TEASER : PORTFOL TEAM
End / Beginning
MAY 31
Ye Jin and I ate in a Korean restaurant called “Hana” (it mean #1 in Korean, but if translated to Japanese, it would mean flower) in Paranaque.
Ye Jin’s pick is my absolute favorite - Spicy Squid! It tastes less spicy compared to what Ye Jin’s mom made tho. (200php)
And this is my pick - Bulgogi!! The serving looks small in the picture but it’s actually quite big. Also, this tastes less sweet than the bulgogi from where we were treated by Sir Park. (250php)
They gave us side dishes: pickled yellow radish, kimchi and miso soup. Hana gives LARGE servings, so if you want to get your stomach filled with healthy, delicious stuff, choose HANA. Also they are equally cheap compared to other Korean restaurants.
HAHAHA!
Walking quite a bit… then went inside a Korean grocery mart.
Ye Jin gave me this candies. (> u <) Thank you Ye Jin-ah!
We also went to Serenitea because I want Ye Jin to taste their pepper corn. I have a massive craving for Serenitea’s Pepper Corn JUST BECAUSE. If you haven’t tasted one yet, you are missing half of your life loljkhahahaa but it really it tastes….I can’t describe the taste— IT’S THAT GOOD. Plus it’s only 60php and you get 3 hugeass corn (sliced from 1 cob of course).
But sadly there are no Pepper Corn so I just ordered Pepper Chicken. One for Ye Jin and I and the other one for her unni and ommonie~ it tastes awesome too but not as awesome as Pepper Corn.
Also brought a spicy version of cold soba. Yes it’s literally cold because it is served with ice.
Then we walked back home and …slept. By the time we got home we were knocked out. That was a long day.
JUNE 1
Went back again to Mr. Park’s Bread & Cake early morning while Ye Jin went to school! By the time I get there, they have already restocked drinks and such.
These drops make me wonder…
Also they have a new bread! Cream Balls! I haven’t tasted it yet, but it looks soft, sweet and … creamy :))
I ordered Mammoth bread. It’s very huge that I was eating this the whole time I was there, which was from 9 AM - 6:30 PM. Just imagine how big this bread is. There are honey, cream, red and green beans inside Mammoth bread. I even brought some of the pieces back home.
Later, YooJin-ssi (owner’s wife) saw me and gave me this: Snapple Lemon Tea. Thank you!
By the time I finished doing things, almost all of the bread are gone.
YooJin-ssi gave us a plastic full of bread, one for me and one for Ye Jin. Uwaaaa thank you very muchhh!!! My family ate the Sweet Long one (not in the picture), and it was said to be one of their bestsellers. THEY LOVE IT!!! Inside the plastic are: Mocha Cream Bread, Nunetine, Sweet Long, Marble Castella and Crumb Cake.
Aaaaand that’s it! ‘Till next time :D
Mr. Park’s Bread and Cake
All images food photographer by me! :D logo design by Glenne!
You can check the other photographs at their website~This summer has been a very busy summer for me. I was doing my on the job training with my two friends Glenne and YeJin~ :D We were asked to design a lot of stuff of the shop including the website, food photographer, logo, menu, and other graphics of the store. I also did the website for them. Check it out here: http://mrparksbreadandcake.zz.mu/
Continue on to read about my experiences there~~
Ciarra’s experience at Mr. Park’s! :D
The bakery-cafe is worth a shot! They have 3 working branches:
PARANAQUE:
200 Aguirre Ave., BF Homes, Paranaque City
MAKATI:
#37 Polaris St., Bel-Air, Makati
PAMPANGA:
Unit 1, C&C Plaza Bldg., Friendship Hi-way cor. Volga st., Anunas, Angeles City, Pampanga
The other branches that are in the works now are the following:
ORTIGAS:
Ground fl., Eton Emerald ave., cor. Garnet st., Brgy. San Antonio, Pasig City
SM Sta. Mesa:
Basement fl., near Hypermarket, Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard cor. Araneta Ave., Brgy. Dona Imelda, Quezon City
Saturdate
Before my Saturdate with Denise, Ye Jin, Marrah and I spent time together at Marrah’s crib.
Ye Jin gave me this Bacchus. I think it’s an energy drink xD Thank you, Ye Jin!!
Bus time~~!
I became instamom for 3 days HAHA! I cooked my version of Ciarra’s dish. Sorry I didn’t have a clearer pic (TT u TT) Maybe I’ll upload a better one and type in the ingredients and how to cook it. Ye Jin and Marrah likes the dish.. I’m happy!!
Heart-shaped glass. Looks soooo gay :))
We watched animated films (How To Train Your Dragon and Brave) and TV series. I taught Ye Jin about Photoshop and how to blend.
3 days of bonding~ and it’s time to go home again.
See you guys soon! :)
—-
Then, it was our time to bond! Long-awaited day! (> u <) We met at UM and marathon-ed L4D2 (a zombie apocalypse game).
