Al Saba Restaurant: Persian or Indian/Pakistan Restaurant?
Thanks Va for being my critic, it thought me to be more careful even though this is just a personal blog. Hehe
Thanks Va for being my critic, it thought me to be more careful even though this is just a personal blog. Hehe
We just arrived from Seoul today, we went to International Clinic in Itaewon to ask a prescription for Malaria which we need for our vacation in Bangladesh this Christmas. We had to wake up early again so we can make it into our appointment. I just had gimbap rolls in the terminal as my breakfast, we’re just on time with our appointment after the doctor gave us the prescription we needed we directly went to the pharmacy and walk towards the Persian Indian/Pakistan restaurant where we ate are our lunch. The restaurant opens at 11:30 AM but we are there ten minutes early,this is what we ate in Al Saba Restaurant.
Samosa – a stuffed pastry and a popular snack in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, the Mediterranean (Turkey), Southwest Asia, the Horn of Africa, North Africa and South Africa. It generally consists of a fried or baked triangular, semi-lunar or tetrahedral pastry shell with a savory filling, which may include spiced potatoes, onions, peas, coriander, and lentils, or ground beef or chicken. The size and shape of a samosa as well as the consistency of the pastry used can vary considerably, although it is mostly triangular. Samosas are often served with tamarind chutney or curd – Wikipedia
I did not ate all of my food so I have a take-out but my serving of samosa was eaten by Pookie bear so in all he has five samosa (lol) plus he ate all the rice I only got one spoon because he said it was his order and mine is the bread or the tandoori garlic naan. Anyway I will have a nice dinner later with my left over mutton karahi and I will not share it as well. Hehe, kiddo.
I guess I need to change my blog title to A LAZY BLOGGER, I am feeling lazy to blog which is not noticeable because my post are too long . Dork! But that’s how I feel, it’s been one or two weeks since I joined meme’s except Nostalgia of course, and now I am joining again this meme every Friday.
Here’s my share of sky, a dark snowy sky taken last Wednesday.
I am tired that’s all I can whine today. I only sleep five(5) hours, I wake up very early in the morning waiting for the alarm clock to ring but it does not happened after few minutes. Darn there’s no used setting an alarm clock if I wake up before the clock do its job. Around 6:15 in the morning we are already outside walking on snowy street I almost slide two times, the sky is still dark and I guess everybody is still sleeping because there’s only two or three people in the street and it is all empty, we saw one videoke bar which is still open and there are people and we heard someone singing. We arrived the bus station around 6:30, Pookie bear was a little pissed off tickets are all sold for the early trip, the available bus will be at 8:00 in the morning. We need to be at the Bangladesh Embassy as early as we can because the embassy office hours is between 9:30 and 11:30 in the morning.
If we will take the eight o’clock bus will going to arrived Seoul after one hour or it depends because the road has ice. Then it will take us another one hour to take the subway and walk up to the embassy it is okay if Pookie has no class this afternoon but he has, he just told her co-teacher that he might be late and not absent. So as we walking on the bus terminal, Pookie bear found a bus with a tag EAST SEOUL, so he thought taking a chance to take that route, so we went back to the ticketing office to ask. Anyway its on the other ticketing office so we need to walk back and fourth to buy and return the old ticket after wards. Well still a lucky day, the new bus left anytime so as we are standing a new bus arrived. Just in nick of time its full, we left the terminal at 7 o’ clock in the morning and arrived in East Seoul around 8:15 AM. We transfer to another building and took the subway. We arrived at the Bangladesh Embassy 30 minutes earlier with their office hours, the officer entertained us even they are still close he look on our documents if it is complete or not. After it he instructed us to pay for the processing fee at KEB bank while waiting for the embassy to open its window for visa or passport applicants.
Thanks to the officer instruction and we found the bank, anyway we I also asked one of the sweeper in the area where is KEB bank I just show him the deposit slip. So done paying the processing fee, what we need now to have a photocopy of our ARC and Travel Itinerary. We’ve went inside the Capital Hotel and luckily they offered that serviced, so we found ourselves inside the Bangladesh embassy again waiting for our time to submit our documents, the window is busy serving another applicant. Then done documents are submitted we I need to return on Tuesday to pick-up our passport.
