Yesterday, I was walking home from the swimming pool and decided to get an ice cream for the walk home.  I spotted one of my favorites at the corner store and went to pay without thinking about it.  Once outside, I opened the package and started to enjoy the apple and strawberry popsicle.  For the first time EVER, I read the package.  I was enjoying a Big Screw!  Yup, that’s the name of the popsicle.  Well, at least it wasn’t a Small Screw.

From now on, I’ll have to take notice of what my other favorite ice creams are called!

This afternoon, I tested out a carrot cake recipe for a batch I’m going to make on Wednesday.  I used this recipe from Epricurious.com and it turned out to be quite excellent.  Taking advice from other reviewers, I decided to use only 1 cup of oil, cut the sugar to 1 cup, add 3/4 more carrots, and use walnuts instead of raisins.  The end product was moist and not too sweet.  The addition of orange juice and orange zest were also a nice touch.  I opted not to make the cream cheese frosting since I already had a container of pecan/coconut frosting.  It was so good hot.

If you have an oven, I’d definitely recommend making a batch.

Yesterday was the Seoul Friendship Fair near city hall. This was my third or fourth Friendship Fair, and I must say, it was the best one so far. In previous years, the event was a little chaotic and the international food selection wasn’t so international. This year, the food booths were down the entire street next to city hall, and extended to the Cheoggye Stream. There were at least 40 countries selling delicious traditional dishes. I was also impressed by the many garbage bags, covered seating, and volunteers helping out. This was one of the few times in Seoul where I looked around and really felt the sense of internationalism that Seoul wants to portray. The weather, food, and location were great. It was a perfect day. Mark your calendars for next year. If it was anything like this year’s it’ll be another great time.

I didn’t take too many pictures because it was one of those events where you either spend too much time photographing and not eating, or eating and not photographing.  I chose to eat!

Check out the entire album on Flickr.

I ate two of those mango cups, and surprisingly, they were sold at the Columbian booth!  Paraguay had some great carne empanadas!

The left picture are Lao textiles for sale, and to the right were popular Turkish kebabs.

a quickr pickr post

Just saw this on Facebook. Someone had too much fun.

My brother’s birthday just passed on May 8th and today is Mother’s Day.  I got off the phone with her an hour ago, and as she usually does, she made me “speak” to our black lab McKenzie over the intercom.  She said McKenzie’s tail was wagging upon hearing my voice, but there’s no way to confirm that.  At least Ras wasn’t there to laugh at me, like he usually does.

Happy Birthday “little” brother, and Happy Mother’s Day Mom!

This picture was taken at The Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC.  (I love my brother’s haircut and glasses!)