Exchange Day 56

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day and since I woke up late today, I had no choice but to eat the cookies that I bought from Paris Baguette yesterday! The cookies are sold in assorted packs of five for 4,500W or separately at 900W each. Come to think of it, there wasn't any discount for buying more, I should have just bought one or two. But I did manage to chalk up 5,000W of spending thanks to the cookies and the cashier had no excuse to turn my Happy Points card application this time round. (evil laughter) 

There are altogether five flavours and I am going to release them one by one. This blog needs a little excitement and mystery. So today for breakfast, I had cranberry oatmeal and double chocolate, both of which were the reasons why the cheapskate me even agreed to part with my cash in the first place. As the cookies had the thickness of a mouthwatering soft-baked cookie, I was expecting them to be as chewy and moist as the latter but boy was I disappointed.

(left) Cranberry oatmeal and (right) double chocolate. They'd be perfect if they were softer and more moist. Sigh.

If you like your cookies hard and crunchy, then this is perfect for you! If not, unless you like your teeth broken, I rather you spend your money on their bread. I couldn't really taste the oatmeal grains although there seemed to be a lot of them, which was a pity, but I liked how the dried cranberry flakes were chewy yet do not stick to the teeth. The flavour of the double chocolate cookie was fantastic though. Its bittersweet taste was a pleasant contrast to the cloying fudge cubes and helped ensure that nobody overdosed on chocolate. (for calorie-counters, each cookie is around 130 kcal)

Disappointed by the lack of lustre in the day's breakfast, I spent the whole morning (actually what's left of it) moping in front of the computer, preparing for my Seoul-Taiwan trip after finals. I must be the only person in the entire student body who still has the heart to meddle with such trivial matters when the whole world is frying their brains in school libraries and cafes trying to cram as much as they can for the midterms next week. Even for an exchange student, I think I might be a little laid back. Just a little.

After hours of detailed analysing and harsh comparisons, I have concluded that Scoot is indeed the king of all budget airlines and I'm glad I've finally settled my flights! Now for the even more daunting task of searching for accommodation.

It has never occurred to me that the dormitory cafeteria could be transformed into a studying hub out of mealtimes but that was exactly what it was when I went down for lunch. In an effort to encourage the students (I think), the welfare shop was open for business today despite its usual practice of resting on Sundays, which was good for it too as it seemed to have more sales today than usual. Studying makes people really hungry.

Lunch, at 2,800W, was beef bulgogi rice with egg soup and the cafeteria lady gave me more meat than usual! (but she gave me a lot less rice than others) The beef bulgogi was sweet yet savoury and I loved how she threw in lots of fresh onions, cabbage and carrots for a healthy mix! There were even larger-than-usual bits of fried egg in the miserable-looking soup! I hereby crown this as my favourite dormitory food. (cue trumpets)

I resisted the temptation of ice cream and opted for the healthier yoghurt drink instead! It's actually quite tasty but a tad bit pricey at 1,600W. 

Searching for accommodation is hard work especially if you are a miser who expects to stay in a clean and private room with an unbelievably low budget. Such hard work deserves a chocolate chip cookie, so I ate another cookie from the pack. No photos because it was a quick snack. It tasted like a gigantic version of a Famous Amos' chocolate chip cookie.

Dinner at the dormitory was bacon fried rice. I like neither bacon nor fried rice, so I forced my lazy bones to hike down the mountain for real food. Whenever I eat alone, there's no one I can rely on to make decisions so I always end up walking rounds and rounds before my grumpy stomach brings my legs to the nearest foodhouse available. But today was slightly different.

I only walked one round before I decided that I would try the barley rice I chanced upon yesterday. I remember watching about barley rice on YouTube when I was in Singapore and how it talked about barley rice being very healthy and suitable for the calorie-conscious. Determined to try all kinds of local food, I walked into the restaurant and asked for one serving of barley rice (they only had one item on the menu), only to get rejected with a smile saying that there's a minimum order of two servings. Since there's only one thing on the menu, does this mean that singles are barred from this restaurant?! I should have ordered two servings just so I could stay there. Now I understand why it's so tough being a single lady in this country.

In the end, I had Japanese cuisine at another nearby restaurant. Although the imo did a double take when I first stepped in, she was kind enough to let this poor lonesome soul eat. I ordered a 회덥밥 for 5,500W and was happy that it turned out bigger than I had expected. Plus, I didn't wait long for my food. 회덥밥 is the equivalent of a sashimi don, except with the sashimi cubed instead of sliced and the addition of loads more vegetables and spicy leaves. It's meant to be eaten like 비빔밥 (bibimbab), where you mix all the ingredients evenly such that there's a bit of everything in each bite. For spice-lovers, you can also choose to squeeze in a liberal amount of hot sauce into your rice.

The name of the shop is Midarae! I should think that it's a franchise outlet, since it even has a website!

Check out the freshness of the shrimp roe! It tastes really good just by itself, but mixing it into the rice would give the rice a whole lot more flavour.

If you can't take spicy food well, don't be a smart aleck like me and squeeze in too much hot sauce! 

All in all, the rice bowl was value for money but it's a pity they used frozen sashimi instead of fresh fish. The frozen sashimi was tough and rubbery, which I felt was unbefitting of true sashimi, but fresh seafood is hard to come by here so this is good enough.

I couldn't resist the temptation of a good dessert and I haven't had sweets in such a long time so I bought myself an ice cream from the convenience store. It looked nothing like how it was advertised in the packaging and I didn't eat it immediately after I bought it so it got all soft and squishy. I hate it when my ice cream gets all soft and runny but in spite of this, it was the most mind-blowing mochi ice cream I have ever had in my twenty one years of existence. Yes, it was that good. The mochi skin, although ugly, was soft yet chewy and the walnut chunks gave the smooth vanilla ice cream a delightful variation in texture. Best part about the ice cream was that it came in a pair! Perfect for sharing with a friend or other half, although I strongly recommend you to usurp both. Sweet dreams!

1,000W for two mochi ice creams! There's a tiny fork inside so don't worry about getting your hands dirty!

xoxo, ❀