Six in Seoul

Boy 3 was very upset that he only got to work half a day.  He told Mrs. Sue that he needs to work every day. He is just in it for the donuts.

I can't help it, since I bought that new cookbook; I am on a Paula Deen kick.  This was good, but it could have been better, & I will tell you why.  The strawberries I had were a little tart.  So next time I will kick it up a notch (I know, I'm no Emeril) by sweetening the strawberries, or the cream cheese, or maybe both.  I'm not sure yet.  Anyway, even though I think I could improve on this, the kids still ate it (Hubby is out of town) and I thought it was pretty good.

I really should have taken the picture from a different angle, you know, so you could see the 'stuffed' part of the French toast.  Oh well, maybe next time, once I improve on it. 

TJ's Cream Cheese and Strawberry-Stuffed French Toast
Adapted from, The Deen Family Cookbook

3 eggs
½ cup milk
4 oz cream cheese
8 slices bread  - use whatever you have on hand  - I used whole grain white
Fresh sliced strawberries
Butter for cooking (it’s not Paula Deen without butter!)
Topping of choice…I used Maple syrup and confectioners’ sugar

1. In a shallow bowl whisk together eggs and milk.  Spread the cream cheese on 4 slices of bread, top the cream cheese with a single layer of strawberries.  Top with remaining 4 slices of bread.

2. Melt butter on griddle over med-low heat.  Dip the sandwiches in the egg mixture for a few seconds on each side.  Cook sandwiches until golden brown, 2-3 minutes per side. 

****Next time I will add a little sugar to the strawberries….maybe a tablespoon  & I will add a little confectioners sugar to the cream cheese…

For Boy 3 click here, this is for the company Mooich.  Click Mooich Style, then click e-catalogue, then click on each number for different pictures. He has pictures on 2, 5, 7,8 & 10.

You can find Boy 2 here. There is a picture strip on the right side of the big picture...Just FYI...it was SO cold the day they took these pictures!!!  The kids were freezing.

I'm thinking a Mother must have invented this day, one beautiful spring day, there was a mom who was so tired, she didn't want to clean, cook, or wipe anyone's bottom, so she dubbed it "Mother's Day".  Kudos to her, now I profit from it!  Happy Mother's Day Mom and to all my mom friends out there!  I hope you all had a great day.  As for us, Hubby left early Mother's Day morning for a business trip (how convenient! :) but the kids waited on me hand and foot, I didn't have to do a single thing.  I am a very blessed mom!!

On Saturday, May 9th, 2009 the pirates invaded the Blackhawk housing area in Yongsan, South Korea.  There were reports of pirates all over post.  We finally rounded them all up and brought them to our ship for some great pirate adventures.  They started off by making treasure boxes to hide all their loot in.

Even though pirates are rough and tuff, they still enjoy doing a little sand art once in a while.

If there is one thing a pirate LOVES, it is a treasure!  All the pirates were excited to pan for gold, and they were even more excited when they found the unexpected treasure of DIAMONDS!!

Pirates need food to keep up their strength, so here is a peek at what pirates eat.....

These pirates have been cooped up on a ship too long, when they saw Sponge Bob posing as a pirate, they couldn't take it, one pirate fell in love with him, but when they other pirates saw this,  they started beating him with a bat.  Poor Sponge Bob.

The pirates had a great time and the Captain of the ship Boy 2 thanks everyone for attending his pirate adventure!  Ahoy mates!!!

Every year when Boy 2's birthday rolls around, I feel a little more grateful to have him. His birthday has a little bit of a different feel for me.  Some of you know that when he was born he was sick, I held him for a few seconds before the Dr's took him from me and started working ferociously on him, I had no idea what was wrong, then on the fly they told us they were taking him down the hall as he was having a hard time breathing.  I can still see that night in my head.  A little while later they had to inubate him and take him to a hospital 1.5 hours away, leaving me where I was.  As it turns out, he was born with pneumonia and had to be in the NICU for 1 week.  This was one of the hardest weeks of my life.  I remember celebrating Mother's day with my baby in hospital, trying to be strong as I had two healthy children sitting at the same table with me.

So, today, and especially every birthday that rolls around, I remember the day he was born, and how scared I was that I was going to lose him.  Today he is a carefree, full of life, ornery, but very healthy 6 year old little boy, and I thank God for that every day.  Happy Birthday Boy 2!

 

Not only is 5 May Cinco Di Myo and my nephew Daniel's bithday, Happy Birthday Danny boy!! (Not that he ever reads this.) It is also Children's day in Korea!  Now, when they do Children's day here, they do it right!  It is a 'real' holiday!!  No work, no school, and this city is chalked full of kid style activities from festivals, concerts, baseball games and more!  I got this quote from this website.... 

