Tag Archives: Seoul

Seoul: Dongdaemun Design Plaza

When in Seoul, take metro line 4 and exit at Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station exit 1. As soon as you exit, you will find yourself standing inside a futuristic looking space, but don’t worry your subway ride didn’t send your straight into a sci-fi movie. No, you’re in Dongdaemun Design Plaza, also referred to as the DDP.

At first you might feel like you are going to get lost within the structures. You just might, but I encourage you to do it! Get lost and discover the plaza from all the interesting and unique angles! After you get completely lost and find your way back to my blog, message me and let me know what you thought.

Lessons in candle making

Isn’t it easy to just write off, or undervalue small beginnings, or small steps that we take in our everyday lives? I mean think about it… It really is! Lately I’m guilty of doing it more and more. Why? That’s a great question…. (My mind saying….”Oh, it’s just one little korean word learned”; “It’s just flower arrangements”, etc.) Why do we underestimate and undervalue ourselves like that? Is it an individual complex? An optimistic view versus a pessimistic view? Society? I want to hear your thoughts. Without those small steps, or small beginnings we wouldn’t have tried, or even started something new to begin with.

Recently I started to learn how to make hand poured soy candles. It got me thinking about the awesomeness of the little skills and hobbies that I am learning while I’m here in Korea. They might be small, but these little starts and small beginnings could be the start of something ultimately GREAT! Oh the possibilities!

Folks, jump on this good vibe I’ve got going! Get out and do those small things today! You never know where they might lead you …

Savory: slow-cooker Wine-O chicken

We are always searching, or trying to create an easy but delicious dinner to throw together during the workweek. Here’s a recent one that we thought was certainly worth sharing. It’s a must if you are a fan of fresh rosemary, onions, garlic and wine! Come onnnn who here isn’t a fan of wine?!

Slow-cooker wine-o chicken
Cooking Time: 4 hours on High; or 8 hours on Low

Ingredients:

2 Cornish Hens – thawed, (Don’t forget to remove the giblets!)
4-6 Sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 Medium sweet onions
8 Cloves of fresh garlic, outside skin removed
A few pads of butter or margarine for rubbing skin of hen
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Bottle moscato wine, or your favorite white wine
1 1/2 Cups Chicken broth

Directions:

First, rinse clean and pat the hens dry. Next slice the onions to your desired thickness and place as many as you’d like at the bottom of the slow-cooker. Then throw in 4-6 cloves of garlic and several sprigs of the rosemary, as well. (remove the woody stems prior to serving.)

Stuff cavity of each hen with following: 2 slices of onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 sprig of rosemary. Next rub the skins of the hens with butter or margarine. Add the desired amount of salt and pepper to the skin of hens on both sides.

Lastly, place both hens, breast side down, into the slow-cooker. Add wine and chicken broth. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours, or on low for 8 hours, making sure the internal temperature of each hen reaches 165 degrees fahrenheit.

Enjoy!

Chuncheon, South Korea

Recently I joined my good friend SP on a mini road trip northeast of Dongducheon to the city of Chuncheon. The city is known for its stunning views of Lake Soyang and Lake Uiam, and the filming location of a popular Korean drama.

Mr. B and I took my best friend Rebecca to the area when she came to visit us in Korea, but it’s been a year or so since I had been back. This time It was awesome to have someone along that could tell me a bit of history and facts about the area. Thanks SP for letting me play a million and one questions with you!

After traveling quite a ways, we arrived at our destination where SP shared an old traditional Korean restaurant with me that she and her family have frequented for years. SP described the food as always being very fresh, delicious and known as being healthy and healing for your body. EEK! I was sold at the words “traditional korean restaurant”! I’m always eager to indulge in the Korean culture and to have this little gem of a place shared with me was quite special indeed.

I felt that most foreigners might be taken back by the look of the restaurant, but to me it was just rustic charm and immediately took my mind to my days of accompanying my husband and friends in the coal region near our hometown for screamers or dead burgers at Tony’s Lunch. (Tony’s Lunch: A very simple, been there for years, wallpaper and tables haven’t changed, diner located in Central Pennsylvania). Ahhhhhh such delicious memories.

