TomaTillo: The Watered-down Taco Place?

Chris and I went to TomaTillo a few weeks ago- the location at Yuksam station. I think I hyped TomaTillo up in my head too much because I heard so many people comparing it to Chipotle, which I LOVE, so in the end, I was a leetle disappointed. I'm generally thrilled with any form of Mexican food I find in Korea, and by all means, the food wasn't bad- it was just... aiight.


I actually thought the set up of the restaurant would be more like Chipotle, you know, where you go down a line and tell the staff on the other side what exactly you want in your burrito, and then pay for it all at the end of the line. Maybe at the mother-branch it's different, but here, we just gave our order of the 'Vegetarian burrito' to the cashier and paid first (6,800 won for a burrito) , then waited at our table for our number to be called. Since we didn't want cheese or sour cream, we told the lady taking our order, not to include those ingredients.


One thing I did like about TomaTillo was that they actually wrapped the burritos up the way they should be- closed on both ends. I don't like it when my burrito is open on one end like they do at Dos Tacos. I also appreciated the fact that the tortilla was soft and chewy, unlike the harder tortillas at Dos Tacos. That was probably my favorite thing about TomaTillo. Another thing I liked was how they were wrapped in foil, and how I could peel the foil off as I was eating. That did remind me of Chipotle. :)


The burrito was okay, but lacking in colorful veggies. I thought there was too much rice in it, and too little beans. I seriously only found a few beans here and there throughout my burrito (you can see ONE half-bitten bean there in the picture) haha... And although the sauteed mushrooms & potato cubes were okay, the spiciness from the rice kind of covered up any other flavors.

Also, Chris paid an extra 2000 won for the addition of guacamole in his burrito. He kept taking bites, with the hope that maybe it was all hiding at the bottom, but nope, there was nary a hint of avocado in sight. Maybe they forgot to put it in, or maybe the avocados were mashed to the point of blending in with all the other ingredients, but if I pay 2000 won extra for guac, it would be nice to be able to see it in there.


We also ordered a basket of nachos. They were okay.

So all in all, our experience at TomaTillo was 'meh'. I have to say, if it were between TomaTillo or Dos Tacos, at this point, Dos Tacos would get my vote. Their tortilla burritos may be a bit cracked and open on one end, but they have more vegetarian/vegan options, and the food just tastes better. Perhaps the other locations fare better though, so I do plan on visiting those someday. :)

Blackbean burger sandwich

Made this sandwich for lunch a while back and forgot to show it off. :) What you see is a blackbean burger patty on the bottom, hidden underneath some sauteed onions, and then layers of lettuce. All of it sandwiched inbetween two slices of vegan, whole wheat E-Mart bread. YUM.

I want my turkey alive!

Today, I feel the need to rant a bit. Although I absolutely love the fall and winter holidays, they do bring on a certain amount of stress for me. And I'm not talking about stress from being around relatives who ask about my personal life, or even the stress of having to buy gifts or be the perfect hostess, etc, but I'm talking about the stress of having to deal with the ignorance and thoughtlessness that comes with these holidays that often center around animal carcasses, secretions, and other products, all in the name of 'tradition'. Granted, Koreans don't do the whole 'Turkey dinner' or 'Roasted ham' thing, but I don't live a very 'Korean' life in Korea to begin with, so I still have to deal with these Western 'traditions' to some extent.

For example, today, I got an email from my company saying that instead of having our usual 'hweshik' (company dinner/outing) at a restaurant or bar, they will be ordering-in a dead turkey dinner for us instead. Uhm, is that supposed to make me happy?? It's bad enough that sometimes the company goes to rather non-veg-friendly restaurants/bars, but at least I can usually order a fruit platter or a plate of fried potatoes, but now they have to go and order a thanksgiving meal with REALLY nothing for a vegan to eat. So clearly, I will not be attending this slaughter-fest. Sure, I could go and pick at watery boiled vegetables, or cranberry sauce, but I don't like the impression that gives to other people. And although I would love to spend time with my coworkers and stuff myself on the company's dime, this kind of stuff-ing (pun intended) just ain't worth it.

