Happy Birthday, Gem!

Happy Birthday, Gem!

We celebrated Gem's birthday today! She didn't want a huge party but a smaller one with the family. She selected her flowers and came up with a menu. A menu of Korean food to be prepared by her mom - me! It took yesterday afternoon through the evening to all day of cooking today. Sigh, achy body... I am only posting her favorite dish, gimbap, here.

Happy Birthday, Gem!

While I was out, spring went by...

Hello everyone! It seems like spring has come and gone while I was engulfed by life's mundane things and doings. While we hung out with Neptune on the Virginia's shore... The cherry tree on our yard shed its blossoms
and as azaleas bloomed dad came by and filled the pots on the porch...

Pincushions

The gusty wind is rather threatening outside... We are comforting ourselves with chocolate [never fails] cake. Mad's birthday cake leftover... ^.^
I also made some pincushions over the weekend. An inspiration [well, of sort] came to me while driving at night, thus titled it "night street." However, the street light looks like showerhead. And the median strip looks too large compared to the street light. Okay, I could say this is a prototype. ;)



I also made a medium sized one to resemble a traditional Korean thatched roof cottage. People used to grow large, round gourds on the roof top. In the olden days, these would be halved, emptied, dried and used as bowls. I always liked the look; just as I always loved the climbing roses on the door way of an English cottage.

Super Bowl!

I actually watched Super Bowl last night. Okay, okay, I initially watched for the ads [huge disappointment] and then for the half time show [so so]. However, the fourth quarter got so exciting to watch! Even though my girls were so skeptical about my wanting to watch Super Bowl...

A few days before Super Bowl:
Me: Hey, Gem, are we watching Super Bowl this year too?
Gem: Super Bowl? I guess. What do you mean this year too?
Me: Gosh, don't you remember last year we were up till 1:00AM or so to finish watching the game?
Gem: Um, umma [mommy in Korean], that was baseball. World Series, remember?
Me: Oh, it was?

Tune to conversation with Mad at the Giant [local food market] on the day of the Super Bowl:
Mad: I don't understand your sudden interest in Super Bowl umma.
Me: Well, I think we watched it last year. [My family was never football watcher.]
Mad: Are you sure? Oh, maybe you like the ads. I liked the ads I get to see afterwards on YouTube.
Me: Yes, that's it. I LOVE THE ADS!
Mad: Why are you getting so many [two] bags of Tostitos and bottles [two] of salsa?
Me: I think you are supposed to eat these when you watch football.
Mad: [Rolling her pretty eyes] Well then. I think we need Mountain Dew to go with them. [A big grin - knowing she could get away with it!].
Me: Oh, okay, sure.
Mad: BTW, do you know the rules? [She doesn't know them].
Me: Yeah, of course... You just have to run the opposite way to take over the other team's territory. Um, isn't that right?
Mad: ?!?!?!?! [I think she was chortling...].

In any event, it was truly exciting last 10 minutes of the game even for a novice like me!

Happy Lunar New Year!

I almost forgot about Lunar New Year until last night. I was watching Korean news via internet as the news stations showed congested traffic all over the country as people visit families and relatives in the snow. And it brought back memories of visiting grandmas when I was a little girl. Luckily for us, it wasn't a long journey and both grandmas lived pretty close by. However, it meant a train ride for us. I can't remember why but the Seoul station would only open the gates to the platform after the train arrives. Perhaps, it was for safety reasons... In any event, the gathered crowd would merge to the gates in a mob fashion. As I remember it, nobody got hurt but I think it was stressful for everyone; no one wanted to miss the train! Men, who are traveling alone, would help other families by lifting the toddlers over head, myself often included, and break the wave of people. In some ways, it must have been nerve wrecking seeing your child lifted by a stranger and carried along. I remember looking down at my mom and making sure not letting her out of my sight as they did the same. Times were different... considering how overtly cautious my mom was and still is. Other moms back then wouldn't have given a second thought, fully knowing that it was safe.

The day means feast on dduk-gook [rice cake soup] and bulgogi!

Happy New Year!