➹ yummy finds at the korean grocery part 5!

Yeah, it's been a while ^^. It has been so busy these past weeks that I've missed my previously regular trips to the nearby Korean grocery. When I finally managed to drop by, I found some fairly "new" options on the beverage cooler!

I am a HUGE FAN of sikhye so I was really excited to try out this new bottle:


And YUMMMMMMMMM~~~ it was just perfect! I liked this better than the canned one. The sikhye was refreshing and lightly sweet and just amazing. I will definitely get this again next time.

And then I found some Pororo banana milk cartons and I just instantly had to buy them! I was thinking of my young nephew and niece and how they really love Pororo. I haven't had the chance to give them yet but I'm excited nevertheless.


If you know other canned/bottled sikhye drinks, do let me know! I really enjoy these Korean drinks ^^. I can't wait for new discoveries on my next grocery trips.

➹ yummy finds at the korean grocery part 4!

Found some really cute Pororo snacks for my niece and nephew! The tasty biscuits came in the shape of Pororo characters so they were a real treat for the kids.




I got myself some Hotteok cookies as well! The walnut and peanut flavor intrigued me so I couldn't resist grabbing a box. They were soft and chewy cookies which surprisingly not too sweet.





They can't compare to real Hotteok ofcourse ㅋㅋㅋ. These were really chewy and it gave my jaws a little workout! But I still love the texture plus the hint of cinnamon is just perfect.



I kind of like the Bungeoppang snacks better though. Maybe I am a sweet bean kind of person. I even love the ice cream version a lot!




I received some Korean snacks from my friend in Seoul as well.



I had 연양갱 before but it was my first time trying out the Ddeokbokki and the 쫄병 snacks so I was really excited. The Ddeokbokki snack was spicy but really delicious! ^^ I wanted to eat real Ddeokbokki for days after I had the packaged snack version. But my favorite amongst the 3 was the crispy noodle barbecue flavored쫄병! Snacking on these was such a guilty pleasure for me. Luckily, I found these same items on the local grocery so I managed to get them again afterwards.

I just keep finding more yummy stuff right? ㅋㅋㅋ I really miss Seoul as it will be nearly a year since my last vacation. Doing some random Korean grocery shopping eases my longing somehow~~

➹ pororo generation

I think I first heard about Pororo from watching Running Man ㅋㅋㅋ. Haroro has in fact been one of my favorite players in the show. And then I encountered Pororo once again when I watched Greatest Love! That was when I realized how popular this penguin character is. There was a time when Dooly (the dinosaur character) was all the rage (cue X-Man, Star Golden Bell clips)~ and perhaps it is still quite popular these days … But it is crystal clear that it is NOW the peak of the Pororo generation!

A few weeks before I came to Seoul last fall, I encountered Pororo again via Flower Boy Ramyun! At this point, I just had to check out what all the hype is all about! As expected, there is no shortage of Pororo goodies online even for English speakers like me. Surely, there are tons more from Korean netizens! Sadly, I had no time to browse around before my trip.

Little did I know that Pororo is like all over Seoul! Well, all over Times Square at least. We went into the 24-hr eMart after midnight and marveled at the wide variety of Pororo merchandise at this supermarket! Chopsticks, lunchboxes, mugs, pencil cases and what nots. I couldn't choose what to buy for my 4-yr old nephew at that time because the choices were all overwhelmingly cute! I settled for a simple pencil case since I wasn't sure if my nephew even knows who Pororo was.

The next morning, we went into Kyobo bookstore and found Pororo books, toys and even Pororo himself in a car ㅋㅋㅋ.


I wanted to buy a book for toddlers ~ for my Hangul education and just for fun ~ so I picked this out.



The department store section in eMart is not open 24 hours so we came back to browse around after Kyobo. It was not so surprising that we found a whole section for Pororo in the Toys Department.




Pororo merchandise was even all over Incheon International Airport. This was where we found a Petty doll. Too bad it was a bit too expensive else, my friend would have bought it haha. Next time, I wouldn't mind taking home a Pororo doll myself ㅎㅎ. It was also in IIAC that we found Pororo chocolates!!!



So yeah, I gave in and bought a pack. They were sooo yummy!!! Well, it's hard to go wrong with strawberry yogurt, yes? Buying these was also a good thing since my nephew and niece are apparently huge fans of Pororo! They were so excited when I gave them the chocolates. My nephew even introduced me to all the characters on the show. It was not surprising that he even asked me to give him the Pororo book~ ah, but not yet. He wouldn't understand the Hangul characters yet haha!

Last Christmas, I decided to watch Pororo episodes in their youtube channel. Oh sooo much fun! ^^ It's such a fun way to learn simple Korean expressions. Ah scratch that ~ it's the CUTEST way to learn Korean expressions!

For my nephew's 5th birthday, I had Pororo notebooks custom made for his party! His classmates loved these so much~


Now I even downloaded the free Pororo apps on my smartphone. The camera app is also loads of fun for kids ^^.

Lastly, I just found out that this Pororo drink is also delicious (well, according to my nephew haha).


So what's all the hype on Pororo? I'm not exactly sure myself but I'm now pretty hooked in it!