eats | kang ho dong baekjoung

This is hands down my favorite korean BBQ spot. As of 2015, I've been there about 10 times and it's only April.. who knows how many times I'll eat there in the upcoming months.  

When I come I usually get the small beef combo, which includes thinly sliced brisket, marinated boneless short rib & prime boneless short rib or prime rib eye. My favorite is their galbi (marinated boneless short rib, shown in the first photo) it is bomb dot com. They give a universal dipping sauce, the bowl with the onions in it and wasabi on the edge, which you can dip every type of meat in. They give you a medium sized bowl with bean sprouts and some green veggie, chives? green onion? and I'm not a fan of either but mixed with the red paste, the dipping sauce, and the beef.. oh my, it's delicious. Writing about it is making me salivate. They also give you a choice of a free side and we always get soy bean paste stew, doesn't sound too appealing, but I tried it here for the first time and I've been getting it every time since! Steamed egg, corn + cheese, and peppers are given with your meal!

Yesterday, I got my fix of Kang Ho Dong, and we decided to try something new: the pork combo which consists of premium pork jowl, premium seared pork belly & marinated pork cellar or thinly sliced spicy pork belly.  We all had absolutely no clue what a jowl was, but with Google, we found out it was the cheek of a pig. I felt a little uncomfortable eating it knowing it was a cheek. It was alright, but I don't know, I wouldn't eat it again. The premium seared pork belly, better known as sam gyup sal, was obviously delicious. Then they cooked our thinly sliced spicy pork belly in the kitchen, and it was pretty tasty!  It was nice to try something new, but I think I'm going to stick to the beef combo or order the meats separately because I would not want to eat pork jowl again.

I highly recommend this place, although it's on the pricier side, it's delicious and it's always important to splurge every once in a while for some good food! The one I always go to is on Northern Blvd in Queens; there's also one in K-town but I have never been, or even seen that location. 

not so girly, girly

Photo credits to Kyle Braganza

(last two to me)

So I recently got a new lens! Finally! A kind classmate, hi Stephen, gave me a lot of information and advice about what lens to get according to my wants and needs of the lens. I decided on the Nikkor 50-300mm because it takes good portraits and that is just what I needed! 

Today was Kyle's first time actually taking photos like these so I think he deserves a round of applause *clap clap clap. Thanks bee, you the best ^_^.  My normal outfits are not super girly, and if I choose a "girly" piece I usually add more edgy/grungy items.  Since it's spring time, it's always nice to add a taste of girly and flowery, lacy.  That's why I decided to add those shorts because the trimming is a crochet-lace, which definitely added the bit of girly I needed to my outfit.  Then we got the usual flannel and oversized white tee. Adding a hat seriously makes an outfit 10x more stylish, I would recommend getting a hat for the upcoming warmer nights. In addition to being such a fab, fashion accessory it also really does block the sun (which a hat is supposed to do) but that's besides the point. Soho has affordable, and fashion-forward styles. I mean PacSun and Urban Outfitters have really cute hats, but I got my Soho hat for $15, and I've peeped some PacSun prices and it was $32. So, I think Soho has pretty good deals if you ask me!

The quality of these photos are significantly better than any other of my photos in my previous posts.  I'm excited to keep taking out my DSLR so I can capture even more photos like these AND blog about it. Spring weather is finally here, finally, so more photos should be coming your way! 

Spring Break '15 | Punta Cana

Unfortunately I am back from Punta Cana, few pounds heaviers, and not much tanner. Back to reality, boo. I didn't get to snap as much pictures as I would have liked, but I had a great time. Much needed vacation away from the cold. Going from down jackets to tank tops was amazing, but coming back to down jackets.. not so amazing.

We got to experience Punta Cana nightlife -- Cocobongo and Imagine. Cocobongo is like a huge venue with performances and endless drinks all night long.  The performances were actually pretty good, but the set up of the venue was different from what I'm used to since it was more of a stadium.  Imagine was a cave bar, which was pretty damn cool. Partying in a cave? Don't tell me that doesn't sound cool!  Our second day, we went on a super adventurous excursion at Fun Fun Cave, and damn I'm extremely proud of myself for getting through the whole thing. It was my first time horseback riding, rappelling down a cave (or anything at all), and exploring a cave.  It was tiring, but in the end, it was a once in a lifetime experience and I'm glad we decided to do it.

We got to cruise and relax on a catamaran on the third day, where we finally got in some tanning time, and the only day we got to tan. There was also unlimited drinks, and the service was superb.  The workers are so cheerful and full of energy that it just brings such happy vibes to the boat.  We got to snorkel, and stop by a beach.  The third day was definitely a lot more relaxing, full of sun, drinks, and chilling.

Day four was spent riding buggies/boogies through a set path in the middle of Punta Cana. I personally would not recommend this, because I just felt like I was riding in a car with dirt and dust flying at me.  I was falling asleep, and I would have preferred staying at the hotel to chill poolside with the pool bar.

Overall, DR was fun and I wish we could have stayed longer! Can't wait until our next getaway (hopefully Aruba?)

AND I am currently in the process of editing a vlog! Hoping it comes out good and I'll try posting it as soon as possible.