Pandan Chiffon Cake

Chiffon cakes are my all time favorite. If it's not because of the sugar content, I can gobble down the whole cake in one day! I hardly buy chiffon cakes from the store, I just dislike the artificial coloring and the artificial flavoring. I like chiffon cakes that are rich in aroma, flavors and taste which means you gotta use all natural ingredients.

My pandan chiffon cake baking in the oven! The whole house is now filled with pandan smell. Awesome smell. Invert the pan immediately after the cake is done.

Here's the recipe that I copied from my all time favorite blogger - Wendyinkk.
Pandan Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:
A)
4 large egg yolks
75ml oil
115ml pandan leave juice (1/2 cup water blended with 1/2 cup cut up pandan leaves, strained)
25gm coconut milk powder
1/8 tsp salt
100 gm sugar
150 gm all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder

B)
4 egg whites
90gm sugar
1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Method:1. Preheat oven to 170C
2. Warm pandan juice and mix in coconut milk powder. Stir until coconut milk powder is dissolved.
3. Mix (1) with the rest of ingredients (A) until well combined.
4. Beat egg whites until foamy. Put in cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks.
5. Add in sugar and beat until stiff.
6. Fold 1/4 of egg whites into (A) and combine well.
7. Repeat step 6.
8. Fold in the rest of egg whites and combine well.
9. Pour batter into a clean tube pan and shake pan lightly left and right to level cake.
10. Bake at 170C for 40 minutes.
11. Invert pan immediately after removing from oven.
12. Cut cake when totally cooled.

Winter at Haeundae Beach, Busan

This was actually our first experience with winter at the beach. Poor kids were so tempted to just sit down on the sandy beach and wanting to build sandcastles, but they just couldn't do it due to the cold weather. They were too bulky to sit down comfortably on the sand and play. Haha.

 

This is the beautiful harbor on the way to Haeundae beach. I can stay here forever.. with this cozy weather! In fact, the best time to visit Haeundae beach is during summer, in between Jun-Sept.

 Even though there's nothing much to do in winter, December.. but I just love the cold weather here. It wasn't so windy at this beach that will chill you down the bone, but the weather is just nice. We were there during early December and temperature was about 8-11degrees. I can go on walking without my winter jacket.

 

 My little boy was busy chasing after these seagulls. The only activity for him to do during winter at the beach.

This beach is so lovely. We will definitely come back again in the near future, I hope. =)

Kids Happiest Moment at Everland, Seoul

Amusement Park is definitely a must whenever you plan for a holiday with kids. Throughout the entire holiday, this day was the happiest day for our kids. They truly enjoyed to the max and the smile and laughter on their faces were priceless. Such a precious moment.

Everland is a must go if you're visiting Korea. I wish they do have Disneyland because the kids will enjoy it more since they know all the Disney's characters. Anyway, we're glad that we found Everland discounts tickets for foreigners, up to 31%. That was definitely a great news. After discount, it only cost us 33000won for adult and 27000won for child. Here's where we purchased the Everland discounted ticket (Cosmojin).

 

The day before our trip to Everland, we dropped by their office located inside President Hotel, walking distance from subway Euljiro1 to purchase the tickets.

 

Total ticket price after discount = 93000 won, equivalent to MYR340. We saved on 1 child ticket because little boy is still less than 3 years old. Sometimes it's always good to travel when your child is less than 2 years old. You do not have to pay for full flight price and most of the attraction parks are free for child less than 2yrs.

 The journey to Everland from our rented guesthouse at Seoul Station took us about 2.5 hours. We traveled via Subway and the only thing I knew was we kept getting up and down to change lines. At first, we wanted to board a bus from the Seoul station but we couldn't find where is the Exit10 as stated in the brochure. Ended up, we wasted 1 hour at the Seoul Station and finally decided to take the train instead.

 Finally, we arrived at Everland after 2.5 hours of changing train after trains. It was almost 2pm. The kids were already a little fussy and hungry and tired. After getting down from the Yongin Everline Subway, we walked to the opposite side of the road and took a free shuttle bus to Everland.

Yesss!! We were finally here! The feeling was like we took forever to reach this Everland and we were now here, at Everland. =/

 Everland is divided into five sections: American Adventure, Magic Land, European Adventure, Zoo Topia, and Global Fair. The first section that we went was ZooTopia. We do not want to miss out the fun Safari adventure whereby the kids can have a close view of the big bears, tigers, lions..

 Everland parade !

 

The brightly lit up Everland. Stunningly beautiful!

 How it feels being like a child again... 

 Night Parade.. So beautiful!

 Fantastic Fireworks for Christmas.

 We decided to take the train back to Seoul because the queue at the bus station was horrendous. Look at that happy face. The decision to the Everland was definitely a right one, even though the tickets cost us a bomb after conversion.

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

~Isaiah 9:6

 May the light of love shine upon you, and may your life be filled with blessings. Here’s to wishing you a warm and blessed Christmas, and may you start the New Year on a beautiful note.

We would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

Love you All!! 

Is Seoul a stroller friendly place?

If you ever travel to Seoul with toddlers and plan to bring a stroller, buy a super lightweight stroller. Forget about the twin stroller or the bulky buggy stroller. Thank God we didn't bring our Quinny stroller there. Looking for an elevator in Seoul is like digging for gold. If you ever seen one signboard with the word Elevator, "Congratulations! You have found the gold mine!" 