After it I am running like in marathon just to walk with Pookie bear, he walked so fast. We took the subway again and went to the Express Bus Terminal, the terminal for the 8 o’clock bus. The terminal is so big that we get lost even we always ride a bus there, anyway I am the one to blame because I am the guide. instead of going out I took him on the 4th or 5th floor by escalator. Hehehe, I just told Pookie bear I am sleepy and hungry lol. We had an eleven o’clock bus, while waiting for the bus to arrived I bought some gimbap rolls and water, when I have to pay for my water darn it is so expensive W1,800 for one normal bottle so I have to ask for another one thousand won from Pookie bear. I am busy munching my gimbap rolls when the bus arrive and open its door, as we sat I open my water..“What kind of water is this, why is it sweet?” Lol, Pookie bear told me if I did not noticed it is not water, so I look on the bottle and read POCARI SWEET. Pookie bear seconded that’s why it is expensive because it is not water. He told me to get water and I grab this on the fridge because it is the only white drink among the assorted drinks but its not water eh. After one hour and ten minutes we finally arrived at the bus terminal here in our place. Have to walk 15-20 minutes though to get home, on the way home we went inside the super market to buy an olive oil, toothpaste and small package of meat for my food. Done for the day I tried to sleep when we got home but my eyes are wide open, so I just lay and stretch my achy back and now back to blogging after the bear left for school.
As of four o’clock in the afternoon there is a snow fall here in our place, I’ve been waiting for it because there’s already snow fall in Seoul but here it is still sunny. Then as I am working in front of my computer our room turns dark so I turn on the light and decided to cook rice , lunch as well and when I peep in our window Yay, it is snowing. The excited me went out with my shorts and thin shirt without a slippers. Lol, I didn’t even take time to get my slippers in the cabinet because I was such in a hurry. Click..click..click..then my feet cannot take the cold anymore I went inside and look for my sweater and grab my slippers in the cabinet. Click..click..again and I decided to shot a photo of me in the middle of the snow forget about the noodles I am boiling I’m busy on what I am doing.
Then returned again inside our apartment and cracked some eggs, Pookie bear will not be happy if he found out I did not cook his meal. After it, went outside again, now wearing a winter jacket and shoes. I left the noodles in the pot, the two locals working on the next apartment look at me maybe wondering if it is my first time to see snow. Lol!
Just so lucky that this metal thing is in front of our apartment so I was able to set the timer of my camera and take photo of myself. Hehe..when I returned inside our apartment the noodles for my pancit canton was not good to eat anymore, it is too sticky and wet. Now this is how it looks like after the snow. Scroll down..
Just kidding, this is how it looks like in Canada right now. My mother-in law send this pic to Pookie bear and it was send to me after wards. My MIL says classes were postponed because some of the roads are not working, blocked by snow. As I look at the above photo it feels like your are living in an Igloo because snow is more than half of your house. This is just a two days snow how much more one week?
After a short visit with the Bangladesh Embassy we return to subway by walking 20-30 minutes. We went to National Museum of Korea and spend few hours wandering around the artifacts, learning about Korean ancient history and non-stop photo session. After our visit we went to souvenir shop just inside the building, I’ve bough a notebook souvenir items from G20 Seoul Summit, Emelyn bought 4 small boxes of Tangerine Chocolate which she hand the two boxes to me. We had a lot fun walking around, then we took the subway and had a shirt shopping on the subway stores, I bought one long sleeve turtle neck shirt and she bought two.
Then we went to Itaewon to eat late lunch, we ate at a Mexican Restaurant its a treat from her. After eating we went to their apartment and Guro and had photo session too. After staying for few minutes I have to go home I will have a long travel by subway and bus. She gave me a bag of goodies and walk with me up to the subway which is around 20 minutes from their apartment I guess. Then we bid goodbye till next meeting, I reach the the bus terminal around 6:35 PM, and I got a seven o’clock bus. There’s a little traffic so we reached our place around 8:10 in the evening, then I walk home so fast that took me ten minutes only instead of 20 minutes. When I arrived home Pookie bear is making his meal, his first word when I enter the apartment “Will you explain why it took you 12 hours in Seoul”. I just told him I did not catch the six o’clock bus and we went to Emelyn’s apartment anyway he did not ask anymore when he noticed that I left late in the bus station here and arrived the embassy in the mid-afternoon. That means I only have short time with my friend, it was the travel that makes me longer in Seoul. The moment I arrived I just took off my jacket and finished cooking his meal and wash the bunch of dishes in the sink which is empty when I left.
