Hedgehogs!

They sell hedgehogs here in Korea! That is awesome. I used to think I wanted a ferret when I was growing up. Now that I am older I think that may just have been because ferrets are illegal in California where I grew-up. And I am a rebel. But a hedgehog! How awesome would that be..."Yeah; I have a hedgehog!"? I don't know if they would make the best pet though. They are rather prickly critters (not as prickly as a porcupine though). I put my hand in the cage to touch it when I saw it at the store and every time my hand would get close to touch it it would bury its head and kind of tense up, sticking its prickliness out. I wonder if you can teach it to not react like that to you?

I guess if I wont let Bee get a dog than I can't have a hedgehog. It is most likely better that way.

all-purpose Car

I love our car! Recently Bee requested a two bookshelves, a TV stand, and a nice desk from the some friends of ours who were getting rid of them because they were moving back to the states. She requested these items but did not think about how we would transport them from Yongsan, where they were, to our house in Seongnam. We figured it out!

I drove over to their place to size up what Bee and I would be taking and decided to see what all I could fit in the car. I managed to get a small bookcase to fit lengthwise across the back seat, but only with the windows down, and even then, when I took it out it left an impression in the arm rest of each door. I managed to fit the TV stand in the trunk (just barely) but that still left the tall bookshelf and the desk. I had some cord and a crazy idea. Just strap it to the top! I had to be back in Yongsan the next day so I figured to just take the other bookcase and come back for the desk tomorrow. So I did. I through it on top and strapped it down with as much cord as I had. It didn't budge one bit.


It was awesome driving home with a bookcase cross-ways in the back seat sticking out each window and one strapped to the top of the car...And when I thought our little ghetto car could not get more ghetto and still run. I am proud of our little car. The whole way home couldn't help but have a big grin on my face thinking about how ridiculous the whole picture looked; knowing that that guy with the tinted windows next to me at the red light was staring at my beater with all its accessories.

Pioneer Day

If I had the strength of a Pioneer, Pioneer!

Yup! It's Pioneer Day!! Well, it was. Now, I have never celebrated Pioneer Day before. First time I heard about it was last year. This year, I was in luck. Our branch was putting together a get together with games, food, and even a small trek of our own, granted it was only through the building but it was exciting to get to dress up as a pioneer and have fun together. To make it more fun, Hunny asked if I would like to contribute to the festivities by putting on a little skit. Oh how fun indeed! Until I discovered that it would just be me. I thought he meant together.  I was to share a story of a pioneer girl. I had less then 2 weeks to prepare. When I told my mother about it, she told me she had bought a pioneer outfit online and would send me one as well to help the skit seem more authentic. I was thrilled. But still super nervous. I read over the story a few times but never really practiced out loud or timed it. One idea I had to incorporate the story was to pass out bit of dried meat, something that was important in the story. When I was too nervous and considering dropping out, Hunny brought home bags and bags of Jerky. I had to go through with it now. Everyone had helped me and I couldn't back out.

Saturday morning we got up, donned our pioneer outfits and made the journey to the church. Once there my nerves were on end. Thankfully we started with a nice big lunch. It was delicious. I was stuffed. Helped calm the nerves. Hunny and I got set up in the room. Which included all of setting up a blanket between two chairs for a tent.

Everyone was divided into 4 groups and one by one the groups would take their "trek" walking from room to room in which they would hear stories of different pioneer experiences. We picked the first room so we would be able to follow the last group through the trek.

The first group came in to our room and my story just came out. I had fun with it. A few hiccups but that's to be expected. All in all it was so fun. Hunny got a few laughs at him. His job was pretty much to hold down the fort. It's a pretty tough job when you have kids pulling on the chairs trying to get the tent to fall on him. We joined the last group and went to see how the others chose to tell their stories. They were all very sweet and it was so neat to see the different depictions.

This evening we went to a youth fireside put on by a new family in the branch. Hunny went because he is a Young Men's adviser and I tagged along. It was sweet to hear of more stories and miracles that followed the Saints on their journey. And also to hear that miracles can be seen in our lives as we are pioneers today.

NANTA!

So, Hunny and I have been meaning to become more cultured. We have thought for a while now to go see a show called Nanta but have never gotten around to doing so until this week. Nanta is a non-verbal production in which four 'chefs' use kitchen supplies and other oddities to make rhythms and beats. We have always said we were going to go but never put it on the calendar or made any attempt to schedule it. Well, for Christmas I gave Hunny a calendar in which I wrote many different activities we would do when I came out here to Korea with him. I wrote things like visit a library, bake cookies together, read outside, go on a picnic, have a candle-lit dinner... in different blocks on the calendar throughout the year. It was a fun idea and on this occasion was the catalyst to our going to see the show. I had written "go to a concert" on the calendar for Friday. Hunny saw that and sense he had the day off on Tuesday suggested that we just move it forward a few days.