After that, we went to Spring by Ha Yuan in Makati and ate. Really cheap Chinese restaurant but oh-so-good!! I really missed their food <3
Having our tummy filled with Chinese goodness, we went to National Bookstore. I bought the things I needed and to our surprise, they gave out this freebie:
HAHAHAHHAHAHA that was soooooo random. :))
Walking around Greenbelt, we happened to pass by a lot of booths. This particular booth is the MOST eye-catching out of them all. I LOVE EVERYTHING FROM THIS STORE (; u ;) Ah, my heart.
Plus I found the earrings I’ve been looking for for so loooong! But before buying that, we thought of taking a look around the other booths… and see what I found:
Infinity bracelet!! A bit disappointed ‘cause there are no double infinity bracelets… I’ve been looking for that for ages. But for the mean time, these would do. I bought Den one too. 3 of these for P200! The other infinity bracelet I bought is a gold one. It looks regal on formal attire. Love it!!
We grabbed some dessert afterwards. Den wants some Dairy Queen, so we went up Glorietta. I had Mud Pie Blizzard, while she had M&M’s and Brownie Blizzard. HER CHOICE OF BLIZZARD WAS EXTREMELY YUMMY. I think I’ll have that next time.
I was trying to find that Banchetto in Glorietta, and after walking for a while, we found it! It was near UCC Cafe. Aaaaand, we also came across Family Mart! I was really hyped because it came from Japan (yes, I am fond of Japanese products).. but it was nothing special. I thought Family Mart only offers Japanese products, but more than 70% of what they offer are things you can buy in a local grocery store in the Philippines. :(
We walked until we finally reached the bus terminal. It was a long walk, but it’s alright. I enjoy long walks with people I care about. :)
Den and I caught up on a lot of things. Went home happy (^^,*)
Until next bonding time, Den! :)
SUMMER 2013
Around 2 to 3 weeks ago, my friends, Ye Jin and Ciarra, and I became interns at Mr. Park’s Bread & Cake, a Korean bakery-cafe, at BF Homes, Paranaque.
It was a pretty nerve-wracking experience at first.
First day pictures of us! (> u <)
We shot a lot of products that day.
5:30 PM, we left the store and went to Ye Jin’s house.
This is Choi family’s dog, Ssang! Ahh, poor Ssang he can’t take the Philippines’ heat.
We also got the taste of her cooking!! This is Kimchi rice and yellow pickled ginger!! 대박!! (the best!) ㅋㅋㅋ
After eating our meal, Ye Jin gave us this Korean Ice Candy!! It tastes like bubblegum!! I love it! ❤
The next day…
Ye Jin made us choose glasses she’s not using. I picked this one because it fits my face shape! Actually, I always have a hard time finding the right glasses for me. My face shape is small… and almost all the glasses that I like does not like me back. </3 I really love glasses though.
Thank you, Ye Jin!!! (* u *)
Back to work~~!
Work, work and work. I can’t exactly remember the details on what happened each day.
There are some days that were extremely HOT. And there are some days that rained. I like those rainy days.
There was this one time we have to go to Taft and back to my house.
Since both Ye Jin and I LOVE chicken very much, we went to Archer’s and ate at ToriBox. 
Ye Jin loves them!! In ToriBox, you’ll be the one to choose 2 flavors for your chicken. We chose BBQ and chili pepper.
Now, this is the adventure part.
From Cavite to Las Pinas, to save time, we went to Prinsa.
The friends I brought here have only one expression: shock :))
Sometimes, unni would come and visit us in the store. She also helped us in translating Korean words to english, and vice-versa.
Monday (?). Roy came and tried their bread.
And Roy likes their bread too!!!
I highly recommend this bread at Mr. Park’s Bread & Cake:
This one is called Cheese Cream Bun! ❤ This is my ultra fave at Mr. Park’s!
(picture by Ciarra)
After a few days, Marrah came and joined us! We made spicy cheese ramyun~
Ye Jin’s family (and I believe every Korean family) stocks up chili paste and chili powder. In Korean culture, spicy things especially Kimchi is VITAL. In every meal, there’s Kimchi, or something spicy. When I looked it up the net, one good thing about spicy is that it increases your metabolism. (* A *)
Ommonim cooked Samgyeopsal for dinner, too! That Samgyeopsal is one of the TASTIEST Samgyeopsal EVER!!!! ❤
Eatingggg~
The ceiling of the dining room has an intricate design.
Ehe~~ finished!
After eating our meals, Ye Jin gave us another Ice Cream! I chose this strawberry flavored popsicle (O u O)
The next day, Ye Jin gave us another ice cream. I tried this grape flavored ice cream. It was yummy~!
Nomnoms while walking~(U v U*)
Ciarra joined us soon. After work, we went to the newly-opened Korean mart! Everything was SOOOO cheap! Peppero in malls costs 50-70php per box, but here, it’s only 25php!!!!
Saw a chickiiiiin! I just had to, hehe.
Ciarra treated us to Milkis! Thank you, Ciarra!!
The girls, while waiting for our trike.
