Tag Archives: Weather

Summer Egg Salad

The weather’s getting warmer and warmer here in Korea. I feel your pain on not wanting to turn on that kitchen oven for lunch or dinner. So, what’s your go to meal? Any ideas or suggestions? Well, if you are looking for something a little different, you are just in luck!

Do you have a mango handy? How about some eggs? A random red pepper that you need to use up? A kitchen staple, curry spice? Mayo and a pinch of salt? What about an onion too?

Great! You have ALL of the ingredients needed to whipping up some summer egg salad! More on that in a bit. Sorry, I know, I always leave cliffhangers in my postings.

How is your weekend so far? Me? I spent my Saturday morning swimming with the G babies!

We swam, jumped, played ball, went down the water slide, splished and splashed until we couldn’t physically go anymore! The entire day reminded me of my childhood. The many times that my grandma and I would tote off to the state park nearby and swim until my lips were blue and skin was ever so wrinkly. What fun!

Towards the mid afternoon of our pool time, it was very obvious that the sleep monster was slowly creeping up. We took a break from the pool, rested, and had some snacks. We had quite the little picnic going for the four of us. Pretzels, cheese, yogurt, grapes, bananas, Cheerios, and hard-boiled eggs. Perfect! Well… not for  ms. A…she is not a fan of hard-boiled eggs. She say’s as her brother peels his egg, “They are stinky.” Eventually even getting up from her spot and moving onto my towel to get away from any egg aroma.

Unfortunately, I am like the little Mr. and enjoy my hard-boiled eggs too. So, once I got home, I  got cracking on my egg salad. YUM-O! I really think that even the pickiest hard-boiled egg naysayer would enjoy some summer egg salad on a warm slice of Ezekiel toast.

Summer Egg Salad (Perfect for two) Adapted from Simple Recipes

Ingredients:

4 Hard boiled eggs, peel and discard the yolks

Chopped onion, to your taste, I used about 2 Tablespoons

1 Chopped small baby red pepper

Pinch of sea salt

Few shakes of curry powder, to taste

1 Heaping spoonful of mayo made with olive oil, any mayo should work

1/2 Chopped fresh mango

1 Warm slice of Ezekiel toast

Directions:

Once the eggs are done boiling and you have peeled the shell, carefully separate the egg white from the yolk. You will only be using the egg white for this recipe. Next toss egg whites, and remaining ingredients into a bowl and smash and mix with a fork until desired consistency.

Serve on a nice slice of warm toast. Enjoy!

Backpackbees

Anatomy of the Perfect Date Night

New adventure + very close to home + cute chef + excellent food + sweetest ajumma waitress= The perfect date night

For date night Mr. B and I decided to try someplace new. While its nice to always go to our favorite little place, its nice to continue adventuring out of our comfort zones too.

We had it narrowed down to two places we had never been to before. Conveniently these two places are near our place. After taking down the recyclable’s, we decided to take a walk and enjoy the cool air, along the way Mr. B tells me to pick a number, “one or two”. I picked the number two.

Great choice!

And that’s how this place ended up on our top favorites list.

Cajun duck. Come to mama and papa B!

Backpackbees

Sweet, Sugar-Coated, February

Just curious, taking a poll…How do you say February?

Feb-uary or Feb-ruary?

It’s crazy, this one little word we are taught at such a young age, has got to be one of the most commonly mispronounced words in the English language.

This was a heated dinner topic of discussion in the Bees house. We won’t name any names on here who has the correct pronunciation. Sarah. HA-HA! (Mr. B will love reading that)

February feels terribly short, sweet sugar-coated, and possibly the snowiest month so far this year here in South Korea. Never the less I still love the month of February. It’s really such a grand month. Take for instance just how quickly it goes by, so much happens in just a short few weeks.

Oh, PS: I am sharing all of the Valentines that I made and received with all of you! What do you think of my Burts Bee Valentine? Pinterest! A girl simply can’t keep all of those goodies to herself. Enjoy! You deserve it! Happy Valentines Day bloggers!

Balmy in January?

Mother Nature is surly throwing not only we Bees for a loop, but the grass and birds too. We’ve had some very interesting weather here in S.Korea. I think its even safe to use the term “Spring-like” to describe it too! The month of January has went from one extreme, we are talking negative temps here, to down right balmy, birds chirping, bugs buzzing, above average weather! Please don’t misunderstand me for thinking I’m complaining, because I’ll absolutely take these gorgeous days! Even if it only last a day or so. I’ve caught Spring fever! And, it’s bad…..to bad it’s not going to last.

Our sweet little Pennsylvania Punxsutawney Phill has seen his shadow! Hooray! Spring will be here before we know it! However, I’m pretty sure that isn’t going to apply to us here in Korea. Just as fast as I wrote the above paragraph, Mother Nature had the last laugh and dumped 2 inches of snow and counting. Isn’t she just a fickle woman?

Hey Korea, no Paju Phil, or Pyongyang Phil? Just thought I’d throw that out there, food for thought.

Well, what a little more snow this year? I love snow, so I’ll make the most of it while its here. Besides, I swoon for the glowing city night-line covered in a soft white blanket.

Enough with the weather chit-chat. How was your weekend? Ours was busy, but fun!

Fabulous pasta shared with friends mmm…Bellissimo! Homework, making pickled mustard eggs, attending a Pampered Chef party, finding silly Bean cat nesting in my reusable grocery bags, tickets to see NANTA, and enjoying a new favorite find, cinnamon Schnee Pang! Have you ever heard of Schnee Pang? It originated in Rothenburg, Germany about 300 hundred years ago and now it has a home in Seoul. Yipee! Love new little finds.