After a long walk from morning to night, your legs are definitely so sore that you do not want to carry the baby stroller with the baby necessities up the stairs. Unfortunately, not all malls or metro come with elevator. Sometimes we have to walk from one end to another end and yet we still couldn't find an elevator. Then, we had to walk all the way back to the right exit and go out by stairs. Furthermore, most of the restaurants or coffee shop are located either at 2nd floor or lower ground floor that you have to use stairs. All I can say is everywhere in Seoul are built with stairs. =/

I was in my 27th weeks pregnancy, with a 2yo and 4yo in hand. Usually I will carry my 2yo down/up the stairs while holding my 4yo's hand. My hubby will carry the stroller together with his backpack filled with all the baby necessities (diapers, bottles, milk, flask, spare clothes etc).

 

You're not allowed to push your stroller up the escalator for safety purpose and yet not all exits are equipped with elevator.

 It was a huge relief for us whenever we see the signboard with the word ELEVATOR.

 Our life saver!! Especially when child is fast asleep in the stroller. We saw a Malaysian family encountered the same situation as well. Her older child was already sleeping in the stroller and they couldn't find the elevator. And the mother was quite hesitated to disturb her son's beauty sleep.

 

They provided this facility for people with wheelchair, but the instructions were all written in Korean and we couldn't understand how to operate it. We've tried many times to press the buttons up and down but nothing happens. We actually saw a Thailand couple carried the father who was in the wheelchair all the way up the stairs.

While waiting for the train, always look for this sign at the waiting door. There is a dedicated space in the train for you to park your stroller/wheelchair. In fact, we hardly see Koreans pushing strollers around with their kids. Most of them babywear their child.

This was our experience traveling in Seoul with a stroller. It was difficult and troublesome at times, sometimes we just think of ditching the stroller away. But, it comes in handy when the kids need to nap and we get to free our hands by hanging our bags/shopping bags on the stroller. If everywhere in Seoul does not come with stairs and are equipped with elevator, this will definitely be an awesome place to travel to. I just fall in love with the cold weather here. And all the lovely kimchi stew and lotte biscuits. =D

Airbnb Family Studio stay at Seoul for 4 guests

This is actually our first time booking accommodation during our recent trip to Busan and Seoul via Airbnb. At first we are not so keen with Airbnb because for a first timer, we are pretty cautious if this whole thing is reliable. What if we reached there and the host is not contactable? What if the host is a scammer? We've read too much about scammers all around...

After much research, we decided to try and book the room with the most reviews.

My first experience with Airbnb:

• Booking is just a click away
• After confirmation and accepted by the host, payment was charged to your card.
• The host response was quick and fast, he can communicate in English so it's already a bonus. We received his SMS/Whatsapp immediately after the confirmation
• Few days before our arrival, the host contacted us and checked on our arrival time/check in time and also if we need any advice about Seoul
• On the day of our arrival, he guided us steps by steps how to walk to his studio from the Seoul Station. 
• Check in was all successful and went on smoothly without any hassle/trouble

Here's the room that we booked (Family studio 5Min. Seoul Station)
If it's your first time booking via Airbnb, GOOD NEWS! Sign up HERE and you will get some discounts on your booking.

Overall, we are pretty satisfied with our stay here. The room is not spacious, but fits perfectly for four of us. All we need is the two queen size bed! The floor comes with heater and this is a lifesaver especially during winter and your clothes can even dry due to the heat. You don't have to over-packed your luggage with lots of clothes, just bring a few and wash them here. Laundry detergent is also provided. Spare your bag's space for shopping!

Booking a studio unit that offers facilities like a home is so convenient especially when you travel with kids. I cooked porridge for the kids everyday and washed their clothes, especially the gloves and socks. if you need any groceries shopping, Lotte Mart is just 5 mins walk away which is located directly inside Seoul Station. That was how convenient this studio unit is.

The only cons about this guesthouse is that there is no Lift. The unit is two floors up, so we have to carry the stroller / luggages / baby and our shopping bags up the stairs.

 The view of the room from the entrance.

 A nice sofa with coffee table for you to lazy out after a long day of walk outside.

 

 Coffee table is well equipped with tourist maps and guides for foreigners.

 A small dining table with two chairs. If only there are 4 chairs available. I actually have difficulties feeding my two kids at the same time and three of us cramp in two chairs.

 Cooking facilities which comes in handy when you need to cook for your kids. Check the expiry date of the salt/pepper/seasonings before you use them. The salt/seasonings were expired few months before.

 Microwave/rice cooker/coffee machine/toaster are also available.

  We didn't have time for TV, but the free wifi is definitely a lifesaver. How can one survive in this world these days without internet. =D

 Towels are provided on the TV cabinet. But we actually used our own towel, the towels look a little old and well-used. If you don't mind, it's ok to use it.

 Bathroom is well equipped with toiletries. Basically, you don't have to bring anything!

And finally, a big Seoul town map sticked on the wall, good for foreigners like us!

If we were to go to Seoul again, we will definitely stay here again. It's only 5-10 mins walk to Seoul Station and there are few restaurants to dine in at the station itself. There is also a Lotte Mart connected to the station, my all-time favorite groceries shopping mart.  Jay (the host) promised to give me good discounts for our next trip. Haha. 

See you soon Seoul! I miss you already ..... =)