PAUL

London Love _ Found in Seoul

An old Professor turned me on to PAUL on a class trip to Paris. The pastries are so good they will kill you and your will power. While working in London, on special cake worthy days Laura would sometimes spring for the sweets from PAUL. Those were the days everyone wore a smile on their face, no matter the deadlines or the clients. ^.~

This winter PAUL opened a restaurant & cafe in Yeouido, a financial district is Seoul. AH-SAH!

soooo, today I dragged my coffee drinking, bread eating Korean friend there and we settled in with some french inspired food, hazelnut coffee, and the rich interior.

[tomato mozzarella on olive ciabatta with pesto]

[tourte legumes]

[hazelnut cafe latte]

[bread & fresh butter]

PAUL seems to be quite a hotspot in Yeouido, most tables were filled when we arrived at 2:30 Thursday afternoon. There was a Korean celebrity noshing amongst the lunching ladies and a team from a Korean drama were scoping the place out for the setting of a future episode.

Cheers to PAUL and offering cheese and bread in top form on the streets of Korea. ^^

**Also in Yeouido, the cherry blossoms are beginning to bloom, and the park actually as grass you can sit on~ a perfect outing for when the sun is shining! ^^ **

PAJU ~ a land of rarity ~

Heri Village in Paju is a rare treat of thoughtful modern architecture in Korean. The area is known for its architecture village and book publishing center. Many small galleries and cafes fill the interiors. The village is set outside of urban development and sits quite close to the North Korean border.

It was a nice change of pace from the monotonous high rise apartment boxes, but I wasn't totally satisfied. Heri Village has an eerie feel to it. It's a bubble of architecture and no human life besides the daily visitors which drive in, drive around, and drive out. The designers didn't consider the landscape or incorporating greenery, it has more gotten in their way. The buildings are all of the same scale and geometric industrial style.

While the architecture is interesting and the material use quite unique, the commonality of the space seemed to conform to the same homogenous guidelines much of Korea follows.

Heading uphill from Heri is an English Village. It seems to be a tourist attraction/English themed park with the "Immigration Office" at the front and streets famous from the UK & US filling the inside. You can take your picture in a red London-style phone booth and stroll down Ivy League streets.

Provence Village is a small area with a European feel. The small brightly painted buildings hold a charm so so rare in Korea. The coffee shop was cozy as can be and the pastries to die for. There are many small boutiques and tasty treats to be found here~

aA Cafe & Design Museum

aA is a wonderland for design oriented minds in Seoul. Located near Hongik University the warehouse like building is home to all famous and sought after designer furniture. Everything is noteworthy, from the windows to the tiles, and everything in between. The space has high ceilings and open floor space filled with a variety of tables and seating to meet all needs.

The basement is a museum of pieces collected, but is on lock down this year and can only be seen by peering through the glass. The menu includes coffee, beer, and wine, tasty sandwiches and salads. We arrived at noon, and the space was ours, leaving at three there were people lining up outside for a (designer) table. The space is welcoming and cozy, and you can try out all those chairs we learned about in our design history class freshman year~

What are you?

Meet Super Mac!

He's a firefighter. He's a police officer. He's a chef. He's a doctor. He can be anything!

What do you want to be?

[my student's illustrations of their future selves, developed in their 7 year old minds]

Jake busted out the red engineer in 30 seconds flat~ leaving me totally impressed!

Seonyudo Park

An old water purification plant located in the Han River has been restored into a public space which reveals and respects the past life of the island. The park has interesting structures and green space due to the remaining pieces from the water plant.

The most interesting part is the lower level paths and overpasses surrounded by soaring bamboo. Many photographers shoot in this park because of its interesting landscape and built environment. The materials from the plant are aged and rustic looking in their second life. Some materials are left as they were, other have been modified into buildings or play grounds. The design of the park incorporates a natural landscape with the remaining manmade materials to balance and intertwine with the other.

I highly recommend strolling through this park on a nice day with camera in hand. Take Subway Line #9 to Seonyudo Station, and if you go this way, ride in the first car to get a tour of the subway tunnels~ ^^

Ugly Apples

I bought a bag of apples the other day.

Then I was informed that these apples are quite special.

They are "Ugly Apples", as the name on the bag claims, mot-nan-e sa-qwa. These apples that didn't make the first cut in the vain Korean fruit system don't look so bad to me.

And they taste just fine~

I adore these "ugly apples" so much that I blog about them.

i heart ugly apples