Thankful.

Thanksgiving came and went in one of those "boy, that was fast" ways, didn't it?

It was such a good day, even though we couldn't make it to MN for the holiday. Martin's boss invited us to join her and her family in going to ANOTHER family's Thanksgiving. I guess this family traditionally takes in strangers (me, Martin, and two other international students from Martin's college) for the big meal. They were so welcoming and hospitable to invite us to share their house and holiday for the evening.

Wanting to contribute to the meal, Martin and I dipped a HUGE container of Thanksgiving strawberries in melted, 65% dark chocolate, and carefully balanced each berry on its hat to ensure perfect, smooth, fingerprint-free coating. After only 30 minutes, the chocolate was hard and the dessert was ready to go. It was a lot easier than it sounded before starting, and is a fail-proof way to make people like you! :) They were a tasty edition to the evening.

We didn't leave our host's house until midnight! We had so much fun sitting around the house, sipping wine and cider, eating pies and strawberries, and getting to know one another. The highlight for me was that there were a few girls around my age with whom I had things in common. I also really liked spunky uncle George, who is retired and watches DVDs everyday while he crochets.

To the family who invited us in, fed us really well, and welcomed us back next time, thanks!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins--yum!

I was inspired to make some pumpkin muffins after reading a friend's blog (Sabrina's) last week. I didn't have even the most basic of baking supplies (flour, sugar, oil...), so I had to really start from scratch (harvest the wheat and sugar cane, etc.). I whipped up these tasty things from a recipe I found online. I have linked the recipe, so if you are interested in trying them, just click here: allrecipes.com. They turned out better than I expected, though, they made more than the recipe told me they would. I ended up with almost 2 dozen muffins, and had to convince Martin to take a bunch home (it was tough to convince him)!

A new domestic godess?

I've watched my mom do her annual canning my whole life. I helped out when I lived at home, but never tried to learn how to do any of it myself. This process takes my mom weeks to complete--tomatoes, pickles, beans, fruits, applesauce, sauerkraut, and so on. Two days ago, I noticed that the grapes hadn't been harvested, so I picked the ripe fruit and imagined all the possible things we could make with them (my vote was wine, but there weren't enough). Mom said jelly, so jelly it is. She guided me through the process of making jelly--boiling the fruit down, stirring in the suregel and sugar, then sealing into jars. I know how to make jelly now!

Also, we picked three large containers of apples off my grandpa's tree on Saturday. While Mom worked on canning tomatoes last night, I made applesauce for the first time! It was pretty simple, but very time consuming! I cut and cleaned almost a whole 5-gallon bucket of apples and turned it into 6 jars of fresh, juicy applesauce! Here it is:

Impressive, huh? My finished product of canning products will hopefully grow a little today as I attempt another batch of applesauce unsupervised. Here is my mom's collection of canned goods for the year:

I know, I know...she beats me in quantity by a long shot!

Boryeong Mud Festival

This weekend was the Boryeong Mud Festival, the number one festival in Korea (land of a million festivals). The idea?: transport tons of "healthy" mud from one beach to the next, invite the foreigners and the TV stations, set up a large stage for musicians and dancers and let the party begin! You can see from the picture above that we got dirty...a mud slinging contest. No, just kidding! They had paintbrushes set up for us to paint our bodies with lots of mud! We let it bake into our skin for awhile before washing it off to reap all the health benefits. In the pic: me (in the only bikini pic you will see posted on this blog--posted only to show you the mud), Kara and Marc. (I didn't get their permission for this, but they both look good, so I hope they don't mind!)


One of the many things set up for us to fully enjoy the mud! :)


The body painting booth.


Rice cream. I plan to pass on the next free rice cream cone that is offered, and I certainly won't be paying for any! Weird.

In other news, I AM DONE WITH SCHOOL!!!! WOOOHOOO! :) My last day was Friday! I have to teach for two weeks at an English summer school, but that is all! My Korea adventure is not over, but the public school teacher part is!

Shabu shabu!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabu-shabu

This is what I ate tonight! :) Yum! It was a big pot of vegetable and beef broth, which we mixed lots of fresh veggies and thinly sliced beef (Australian beef, to be specific--they are still extremely afraid of getting mad cow disease from our USA beef, but that's another blog entry all together). After we scooped out the veggies and cooked the meat, the ajuma (lady/waitress) came and mixed some noodles into the broth (which continued to get more flavorful). After we ate those, she came back and scooped out the broth leaving only about an inch in the pot. She added rice to the mixture, as well as fresh mint leaves and a couple of other spices. The result? Delicious! It was like three meals in one! I want to eat shabu shabu again and again! It's fun to say too! :) I heard that there are a couple of shabu shabu restaurants in LA, and I wouldn't be surprised to find one in the lovely, cultured city of Minneapolis! :)

Weirdest food experience of my life?

who: me, Martin, Kara
what: "sannakji," or live baby octopus
where: Noryangjin Fish Market, Seoul, Korea
when: last Sunday afternoon
why: because one must not pass up the opportunity to sample such a wonderful local delicacy


Yes. It was still moving as we ate it and its tentacles did suction onto our teeth and tongues.
No. It did not object nor scream as it was being cut up into small, bite-sized pieces.
Yes. It was a once in a lifetime occurance for me, but I cannot speak for the others.
No. It did not taste horrible, in fact, it made up for its lack of flavor in chewiness.

Korean Cooking Lessons 요리 강습

Tonight was my first Korean cooking class! It was really cool because my friend Kara's student's mom invited us into her home (gasp!) to teach us how to make a couple of popular Korean dishes! It is really rare for Koreans to invite people into their homes--I'm not sure if it is just foreigners that are kept at arm's length or if it is everyone. I just know that I have been in two homes since I have been here and that it is BIG deal!

The first dish in our series of classes is my personal favorite: chap chay. I love it because it is full of noodles and veggies and has a sweet/savory flavor. I learned how to prepare it tonight and I am confident that I can reproduce the magic! :) The second picture I posted is the pre mixed dish. The final step in making chap chay is mixing all the ingredients together after the seasoned noodles cool a little. Kara and I were sent home with a large portion of fresh, yummy food (that won't last long)!

맛있은
("Mashita" means delicious in Korean.)

CPK

Tonight a friend and I went to California Pizza Kitchen. For $25, we each had a fountain soda and split a medium sized BBQ pizza. OK, so the prices are quite a bit higher than in the States, but it was nice when I asked about the size of the pizza and got the reply in inches instead of centimeters! :) I still get confused with centimeters...


The bill came to us without one of the drinks charged. We said something to the waitress and she fixed it ($3.50 for a fountain soda). As a gift, we received faccocia bread on our way out! :)