We feasted on the local specialty, Makguksu. Makguksu is a dish of buckwheat noodles served in a chilled or hot broth. Once served, SP prepared the dish at the table for me by taking the various condiments on the table of sugar, mustard, sesame oil or vinegar. I know it sounds strange reading those ingredients off together but it was out of this world delicious!

Just like typical korean style, we were served what seemed like endless banchan (side dishes). There was boiled pork, gamjajeon (potato pancakes), and memil jeonbyeong (stuffed buckwheat crepes), and hot buckwheat tea.

We left with our bellies almost filled to full capacity, almost being the key word, but we switched over to dessert stomach. We started to head back towards home and drove up through the mountains and stopped off at a newer coffee cafe, Cupola.

Cupola had a great atmosphere, served a decent latte and gave us the most incredible views of the lake with the sun setting off in the distance. As I sat there talking with SP I watched some of the couples take in the views and sip on their coffee too. I’d absolutely go back again, just look for yourself…

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned before or not, but because we live outside of Seoul we are lucky enough to have easy access to the local farmers that are selling their produce at roadside stands. We live near a very famous mountain that sells grapes. We stopped off and grabbed a few boxes from a popular organic farm. Twenty thousand won, roughly twenty dollars, for a nice big box of fresh organic grapes.

Whew! What an incredible day!

Just being neighborly

Some calendars list September 28th as National Good Neighbor Day, don’t ask me how I remember these crazy sorts of things, I just do. But to be quite honest, there is no reason as to why you shouldn’t reach out and just be neighborly year round.

NATIONAL GOOD NEIGHBOR DAY HISTORY (source of history found here.)

National Good Neighbor Day was created in the early 1970′s by Becky Mattson of Lakeside, Montana. In 1978 United States President Jimmy Carter <---(PS: Love the Carters! Habitat For Humanity, National Good Neighbor Day…I could seriously just squeeze his sweet elderly cheeks) issued Proclamation 4601:

“As our Nation struggles to build friendship among the people’s of this world, we are mindful that the noblest human concern is concern for others. Understanding, love, and respect build cohesive families and communities. The same bonds cement our Nation, and the nations of the world. For most of us, this sense of community is nurtured and expressed in our neighborhoods where we give each other an opportunity to share and feel part of a larger family…I call upon the people of the United States and interested groups and organizations to observe such day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.”

If you’ve been following along, you’ve seen that we recently moved. It’s just a few miles down the road, but it’s a move. I cannot say this enough, everyone is super neighborly here! Hello’s in the parking garage, hello’s on the elevator, hello’s as we leave for a stroll on our evening walks, hello’s from the gate-guards as they walk around checking on parking and such. It’s just nice! It’s crazy to think we’ve been in Korea a combined 4 years and up until recently we never experienced this. To be fair our old place we went weeks without catching the same elevator ride with someone in our building, or I’d like to believe they’d be more neighborly too?

Completely coincidentally I woke up Sunday morning to some news about my new neighbor and her daughter. I instantly wanted to do something little to brighten their day after the horrific night they had. I immediately thought about the beautiful little hand-tied flower arrangement I made and put into a vase in our entry. Why not share the power of something cheery like a dainty wild sunflower and greens with written words of encouragement. To me it’s those little random acts of kindness that gets us all through tough times, don’t you agree?

So here I am blogging on celebrating National Good Neighbor Day! Why not do something nice for your neighbor today too? I’d love to hear your thoughts and maybe some things you did or might do for your neighbors.

Time & yogurt

“The trouble is, you think you have time.”-Gautama Buddha

I read this quote the other morning and it really got me thinking about the concept of time. Like how I say I’ll get out for that stroll in the sunshine tomorrow; I’ll apply to that cooking school later down the road; I’ll travel more when I’m older; perhaps next weekend I’ll bust out that yogurt maker and use it; etc.