"Children's day  is the day of children. Children are the future of the nation and they are the most valuable person for their parents. This is the day we think about children deeply, we think about their needs and future."

....so we take them out, feed them candy, give them gifts and let them do anything (within reason) they want to do on this day!  I LOVE children's day!  This is another holiday our kids would like to bring to the states. I can't blame them.  Our kids didn't even get the full effect of children's day since they go to school on this 'American' post, they still had to attend class, however all 3 of them got to have field day, even Boy 1 who is in 7th grade got to celebrate field day since he is in the Korean foregin language class. Nice. 

Can you believe it has been over a year since we have been in Seoul?  This happened while we were on vacation in Thailand...I wanted to do this blog on our anniversary date, but if you know me, you know I can't do things out of order.  There was no way I could do a 1 year anniversary blog in between Thailand stories.  It would have totally wigged me out & most likely I would have had to edit & my life would have been out of whack for days.  So to save my sanity, I am writing it now, 1 year, 18 days later. 

Where do I start?  We LOVE living in Korea.  We have had so many wonderful opportunities. As I rummaged through our website I have discovered we have done so much, yet also so little.  We have barely scraped the tip of iceberg...there is so much more to do here.  So, I am going to list my top 5 things we have done here in Seoul. 

1. The flower market at the express bus terminal is my favorite place here in Seoul.  It is my happy place, anytime I go; I can't help but to smile.  I also love taking new people there and watching their expression.  I have discovered there are 2 types of people when it comes to the flower market..........1 - the ones that are overwhelmed by the size, smell, beauty, crowd and cheap prices, so much so that they cannot buy anything at all, they just take it in and go back later for purchases.   The second type are  the people that embrace it immediately,  and with their mouth dropped open in awe, they purchase everything they can get their hands on.


2. The Seoul City Bus Tour is fantastic!  It is great for both young and old, new to the area, or even for the seasoned xpat, and the price is right, only 10,000 won and you can ride all day, & get off and on as many times as  you would like. The Seoul City Bus Tour is a great way to learn the city!


3. Noryangjin Fish Market - I know some of you cannot stand the thought or smell of fish...but to me, I am like a kid in a candy store when I go to the fish market.

4. Yeoju City, aka - Pottery Town! -  Yeoju was my first 'real' outing in Korea, and it has proven to be a favorite of guest and xpats alike.

5. Mackerel Lady Restaurant - I don't know the real name of this restaurant, in fact, I don't know if it even has a name.  This place is the bomb - cheap and good!!



There is so much more I love about living here in Seoul, like Saturday nights out with Hubby, (I love our date nights) but I wanted to keep the list short.  If you come to visit, these are just a few of the things we will do with you.

I want to thank you all for reading my blog this past year!  I hope you have had as much fun reading it as I have had writing it.  On March 28th, I had my highest number of hits on my page in one day.....268!!!  Normally I average 100-120 hits a day, and right now for the past month I have hits from 14 different countries.....if you are reading, I would LOVE to hear from you.  PLEASE drop a line just to say hi!  I love comments!  

I told you I have been craving these sweet little morsels.  I couldn't take it any longer, so Boy 1 and I headed to the kitchen to make a batch.  I must admit, he did most of the work.  The only thing I did was zest the lemons, since we were both afraid he might grate his fingers on the microplane, and I dip the muffins at the end, but the rest of the credit goes to him.

This is another Paula Deen Recipe WITHOUT butter.  Can you believe it?  I've been making these for years, they are one of Robert's favorites and I can' t believe I forgot to make them while he was here.  Now, here is an odd twist...Hubby had never had these.  I promise I have been making them for year, then I realized, I did ALOT more baking while he was in Iraq for 15 months, and that is when I found this delightful little recipe.  Well - he approved by eating, well, lets just say so many he couldn't take them to work with him the next day.  ;)

Lemon Blossoms

By Paula Deen – I did not change a thing.

18 1/2-ounce package yellow cake mix
3.4 -ounce package instant lemon pudding mix
4 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
Glaze:
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 lemon, zested
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons water


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray miniature muffin tins with vegetable oil cooking spray. Combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs and oil and blend well with an electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour a small amount of batter, filling each muffin tin half way. Bake for 12 minutes. Turn out onto a tea towel
To make the glaze, sift the sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, zest, oil, and 3 tablespoons water. Mix with a spoon until smooth.

With fingers, dip the cupcakes into the glaze while they're still warm, covering as much of the cake as possible, or spoon the glaze over the warm cupcakes, turning them to completely coat. Place on wire racks with waxed paper underneath to catch any drips. Let the glaze set thoroughly, about 1 hour, before storing in containers with tight-fitting lids.