As you know, Sundays are important to me.
Not just because it’s Cheat Day, but back in Cayman it used to be Brunch With Friends Day. (Which is why it was my Cheat Day vs Saturdays like most other people on the Four Hour Body protocol — they call it Faturday.)
Brunch With Friends Day is not to be confused with Words With Friends, although for some there is a competitive angle (I’m looking at you, Elle).
I’ve tried to do a similar thing here in Korea but it’s been slow getting off the ground. Not because of anything specific, but seven years of brunching the way we did in Cayman is a tough habit to break. Jenn & I have a list of the places that we want to check out that allegedly do a brunch we can be fond of and we’ve made some progress. Butterfinger Pancakes is running slightly hotter than Suji’s at this point.
This past Sunday we were invited over to a neighbor’s place for a in-house potluck brunch. Jenn had made an egg casserole, and the hostess was making French Toast. Just as more people were arriving, I felt a slight itch in my right eye, and excused myself to grab something from our apartment. When I walked in, I went to the sink, washed my hands and then rinsed out my eye. Or at least I thought I did.
Check out what happened next. Note the time stamps…
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- 2013-09-01-10.06
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- 2013-09-01-10.09
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- 2013-09-01-10.19
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- 2013-09-01-10.25
Crazy, right?
At first I thought I had an allergic reaction to something in the neighbor’s apartment, and I took two antihistamines to stop the swelling and then three ibuprofen to reduce the inflammation.
And then I did what any other grown up does in this situation: I called my mommy.
We spoke for a little while, during which time I put an ice pack on my face and waited.
Ice, ice, baby
As I inspected the eye again, I noticed a little white particle in there and with the way it was reacting I thought that maybe, just maybe, something else had happened instead of an allergic reaction.
I went to the sink, turned the hose upside down and rinsed what I thought could have been soap out of my eyeball.
The swelling started to go down and after a little while resting, I ventured out for some Visine. Of course they don’t have Visine in Korea but they did have this:
Korean Visine
And after squeezing five or six drops into the eyeball, it looked like this:
2013-09-01-12.35.29
Crisis averted.
And since it was Cheat Day, I rewarded myself thusly:
Baskin Robbins Quarterback Crunch
After another hour or so of R&R, Jenn and I decided to make the most out of the rest of the day.
I started with some of this:
Finally got to enjoy these Pain au Levain lovely cookies, Madelines, and cupcakes.
We then joined up with that neighbor for a trip out to find the I Love Cookie (foreign food mart) closer to us in Suji-gu (which was closed) and something called CostCo Seconds, which is a storefront that sells returned merch from the wholesaler. After parting ways at the Lotte Department Store in Suji-gu, Jenn & I walked to Jukjeon to the Shinsegae Department Store for some food.
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- Jenn & Ben along the ‘river’
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- Birdwatching
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- Dinner for two at Panda Kitchen Shinsegae
And of course after scarfing our spicy veggies, noodles, and chicken, we perused the grocery store and food court area.
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- Shinsegae spices
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- Beans!
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- Beers & ciders
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- Interesting Japanese alcoholic beverages indeed
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- Box of expensive meat
We cabbed home and called it a night…
This weekend is still up in the air but Friday is looking like an Itaewon kinda day/eve.
