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Foodie Pen Pal November

It’s that time again! The end of the month, time to share my Foodie pen pal with you all. For the month of November, my foodie pen pal is Kati from New Jersey. Feel free to check out her blog here .

Kati is an incredibly sweet girl who unfortunately just went through the terrible hurricane Sandy that left the North East coast devastated. Still, with everything going on, Kati still managed to send me out a wonderful package of goodies. See, told you, this girl is super sweet!

So what was in the package? Trader Joe goodies like dried mango strips and wild blueberries! Mmmm! Pumpkin pancake waffle mix, miso soup and Korean candies that she picked up in Korea town in New York City. Kati also sent me a menu of a good Korean restaurant located in Manhattan that she highly recommended for when we visit stateside and get homesick 😉

Kati included a letter telling me that I got her venture out into a part of the city she never had the chance to get to. Korea town! Jess super excited to hear this! It’s awesome to feel like you inspired someone to step out and explore, get out of their daily routine, bust that comfort bubble! Go Kati!

Kati, Thank you for yet another awesome experience and thoughtful package!

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Oh Christmas Tree

“For every year the Christmas tree,
Brings to us all both joy and glee.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Much pleasure doth thou bring me!”

Did you brave the black Friday sales this year? If you were brave enough, I hope you got some incredible deals!

You know, as crazy as it may sound, I always looked forward to black Fridays. It really wasn’t because of the sales. It was because I got to spend time with family. We crazily braved the crowds together and shopped until we dropped. This is the second year that we missed getting to shop with my dear mother-in-law. I still get visions of the SUV packed so full that we couldn’t even see out of the back window and giggle, clearly we were a road hazard.

After the shopping excursion we’d go home, Mr. B would crash, and I’d be completely wired from the shopping high, so I’d decorate the entire house with all of our Christmas swag. No room was off-limits, even the bathroom had some holly leaves and berries!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving Bean and I Christmatized our home with a teeny tiny Christmas tree. I just couldn’t help myself!

When Mr. B and I started to travel abroad together, we started the tradition of collecting an ornament/ thing we could place on our Christmas tree from each country that we visited. The ornaments were just begging to be properly displayed, plus twinkle lights make me swoon. Yes, it was settled! A Christmas tree was needed to continue on with our holiday traditions.

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Speaking of holiday traditions…To Bean I guess it really doesn’t matter what size the tree is, as long as she can squeeze at least some part of her body under it.

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Crank up those holiday tunes and enjoy the weekend!

Eat’taly

In the land of grilled meats, kimchi, and rice…sometimes we find ourselves craving other cuisines..Sometimes, just not exactly sure what cuisine it may be.

Take tonight for instance..

Mr. B: “What are you hungry for?”

Me: “Doesn’t matter”

Mr. B: “just pick something”

Me: “Oh it doesn’t matter to me”

Mr. B: “Dino Meats?”

Me:”Doesn’t matter”

Mr. B: “You know what….na…no Dino meats”

Mr. B: “Grilled chicken?”

Me: “Sure” “Doesn’t matter”

Mr. B: “Na…”Eventually we end up with deciding on a newer restaurant located in New City. Eat’taly. The restaurant opened a few months back and ever time we passed we though to ourselves, we will go back and check it out. You know you always end up saying something like that and forget about it when it comes time to eat. You end up going to the places you know very well, you know what to expect, it’s comfortable.

Tonight just happened to be one of those nights, we craved something different.

Eat’taly is a very quaint little place. The food delicious, the service superb, we were delightfully surprised.

After looking over the many possibilities of pasta or pizza decisions, we ended up going with a shared set menu item. Gorgonzola pizza with honey, a garden salad, garlic bread, and pasta carbonara. Yum!

We ended the night with a shared pot-bing-su from Lotteria.

Grab the map coordinates here!

Isn’t Summer time so sweet?

Cheers! It’s National Wine Day!

There are a few holidays and days to observe in the month of February…

There is Valentine’s Day, where we celebrates love, romance and your significant other. AWE! Yes, how cute! However, not the day we are referring to.

Then there is President Day. No, we are not talking killer sales ladies. Presidents’ Day is intended to honor all the American presidents, but most significantly George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. No, no, no..we are not talking about Presidents Day either.

That’s right folks, we are talking about February 18th. February 18th is National drink wine day. Yes, you read that correctly. This day marks the celebration of a beverage we have been enjoying for thousands of years!

Whether you prefer the red, white, dry or the sparkling variety, today is dedicated to all things, everything wine. It’s National Drink Wine Day! Hooray!

We Bees celebrated with a cheap bottle of sweet red wine from the Barefoot label and stir fry. Yum-o!!!

Cheers!

Who Needs Chicken Noodle Soup…

When you can get your hands on this….

We decided to stock up on some essential cold fighting supplies and tried a random place for lunch. You guessed it…bibimbop! Mmmm! It’s even better when you can load on the spicy gochujang (red pepper paste) and hardly tell because your cold has your taste buds and sensors all out of whack.

How Did We Ever Survive…

without technology?

What’s For Lunch?

Katusa snack-bar delivery at its finest! 🙂 A little soondubu jjigae (spicy soft tofu stew) steamed dumplings, rice, and the traditional sides, all equal a happy little food belly! Yum!

What’s serving up at your place for lunch?

Over Our Heads

(Views from our home)

In the past few weeks here in Korea, you might have (like us) walked around in a blissful daze, with your eyes focused on the magnificent view just right above your head. The autumn foliage we have been experiencing sure makes you feel lucky to be alive, doesn’t it?

We will be sad to see the vibrant colors go, but on the other hand are just as excited to welcome another season with new experiences ahead of us!

Korean Fruit Trucks

Ah! What a gem the Korean fruit trucks are!! We Bees love finding various fruits and veggies from these local vendors. Watermelons, cabbage, apples, grapes, ~~permissions~~(inside joke) persimmons, you name it!

Tangerines have been our most recent purchase and they are oh so tasty!

Did you know you can find all sorts of sale items on these trucks around town? Yes, rugs, paintings, fish, chicken, computer parts, hardware, very random, huh?

Saturday

Do you ever wake up in the mornings and think how blessed are we to wake up with a view like this? The sun was shining in so big and bright this Saturday morning. Had to snap a picture and share with all of you.

Enjoyed lunch with a great new friend today at a little restaurant beside our place. We didn’t know what was in store for us. We have walked and drove past this place nearly everyday since first arriving in Korea. At this point we were going off purely what our noses led us to believe.

We plan to go back again after filling our tummys with spicy kimchi filled mandu, a noodle-seafood soup, and some typical Korean sides.

Wowie! The kimchi mandu had a kick to it, but were super delish!

Going into the meal blindly, does this look like something you would try out?