Category Archives: Life

A Rainy Spring Night

Is there anything better than…enjoying a delectable chicken breast topped with mushrooms and onions cooked in sherrysipping on a new white wine

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on a rainy spring Saturday night

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while watching Julie and Julia with the love of your life?I think not.Bon Appétit!

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 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!)

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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.

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(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!

Things That Make You Go Hmm…

Sometimes you can’t help but go hmm… when getting out and about in South Korea.

Today, I had the chance to get out of the office for lunch with a darling girlfriend of mine.
We decided to give a place called New Chinese Kitchen a try.

The atmosphere was cozy and fun!

Plus, we made it in after the lunch rush so we had the entire place to ourselves. (Perfect for plenty of our girly giggles, and goofy pictures!)

The views of New City – Jihang’s tucked away streets aren’t too shabby either!

The owner’s sweet wife waited on us and was practicing her English skills. We asked what the best dish was and she was super excited to tell us various things about the menu and her husband the chef.

We perused the menu…

and a few things just made us sit there and go hmm…

After helping the owners review a text message she was composing to her son’s English teacher, we ordered our lunch.

We opted for Set A. Not entirely knowing what Set included…Hmm…however, we knew it included some green people and that in itself is pretty exciting, right?! When you travel around South Korea you will quickly learn that sometimes when things are translated from Korean to English they just don’t quite make sense.

Our lunch came out hot and prompt. We were totally digging this place for a meal switch up.

Hot loose leaf jasmine tea
A sweet cabbage
Shredded kimchi with a bit of a spicy kick
Crab meat soup
Sweet and sour beef
Noodles topped with seafood black bean sauce
Spring rolls
Green people with beef noodles
Desert -sliced up fruit

I know I sparked your interest with the green people dish and now want to know what exactly it is. Well, first we must say that the dish was rather tasty. It was green peppers and beef noodles with a side of two steamed buns.

After lunch we decided to swing by Dunkin Doughnuts for a sweet treat.

Hmm…decisions…decisions…Chewisty or a cheese pizza Special D (that had ham and cheese on it?)…What exactly is a chewisty? It turns out like the green people dish, it’s rather tasty too. A Chewisty is 8 small rice flour donuts bonded together into a ring.

If you ever find yourself strolling around the Dongducheon area with a hankering for some Chinese food, I’ve included the New Chinese Kitchen Menu just for you. The restaurant is located on the second floor above 7 Gram Coffee Cafe. Enjoy!

Right Now

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I’m loving my cat Bean. She can be a monster, but this little lady brings us a lot of joy. We love waking up in the morning and finding her snuggled up close to our heads… (Who are we kidding here, she is totally waiting for her automatic feeder to drop her food)

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Okay, Okay Sometimes she gets a little demanding…

BUT who wouldn’t love that face?

Happy Weekend!

Happy Easter (and Passover) Weekend!

Here’s to hopping your weekend was filled with sunshine,

beautiful new blooms,

yummy food,

and love. <3xoxo the Bees

Directions to Suji's - Take subway line #6 and get off at NOKSAPYUNG STATION, Stop 629, Exit #3. Located on the right corner as you enter Itaewon - From Exit 3, walk to the pedestrian crossing light, cross the street, turn right. Suji's is just a few feet from the corner. Look for the menu-board on the sidewalk. Suji's is on the 2nd Floor of the building)

Crannies

Just some crannies of our South Korean life according to that little iPhone of mine 😉

1. Can it really be?! Bits of green and teeny flowers springing up!

2.These two obviously up to no good...

3. From the snow storm this week

4.The snow-covered mountain view from my work

5.Peaceful sunset over the subway station

6.mMMmm Chilsung Cider. We may or may not be a little overly obsessed. Plus it's still served in a glass bottle what's not to love?!

