Demitasse, Ilsan

Demitasse
Janghang-Dong Ilsan-Dong Gu Goyang-Si Gyeonggi-Do 867
Western Dom 2nd Floor

Telephone: 031.931.5733

데미타 스
경기도 고양시 일산동구 장항동 867 웨스턴돔 2 층


In keeping with yesterday's post about patbingsu, here's another version of it. If yesterday's was the simple version, today's is the complex version, bedecked with all manners of decoration and difficult to spoon up without spilling all over the place.

Starting from the bottom, there's shaved ice topped with sweetened condensed milk, fruit (kiwi, watermelon, pineapple, grapes), cereal (frosted cornflakes), red beans, rice cakes, strawberry ice cream, and a cherry on top. Whew.

We actually went to Demitasse for lunch. And for lunch, we had a strange combination of foods.

Oh, sure, the salad on the left is healthy, but it was sopping with dressing. This is a weird Korean version of an American breakfast. For some reason, it includes French fries and an enormous pile of whipped cream (seriously, that whipped cream is out of control). Okay, I admit- those waffles were delectable. I don't generally like pancakes and waffles, but these were so good! Crisp on the outside with just a little layer of soft chewiness in the middle. Yummy. Sausages were not good, as per usual here in Korea.

Sandwich. The bread was delicious. Pretty decent sandwich, especially for Korea, where they put weird stuff inside at times. I don't want jam in my ham and cheese sandwich, thank you very much. This one would have been great with just a little more lettuce and either no onions or cooked onions, the raw onions had quite the bite.

And it all comes back around to the patbingsu. Yummy. They lit a little oil lamp for us, even though it was the middle of the day.

By the way, all the photos I've been posting lately have been from my iPhone. It's really amazing how great the quality of the camera on phones has gotten.

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Beat the Heat

It's disgustingly humid here in Korea lately. As a Californian who has never known anything other than hot, dry summers that are blessedly cool in the shade, this humidity thing still throws me for a big loop. Stepping into the shade makes no difference? What's that about?

One of the very few redeeming things during this wretched weather is patbingsu (팥빙수), which is shaved iced that traditionally has red beans (pat, really pronounced 'paht,' (팥) means 'red bean' in Korean). It's now served with all kinds of nonsense on top, including but not limited to ice cream, fruit, candy, cereal, sweetened condensed milk, fruit, chocolate, and on and on.

This is a rather traditional version, with just red beans and rice cakes on top. The twist here is that the shaved ice is shaved frozen milk (or maybe milky water or watery milk?) so the ice itself is creamy and sweet.

The little cafe had adorable little plants adorning the tables. I love the wee bitty bubbles trying to sprout! The container it's growing in is quite small, about the size of a medium coffee cup.

Sorry about the silly face, but it's the only photo I had of this delicious ... smoothie? It's basically a pureed persimmon. It really tastes like a soft, half-frozen persimmon that's been thrown into a blender. Even with the big boba straws, this stuff is hard to drink (I ended up using my patbingsu spoon- if you look closely at my spoon, you'll see there's a face on it!).

I love the firm type of persimmon (which Wikipedia informs me is called Jiro) with a passion and don't really love the soft ones (Hachiya), but blended and slightly icy, it's really good. My new favorite way to have soft persimmon.

The air conditioner in my apartment is on the fritz, so I haven't been sleeping well. Summers in Korea equal random bouts of rain (hot, steamy rain), which mean drastic changes in barometric pressure, which in turn means that I'm not sleeping well. Air conditioning, though bad for the environment and all that, is the only way to trick my body into thinking the changes in pressure don't mean anything, but with my unit basically blowing hot air into my apartment, I'm in a half-dead state of semi-drowsiness for about sixteen hours a day lately.

Still debating what to do, but for now, am planning on enjoying what I can. Had a pretty good weekend, despite the weather! I'll post the photos ... someday. (Both of my iPhones and my MacBook are almost out of memory-- iPad is still hanging on, but I need to do some serious photo organization and clean-up!)

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Pros and Cons

I have been pondering long and hard lately about where I want to live. 

There is a wildly swaying pendulum that goes from the desire to stay and fight to the overwhelming urge to flee. 

There are pros and cons, as with every other argument that's ever been made.

To me, L.A. and my parents are sanctuary. They are safety and comfort and unconditional love. 

Here in Korea, I have found a part of myself that I never knew existed. I am still finding out new things about myself, about my culture, and those discoveries are fun.

California will always hold a large portion of my heart, my soul, because I spent my formative years there. I will always remember those places, those people, those events. 

Korea is where I started, where my parents were born and raised. 

Is there a right decision, a wrong decision? I'd like to think that there isn't a wrong decision, just a choice that I make and live with and change if or when the time comes. 

Still, it's difficult. Knowing that my choice will impact not just myself but also my family and friends. What to do...

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