Get Crackin'

I tried a K-restaurant in Richmond yesterday (today). Supposedly the best in Richmond (but there are only a few anyway). Anyway, the restaurant is called Kimchi Nara. On dinehere.ca, M and I learned that it's owned by a couple - Korean wife and white husband. The husband serves and the wife cooks -- but when we went, there was a young-ish Korean lady serving. Her service was alright.... not very amiable. Small restaurant but a lot nicer than I expected. We ordered BBQ Beef Kalbi Ribs (quite expensive at $15 for like 8 bites) and Kimchi Jjigae which was served hot and bubbly ($10). I enjoyed the Beef Kalbi Ribs - it had pretty good flavour, but M and I both agreed that they needed to change the grill. The Kimchi Jjigae tasted like the one from Submore xept it was saltier... a little disappointing 'cause Submore charges half the price! It came with (really yummy) seaweed soup and 2 bowls of rice and the usual 4 side dishes (super glazed potato that was a tad overcooked, seaweed/kelp (little salty), garlicy... green things, and kimchi). The menu was pretty impressive - it had a lot for such a small restaurant that probably only fits 30 people max... and it had almost all the Kfood I love!
So to conclude, we learned to stick to restaurants where Koreans flock: Downtown Vancouver, Coquitlam, and North Vancouver.

Daiso has a lot of stuff ne? I like it, but when you actually think of it, $2 is pretty darn expensive to pay for most of the stuff there. I bought a thin-ish laptop case - fits my giant laptop perfectly! Now I don't HAVE to bring a big bag to carry it around. I only really care for some of their stationary, their plates/bowls, and makeup (fake eyelashes anyone?).

I learned that it really depends on what you order in a restaurant -- you shouldn't judge from your 1st experience (though it's natural to). B, M, and I have been to a small, cabin-like tea house across from Jang Mo Jib in Richmond for Asian-type drinks a few times in the past. We've all really like what we ordered... but today, M and I tried a couple of drinks that were not even close to the standard they serve. If we had ordered those drinks in our first visit there, I don't think we'd ever go back! But it was just for this case - sometimes the food/drinks are really all that way haha

I learned/re-learned some Japanese --> Korean from DBSK's Big East Station Radio show:
CUTE is kawaii in Japanese, and guiyeowo (said like kgyowo) in Korean
WEIRD is hen in Japanese, and isanghae (said eesahnghay) in Korean
COOL/GOOD-LOOKING is kakkoii in Japanese, and meot jyol (said motte jeol) in Korean
INTERESTING is omoshiroi in Japanese, and jaemitseo in Korean

Wonder Girls' style is so much nicer these days. Just a month ago, they wore these clashing "what-were-you-thinking??" outfits.

I rest my case. I did read that they were very reluctant to wear those types of outfits at first, but now they think it's fun. I'm actually getting quite used to it - the clash of their outfits do make them young, fun, and quite unique!

NOW:

All dressed in Fendi.I usually don't like girl groups... or I take a while to like them. So many of them can't sing - they just look alright, and their dancing is mediocre. I don't enjoy their voices as much as I like guys' voices... and girl groups usually don't last very long (or leave the greatest legacy...). I guess now I'm getting used to some of these girl groups and am even starting to like them!
There were 4 or 5 Korean girl groups that all debuted within months of each other. Such competition! There's SNSD (aka Girls' Generation - a 9-member group under SM entertainment.. same label as DBSK), Wonder Girls (JYP), Kara (Daesung Entertainment), Black Pearl... uhh forgot the other one at the moment. I think SNSD and Wonder Girls are probably the most popular right now -- probably because their labels are most well-known so they are marketed the best. It's neat to see the concepts for girl groups these days. They're all pretty distinctive. SNSD has a super girlie + young image (crowns/doll-like)... Wonder Girls is more different and sexyish... Black Pearl seems more mature and classy:
Kara has been pretty typical and none of their members stand out appearance-wise. They've been pretty well dressed from the start.

You can't really see it, but the girl on the left is wearing (really nice) short-alls. I like her outfit.
Before the trip, when I think of short-alls, I think of the ones Nad and I used to wear in elementary school. I had a jean material pair and a navy Winnie The Pooh pair that I wore so often.... oh gosh. Anyway, these are totally different. They were quite popular when B and I were in Taiwan this past summer. I wanted a pair! Should have got one. Why didn't I again? There was one pair I saw that I really liked - I think it was the jean short-alls with gold chain straps.

I wanna write more but I need to sleep.
Zzz,
N