Category Archives: Korean Apartment

Springtime in Korea

It wasn’t that we had a lot of snow this past winter, it was that winter seemed to last so terribly long. We along with 50 million other Koreans have been patiently awaiting warmer days. The chance for new beginnings, a fresh start, a spring clean!

Springtime in Korea has got to be one of my favorite times of the year! The cherry blossoms are so beautiful! The walking paths and streets are covered in the tiny pink and white petals every time the wind blows. I drive Mr. B crazy insisting that I need to stop and smell or photography almost every flower that we come in contact with. Especially the cherry blossoms and lilac bushes. I can’t help myself. I.am.obsessed.with.flowers. Luckily for the most part he doesn’t mind and even pauses for a moment and points out a flower if he sees something that I will swoon over. That boy of mine, what a catch!

This year we got to experience the cherry blossoms from another view because we moved into a new place at the end of the summer last year. These photos were taken after I had come home from work and the sun was setting with that beautiful warm orange glow. Looking at these photos now, I feel like these photos don’t even do the trees justice. We instantly fell in love with our new place because of the greens and blooming trees just outside of our windows. The daily drive or walk in and out of our little neighborhood just fills my heart and continues to remind me that even in our crazy messy world, there is still so much beauty around us.

Are you seeing buds of greens and new blooms popping up wherever you are located? What is your favorite thing about spring?

Backpackbees

Weekending Recently

Unless the weather decides to make a rather abrupt U-turn in the next few days (I really don’t foresee this happening), we have written off summer and bid farewell to her for another couple of months.

We’ve been sleeping with the large windows slid open and it makes our sheet so comfortably cool when we slip into our bed at night. Robes and slippers have become almost mandatory and are hung near the bed to be slipped into, cheerfully greeting us for our early morning awakenings. We have been burning our apple and pumpkin candles, scenting our home in the most sumptuous fall smells. Strolls in the evening require a sweater or layers. Mums are proudly displayed all over our cute country town in stunning shades of yellow, burgundy, and gold (Are you ready for your blog feeds to be jam-packed with gorgeous outdoor shots of all things fall?). Oh! I almost forgot, most excitingly we received our order of Starbucks pumpkin spice flavoring for endless heavenly homemade pumpkin lattes, mornings have never been so sweet!

Continuing on with our love of fall, I found a fun new recipe that made me think of fall, comfort, warmth, and being bundled up inside. A yummy veggie shepherds pie!

Watch out, our fall fever is highly contagious….Luckily it’s treatable and you just have to give into all of your fall fever desires.

Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie

Source: Thoughts by Natalie

INGREDIENTS

3 Medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste
A dash of nutmeg
A drizzle of fruity olive oil, to taste
2 Cans vegan chili
1 Onion, roughly chopped
4 Cloves of garlic, chopped
4 Small to medium zucchini, trimmed, cut into pieces
1 14-oz Can artichoke hearts, drained and cut up
1 14-oz Can fire roasted tomatoes with green chiles, drained
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 Teaspoon dried thyme
1 Teaspoon dried basil
1/2 Teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions:

Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Place the sweet potatoes in a pot of fresh salted water and bring to a boil. Cook until under fork tender and mashable.

Meanwhile, sauté onions and garlic; stir and cook for five minutes or until the onions are soft. Add in the zucchini; stir and cook for a couple of minutes. Add in the artichokes and tomatoes. Stir in the balsamic vinegar, dried herbs and cinnamon. Season to taste with sea salt and pepper. Cover and bring to a simmer. Cook until the liquid is reduced a bit. Remove from heat.

Once the sweet potatoes are ready, drain and mash them lightly. Season with sea salt, ground pepper and nutmeg. Drizzle with a little fruity olive oil if desired.

Now it’s time to layer the casserole dish. Start with the two cans of chili, followed by the veggie mixture, then top with the mashed sweet potatoes. Bake in the center of the preheated oven until bubbling and hot—about 25 minutes.

