Of Breakfast and Baseball

Butterfinger Pancakes is, as the sign says, "my kind of place." Tucked away in a little part of Seoul mostly frequented by the well-to-do, some friends of mine came across this place quite by accident a few months ago, and its a haven for foreigners in a city where breakfast usually consists of rice, kimchi and fish.


Always having been a fan of breakfast restaurants, and having worked in one myself for over a year, I was aware that I had probably become a bit of a breakfast restaurant snob. As excited as I was for the visit, I was worried that said snobbery would be an obstacle in enjoying this decadent experience to the fullest. Happily, this was not the case.

Just feast your eyes on these two plates of deliciousness! The was also a stack of delicious blueberry pancakes and strawberry compote which didn't make it into the picture. As anyone in the tiniest bit knowledgeable about my likes and preferences can tell you, I have a soft spot in my heart for anything even suggesting of cheese. Please notice if you will the large waffle to the right that had been baked covered with a mountain of cheese. This breakfast had me before hello.


Whether this breakfast was truly as amazing and life changing as I make it out to be, or if I had just not had a 'proper' breakfast in such a long time, combined with idealized memories of my trip to Butterfinger, I'm not sure. Although a little on the pricey side, the fact remains that I'm itching to go back there again. Delicious!



Although I have a lot of experience with breakfast and with breakfast restaurants, the next experience of the day was to be something that was a first for me. Those of you from Newfoundland will understand how this is plausible, although I think that those outside will find it a little ridiculous that Sunday after Butterfinger was my first time at a baseball game.

I had been to a baseball diamond before, I had even played baseball and softball in gym over the years. The last time I remember going to watch a baseball game, however, was when my cousin, Mark, now about to graduate from high school played T-ball. How old is a kid, when he's too little to have the ball thrown to him, and it just sits there on top of a stick waiting to be hit? Suffice to say it was a long time ago, and quite different from....

This! The Doosan Bears vs. the Lotte Giants, last game of the season, thousands of screaming fans (Koreans are a little fanatical about baseball), cheerleaders, drummers, costumes and strange hats made out of plastic bags.

Korean people are normally pretty reserved, and while this picture happens to show some people in rapt attention to what is happening on the field, it does an injustice to the madness that was happening around us. People were singing, and dancing, and as I said, wearing strange orange hats made out of plastic bags.

This little boy doesn't seem to understand them much better than I do. Some cute, though!