Bits and Pieces

after finally jumping on the Groupon/Living Social/Lifebooker/Gilt City/Rue La La/Google Offers bandwagon, i have become a discount adventure queen. which is how i found myself with NannyDiaries and Bubby completely buck naked sitting in a scalding hot tub surrounded by 50+ women of all age ranges in a similar state of nudity.

i've always been  curious about the korean spa/bathhouse experience (찜질방), which i've only experienced through watching korean dramas.  but the whole culture fascinates me. why does everyone have to wear a uniform in order to enter? how do you fold a tiny towel to make those Princess Leia buns on the side of your head? those boiled eggs look really tasty. can you really stay there all night? these were questions that were burning through my inner brain which had to be answered.

so when King Spa  in Palisades Park, NJ offered a Groupon, i jumped on the opportunity.  of course, there was no way i was going to do it alone. which posed a very crucial and serious question: who would i be willing to be completely nude in front of? and who would be willing to be completely nude in front of me? in moments like these, you really run through your catalog of girlfriends in order to assess who you're truly comfortable with. and Bubby and ND won the friendship lotto.

why the focus on nudity? if you're not aware, and it's definitely daunting as a first-timer who doesn't speak korean, but King Spa has private shower/hot tub/steam room areas that are separated by gender. and it's pretty much mandatory that you attend these areas completely bare-ass naked. we actually saw a girl who had chosen to wear a bathing suit be forbidden from entering the scalding hot cauldron/hot tub because she refused to wear her birthday suit. 

Yelp reviews offer a great guide for how to approach and navigate King Spa if you're a first timer but i'll offer a rundown based on my experience anyway.

1. There is valet parking and a parking lot (valet service) directly across from the premises.  No charge for parking if you deliver the car to the lot yourself.

2. Enter the premises and approach the cashier at which time she will ask for ID/credit card and then provide you and each person in your party with a wristband that contains your locker number and key.  This also acts as your means for paying for services and food while you wander throughout the premises so don't lose it!

3. If you're a male, pick up your white uniform and head to the men's-only level on the third floor to change and enjoy some steamy hot/cold water time. if you're a woman, proceed directly to the right of the cashier and do the same.

4. Enter the locker room and change either into the pink uniform you've picked up and head up to the second floor to enjoy various dry sauna rooms to relax. interesting point: unlike the scene portrayed in korean dramas, there is no talking allowed inside the sauna rooms. however, there are many large spaces to sit with friends and chat outside of the sauna rooms. 

5. After you've sufficiently tried out each sauna box, head to the water area. there you'll find standing shower areas or seated shower areas as well as complimentary shampoo, conditioner, and soap.  if you're really comfortable with your friends, bring your loofahs and body scrubs and give it a go. before entering any of the pools it is mandatory that you shower.

6. there are 3 pools to try out: (1)  filled with an herbal bag (it kind of feels like you're being brewed like tea) and is moderately temperatured to be bearable; (2) scalding hot and really stretches the bounds of human tolerance (if you're white/pale-skinned, get ready to look like a cooked lobster); and (3) freezing cold. although it'll try your fortitude, i highly recommend bearing down in the scalding tub and then fully immersing in the freezing tub immediately after. it feels amazing.

7. once you're too prune-y for comfort, head to the restaurant level for some decent korean food, drinks, and desserts.

ND, Bubby and i did all of the above (not exactly in that order).  we'd made it a point to leave NY around 11:15 and stayed at King Spa until about 3:30, although the place is open for 24 hrs. when we'd arrived the place was at a tolerable capacity without seeming too empty or too full. however, when we left, it was a zoo at the reception area so i can't imagine the spa experience would be much fun with that many people. i absolutely want to do it again because it truly is relaxing once you've gotten the hang of it and gotten over the initial i'm-totally-butt-ass-naked awkwardness. plus my skin still feels really soft more than 24 hours afterwards.

