Ever since Mark's gotten back to Korea, we've been making near-daily trips to what is possibly my favorite ice cream place on the planet--- MILKY ROAD.
Patbingsoo (patbingsu), a Korean dessert of shaved ice topped with fruit and red bean, can be found at practically any cafe in Seoul, but Milky Road adds frozen yogurt (with real fermented yogurt) to the mix:
Fruit can be expensive in Korea, so this my preferred way of satisfying my fresh fruit cravings ^^ We took a visiting dean from school here this weekend, and ordered not one, but all three of their special big sized yogurt bingsoo's (one is usually enough for 2-3 people)!
The three were Well-Being Green Tea (with green tea ice cream, fruit, and black sesame topping), Fruits Garden (a variety of fresh fruit), and Sweets Basket (chocolate ice cream, sweet potato). Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a picture of them until we were halfway through eating: 
There is only one Milky Road store in Seoul and none in the U.S. It's a Japanese franchise: http://www.milkyroad.co.kr/
The one in Seoul is coincidentally located right near my school, in Sinchon towards Yonsei University, above Seven Eleven on the street where Krispy Kreme and Choi's Tacos (another delicious place to eat) are located.
Patbingsoo (팥빙수), by the way, means red bean (pat), ice (bing), water (soo)...
Obviously, once I return to America I'll be going through major patbingsoo withdrawal. I'm planning on using the following recipes to make my own knock-offs at home:
Basic patbingsoo recipe:
- 2 cups of ice
- 1/2 cup of cut-up fresh fruit (kiwis, strawberries, bananas, pineapple, peaches, mango, any berries, watermelon, melons are all good) or fruit cocktail. I also really like nata de coco, a clear jelly made from fermented coconut water
- 1/4 cup of chapsal dduk, sweet rice cake. Looks like this:
- 1/3 cup of sweetened canned red bean, called 팥
 - 1/4 cup of condensed milk
You can buy ingredients such as canned red bean topping and rice cakes at your local Asian supermarket. If you're in NJ, NY, PA, VA, MD, GA, or IL, Hanareum, also known as H Mart is a great Korean supermarket to go to. If you're desperate you can even order Korean food online at sites like kgrocer.com Instructions:
1. Grind up the ice using a mixer or ice grinder and put it in a bowl (clear bowls are nice to eat out of)
You can use a special ice grinder as shown above.
2. Pour the condensed milk over the crushed ice in the bowl. Put the red bean topping over the ice and milk, and then sprinkle the fresh fruit and dduk over the whole thing (you can be artistic and arrange the fruit prettily, or just dump it on top and eat).
3. EAT
The Korean style of eating patbingsoo is 섞어섞어, or "mix mix". You take a spoon, mix everything together so that the toppings and ice blend, and eat! But personally, I prefer leaving the toppings intact until the very end.
Here are some of my favorite variations of patbingsoo:
Misutgaru patbingsoo recipe
[미숫가루 팥빙수] (Roast grain powder bingsoo)
A more traditional twist on the basic patbingsoo; has a nutty, satisfying taste
Ingredients:
- misutgaru powder (roast grain powder, do not confuse this with malt powder)
- cereal (corn flakes, frosted flakes, captain crunch, etc)
- chapsal dduk (sweet rice cake)
- a scoop of vanilla ice cream
- crushed ice
- red bean
- condensed milk
Make the patbingsoo according to the regular recipe and then top with cereal, then ice cream, then rice cake, and finally sprinkle the misutgaru powder over the whole thing!
Green tea patbingsoo recipe
 Ingredients:
- Green tea ice cream or green tea powder
- red bean
- chapsal dduk, rice cake
- fruit
- condensed milk
- ice
Yogurt patbingsoo recipe
As close as I can get to Milky Road without having a frozen yogurt machine at home..
Buy the Korean yogurt (you can find it at most Korean grocery stores), thaw if frozen, and pour on top of the shaved ice. Top with fruit and red bean.
Korean yogurt (a popular brand is Maeil):
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Umm...can we make this? Please??
Or can we go to NYC and find it? :)