Marble Cake

More adventures in baking courtesy of our Cordon Bleu cookery books this week with a Marble Cake. Half chocolate, half plain sponge and speckled with lemon peel shavings...

Beaity Is In The Eyes Of The Beholder

The eleventh floor of the Lotte Department Store in Jamsil is where the concept of beaity is taken to another level...

Belly Pork Pesto

Tonight's dinner needed to be quick and easy so I picked up a slice of belly pork and a couple of cheap green peppers on the way home.

Sliced up the pork and the peppers along with a few oyster mushrooms and while some fusilli pasta was put on to boil, took out a wok and started frying. A dollop of pesto, a small handful of parmesan cheese and a sprinkling of black pepper later, dinner was served...

Mark Kermode Reads This Blog?

Last week saw one of my proudest/geekiest moments of 2011 (still very early days), when this blog sort of got a mention on BBC radio.

As an obsessive film fan, one of the things I look forward to every week is Kermode and Mayo's Film Review on BBC Radio 5 Live. It's a marathon celebration of all things filmic with one of Britain's finest film critics, Dr. Mark Kermode. He happens to be obsessed with the film The Exorcist, so I decided to tweet him a link to Exorcist Coffee. He then decided to mention it on air...

If you listen to this podcast, at the 3 minute and 38 second mark you'll hear mention of Exorcist Coffee. It's only a few seconds and there's no mention of this blog itself, but it warmed the cockles of my heart to know that Dr. K took the time to briefly glance at one of my photos and that Exorcist Coffee has found the fame it so rightly deserves.

Cracker Your Wardrobe!

After all, everyone wants to look like a cracker, don't they?

Long Gone Urban Cowboy

A glimpse of the past, circa November 2007. Demolished to make room for shiny new buildings near Nonhyeon Station, this urban cowboy used to dominate a car park on the main Gangnam road.

He used to cheer me up every time I saw him...

I miss him so much... sob... sob...

Memories of Old Cartoons

Our appearance on KBS last week triggered a conversation at our theatre about childhood tv favourites. We hopped onto youtube and took a trip down our Korean staff's memory lane.

So I'd like to bring you Latt Children's Theatre Top Five Korean Cartoons:

(Disclaimer - some top five Korean cartoons may in fact be Japanese in origin)

At number five, it's the ever popular 아기 공룡 둘리:

Dinosaurs and unicorns make for a perfect team...

At number four, it's the rather bizarre 모래요정 바람돌이:



This little sand fairy seems to spend his time making wishes come true and running in circles. Very cute, but he does have a slightly disturbing voice.

At number three, it's teenage tearaway 영심이...

After that catchy little opening number here's Youngshim and the girls grooving with a guitar on a train.

At number two it's 빨간머리 앤:

It's that old classic tale of red headed orphans, Anne of Green Gables.

And at number one it's 피구왕 통키:

Tongky the dodgeball king rules the roost at our theatre, possibly because he has the best hairstyle ever...

Special mention must go to one cartoon in particular, 이상한나라의 폴:

Not everyday that I get a cartoon named after me, describing my adventures in Korea.

Plus 달려라 하니 deserves a look, as it is quite possibly the most melancholic opening to any children's cartoon:

Hey kids, her mum's just died, but she is going to do a lot of running!

As for my childhood, I have to say that Dangermouse holds a special place in my heart:

Though when it comes to stop motion animation, my number one would have to be Bagpuss...

Any old Korean cartoons you think should have made it to the top five?

Experimental Bread

My wife is back on her baking kick (yay!), more meringues and bread experiments. Thanks to the cheap dried yeast from High Street Market, I think we'll be making a lot more doughy treats this year.

This specimen may be a little flat, but has a great texture and taste.

On a slight tangent, has anyone seen any poppy seeds in Seoul? I fancy making some poppy seed bloomers and rolls, but haven't seen those crunchy black gems around the place. Any ideas?

Oven Adventures

Roast pork, peppers, aubergines, onions and mushrooms.

Simple, yet satisfying.

Watch Me! Watch Me!

UPDATE: Turns out our office lied to me, we're on at 3.35 pm!

Just a reminder for anyone who might care to watch me dress up like a reject from the Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club album as I strum my ukulele on kids' television, that I'll be on KBS this afternoon at 4.00 pm on the TV유치원 파니파니 show...

Five glorious minutes of Ajosshi fun including minor feats of acrobatics, a badly played clarinet, Five Fools and a kazoo. Miss it if you dare.