Backpackbees

Turkey Talk

How’s the weather where you are? Are you tuning in from the East coast? If you are, hopefully you are safe and sound in the comfort of your own home. We’ve been in contact with our friends and family checking in to make sure everyone is okay. Thankfully they are and didn’t even get a flake of the second storms snow. We only get to see the limited television broadcast of how much damage hurricane Sandy did. However seeing just that little bit makes our hearts ache. What damage…the amount of people that were affected…the loss…just the utter devastation. We keep you all in our prayers and thoughts.

Here? Well, mornings are lazy hazy and gray, not to be confused with the lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer. Once the morning fog rolls out the blueish-gray sky shines through. Then at nightfall the sky is so black but clear as glass. When the moon appears, it glows so brightly, it makes you feel like you can see endlessly into space. I cant help but stare up at it some nights when we are out walking. Maybe this is all the turkey season talk in me… making me all nostalgic, but I often think to myself how the moon makes me feel so small here on earth, how I live a small but beautiful life. It makes me appreciate so much of my life.

This will be my second Fall season spent in South Korea. I feel like this is just the way Fall gets all nestled in.

 

BTW, rakes… who needs them? Certainly not two determined elderly Korean ladies.

Wishing you all warmth, shelter, and sunshine!

Glistening

I feel like we’ve been saying this all year…

Where does the time go?

Where do the days go?

Goodness, November!

We are already into the first weekend of November and Brrr do the cold mornings and nights make sure we know it too.

Early November mornings here look like, one dreamy, cozy, fluffy goose-down, a cup of hot tea, frost covered rooftops glistening, abandoned farmers fields, and scarves to bundle up with before daring to brave the cold morning air.

 

There is nothing quite like breathing fresh morning air into your lungs. Even Miss Bean agrees.

Happy weekending!

Spiderman

“Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can.”

Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Do you remember that theme song?

The tune instantly popped into my head one evening after arriving home from work this week.

I had just hung up my coat in our entry way and slipped off my shoes when I heard tapping at the living room window.

I poked my head out around the corner, saw a man hanging from a rope, AKA Spiderman. He motioning for me to open the window. Eek! I hurried and opened the window, he motioned with his hands to slide the one screen to the right for him so he could get at the window to clean it.

I did.

Closed the window back up.

Spiderman quickly washed each window and dropped out of sight just as fast as he had arrived.

Change

Things change.
People change.
Friends change, and minds change too.
The wonderful thing about living your own life is that you’re the one calling the shots. Yes, you are the boss of you, Inc.
You can embrace the change, go with it, or fight it.
Like it or not, it’s inevitable, it’s going to happen.
June had been a month full of many changes here in Korea.
People are coming, people are going.
The weather is changing from beautiful, warm, absolute perfect sun-shiny summer June days, to wet, sticky, humid, monsoon torrential downpour July.
Here’s to the continuous learning of how to embrace change.
 

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From top to bottom: New and old neighbor’s moving, the first rainfall in weeks on my walk home tonight from our work dinner (forecasted to turn all monsoon on us), and the best kind of change…a brand new Starbucks opened this week right in our own backyard….can we say dangerous!?

Head In The Flowers

2012_04_28 Wondering around Seoul

2012_04_28 Wondering around SeoulApr 27, 2012Photos: 39
 

Saturday morning I was out the door before the sun peaked the horizon behind our apartment. I had a train to catch for a hair appointment in Seoul. I could already tell today was going to be a good day. The air was much warmer than most mornings in April.

I couldn’t get over how green everything was from the rain we had over the week. I literally walked around with my head in the flowers. Snapping pictures every few feet. I would have drove Mr. B completely batty. To say I took full advantage of my day alone is an understatement. Days like this are what I live for, why I fell in love with living abroad. I can’t really explain the feeling that comes over me, it’s just a strange comfort. Whatever it is, I hope to always hold on to the feeling within me.