Let’s go back to the topic of NANTA! I must share with you all how wonderful the show was! It’s been on my list of places to go and see since stepping foot in this country. This year I’m really making a conscious effort to keep one of my new year resolutions and tackle my Korea bucket list. NANTA’ is a non-verbal performance with comedy, crowd interaction, and drum-beat music. NANTA’s main stage area displays a huge kitchen where four chefs, three men and one woman, are preparing a wedding banquet. Two audience members get randomly selected to “get married” during the show. Mr. B was on the edge of his seat fearing they would select him because we were in an aisle seat only three rows away from the stage. Being the good wife I am, I booked the seats knowing they might pull us up on stage he- he. Okay, okay! Truly I’m not that terrible. I made him a deal in the end, I’d go up for him if selected. While the chefs cook, they turn their pots and pans, dishes, knives, chopping boards, brooms and even one another into instruments! It’s so creative, a ton of laughs, and was enjoyed by all ages! We highly recommend catching a show if you ever find yourself in Seoul.

Check out the website here.

Happy Weekending all!

Crunch, crunch, crunch

Greetings from my kitchen, again!

Do you ever start the weekend thinking that you are going to accomplish all sorts of things? Only to realize that you have no motivation, or inkling in your body to get out and do it. Well, that was me. It’s now Sunday and I’m a bit ashamed to report I only left my cave this weekend once, recycling. Hey, at least I’m keeping it green! Haha!

Anywho, I guess I shouldn’t shortchange myself. This weekend wasn’t completely a flop. I did clean up and move around Mr. B’s office space, make Dak Dori Tang, and this yummy granola. Mmm gosh was it yummy! …You know I’ll share with all of you.

Ingredients:

5 cups Oats (I used steel-cut oats)
5 cups Cereal (I used heritage flakes)
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup mixed nuts
1 1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk powder
1/2 cup oil (I used coconut oil)
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup hot water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix all of your ingredients up. Spread ingredients on greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes

Stir after the granola is slightly cooled. Seal up the mixture in an airtight container.

Enjoy with your morning milk, on top of Greek yogurt, or handfuls at a time afternoon snack….not that any of us here know anything about that…crunch, crunch, crunch.

I can’t describe the amazing aromas wafting through our home this afternoon!

What are you waiting for? Get mixing! Don’t forget to share your wealth, and recipe too!

Cold Snap

It’s too cold! These words are all to familiar here in South Korea as of late. It’s basically replaced the common greeting of a simple “hello” or “hi” to your neighbors or acquaintances. We are experiencing quite the cold snap again, so much so that it literally burns my little ear lobes if I’m outside, and they are exposed to long. That little taste of almost Spring like temperatures the last week seem like such distant memories now. How’s the weather where you are?

Luckily we’ve got heated floors to warm our chilled bones up when we are out at a restaurant or even while snuggled up at home. Speaking of restaurants, Mr. B and I enjoyed a really nice dinner Thursday night this past week with some good friends. We ate huge bowls of Bibimbop, and sipped on Hobakjuk, a delicious Korean Pumpkin Porridge. Mmmmm the Hobakjuk was so velvety smooth! I believe I’ll attempt to make it rather soon (perfect cold weather comfort food). Stay tuned…

Tree Lighting

It’s hard to get over that it is December already, the very last month of the 2012 year. Goodness, what a full year it has been.

Tonight the sounds and smells of Christmas were in the air, it was absolutely wonderful! Perhaps even the best time of the year? Our small community held a tree lighting and wouldn’t you know it the big man in red even stopped in for a visit.

This past week we even had our first  snowfall of the season in our little town of Dongducheon. The backdrop from our living room windows are snow-covered fields, hills and trees. It’s so magical! I truly don’t believe it gets any better than this.

 

Christmas Market

Good evening! Ah, today has been such a beautiful and awesome day! To jump start the festive season I ventured into the city to check out a Christmas Market with my dear friend Mary.

The Christmas market was a bit smaller than what we were expecting, however it was something different and Christmasy so we were both pretty excited. It was really easy to find, located at the Seongbukcheon Fountain Square (성북천 분수광장) just off Hansung University Station (exit 2). Seongbuk Global Village Center hosted the event, the tents were all ran by the European embassies each selling goodies and treats from their home countries.

There was Gluehwein, sausage, chocolate chaud, Roesti, Raclette cheese, lasagna, Italian coffee, crepes, a heavenly divine slice of cheesecake, and holiday cookies too. Children could write a letter to Santa for Christmas, there were a few Christmas decorations, and a live band. We arrive right before noon and had the chance to walk around to each tent before the larger crowd moved in.

After leaving the marketplace we wanted to grab some lunch together before heading home. We strolled up the street to check out the area and see where our tummy and noses lead us. As we strolled we found multiple fruit stands all with delicious displays of persimmons, clementine oranges, apples, and pomegranate. We couldn’t help ourselves we had to grab a little bag of persimmons and clementines.  Both Mary, I, and our families really enjoy the fruits of the Fall and Winter months here in Korea.

In the end our tummies and noses lead us straight to a budae jjigae restaurant. We were outside discussing the sign and picture of the stew when the Korean women inside came out to explain in her best English what the restaurant was. I have had budae jigae many times before but Mary had not. The woman was very convincing, the restaurant looked really clean, “sure why not” Mary said. What a free spirit this woman has, I just love it! In the end she said she loved the stew. I was so happy that she got a chance to try another new Korean dish that she enjoyed.

 Enjoy the rest of your weekend folks!

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!

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.
 

20120629-223416.jpg

 

20120629-223331.jpg

 

20120629-232346.jpg

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!?