August 9th 2009 - Pumpkin duck

August 9th 2009

New discoveries in Ulsan

Tuesday was movie night at our place. We took advantage of Mari not eating with us and did the seafood extravaganza! Well - not quite, but we did both eat scallops and chupe de pulpo. The movie on show was The Counterfeiters - an Austrian award winner. We rated it around 8 out of 10 .. a pretty strong film.

After the movie I tossed together a dough for some bread, left it overnight, finished the dough off and had Paula put it in the oven at 10:30. At 12 Fernando, Carlos and I had freshly baked ryebread for lunch!

In the evening Fernando invited us out for dinner as a thank for looking after his baby (a bonzai tree) while he was away on holiday. He went full out, inviting us to the Japanese down on the main road by Ilsan Beach. This a seriously good Japanese restaurant where you end up eating aroung 15 different plates of Sashimi (raw fish) ... raw fish hanging on trees, raw fish on ceramic plates, raw fish on bamboo, raw fish on cold stones, raw fish on an ice platter ... these people have more imagination than you and me together! Unfortunately we had forgotten the camera, so you'll just have to take my word for it. The price ... well, let's just say that Fernando could have bought several new bonzais for the price of this meal!

Friday I went to play table tennis with Serhiy and then we wanted to eat at Big Bite - a local bar. Unfortunately they were out of bread (they only serve sandwiches), so we ended up back home for a bite and a gin&tonic with Carlos. And then back out again for a drink at Cafe Lime.

The Margarita Paula had in Cafe Lime really knocked her out. She slept until 12 o'clock next day, and only had half an hour to get ready to go out with Carlos again. We wanted to show him the furniture and pottery shop in Nammok, as he needed to but a gift for somebody. In the evening we met up with Jamie and Colin. They were taking us for a meal close to Jujeon beach ... or rather just after the descent from Jujeon Hill road. On the menu was pumpkin stuffed with duck. It was really nice with loads of side dishes, as you can see below. From there we drove right across town to look for the new Cold Stone Creamery near the university. This is our favorite ice cream pitstop in Busan, so we just HAD to go check out the new store here in Ulsan. We were of course not dissappointed! After the ice cream Paula wanted to go to Skin Food - her can't-live-without-it favotite store. Well, maybe it's a sign from above that she should cut down, because on her way there she twisted her ankle so bad that she couldn't sleep at night and woke me up at 2:30 complaining!

Anyway - after a pitstop in Wa Bar we drove back to Ilsan Beach to check out the new brewhouse there - just inbetween Wa Bar and M Bar. The verdict ...? Weeell .... so so. The 40cl beer on the menu comes out in a 30cl glass (and costs US$5!) and the home brew was a one-timer for me. Been there, done that!

Today was a lazy day. I went riding in the morning but unfortunately picked the only time of the day when it was raining. There was a race on along the Assano, and on my way home I managed to get some of the bikers on the race to follow me up towards Bangeojin! It wasn't long before the organizers got hold of them and turned them around though! I was told that there were 500 riders in the race, but I only saw 4!

The rest of the day was spent doing as little as possible. Some days you need this.

I shaved my beard off.