After my appointment I sought out to find the kimchi pot lady and her little shop located near the US Army Yongsan base. I was so proud of myself finding the location on my own, however, the shop was closed! No dice on this plan. You have to know by now that I typically always try to have a plan B in the event of such luck.

Ajoshi, to Insadong! I caught a cab and went to Insadong. Stumbled upon homemade vanilla bean soft serve ice-cream. Found the little somethings that I was looking for and a summer scarf! Mission accomplished.

On my way to locate subway line 1, I found a vegetarian restaurant. I saved the menu you to share with you all. Again, totally taking full advantage of my alone with me time, of course I ate there.

maoz menu

As you can see the restaurant is called Maoz, and I must tell you this was my very first experience with trying a falafel. what’s the verdict? Pretty tasty! For those of you unfamiliar with what a falafel, it’s a deep-fried ball made from ground chickpeas, fava beans, or both. Usually served in a pita bread, which acts as a pocket, or wrapped in a flatbread known as lafa. Maoz served their falafel balls in a nice fresh pita. The best part is after they fry and stuff your pita with the falafel, you head to to the topping bar and create the rest your way. You top with salads, pickled vegetables, hot sauce, and drizzled with tahini-based sauces. MMmmmm!

The only disappointing and confusing part to me is that the menu serves kimchi and bulgogi. I’m not certain but the last time I checked these two foods were not vegetarian friendly? Also, the toppings bar didn’t include a typical eggplant or tahini option. Otherwise, loved it!

After my late lunch I decided it was time to catch the subway back home.

When I got home I decided to check on our patio garden I believe we mentioned it few postings back. It had taken me a little time to find a long window box to grow all our veggies. Finally, after endless searching I gave up, did some improvising, used Mr. b’s handy work, and atlas I had something to work with. I was delighted to see that We now how little sprots poking up. I’ll keep you all posted as our garden continues to grow.

Happy weekending!

Blossoms

Today, while most of Korea was still sleeping (including Mr. B), I snuck out into our apartment complex and snapped a few photos of the cherry blossom trees before the rain forecasted for today and all of tomorrow set in.

2012_04_21 Cherry Blossoms at home

2012_04_21 Cherry Blossoms at homeApr 11, 2012Photos: 21
 

Yes, I graced the world with my bare shins for the first time in at least six months.
While snapping I realized that my legs were as white as some of the blossoms I was capturing.
But, I didn’t care. (Don’t worry no scary photos included!)

Honestly, I am not sure what my obsession with these trees are. I know I drive Mr. B crazy when we are walking under them and my head and eyes are pointed straight up to the sky with my feet barely shuffling. I’m mesmerized by the beauty of the blossoms. When the wind blows, the delicate flowers fall from their branches, covering the earth like a blanket of pink snow. It is such a magical experience that I look forward to each Spring.

(Hmmm…another lost in translation shot?)
I made it in just enough time, as I was wrapping up I felt tiny spritzes of rain starting to fall from the sky.
Happy Weekend & of course Happy Spring!

 

Kimchi Kickoff

November kicks off Korea’s kimchi making (kimjang) season. Families stock pile heaping amounts of cabbage to make a large supply of kimchi to get through the winter months.

These cabbage heads are HUGE! I’m not sure if Korean soil is pumped full of super-duper growing nutrients? They seriously could break some world records here!

Tonight I came home and the elevator doors opened on our floor to this…

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🙂 Our Korean neighbors are certainly not wasting anytime getting their kimchi making on!

Luckily, we Bees are recipients of three different types of Kimchi today from some friends! Thank you, thank you! We are so spoiled with amazing friendships we have made along the way of our Korean adventures.

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And yes, we triple ziplock bagged each…(if you have any familiarity with Kimchi there is no need for us to explain)

Have you ever tried kimchi? Do you prefer a “new” kimchi or a more fermented kimchi?