks from the back.  Yes!  No more "tails"!

Another "belly button" pose.  I think she is saying "Saranghae" ("I love you" in Korean).

Happy Girl posing for mommy!

Sungkyunkwan Scandal Cap

I had a long list of to-do things, and the Sungkyunkwan Scandal Cap is one of them.  And seeing that this cap is close to finish (compared to my other projects), I decided to tackle this in the afternoon, while Mackenzie had her lunch while watching TV.  I had been really happy with the results of 3 of the 4 main characters I drew on the cap.  I know that Moon Jae Shin's character (nicknamed Geol-oh) is going to be the most difficult to draw, and that was the main reason why I had been procrastinating.  I finally had to do it and I can't say I'm really happy with the result, but at least I finished the cap, and to me that is "closure".

Top view of the cap.

Cast: Gu Yong Ha (aka Yeorim), played by Song Joong-ki 송중기

Kim Yoon Hee (aka Daemul), played by Park Min Young 박민영

Lee Sun Joon (aka Garang), played by Micky Yoo Chun  박유천 (Park Yoo Chun)

Moon Jae Shin (aka Geol-oh), played by Yoo Ah In 유아인

Here's my rendition of the logo: Sungkyunkwan Scandal 성균관 스캔들

Kaitlyn and her friend from NY

Every year around this time, Kaitlyn will meet up with her friend from New York, Jocelyn.  This year, we had a little playdate at our place.  The girls watched a movie Tamagotchi, the Movie and played in the backyard (it was hot, but I guess young girls don't mind... as for me, I was feeling faint after staying in the sun for a while taking pictures of them jumping in our backyard inflatable playground).  Mackenzie, who was too excited to take a nap, also joined in... but her crankiness (due to lack of sleep) kicked in just about a hour before the playdate ended, so she was constantly bickering and fighting with the girls.  Oh my!  I hope it did not ruin their memory of this playdate.

Kaitlyn and Jocelyn on the inflatable jumping "castle".

The girls posing for the camera.

More posing by the girls.

Little Mackenzie trying to join in.

Taking a break.

Chatting on the swing.

Mackenzie trying to shoot some hoops.

The Girls had another Art Day!

We went to Michaels for more felt pieces to make my latest creation: floral hairpieces.  While we were there, Kate spotted some wooden birdhouses and decided that she'd like to paint one to hang in our backyard to feed the hungry birds (crossing my fingers that we don't get more bird poop with this).  Kenneth also bought a string of wooden stars for Mackenzie to paint so that she doesn't feel left out.  I thought Kate did a wonderful job decorating her birdhouse.  Definitely surprised me that she actually put some images over the background color.

The artist: Kaitlyn Madyson.

Kaitlyn painting the birdhouse.

 

Love the horse and the lady.

Mackenzie also paints too (after her nap).

Her project is to paint a string of stars which daddy chose for her.

As always, painting evolves to playing with paint and water.

But at least she got the main painting done.

Mackenzie showing daddy how dirty her hands became after playing with paint and water.

Yummy Galbi Dinner @ Home

All thanks to Kenneth and his new grill, we had some great Galbi beef for dinner tonight (I also made Japanese beef curry and some veggies ~ Kate has always been a fan of Japanese curry, and now even Mackenzie is too).  Anyway, back to the Galbi beef... we bought a pack of 3 strips from Galleria at around Cdn$24.  Kenneth said one strip alone would've cost Cdn$15 at Kazan Teppanyaki, so cooking it at home is definitely more economic.  I wasn't going to eat much beef, as the curry is already a beef curry and I'm trying to cut down on meat... but I just couldn't help it, they're that yummy.  Tender, juicy, delicious (Kenneth said we bought the right sauce), what more can I say?!  Too bad I didn't take any photos of the finished product, as Kenneth quickly cut up some into smaller pieces for the girls and he doesn't have the world's most wonderful plating skills... =P  But here are the pictures from the cooking portion:

Galbi on the grill... yum yum.  (Or in French, Miam, miam)

The "chef".

My mouth is watering again already.

