I was tired from the week and the hype from the X Japan concert did zap a lot of my energy. Meeting up with my friend, Lily, on a weekday may zap even more energy away from me, but it turned out to be a day well spent. We ended up going to several places (and discovering a new one) in one day. To sum it all up, we went to see Dracula Untold, ate soondubu, and found a wholesale store. Taking a breather once in a while really relaxes the nerves. I feel less tense now and perhaps will get a better night's sleep. The thing that bothered us all day was the humidity and warm weather altogether. October is suppose to be dry and cooler here.
We went to see Dracula Untold at 11:00 am and it was perhaps the worst decision to pick AMC Empire 25 located at 42nd St. We would have gone to the one on 34th St which is much better in my opinion except they weren't showing the movie (It was in IMAX instead of regular). Not only that, they even screwed up my ticket putting a different movie altogether. C'mon AMC, there was nobody at the theaters, how can you screw it up. When we both walked into our directed theater, there was no one. It was all ours. The AC was off and the theater was kind of stuffy due to the humidity. In the end, there was only a handful of people watching with us. The screen was dark the entire time and only sound was heard. It was only at 11:00am that the screen finally showed something.
The movie itself was eh, ok. I didn't expect it to be anything deep and likewise it wasn't a complicated story. What Dracula did was take bits of historical references and patch it together. Vlad the Impaler was a scary man, but the movie makes him more of a hero that loves his family. Once they decide to cast Luke Evans, I already knew. He is good looking and has a positive image. Vlad in the movie is now a man turned monster killing with an honorable cause. The acting was really good though. Who would have known Charles Dance would make an appearance and so many more familiar faces. The CGI used for creating swarms of bats was cool to watch. The fighting was actually really simple. It used a lot of moving camera tricks to make it interesting to watch. I would say that the scene with the fight revealed on a blade of a sword and then having that sword be plucked by Vlad was an interesting way to show it. My friend added that the ending of the movie was like a fan fiction which I agree. It did feel very much like a fan fiction on screen.
After an hour and a half movie, the stomachs were a-rumbling. We walked to K-town to pay BCD Tofuhouse a second visit. We were seated very quickly near the same seats we went to last time. It must be our spot now. We were in time for a lunch special which means with an assorted soondubu you can select another dish to go with it. I got a beef bulgogi and my friend got a spicy pork bulgogi. When you leave BCD Tofuhouse, you are stuffed. You don't walk out hungry. My stomach was gonna explode. Our portions were good. $16.99 for a soondubu and a stone plate of bulgogi meant for two people. It comes with a bowl of rice and there's always going to be banchan. Our banchan this time was marinated spicy raw squid, a seaweed salad (these are the dried kelp that is then soaked), blanched spinach with sesame oil, some salty weird pickles, kimchi, and acorn jelly. Our fried corvina this time was less salty, but it was still heavily seasoned. Mine had a pierced gall bladder left unremoved so it left a bitter taste towards the head. Which is weird because you wouldn't find the gall bladder there anyway. Why was it there in the first place? It's a good appetizer to start with when you're starving.
We were so stuffed this time that we couldn't even finish our banchan. I would have wolfed down all that delicious kimchi, but I couldn't this time. The lunch special is a really great deal when you look at it. A soondubu of your choice is $9.95. A side dish selected like my bulgogi is usually already $17.99. I paid $16.99 today. Onwards to the tasting, the yelpers were right about bulgogi. The marinade for bulgogi is sweet as opposed to an American styled BBQ marinade. I didn't hate it, but I really wanted meat to be savory, not sweet. It felt like eating candy. Still I paid for this meal, I'm making sure it is all ending up in my stomach. My assorted soondubu this time contained one shrimp, four little neck clams, and a few strips of beef. I had a beef overload today. The seafood portions are always on the small side. I'm an adult. Four small tiny clams ain't gonna cut it. The regular spicy level is ok for me, but I think from eating twice already, I am ready for the next level of spicy; spicy with three chili peppers next to it. Today's humidity was not good soondubu weather. Soondubu weather has to be in the low 50s.
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| Soondubu with Spicy Pork Bulgogi |
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| Soondubu with Rib Eye Bulgogi |
After getting so damn stuffed, looking at food is torture. However as both of us are lovers of food, we can still appreciate it. We walked into Paris Baguette on 32nd St. Everything looked really nice and certainly smelled good. If I was in a really good mood and wanted to reward myself, I would buy something from there even if it's more expensive than my local bakery. They sell pudding in little milk jars that you can keep. Their cakes look classy and their sliced cake looks tantalizing. I think maybe one day I'll try their choux cream pastry because it's only $2.50 and I can't make it at home.
Our greatest find today was discovering a wholesale store specializing in jewellery making. They are Toho Shoji located on 6th Ave. I would have walked past this store if it weren't for Lily. The storefront wasn't particularly eye catching, but when I walked in I realized this place is great for people who like to craft things. Toho Shoji does both wholesale and retail for their products so the prices are incredibly low. We realized that all these years that Elizabeth Centre in Chinatown had jipped us middle school children with various charms, cellphone straps, jewellery and whatever when you could have made it yourself for at least half the price. The store is huge and has pretty everything you need including tools if you are new to the topic. It proves that people still like DIY no matter what age we are in. Lily got really excited and bought some clasps and bells. Seriously, I will come back to this place if I have to make something to give as a gift or something. Maybe I'll make myself a skull bracelet or something.
Our final location was walking into Party City. I have to admit I never walked into Party City and it is because I don't throw parties and don't celebrate a lot of holidays. Now I know why people come here. If you want to throw a party but don't want to spend crazy on supplies, this is the place to go. Supplies are cheap because they were meant to be thrown out quickly. Since it's Halloween they have $1 for 15 pieces of candy and $1 for 5 pieces if it's a name brand candy. Anyways health-wise it probably isn't the best thing. It's up to you. A lot of stuff is definitely cheap. It's up to you to decide whether the quality is there. There are some things that I don't mind like for instance gift bags and printed napkins. They are meant to be used once and the print on the actual things actually looks pretty good.
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