First off-base Korean outing

Today was the day we went off-base and experienced my first taste of Korean shopping and eating and I have to say that I was in a little bit of heaven.

I LOVED everything about it - the unique signage and clothing, the streets and alleys lined and stacked with hidden treasures, the liberal use of the word 'happy', the Korean adoration of Cooper, and of course the yum food.

Main Street - a typical view down the shopping district's streets and alleys

Neat Korean phone booths along Main street.

A Korean eaterie. It smelled wonderful outside.

Along the streets are great little vendors selling food. I felt like I was at the fair so of course I had to get something fried - we chose a bowl of gyoza. Um, gyoza (or anything Asian for that matter) on the street for only 5,000 won (about $5) - yes, please!

Street vendor fried gyoza. Yum. 

The American Base has been here for over 60 years and in that time the area directly outside of the gate has grown into a huge shopping district catering to Americans and Koreans alike. The main road splits off into alleys upon alleys - all lined with shops and usually stacked three high.

Shopping district street view.

Some of my favorite shops? That's a tough one but in general the baby and clothing shops have some really unique finds and are always filled with lovely Koreans oohing and awwing over Cooper.

Adorable clothing shop - authentic Korean. 

The Korean beauty product/makeup shops are complete with beautifully packaged, unique finds with exotic ingredients. To die for. My haul today included choco milk shower cream, royal black honey mask, toner, and emulsion cream, honey salt, a pearl extract mask, and an egg white pore foam. A perfect trip to revive the eyekande.blogspot.com blog!

Skin Food beauty products. 

Skin Food store front. 

And the window displays of Coach, Jimmy Choo, and Prada bags. Come to momma' Mr. Choo...

Jimmy Choo bag. Love!

For dinner we chose traditional Korean food at The Bulgogi House. When I say Koreans love babies I'm not kidding - during this outing one of the waitresses held and entertained another couple's baby for 20 minutes while they ate. And they rushed over when we arrived to unbuckle Cooper from his stroller and then got him settled into his chair after removing his hat and jacket. I could get use to this!

Cooper eating from chopsticks for the first time. 

The menu was traditional Korean but there were American subtitles that made it easy to know exactly what we were ordering.

I chose Bipimbap - translated to rice, vegetables, some meat and a cooking egg served in an Earthenware bowl - little did I know this was the exact meal that I had been pinning about and it lived up to the hype. So, so good! Owen got traditional bulgogi and enjoyed all of the wonderful little side dishes, like kimchi, bean sprouts, and pickled kale, that accompany a meal. This is going to be one of our favorites.

Bipimbap - a traditional vegetable and rice dish. And the side dishes.

The short walk back home was beautiful - nice weather, a sleeping baby and reflection of a wonderful day with visions of many more to come and shopping to be done!