Arrival of Uncle B

Yesterday 27 March, the little man and I spent a lot of time on trains to get to Incheon Airport in Seoul to pick up my younger brother. Zane thought we were going to be picking up my mom but much to his surprise he found someone else at the airport instead! We thought we might stay in Seoul over night depending on how Brian was feeling but we ended up heading all the way back down to Waegwan.  Every one got sleep and now we are getting ready to head out and show Brian the town of Waegwan and our tiny base. 

Enjoy the video!

Love you

Liz

Cakes & Chaos

It has been a few weeks since I have blogged and they have been nothing less than adventurous. On Sunday 11 March I decided my throat was sore enough and fever high enough to visit the ER at a Korean hospital. I was diagnosed with acute tonsillitis, given antibiotics and sent home. The doctor asked me if I wanted to stay in the hospital but I told her I would feel much more comfortable at home. I was also given a chest x-ray, not sure what that had to do with my throat, but went with the flow. And I did question the doctor as to why. Jim was great-he kept Zane busy and entertained. He took care of the house and me. He didn't quite understand  why I didn't want to eat or just felt like laying around. He pushes through when he is sick and has never had strep throat so didn't really get it but he was so wonderful! In the first two years we have been in Korea I really hadn't gotten sick and in the past two months I have had a stomach bug and tonsillitis, both of which had been on weekends. Not that I like being sick but was grateful it was on the weekends so that Jim was home to help with Zane.

This week is very busy and hectic at our house. Zane is turning 5 on the 29th-not sure where time has gone! My brother is arriving tomorrow,27 March and on 1 April we are heading to Beijing to head up with my mom for a few days then head to her house in Kunming. We will also be heading down to Hua Hin, Thailand for a week on the beach mid- April. So my  mind is racing with what we need to pack, getting a 5th birthday party ready for Zane and everything else that goes on around our house.  I know I must be crazy to schedule a birthday party right as we are getting to leave on vacation but it is Zane's birthday!  I also thought I would go ahead and make the cake on Sunday while Jim was home so he could help. We were going to wait, as I didn't have eggs but  we did have Sprite. We mixed up the two cakes, made one blue and the other yellow, Zane chose the "Transformers" for his theme, got the batter in the pans and baked the cake. I let the cake cool and well needless to say not really sure what went wrong, the cake stuck to the pan, it wasn't completely cooked although very, very close and well it all ended up in the trash can. So today Zane and I made two more cakes, well really a 11x15 sheet cake and it is baking as I type. This time though I did use eggs and oil along with really making sure that the pan was oiled and floured. I really don't want to make a third cake as I am not sure when I would but I know that I wouldn't let my little man down.

Here are some pictures of our latest craziness!

Me in the Korean ER hooked up to IV antibiotics and Tylenol.

Cake number 1 after baking. No pictures of what happened when we tried to take  it out of the pan.

Cake 2 pre-baking

cake 2- after cooling and fighting with cake to come out of the pan.

The bottom

I am hoping that this will look better and be able to be frosted. It is now in the freezer waiting for it's day in make-up.

I am not sure that I really want to make any more cakes anytime soon for anything. I can't say I have ever had this happen before!


Hugs to all,
Liz

Beef & Leaf

So I thought it was time to start sharing our favorite places to eat. I took the camera with us to dinner tonight, get to the restaurant to find out the battery is dead. I guess it was a good thing I realized I had my iPod with me so I could take pictures. Of course I didn't remember this until half way through dinner. Tonight we went to a cook your own place here in our little town of Waegwan. It isn't a part of what we call the "ville," the location right off post, which caters to Americans. We all like Korean food and don't mind going downtown to the mom & pop places. The ladies who work here are super nice and the food is really good.  Here are the pictures of dinner after we had gotten done cooking up the pork that we ordered and eaten it. We will go again and I will get more pictures!  Enjoy and come on over and try for yourself!

This is the beef kalbi, rib section of meat, cooking on the grill in front of us along with some garlic.

Plate of lettuce to make your wrap if you wish. I usually add red bean paste, rice, meat, garlic and kimchi. Jim and Zane just eat the meat without the lettuce.

Side dishes, ban chans: cabbage kimchee, pasta, red bean paste and I am not sure of the green one. We also had soy sauced peanuts, yellow kimche radish and vegetable pancake pieces.

This is the top to my rice bowl and that is cooked pork rib meat. It is so good!

The menu, yes everything is in grams.

The front of the restaurant. 

Note to brother- Brian we will be going here while you are here so bring your appetite! 

More posts will come of other restaurants as we go and eat there. I am hoping that this next weekend Jim and I will get to go on a date and go to one of our other favorite places to eat and yes I will take the camera.

Love you all,

Liz