The next night, ommonim treated us to a Korean restaurant. They gave us mini towels.
Huhu Ye Jin is sooooo cute! Ye Jin is good at aegyo… without her even trying!!! Ah, adorable (TT u TT)
❤❤❤
Those orange thingies are not carrots. They’re sweet potatoes! Love my potatoes to bits!!!
I am extremely grateful to the Choi family for letting me stay over for __ days. (> u <) Thank you so much! I learned a lot on this experience. It felt like I lived in Korea for a short while. :)
What we did over the store may be tiring, but I really had lots of FUN!!! Thank you so much to Mr. Park and their staff too, for being considerate and for being there for us. Thank you, thank you!! (^^,*)
‘Till next time!!
Back on track.
Practice painting eye/s before heading out.
잘가 ㅋㅋ
nkhjhfds oh em I’m so happy TT u TT I finished memorizing hangul
추카해 기레니!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ ^^
Normally, I feel that whenever I answer questions here, whatever perspective I have to offer will suffice, but this one left me with a laundry list of opinions, most of which conflicted with one another. While it would probably be most expected for me to think that art can change the world, and it’s other professions that serve a more tangible purpose that would look down on art as a career choice – if I’m being honest, my gut feeling was that me deciding to become an artist and continuing to be one IS incredibly selfish and narcissistic. Even when I engage with people considering following a similar career path, my words of encouragement boil down to “I love what I do, it fulfills me immensely”. From artist to artist, that’s exactly what you’d expect, but suddenly I considered the possibility that all of my artistic “advice” was just perpetuating a cycle of selfishness – encouraging people to pursue things only to make themselves happy. Having an impact on the world was never even a consideration, I just… like making things.
Is what I do, is what all artists do, just for themselves? Are we really just choosing a path that puts a smile on our faces when we should be picking careers that tangibly assist people? I was at a loss. I knew that I lacked the proper perspective to answer this question in full on my own.
Thankfully, two of my brothers happen to be in fairly interesting careers that contrast my own as an illustrator: a Doctor and a Rabbi. While we sat around a coffee table in Manhattan eating Thai food — my niece running around in circles holding a Superman action figure, and my 6 month old nephew smiling in a dapper baby outfit while he happily filled his diaper – I broached the question to see what two people who respectively save lives and save souls, would have to say about this. However, unlike myself, they almost immediately dismissed it as absurd.
The narcissism and selfishness was one of the first things they tried to dismantle — saying every profession, no matter how seemingly noble by label, attracts people who do it entirely for themselves, a doctor being no exception. I argued back saying that in these instances though, regardless of the reasons FOR pursuing these practical professions, a doctor still saves lives.
Next on the chopping block, they dissected the notion that artists have no real impact on the world. There were a slew of very expected and easily rebuked statements thrown around. When I told my Rabbi brother that the impact he has on his congregation and community is deep, profound, instantaneously noticeable, and that I don’t have a damn clue whether anything I’ve ever made has affected anyone, he was just his usual humble self and in denial of that fact. But my other brother said something that if there were ever a statement that gave any sort of real answer to a question layered with so many existential onion rings, I felt this was it. He said, and I’m paraphrasing here, “Sam, just look at history, Doctors, Engineers, and Scientists are the people who have an impact in the world and matter the most? If anything you could make a strong argument that these are the professions that are extraneous. Art pre-dates medicine, science, and engineering by very wide margins. Art has grown and expanded exponentially throughout history, it has transformed language and sold belief systems to entire nations. I gain more from looking at a beautiful painting or listening to good music than I ever do from how something is engineered. I mean even on a really basic level of what I do, without artists, what the hell would us doctors learn from? You have no idea how much the field of medicine relies on illustration.”
I didn’t have an argument for that. It was historically sound.
While I’m not sure that I have a definitive answer to your question, after filling my perspective and knowledge gaps from my brothers, I will say this: It’s a slippery slope to say that artists don’t impact the world. Art’s effects may not be as tangible as the aforementioned career alternatives, but it’s still around, broader and more widespread than ever, permeating ever facet of our human-made world. Its effects may not be as quantifiable as how many years a Doctor has kept a person alive, but as most doctors will tell you, quantity of life is not nearly as valuable as the quality of it, yet their job demands that they deliver the number over the experience.
Art demands nothing, we just make it. We express, we depict, and we rage on whether or not our impact can be put into numbers.
^This.
Art itself isn’t just something you look at. It has a soul.
Artists express what they feel in an illustration, people look at it and may depict it differently. Some art can guide you, some can enlighten, some you can relate to. Even if some illustration looks sad, or angry or happy, it definitely serves a purpose.
Yay for new blog layout! :D
Very happy to find a blog theme that best suits my site (for the meantime). YAY! <3
Will blog more in the future, too! :D
"How timid and delicate unrequited love is? Even though unrequited love finds its own way in… Its a love that gets trapped inside, unable to find an exit."
— Go Dok Mi, Flower Boy Next Door Episode 1 (via greenwithguccienvy)