The sad reality is I am extremely guilty of putting off things because I think I’ll have more time later, but later often never comes. Eek! Take for example something as simple as my yogurt maker example. I was really tired of not being able to get yogurt when I want, plus all you hear now on the news is you are being lied to about ingredients, who needs that? My friends knew and purchased me a yogurt maker for Christmas….cough, cough….last year. I cannot tell you time and time again how I thought, “okay next weekend I’m busting out my bad as$ yogurt maker and getting busy”….. next week never came.

As simple as using a yogurt maker is I could have made time.

Well, tomorrow is today and why aren’t we all living for now? I’m not saying I’m going off the deep end and quitting my day job to take up my daydreams of becoming 100% self-sufficient with our food source, but maybe I’ll work on making time to fit in the yogurt making adventures.

Does the quote have you thinking? Want to take a new class to learn a new skill? Find one in your area, adjust your schedule to make that time and take it! Do you want more family time? Make it a priority and do it! Want to travel to other countries, visit us Bees? Start putting back bits of extra money and come see us!

Everything isn’t as simple as it seems on paper. I know life throws you all sorts of curveballs and then wouldn’t you know it….that sneaky time factor pops right back up and tends to hold you back. All I’m saying is I, we, are guilty of thinking that there will be time later. Start small and don’t get overwhelmed you will start to see those exciting changes soon! Remember time is a precious gift, don’t miss out by taking a rain check that you may never fulfill. None of us know really how long we’ve got to use the gift of time.

Today’s challenge…. Think about the quote and really let it set in. What do you currently make time for and what do you really want to make time for?

And since tomorrow is today, I’ll share my yogurt making adventures with you all. It actually turned out surprisingly simple! The only pain point was waiting on the milk to cool…but with that extra time I took a shower, ate lunch and started typing up a new blog post. But as you and I both know, only time will tell with the results we get…. No pun intended. Ha-Ha!

I used my BOmann yogurt maker and bought this freeze-dried yogurt starter with probiotic from Amazon. It took me some time to decide what starter I wanted, also keeping in mind I didn’t have the option for the starters that must maintain refrigerated during shipping process. This one had a lot of really positive reviews too.

I started off by washing each of the glass containers out that come with the BOmann yogurt maker in very hot soapy water.

Then I started to prepare the yogurt and starter like so:

1. Heat about 4 cups; or 1 litre; or 1 quart; of Organic Valley milk to 180F (82C), or bring to the boiling point
2. Cool the milk down to 73-77F (23-25C)
3. Dissolve 1 packet (5g) of the culture in the cooled milk, I gently whisked it all until it was well mixed
4. Pour the yogurt mixture evenly into the glasses, but do not cap each glass
5. Set timer and incubate yogurt mixture for 8-10 hours, or until it reaches your desired firmness. Carefully remove the lid, watch so that the condensation doesn’t drip off into the yogurt jars.
6. Refrigerate once done and enjoy as you’d like! We love to top with fun seasonal fruits and nuts.

Dedicated to my grandparents who still show me that there isn’t such a thing as too much time spent with me.

Things Worth Sharing: Turkey

This little package of happiness arrived all the way from Turkey with love.

Turkish delights, Turkish tea, Turkish pottery, and a Turkish coffeepot…

Oh my stars!

could anything be more magical?

I think not.

We love and miss you guys!

thank you, thank you!

Get settled in soon, you’ve got anxious visitors.

The C Word

This week I received a message from a dear friend that said she was getting a biopsy done, and may have breast cancer. Immediately my heart sank…. I couldn’t believe the words as I read them slowly out loud to myself.

…Really?! She’s so young!! This has to be some sick joke! There is no way!!…. Endless things racing and spinning through my head.

On top of it all I felt helpless and so scared for her.

There are no real words to truly comfort a loved one under those circumstances. The anxiety that eats them waiting for that call, those biopsy results, the words “no cancer”. Of course, I responded immediately with the power of prayer, strength, good vibes, and happy thoughts.

