Saturday, instead of the Mud Festival (boo-hoo) we decided to get a sitter for the little ones and go rock wall climbing.  Our friends told us of a great rock wall climbing facility here that even has an ice wall.   Someone else, (I will not mention any names) was in charge of getting the directions off the internet, I ask that someone if he knew where we were going, and with confidence he told me yes, so we headed out.  We took the subway over, which was approximately a 15 minute ride.  While we were on the way I found out that someone did not have directions in hand because he could not get the printer to work.  Ever heard of pen and paper?  I guess not.  This person said we could just hop in a cab and get a ride over to the rock wall facility.  Hummm….well, I guess this person also forgot we speak ENGLISH, not the native tongue of Korea.  However, we did try it.  We got into the cab; ask him to take us to O2O2.  He looked at us like we were crazy.  We then started trying to play charades with him by mimicking climbing a wall in his cab.  He thought we were crazier, so we got out of the cab and continued walking. We ended up walking in the rain for about an hour looking for O2O2.  Did I mention, our umbrella was LEAKING, who ever hear of an umbrella that leaked?  Come on now.  Then, after we got out of the cab it broke.  We did find a little store with more umbrellas, thank goodness.   Finally we gave up on O2O2 and stopped in a little restaurant to eat.  This place was fantastic.  Hubby said it was the best Kimchi he has ever eaten.  Boy 1 even liked it.  Me, I tried it again, but still am not convinced I will ever like the stuff.

Boy 1 eating Kimchi. 

Although it seems as though I am complaining, I am not, just giving “that person” a hard time.   We had a great day.  Overall I enjoyed walking in the rain with my boys, and the food was great.   However, next time we try to go rock wall climbing, I will be in charge & we will make it, we may even stop back by this great little restaurant for dinner on the way home.

 
Flowers 07/18/2008
 

I don’t claim to be a great photographer, but do enjoy taking pictures. My favorite subjects are shots of my kids but have recently started taking lots of shots of flowers.  Here are two of my favorite flower shots.  They are both really cool if you can download and look at them on a larger scale. 

 
SO BUMMED.... 07/18/2008
 

I am so bummed today.  All week I have been looking forward to going here: http://www.mudfestival.or.kr/lang/en/main/move.do?forward=history&pageNum=1&subNum=2 

Seriously, I have been looking forward to going to the MUD FESTIVAL.  It is supposed to be so much fun for the whole family, with those bouncy houses and slides covered in mud for the kids, a mud jail if you aren’t muddy enough, a mud massage, and of course mud wrestling.  They also have mud painting and you get to dump buckets of mud on each other’s heads. They say the mud is not “dirty”.  Seems odd, but that is what everyone says.  My friends also say the mud feels like silk and is good for your skin. In Boryeong, where the Mud Festival is held, they even sale Mud cosmetics.

So, why am I sad you ask? Well, stinkin’ Mother Nature ruined our plans.  There is a 90% chance of rain all day long, with Tropical Storm Kalmaegi heading our way.  The rain is going to be in both cities, here and Boryeong, and all along our route.  So for the safety or us, our children and our friends that were going with us, we have decided not to travel 2.5 hours by car to play in the mud. 

I forgot to mention, this is the last weekend of the festival & that my cooler & bags were already packed and waiting by the door.

For those of you planning to visit us next summer, if you would like to join us in the mud fun, come out during July, one of our hottest, and most humid months, because I am sure to be there next year.

 
 

I normally make this after Christmas or any time I make a ham, but my friend Lara wanted to compare out recipes & it sounded good, so I made it to share with all of you too.  This sandwich is a hit with everyone in our family. I don’t know where I got this recipe and I don’t have exact measurements, but you will get the idea, just go with me.  I also have no idea how “authentic” this is I just know it is good.

 

1 TSP olive oil
2 minced garlic cloves
1 package Hawaiian rolls (I use the small one’s, I think there are 8 per package & I don’t separate them into tiny sandwiches before I cook them.)
Yellow mustard
Swiss cheese
Bacon – cooked
Dill pickle slices
Chopped cilantro
Ham

·          Combine oil and garlic in small dish (save for later)
·          Spread each side of bread with mustard
·          Layer bottom half of the bread with cheese, cilantro, pickles, & bacon
·          Layer top half with cheese & ham
·          Put sandwich together
·          Brush garlic oil evenly on outside of rolls. 
·          Cook on stovetop in a large skillet, place something heavy on top of sandwiches and squish
·          Cook about 3 minutes on each side or until slightly brown and cheese is melting

And the finished product is below.  After the sandwich is cooked I cut them into the small squares.  Served with garlic-clilantro potatoes.

 
 

Hubby and I loved this salad. It now has a permanent place in my recipe box.  Go ahead; give it a try, you are sure to like it!  I served it with grilled chicken breast.

This was adapted from a recipe in Cooking Light magazine.

1 bag of your favorite salad (I used Spring Mix)
1 6oz container fresh raspberries
¼ cup chopped fresh chives
1 ½ TBL apple cider vinegar
1 ½ TBL white vinegar
2 TSP honey
½ TSP Dijon mustard
¼ tsp salt
1/8 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 TBL canola oil
6 TBL sweet spiced almonds (recipe follows)

Combine first 3 ingredients in a large bowl. Combine vinegars and next 4 ingredients in a small bowl, add oil stirring with a whisk.  Drizzle over lettuce mixture, toss to coat.  Top with sweet spiced almonds.