On top of that, just hearing about many of my other friends planning and going to turkey dinner parties here and there, just makes me sad. I know there was a time when I sat infront of a dead, perversely stuffed bird, and thought nothing of it, but now, I think it might cause me to puke a bit. I realize I should be more understanding and remember that I was once there too, but it's hard to remain calm and composed when people are so gung-ho about eating turkeys! *sigh*

So what is a vegan supposed to do? Boycott all turkey dinners and create my own cruelty-free traditions, ofcourse! This thanksgiving, a few friends and I plan on having a 100% vegan dinner at my teeny apartment. At this point, I'm a little overwhelmed by all the fabulous dishes I want to make, but I'm also super excited. Without a doubt, our vegan dinner will taste far better than any turkey meal ordered in from the Dragon Hill Lodge. Take that!!!!

Happy Birthday to ME!

So, I didn't write much last week because I was too busy celebrating my birthday! And just as all birthdays (or birth-weeks) should be, mine was filled with awesome food, family, friends, music, hugs and laughter. I don't have photos of any of the meals I ate, but I did make sure to photograph the heck out of these rainbow cupcakes I baked to share at a birthday gathering. I have made rainbow cupcakes before, but the ones I made this time turned out to be more like psychedelic tie-die love bombs. Delicious love bombs.


I don't know why the different colors got so mixed together as they were baking, rather than staying in neat layers but I kind of like it better this way. Each one is unique! And I love how the insides are breaking through the tops, exposing the bright blues and greens underneath. Trippy!


For the cupcake recipe, I used the one from Vegweb.com entitled 'Favorite White/Yellow Cake.' I saw that several other people had used this recipe to make rainbow cupcakes, so I figured I would give it a go. And I'm so glad I did. These cupcakes were deliciously soft, sweet, and spongy, and as far as I can tell, they were a hit at my bday gathering of omnis.



Here is the 'Favorite White/Yellow Cake' recipe from VegWeb.com, adapted with instructions for making these psychedelic cupcakes:

{ Ingredients }

1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar (I reduced the sugar a tad)
1/2 cup canola oil (I replaced about 1-2 Tbs with applesauce)
1 cup icy cold water
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons lemon juice

{ Method }

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Grease an 8 or 9 inch cake pan. (or fill muffin pan with cupcake liners)
3. Sift flour, sugar, baking soda and salt together in a bowl until very light and airy..about 3 times. (I just sifted once, and it seemed to work out fine for me)
4. In a small bowl combine oil, cold water and vanilla.
5. Add liquid ingredients (except lemon juice) to dry and combine.
6. Once the batter is combined, add the lemon juice and stir quickly, then pour into prepared pan. (If you're making rainbow cupcakes, separate the batter into smaller bowls, and mix each with different food coloring. Then pour into the cupcake liners, one color at a time.)
7. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until cake tests done with toothpick. (I baked my cupcakes for about 18 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick came out clean)

Makes: 1 8-inch or 9-inch cake (or 12 cupcakes)



Feel the rainbow. Taste the rainbow.

I also can't get over how cool the paper cupcake liners look after being peeled off. It's just like tie-die! This makes me want to have a 70's themed dress-up party and bake these again.

Anywayyy, I had a lovely week, and I'm very thankful for all the birthday wishes I got, and for those who came out to celebrate me getting older (and hopefully wiser). Here's to another year of compassionate living, love, peace, joy, and all that jazz. ;)




PS. The kickass utensils in these pictures were a birthday gift from one of my friends. They are sooo adorable, I can hardly stand it. I'm sure you will be seeing these in all my future food photos!