This morning I awoke to the most amazing news, I found out that her results read that she did NOT have cancer! Praise The Lord!

As I sipped my morning coffee in our quiet empty apartment I couldn’t help but to realize that you never, ever, know what lies ahead. Life is so terribly short. You have to appreciate the family and friends that you have right now. Cherish every day and moment with them. Like it or not, these scary and tough real life moments in life will make you stronger, and also make you realize that you need to live each day to the fullest. Why do we stay angry? hold grudges? or live in regret? We’ve got to make the most of our lives while we are here!

I decided to share the Cosmo field near our place with this post because it certainly calls for a celebratory cheers! Just look at them! Aren’t these wild gals beautiful?

Labor Day Delay

Whoa! It’s not hard to see that I am running a week behind…again… EEK! I feel like we just try to squeeze every drop out of what is left of summer! It doesn’t stick around to long here so I feel uber guilty if we don’t get out in the evenings after work, and that is preciously what we have been doing.

Anywho, without delay I’ll get to it with the Labor Day fun!

I joined Mr. B on the east coast of Korea where he and a group of friends planned a weekend of diving. I have decided and told Mr. B that when we retire we will live on the beach or at most a block away from the beach. I couldn’t ignore my huge heart singing out relocation, to the ocean, the sand, the sounds… it just calms and soothes whatever your current mood or state of mind is and seriously, if the weather wasn’t being the biggest show off too! Not so hot with a slight autumn chill in the air. It was the most welcomed break and I took advantage of every minute it had to offer by catching up on my Kinfolk Magazine, sunning my pale leggies, strolling leisurely along the beach line. AH! Oh and then the drive home up, over and through the lush green mountains. I never imagined Korea to have the mountains that it has.

Here’s a tip…If you ever make a trip to Korea, do yourself a favor and get outside of Seoul, or whatever touristy city you choose to see the countryside and mountains too. You won’t regret it.

Seoul’s Sip & Paint

Eek! Can you believe I almost forgot to post about Kelsey and I’s Sip and paint class in Seoul last weekend? Or, as my Uncle described it, gulp and drip. Ha ha ha! You may also know the class as paint and pour, or corks and canvas.

Before I get into that, we started off our morning with an early lunch at the Bakers Table in Itaewon. We grabbed panini’s and soup. It was perfect….well except for my genius idea to have soup. Folks, it was at least 90 degrees out. I have no idea what I was thinking. Perhaps I was excited because I heard pumpkin? Yep, they got me with sweet pumpkin soup.

But really, we had a blast! Kelsey signed us both up as a birthday gift, what a sweetheart she is! We had been talking about the sip and paint class she did in the states with penguins and the fun that she had. I hadn’t taken a class yet, but really wanted to try one out. Luckily, Art & Seoul started to offer a variety of classes to take and Kelsey jumped right on it. That gal! I’m telling you!

The idea is that you get together with a group of friends for a relaxing class of sipping, painting and creating! You bring your own alcohol, tag the bottle with your name, you can bring snacks, but there were some light refreshments to nibble on too.

We were immediately greeted by the lovely host, directed to find our canvas where our paint brushes, paint and smock were. We had a super upbeat and informative instructor that guided us through our masterpiece step by step at the perfect pace. Our instructor was patient and fun! I think Kelsey and I asked for black pain about a zillion times and thankfully she didn’t seem to mind one bit. After all I guess she knew going into instructing us that we we’d be a group of tipsy armature artist.

Half of the class painted Buddha, the other half painted cherry blossoms. We pre-selected Buddha. The colors and creations that I got to see come out on everyone’s canvas was the best part to me. When I was there painting the memory of my grandparents telling me about my dad and I coloring when I was little popped into my head. They asked how I did with staying in the lines on my picture and at the time my Dad say, “Well there is room for improvement.” Dad, hopefully I got a little better with my color technique.

Cheers to many more classes!