 Sweet Spiced Almonds

1 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 TSP cinnamon
½ TSP ground coriander
½ TSP ground cumin
1 large egg white lightly beaten
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 325/  Combine almonds & next 4 ingredients in a small bowl.  Add egg white, mix till incorporated. Spread evenly onto a foil lined baking sheet coated with cooking spray.  Bake for 10 minutes, stir, spread out evenly on cooking sheet again & bake for 15 more minutes or till crisp.  Transfer foil to wire rack and cool.  Break almond mixture into small pieces.

 


 
 

Remember I told you I heard about a bigger and better flower market?  Well, yesterday a friend and I went.  We took a cab so I could write directions down in case I wanted to drive there next time.  I took my camera, but I had taken my memory card out and forgot to put it back in, so sorry there will be no pictures today.  

When we left post it was drizzling.  We grabbed the first cab we saw and headed out on our new adventure.   The cabbie didn’t know where the flower market was, so he took us to the Yangjie subway exit.  I was expecting a hike from there because in my subway guide, it says the flower market is a 5 minute bus ride to the flower market from the subway stop.   I don’t know how to use the bus system yet and neither does my friend so we decided to walk, in the rain.  I was starving so we stopped at a little Korean restaurant; it was fabulous and only cost 5,000 won for lunch. Then we started walking again & it was raining even harder.  All in all it was only about a 10 minute walk to the flower market, but I stopped to ask people about 5 times.  Everyone I ask was extremely friendly and tried to help even when they didn’t speak much English.  I love this about Korea.   

The flower shop – I was very impressed.  The part we walked into was the potted plant area.  The orchids were AMAZING!  There were potted plants of every kind.  You could buy trees, hanging flowers and really just about any type of potted plant you could imagine.  This area was huge.  When we found the cut flower section I was a bit disappointed.  Now mind you this is only because I have been living in Korea for a while now.  The cut flower section was very small for here.  (In the states it would have been HUGE)  I found the prices to be about the same as “my” flower shop.  I did buy a few flowers, Gerber Daisy’s, and some yellow Lilies.  

In conclusion, I am glad I made the trip. I will probably go back (by car) so I can pick up a few potted plants, but for my normal cut flower run each week I will be heading back to the Express Bus Terminal.  It is an easy drive and well, it is my Happy Place.

 

 
Hubby's new toy 07/15/2008
 

Actually not so much his new toy as much as it is his new mode of transportation.  We are only allowed to have one car here, so sometimes it get hairy trying to get the kids to their activities and Hubby to where he needs to be.  So Hubby opted to purchase himself a new bike.  Never mind the bike cost about ½ as much as our “hooptie” car cost, still with the 2 combined (the bike and the hooptie) we come out way ahead of what a “normal” car would cost.  Hubby is also about to start training for a triathlon.  I would train with him, but I don’t have a bike, although it is a great reason to go shopping.  To be honest though, training for a triathlon is A LOT of work, and I just don’t know if I am up for that.  I know, I am sounding wimpy, & I do work out all the time, but I really am not that great of a swimmer (excuses, excuses, I know).  I guess I need to start watching The Biggest Loser again to get remotivated, only if I could find it on TV here.  Don’t get me started on TV here.  That is a blog for another day.  Ok, I will stop babbling.....

Have a great day.....  :)

 
My Busy Day 07/14/2008
 

1 kid had basketball camp
2 kids had swim lessons
2 kids had piano lessons
 1 kid had Tae Kwon Doe

And that is with only 3 kids participating.

 
 

I remember the first time I had one of these.  It was at Disney World in 2002.  Since then I have made them a couple of times, but forgot about them until recently.  We were at the pool and they were selling them for $3 a piece, for us, that is $12 to buy one for all my kids; which I did.  So, I came home and made them and they will be a frequent treat for us during these hot, humid summer months.  

I feel silly even telling you how to do this, but I have some friends that are challenged in the kitchen…you know who you are.  Make or buy your favorite kind of cookie, put a scoop of softened  ice cream on the flat side of one cookie, top with another cookie, making sure the flat side is touching the ice cream, squish gently so your cookies don’t break (like the one on the left in my picture).  Wrap with plastic wrap and put in the freezer.  Your kids will love you even more.

 

 
 

I went to Yeoju City again this week. Remember, Yeoju is the city where you can buy ceramics galore - this is the place I got my new dinnerware. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeoju_County  This website gives you more information on Yeoju if you are interested.  The first time I went here I didn't realize Yeoju had so much history in this little town and that there is quiet a bit (besides shopping) to do here as well.  I hope that on one of my shopping trips in the future I will be able to visit some of the historical sites.   Back to ARE YOU KIDDING ME....I have seen these all over the place, but in this one little shopping area we went to this time, they seemed to be everywhere.  I am going to put a picture of the shopping area first, with my friends out front, then I am going to put the plate of ..... under that, be aware that this post may not be suitable for young children.....

So, I had a funny blog in my head for this post, but then I started thinking about it and decided against it because I am afraid I will have perverts coming to my site from search engines.  Just think if I put “Plate of P….” in the title and some Joe out there that was looking for a “Plate of P’s” & Googled that, then they could quite possibly come to my site.  I really don’t want THAT kind of traffic on my site, thank you very much.

And they come in different sizes….

And they all have smiling faces....humm I wonder why. 

So after a bit of discussion I found out that these are given to newly weds, and to people having fertility problems.  I thought if any of you are throwing a bachelorette party and need some, just let me know, I can hook you up.

I did buy more pottery.