7. Always a blast sharing our favorite chicken place with good friends

8. Hmmmm.....

9.Miss Beanicus Maximus go-to position, laying on anything I'm working on

10.No post can be complete without including a picture of the light, fluffy, Korean strawberry cream cake I enjoyed this week

Simply The Best

There is something about throwing around some dough, enjoying a glass of red wine, and listening to Dean Martin’s Mambo Italiano, to end a manic Monday…Thought we’d share our favorite pizza with you too…

We pretty much think it’s the bees knees!

It’s simple….yet colorful.

It tastes really good too!

Here’s a list of the Ingredients:-Homemade pizza crust
– Red sauce
-fresh mozzarella cheese (well as fresh as one can get in South Korea)
-Fresh broccoli
-Grilled peppered chicken
-Fresh basil leaves
-Red cherry tomatoes
-Minced garlic
-Red onion
-Olive oil
-Feta cheese

YUM-O, RIGHT?I guess all those years In high school and college working at an Italian restaurant paid off…oh wait..I was a waitress…Okay, maybe it was osmosis!

MMMmmm. Hope you enjoyed as much as we Bees did!

Unexpected

You know that unexpected moment when a dear friend text’s you to see what you are doing, they are in need of a girls day, you end up meeting them while out doing your casual Saturday randomness? Of course they are looking smashing…and you on the other hand woke up that morning not thinking you’d run in to anyone you knew because let’s face it…your in Korea! You left the house basically keeping it real. Forget about really trying to tame your frazzles, that never even crossed your mind. Then, you are having so much fun chatting, warming up over some 20,000KRW Budae Jjigae,~~eating~~ od’ing on sweets (come on folks FREE Krispy Kreme’s you know you can’t pass that up), walking around finding strange boutique with doll heads, arms, and legs detached, odd Engrish statements, and just plain laughing that you feel like you need to document it…no matter how hideous you look? Yeah, that happened to me today. Love you K! Thanks for the unexpected girls day!

2012_03_31 Ladies WeekendMar 31, 2012Photos: 17

I was scolded for taking pictures in the Too Cool For School cosmetic boutique. Reasoning was that this was their brand….no comment. Check out the oddly shaped mushroom puff to apply BB Cream.

We ~~walked~~ almost ran home once off the train because the sun set and the temperature dropped.

It took me very little time to snuggle into the rest of my Saturday night with a hot cup of chai spice black tea and some Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Good Night Loves!

A Baby Shower

You know what?

Baby Showers are kind of the best…

You get to decorate your special location party place all whimsical and what not,

Stuff it full of fun people.

Eat sweets

And gush over the baby and parents to be.

What a wonderful twist of spirits ending a hectic work week.

Tonight we celebrated with the M family as they eagerly await the debut of their sweet boy A.

2012_03_30 Baby ShowerMar 30, 2012Photos: 7

All week at work the Korean ladies have been discussing what exactly a baby shower is. “How do you shower the baby before it gets here?”, “what does it mean to shower a baby?” Honestly being one of three American women at my work, we never gave it much thought that a baby shower wasn’t something typical the Korean culture might celebrate.

Tonight one of the Korean ladies I worked with decided to celebrate with us and see exactly what a baby shower was like. We played games like guess what chocolate was mushed in the baby dipper, timed fill in the nursery rhyme, measure how round the parents to be standing together are, blindfolded feed the “baby”, and see who can drink apple juice out of the baby bottle the fastest (pretty hysterical to watch!). You know, all the works.

Being a foreigner in Korea you tend to forge together and make “families” with the people you go to church with, work with, are friends with. These people help bridge the gap and make home feel a little less far away.

We ended the night with gift opening, and of course CAKE! The parents and big sister to be were so thankful and appreciative of all the love and support displayed in that room tonight.

What a terribly fun night!

iphone Chronicles

My iphone tells me…

I’m obsessed with our cat, Bean,

I’m really trying to learn Hangeul, the Korean alphabet,

I have a handsome husband,

Korea needs to jump on the whole spring thing,

and food plays a disproportionately large part in my life.

the end. <3