Went to Seoul yesterday and it was really a tiring day. I asked Pookie bear to set the alarm clock for me at eight o’clock but I wake up ten minutes before it rings. Well I ate my breakfast so I will have an energy and I left our apartment quarter to nine and walk to the bus station which is twenty minutes away from us. The bus left at nine thirty in the morning, I arrived in Express bus terminal one hour after we left the moment I arrived I called Emelyn on the public phone, she said she is already in the subway so am I. So I boarded the train and had one transfer, when I arrived in meeting place she’s not yet there, I waited five minutes and she’s there with her high heeled boots. We walked through the Bangladesh Embassy which we thought closed because the door our wooden and not glass where you can see if there’s people inside, we went to the third floor and there we found another door with a tag “Always close the door”,I thought it is the application area, I’ve opened it without knocking (bad) there we found a man (maybe it was the Ambassador), he told us its on the first floor the door with tag “Consular”. After saying thank you we left. Darn didn’t tried to open that door because I thought that’s where the Ambassador stays (dork) what I am looking is the word “Visa Section” but did not find it. So we open it and we’re late, they just accept visa application during the morning, 9:30 -11:30. Anyway the officer there was kind enough to entertain me, ask what is my purposed and so on., then I found out that we need itinerary if we can’t produce an invitation letter from someone in Bangladesh (that’s what I told from Pookie bear the night before I left to Seoul but he said its not needed).
I was told too that Pookie bear also need to apply personally and not just me to bring his applications form which pertain a problem because he has class and Seoul is far from we are. When I asked the officer that Canadian can get visa upon arrival, he said it is much better to get it here in Korea because they can also denied him in the airport. They don’t care what’s the nationality of the person entering their country., I’ve told him Filipino before also don’t need a visa to enter Bangladesh as what it is stated in Wikipidea before the changes occurred and as the embassy told us when we emailed them. He said no, Filipino needs a busy as what he understand since a long time ago (lol). So I asked again if what days they are open if Monday to Friday or what, the officer I guess is already pissed off of me he said the office hours in the morning then seconded with the office days. I say thank you and return to my friend waiting for me in the benches. Then the guy speak on a foreign language where the other Bangladeshi laughs, I don’t know what are they talking but I felt offended. Anyway its their embassy, country we are planning to spend our vacation and that’s how friendly they are, and well maybe they’re also offended when we just came in to their office without a word so c ‘est lavie.
Anyway there are times I feel degraded when someone know I am a Filipino now I can’t blame other Filipino’s why they want to be white and look smart. World is not fair, it has no four equal sides but a plane curve everywhere equidistant from a given fixed point, a circle.
Experimenting in cooking is already part of my life, my mother and I used to experiment food way back in Philippines. What I mean we just cook or sauted any vegetables we harvest from our small back yard garden or sometimes from grandmother’s vegetable garden.
Last night I have cooked a pork with spaghetti sauce. There’s a left over spaghetti sauce from the jar so I used it as my main ingredients. You know here in Korea there’s a lot of ready spaghetti sauce for sale which you don’t need to cook anymore just pour it in the top of hot dumplings or pasta and eating time already.
Anyway this is how I cooked it , first I sauteed onions and the meat the I waited until the meat turns a little brown then I seasoned it with black pepper and salt, after it I pour the small jar of spaghetti sauce which has water already so all the spaghetti sauce will be used then I let it cooked until its done. Presto after it I have eaten my dinner, my husband says it tasted good. Wonder what is the name of this menu.
Tomorrow will be my first travel to Seoul alone, a test on changing myself to be independent. I almost had a tantrums the other night when my husband told me I need to apply a visa alone to go to Bangladesh but I remember I need to behave and grown up he can’t go with me tomorrow he has a class to teach.
The Bangladesh embassy changed the rules in span of time because the last time we visited the site Filipino doesn’t need a visa to go Bangladesh. So mean, so I’ve contacted Emelyn she’s been asking me for a meet up since the last time we met almost nine months ago, lol. So I think this is the chance to see each other again after a long time of excuses and etc., luckily she just left her job so she is free to walk with me. So tomorrow we will going to find the Bangladesh Embassy in Itaewon then after it visit a museum and visit their nest.
Anyway I am proud of myself because I can now pay the bills alone at the bank without arguing with my husband. Hehehe