To Write, or Not to Write

i've had this blog for about 7 (HOLY COW-that long?!) years now, and my enthusiasm and my time for it has severely waned since when i began in 2006.  while some of it can probably be attributed to my lack of 7 am nights out and reedonkulous stories, i personally think that most of it is just because i'm lazy.  if i could direct dial a line into my head that transcribed my thoughts onto this blog, then this blog would always be jam-packed with commentary, posts, and events. alas, no one's invented that yet (and probably shouldn't).


so it's with much appreciation and gratitude that i read the blogs listed on the bloglist in my sidebar. these writers post almost every day, and, for the most part, make it interesting.  if you've never written a blog, then you have no idea how hard those 2 tasks are to do simultaneously.

which brings me to present post. should you bother to write about things that are "meh"? for reviews, i actually really love reading that a restaurant or venue or movie was "meh" or worse. it's a clear warning not to go. but to make the effort to write that something's "meh" is actually much harder than to write that something's "yeah." 

i recently had a date at Ardesia on the west side. like FAR west side.* past Tenth Ave west side. but at least on the way over i finally learned where Totto Ramen and Casellula are located. as soon as i walked in the door, i understood why reviews had pegged this as both a "good date" place and a good "catch up with a friend" place.  it's small enough and intimate enough to be date-y while at the same time open and bright enough to be friendly. and during the afternoon, with the wall to ceiling windows, you can imagine how bright and sunny this place is.

Duck Banh Mi

Quail Egg Toast

Roasted Cauliflower

Homemade NY Style Pretzels

the food at Ardesia was fine, although nothing really blew me away and wine by the glass/bottle is a little bit pricey but not overly so. all the reviews on-line had touted their Home NY Style Pretzels ($6) so we got an order to start. meh. it was a little too chewy for me, reminding me of those frozen microwave pretzels you can get at the supermarket. maybe because it had chilled? the dipping sauces of a very spicy mustard and light cheese sauce was good though. similarly the Duck Banh Mi ($14) was also just ok. not bad, just not great. it had all the ingredients for a banh mi, while at the same time being just 2% short of perfect on each ingredient. the best things we ordered were the Quail Egg Toast ($9) and Roasted Cauliflower ($8).  the cauliflower had a tart and smoky flavor from the garlic and lemon and gremolata. the only difficult part about it was trying to be lady-like while picking at the smaller crumbly pieces of cauliflower. the Quail Egg Toast was a perfectly fried quail egg on top of a sliced baguette with bacon and hollandaise. and in this instance, the individual ingredients made a perfect sum of its parts.

i didn't get to see the check, but i'm going to guess it was a pretty penny since aside from the food, we'd also each ordered 3 glasses of wine and then shared a bottle. as to Ardesia, i would probably go back if i lived in the neighborhood, but i wouldn't make a special trip. which, oddly enough, sort of reflects how i felt about my date too. 

then there's a place like Son Ja Jang 손짜장, which i went to a bajillion years ago back when i was still living in NJ. i had gotten off work early and decided i wanted to stop at Face Shop in Pal Park and brought my cosmetic loving cousin along since she had finished classes for the day. we went and looked at crazy face masks and other fun stuff before stopping into Son Ja Jang for some jjajang noodles and sweet and sour pork. they do these amazing half-and-half bowls where you can pick between jjajang noodles, sweet and sour beef and jjambbong. so my cousin ordered the half sweet and sour beef + jjambbong while i ordered the jjajang noodles + sweet and sour beef (both were $10.99 each).

the noodles are all hand made, and there's a window where you can watch the chef making your noodles (and by chef i mean that mexican guy). and korean sweet and sour beef is a very different flavor from chinese sweet and sour beef. in both texture and taste. i really liked my combo, as did cousin, although her spicy seafood noodle soup was really spicy. like melt your face off spicy. and we are not timid spice eaters.


so why wouldn't i write about the delicious food at this place? am i trying to be greedy and keep this place a secret all for myself? no, not really. and although i would definitely travel back here and eat again, it's not some place i would take a guest/friend to as destination dining. this restaurant is literally a hole in the wall in the back of building. it's really small and has absolutely no atmosphere to speak of. but if i lived in Pal Park, i would probably get food here a lot. and based on the frequent take-out customers that kept coming in, i'm guessing they do good business in that respect.


*do you remember that movie, How High? "you east coast? i FAR east coast."

Kpop Extravaganzaaaa!

Happy July 4th! er...after the fact.

i haven't had any one-on-one face time with Kpopper in a long time. yes, i saw her for my birthday party (which, as you know, i can only hazily remember) and at Oppa's birthday party, but it's just not the same. so i was super excited to spend some QT with Kpopper on July 3rd.

here's how it went down:

[TEXT MESSAGE FROM KPOPPER] you wanna go to nrb?

[TEXT MESSAGE FROM KPOPPER] we an buy mgl & beer.