Seoul Lantern Festival 2009

I hope everyone in Seoul got to check out the Seoul Lantern Festival last week cuz it was aaawsome! There was so much to see and I was just really impressed with all the lantern sculptures. My friends and I went on Sunday night, which was the last day that it would be showing, so the Chunggyecheon stream was overcrowded with people taking advantage of their last chance to check it out. The weather was ridiculously cold and I thought my toes might freeze off, but the beautiful lanterns kind of made it all worth it. There was also a big Korean drum performance right in the middle of the stream that was pretty cool. I don't know if this was the first Lantern Festival in Seoul, but I hope they do it every year. Here is just a fraction of all the eye-popping sculptures I saw:




rawr~


zodiac animals




Traditional Korean drummers


Buddha on an elephant


Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil


Big Ben & Angkor Wat


Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the Pyramids of Giza


wishes on lanterns




Korean traditional warriors.

SOGA Soy Sausages

Was browsing around Hyundai Department Store at COEX a few days back, and I found these Soy Sausages produced by 'SOGA' which is part of the bigger Korean food company 'Pulmuone'. Unfortunately, just like the other soymeat products I found at E-Mart, these ones are not vegan as they contain egg and milk products in them. It just doesn't seem logical to me. Why go the distance to make 'well-being' soy meats, and then lace them with animal products? Can anyone tell me?? Tell me, tell me, t t t t t tell me~~

Mellow Vegan Pumpkin Spice Bread

Even though pumpkins were never a part of my childhood or fall/thanksgiving memories, lately, I'm all for them. I'm all excited about pumpkin muffins, pumpkin spice breads, and especially the vegan pumpkin pie I'm gonna bake for thanksgiving soon! But I just have to be patient on that one....


So for now, I present to you my vegan Pumpkin Spice Bread, which I kind of made up using about three different recipes for reference. I was worried that it would be a disaster since I was basically going rogue and using my own measurements based on what I had on hand, but it turned out pretty spectacular, if I may say so myself. It was soft in the middle and had a lovely hint of fall spice. I didn't have any allspice or ground cloves on me, so it didn't have all the typical flavors of pumpkin spice bread, but it was nice and mellow, which I actually really liked.


The bottom was a little browner than the top, but it was wasn't dry or burnt. And I added some pumpkin seeds to up the cute-factor. It's a real wonder why people even bother to use milk and eggs when baking, when you can create just as good, if not superior goodies without them.



Vegan Pumpkin Spice Bread

{ Ingredients }
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (optional)

{ Method }
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. In a large bowl, sift and mix all dry ingredients together
3. In smaller bowl, mix all wet ingredients together
4. Add the wet to the dry, and gently fold together with a spatula. Halfway through folding, you can add some pumpkin seeds, if using. Mix until everything is just incorporated. Don't overmix.
5. Pour into a loaf pan, and sprinkle some pumpkin seeds over the top.
6. Bake in oven for about 40 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
7. Let rest in pan for about 20 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack. nom nom nom~~


perfect with a glass of hot tea.

Samcheong-dong Coffee Shops

There's something about Samcheong-dong that makes me feel like I have stepped into a European country, but with one foot still in Korea. It has a quaint, charming feel to it, with modern, design-conscious stores and eateries, wedged in the narrow, rustic, alleys and hillsides- everything is modern, yet traditional at the same time. It's a neighborhood studded with boutiques, galleries, and restaurants, and most of all, overflowing with cutesy and picturesque cafes. Being the coffee-shop junkie that I am, I just went around taking pictures of interesting cafes:




















I ended up at this 'Bookcafe' that was very cozy and quiet, and with books lining the entire back wall. I really like book cafes because they're so much quieter than other regular coffee shops, and being surrounded by studious people just makes you want to be studious too. It's a great place to be productive and feed off of the concentration of others.



One thing I noticed while on my self-entitled 'Samcheong-dong Cafe Tour,' was that most of the coffee shops here don't have WiFi. Even this 'Bookcafe' that I went to didn't have Internet, which is pretty unusual for a book cafe... but maybe this neighborhood is trying to hearken back to a better, simpler time when we weren't always 'plugged in', and when people actually talked to other people, read books, and wrote poetry, instead of reading celeb gossip sites, writing blog posts, and facebooking. I can respect that.


So here's a photograph of happiness. Soy coffee, a book, art on the wall, and pencils. :)