One of the local food I bought from the Asian store in downtown is bagoong or shrimp paste. It is one of the popular condiment in the Philippines it is either made of fermented fish or shrimps. My husband doesn’t like the smell and he always complaint every time I open the jar and eat it with tomato.

So I decided to saute the shrimp paste with garlic, onion and tomato. I also added one tablespoon of sugar for sweet tastes, after cooking it smells good that I immediately ate and then I remember I forgot to cook it with pork.

Shrimp paste or bagoong is best when paired with green mango.

We are leaving Korea in less than five months but we already boxed the things we don’t use so we could send them home, I have already mailed one box few days ago through EMS and I still have three boxes need to be mail.

The first box is souvenirs and travel magazines, second one are my clothes and the third box is mixed of everything from books, shampoo, lotions and etc.,

The other day I decided to call the hotline (1661-5899) of newly open LBC Korea, I have ordered two large boxes. I have decided to use their service rather than EMS, the last three boxes I have sent through EMS except the box I sent few days ago (which is still on delivery) were opened and some items are missing so I have thought to try a new courier and I am going to blog about my experience in LBC once I received the box I have ordered, my items were already shipped to the Philippines and my family received them completely.

Sending items through LBC (Korea Balikbayan Box) is a lot cheaper than sending through EMS where it is measured per kilo. Unlike in LBC it is per box and location, one large box (jumbo) will cost ₩120,000 for Manila and Luzon and ₩140,000 for Visayas and Mindanao no matter how heavy your box is.

LBC Korea branch is located at: 1F, 102-1 Hyehwa-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul Korea.

We still have five months left before our visa expired in South Korea but we are already boxed the things we don’t use anymore, they are going home ahead of us. I am boxing the things as much as I can so I can travel light,  we are planning to travel for six months when we left South Korea our main destination is East Africa and Eastern Europe. We have first planned to travel to Central America and East Africa but we have thought there are more things to see in Eastern Europe and there’s no mugging incident unlike in Central America.

My husband told me that I am going to start applying for my visas on December and I am praying that all of my visas will be approved or else I can’t travel with my husband in six months.

These past few days I am so busy boxing things we don’t use anymore and needs to go home, I am boxing things as much as I can so they won’t be left behind when we left Korea and I can also travel light. With that, I forgot to eat and I will just realize that I am hungry when I felt dizzy moving around.

The other night with only an hour before we sleep I decided to prepare egg and sausage sandwich for myself, it was a good thing that there’s only one pair of bread left that I can look after my diet, you know older people say it is bad to eat a lot at night.

Smoked fish is one of the popular viand in my mother’s hometown, I grow up eating them at breakfast, lunch and dinner.  So when I went to Hyehwa informal market last month and see frozen smoked fish I immediately buy a package. If you are not familiar smoked fish are fish that have been cured by smoking.

My husband doesn’t want the smell of fish in our apartment, he finds it awful and disgusting so I cook the smoked fish through grilling on our electric grill on the balcony instead of frying them. It took me  over one week before I can all eat of this smoked fish,  I ate them with tomatoes and shrimp paste.

Eating the same meal every day is becoming boring so I have asked my husband if we can get an instant soup, he agreed with a plus what I mean to get pizza and chips as well. While at the convenience store I forgot about pizza, I walk repeatedly in the aisle and stay longer in the built-in open fridge where the sandwiches and pizza are. I know it was not sandwiched, without getting a hint what is it I took one of the premium meals at the bottom of the fridge.

The premium meal cost ₩4, 000 or $3.72, it was a bit more expensive than the usual meal of meat, rice and kimchi. The premium meal has rice, pasta, vegetables, steak, chicken, mashed potato, sausage, pickles and corn salad, it is a complete package actually.

When my husband contract expires next year we are planning to travel for six months to other part of Africa and South America, so we are learning Spanish language in preparation of our trip to Spanish language speaking country and preferably expecting to eat some popular Hispanic food as well.

Infographic Source

Most countries that were colonized by Spain inherited Spanish cuisine,  like in the Philippines  tortas,  empanadas and plans are popular snacks and desserts so I am sure that we can find some of these popular Hispanic food in Peru and Paraguay too.

My husband came home today with a brown envelope in his hand, the moment he told me that it was meant for me I feel excited already to see where it came from.  But seeing the familiar envelope made me realized it was a RETURN TO SENDER mail, it was a failed delivery because of insufficient address.

I immediately contacted my friend who maybe patiently waiting for this mail about the delivery failure.  It turns out she forgot to write the street address, so I have to mail the postcards again whenever I went to downtown.

My sister uploaded new photos of Jihoo, I am amused at the picture below.  My sister found an old orange ribbon while cleaning inside our house, it was probably a ribbon we used when we are young,  she decided to play with Jihoo by putting it around his head and see how Jihoo likes it?

He looks very calm and peaceful while playing asleep or maybe he is actually sleeping while there’s an orange ribbon around his head.