[TEXT MESSAGE FROM KPOPPER] and bring it.

if you're wondering what "nrb" and "mgl" mean, you're not alone. i was the recipient of these texts and didn't figure it out right away. in Kpopper text-language, "nrb" means norebang (the korean word for karaoke) and "mgl" means makgeolli (korean rice wine). i figured out the "mgl" right away but it took me a good 15 mins to decipher "nrb." and googling the term didn't help.

we made a whole day out of it, "day" meaning i got to Kpopper's house around 2:30 in the afternoon (i was supremely late. my bad). first off was a round of shopping at Woodbury Commons, which i haven't been to in a year, maybe more. the weather was amazing so it was just nice to be doing something outdoors where i can pretend i'm getting a tan and being active. i'm still regretting not buying these shoes. it's been tormenting me...

Not EXACTLY this pair, but very similar.

after the shopping spree we headed out for my first meal ever in Palisades Park aka Pal Park for koreans and people born in NJ. since we'd eaten a late lunch, we weren't particularly hungry so we opted against korean bbq and instead went for naeng myun, figuring it had been a hot day and cold noodles would be refreshing and light. silly me.

You Chun in Pal Park is pretty famous for its naeng myun. so i wasn't surprised Kpopper brought me here without me even suggesting it. we both decided on the mool naeng myun which is the standard noodles in cold broth. when you sit down at the table, the server brings you a big thermos and 2 cups. however, don't be fooled into thinking there's water or hot tea in there. it's actually filled with a savory hot soup. while it feels weird to drink it when there's no food on the table, it makes perfect sense once the naeng myun appears. alternating between hot and cold is somehow comforting and delicious.

in addition to the noodles, Kpopper suggested bindae duk which are korean mung bean pancakes. i'd never ordered them before, instead sticking to the tried and true haemul pajeon or kimchi pajeon. however, i'd recently watched an episode of Running Man where the mission was to round up the top late night snack foods, and bindae duk ranked within the top 10, so i was definitely intrigued and glad to try it. the bindae duk at You Chun came out piping hot and was crispy on the outside but still very chewy and soft on the inside. so so good.

although the prices at You Chun aren't exactly cheap, $10.95 for the standard sized mool naeng myun, the portions are ginormous. i barely made a dent in my bowl, causing Kpopper to mock me and suggest i order the petite size next time. i brought the leftovers home (which made Kpopper's car super smelly) and ate them the next day. surprisingly, the noodles and broth held up well, remaining chewy and maintaining their texture, which isn't usually the case when noodles have sat soaking in soup.

next on the Pal Park tour was a stop at Coffee Prince. in korean this place is clearly called Coffee Prince, modeled after the korean drama series. but if you look carefully on the wall, you'll see that in english they translate it into Tiramisu Cafe. weird. regardless, the cafe's actually really nice and if i was an unemployed writer/student that lived nearby, i would definitely make it my base camp. plus, the server was a tall, good-looking asian guy (honestly, he was probably korean given where we were, but i don't want to assume. you know what they say when you do that).

we got a prime seat near the giant, floor-to-ceiling glass window overlooking Broad Street, which turned out to be a more entertaining spot than i'd anticipated. across the street, directly at my eye-level was an apartment with it's blinds open and lights on. at first i'd just glanced into the apartment and wondered what those people were up to tonight. they were all sitting around the dining room table, just hanging out. one guy had his foot hanging out the window while he reclined in a chair. nothing too interesting. right when our server dropped off our coffees, i saw the guy and the girl in the apartment start making out. hardcore. pressing her against the wall and everything. WHOA! this just got a little more exciting... and then more and more people just started popping up. i was completely mesmerized by the happenings in this apartment and my brain was frantically trying to figure out what the hell was going on. it was like a car accident i couldn't peel my eyes away from. or a good fight outside of a club in NYC at 3 a.m.

properly energized by our latte and espresso, Kpopper and i headed off to norebang. with just the 2 of us. i've never gone karaoke-ing with 2 people. it seems to go against the very spirit of the activity. but i think it works great for Kpopper because she really just wants to practice all the korean kpop songs she's learned. it was a hilarious and impressive sight to watch Kpopper accurately sing 2PM and SS501, especially considering she's chinese. i mumbled and stumbled along the way with her realizing that although i listen to a buttload of kpop songs and can sing along with them in the car, it's totally different when i don't have someone to sing along to who can mask all my poor pronunciation and made-up words.

however embarassing that was, i still don't think i have the same dedication to kpop that Kpopper does to bother to learn the phonetic pronunciation for a whole song. i'll just continue to belt out made-up similar sounding words in the car.