I wonder if Mackenzie was looking at daddy or the Galbi beef?!

More Headpieces

Made a few more headpieces while watching Greatest Love last night.  I made the candies ones for fun, but honestly, I'm not a big fan as they're too bulky and heavier than the floral ones (but Kaitlyn seemed to like them; she thought she looks like someone from Pokémon Black and White cartoon if she wears two at a time).  In fact, Kate saw it downstairs this morning and called out to our bedroom upstairs that she wanted to wear it... that's how much she likes her candy headpiece.

I prefer the floral ones and this one with the orange and brown felt is perfect for Autumn.  Mackenzie said, "Pumpkin!" the second she saw it.

CANDIES!!!

Mackenzie with the "Autumn" themed floral headpiece.

Close-up on the headpiece.

Kaitlyn wearing TWO candy headpieces.

Close-up on the candy headpiece.

Lunch at Galleria

With nothing planned in our agenda today (I find it a blessing to be so free and nothing to do, because this past week had been a hectic one with the agenda stuffed full of kids' stuff), we went to lunch at Galleria, another Korean Supermarket / shopping center similar to H-Mart.  We've heard that the food court at "old" Galleria (they are now at a temporary location because a condo is being built in the old location) had fabulous food court meals; so we decided to try it out today, even though it could very well be new owners in this new location (which used to be Chapters Bookstore).

Our table filled to the max with Korean dishes (okay, Omurice is Japanese...)

Here's Mackenzie giving a thumb's up to the Ja Jang Myeon

I ordered the Doen Jang Jjigae, obviously still not over the movie "The Recipe"

Kenneth ordered the *Special*, a pretty spicy Pork Rib stew with sour sauce on the side... it is surprisingly quite good, especially with the sauce.

Here's Kaitlyn working hard on her omurice... she didn't finish it of course (she said mommy makes better omurice), because she ate a lot of the potato cake (that resembles something like a pizza).

I also ordered the "Oden", which is one of my favorite street food, whether it be Japanese or Korean in origin.

We also tried 2 iced Korean beverages: Rice Slush and Iced Cinnamon Tea.  I tried the Rice slush before, so it was no surprise that I still like it.  The Cinnamon Tea is a bit strong for me, but Kaitlyn liked it and drank half of it.

After lunch, we went to the supermarket to get some galbi beef for dinner tonight (Kenneth wanted to try it out on his new grill).  I also stopped by a cosmetic store inside Galleria as I saw some BB creams and would like to check them out.  It's a Missha brand, and trying it on my hand, I found it to be somewhat grayish, dark in tone.  The shopkeeper told me that Missha takes up 30% of the BB cream market in Korea, and Skinfood and the rest of the brands share the rest.  So supposedly Missha should be a good brand, and the SPF is as high as 42 (which is way higher than the SPF 20 from my Skinfood BB cream).  They gave me a sample to try out at home (so I can use it on my face and see the difference from my light and peachy Skinfood alternative).  I also found some Korean face masks at amazing prices, so I bought 20 of them.  The ladies there told me that I can basically used them everyday because they're very gentle and good for the skin, and I'm going to do just that, as I'm already hooked on disposable masks already.  They also gave me a Missha brand of face mask to try out.

If I can get my basic Korean skincare products from this shop, I guess I won't be on-line shopping as much.  When I told the shopkeeper that I'm currently using Skinfood, his reaction was, "Where did you buy it?"  And when I told him on-line, he looked as though he figured as much.  Why don't they carry that line?  I asked them and they said "no".  Maybe it's not high end enough, as a tube of Missha BB cream costs Cdn$25, while Skinfood is only Cdn$15 (although the Missha tube looks at least 50% more in volume).

SHOPPING!  SHOPPING!  SHOPPING!

Any ideas what these are?  Clue: they're my recent addiction...

Face Masks!!!  =D ♥♥♥♥♥

Free sample!  Although I think No. 13 will be more suitable for my skin tone.  No. 21 is still a bit too dark for me, I think.  We'll have to really apply it on the face to know for sure though.

Freebie No. 2... another face mask.