We signed up with the USO which included dinner and a walk around a HUGE shopping market before the show. We met up and with as many people as were waiting around, I was surprised that there were only four of us going to Nanta. We got to the place for dinner. Hunny and I ordered the Bulgogi soup and Bibimbap so that we could taste each others. We have always had bulgogi as just the meat but the soup was quite tasty as well.

The weird thing was that when we got into the restaurant, we were all sitting together- Hunny and I and these two ladies. It was pretty awkward for a long while till one of them mentioned she was from Utah. Though I thought I was well composed, Hunny said it was written all over my face that I was dying to ask if they were Mormon. When she asked where we were married and we told her the Orlando Temple, the cat was out of the bag. We were all LDS! All of a sudden, we were talking it up and everything was so much easier. There was so much common ground. They thought it a little strange too when we just ordered water with our meal. because who orders just water to drink! We had a good time with them. After dinner, we got to walk around Myeongdong. It is a massive market, mostly for clothes. I think it is the only place you can find a Forever 21, Gap, and even an H&M in Korea. Seeing as Hunny was out numbered, we went into all sorts of clothing stores. He is a good sport though, he is actually a really nice shopping buddy. I am looking forward to going back when we have more time to hit up the huge sale that was going on.

We worked our way over to the theater. We got our tickets and found our seats. Surprisingly, the room wasn't that big. We were decently close. The plot was that the owner of the restaurant's nephew would be working and to make matters more difficult for the crew, there was a wedding and they had to have all these dishes complete before six. There was romance, a bit of magic, awesome beats. They were very interactive with the audience as well, whether they were pulling people out of the crowd, or getting us to make noise, we were having a great time.

It was a really good show. Hunny and I were both very pleased with it. We might even go and see it again sometime. But we have to go see a few other shows we have seen advertised before we go back to the same one. Hunny looked around on youtube for a video to let you see kind of what Nanta is about and this is the best one we could find for you, it is not in the theatre but it is a little bit of their act. Enjoy! We certainly did.

Our first campout

Happy Independence Day!! What a fabulous day to be free.

Bee and I took our first campout together this 4th of July weekend. It was delightful. We have been looking for places to go camping for a while now. It is hard to find places to camp here not knowing the language but I found two seperate places to try out. One was right out side of Seoul, near where we live, and the other was farther south more in the country. I decided we would go to the one a little further way because I had detailed directions on how to get there because I know someone who had already been there. It was also in the same valley as Osan Air Force Base which I was not sure would be doing fireworks that night. If they were though we would be close enough to see them.

We packed up in the afternoon and headed down to the campground. The only thing we where missing was Marshmallows for S'mores we wanted to make that night. So we stopped by the Shoppette on base to see if they had any...they didn't! I figured we would just stop by one of the big Korean supermarkets (E-Mart or Lotte Mart) on the way down to the camp ground and buy some. The first store we came across was a Lotte Mart. We parked and went inside. In the states it would be compared to a Super Walmart. I knew I could just ask someone if they had marshmallows but I figured we could look around a while and try our luck at finding them ourselves. We wandered the isles til I found where I thought they should be. Nothing! Time to try asking someone. Marshmallows? "Mashi-mello; no, an-yo!" with the X made with the hands was the reply. What I don't get is how can both this Korean, and the one at the shoppette know exactly what I am talking about when I say marshmallows but them not sell them at this super-Walmart of a store! Sense we could not get our hand on some fluffy marshmallows we picked up a few other sugary confections to try our hand at roasting.

We made it to the place we planned on camping and managed to convey to the lady working at the gate that we were interested in spending the night. I was a little disappointed in the campgrounds but it seemed to work great for our first camping trip. The place was a river park in which there were car camping sites. There were no trees though, it was just a cleared area with a loop to drive around and a bunch of little coves to park in with a small patch of grass between you and the next cove to set up your camp in. Luckily we were the only ones there so we had plenty of room all to ourselves. I parked the car in front of the parking cove and Bee and I set up our fire-pit; and chairs in the cove and set up our tent in the grass next to it. It was a very humble little campsite. We had prepared our tinfoil dinners earlier in the day so we threw them on the coals and let them to cook as we chatted. The meat turned out a little under-seasoned but the veggies were very tasty.

After dinner we broke into the sweets. As I mentioned we did not have marshmallows for s'mores but we did bring Starbursts for roasting, and I bought to try Swedish Fish and sour gummy bears- that's right, gummy bears! Starbursts is an old favorite and if you have never tried roasting them you should. Don't heat them too long or they will just fall off into the fire but if you roast them just a little bit the outside will crystallize and the inside will become warm and soft and makes for a great sensation on the tongue. The Swedish Fish was a total flop but gummy bears- oh my goodness! I think we found a keeper. Not only are they warm and soft in your mouth it is so much fun to stab the little guys through with the skewer.

As it started getting later I kept on the lookout to the west for fireworks and sure enough, as we were experimenting with roasting sweets they started going off in the distance. We adjusted our seats for the show and enjoyed the show. It was a good one. Lots of big and stunning fireworks. We were close enough to them that we could hear the explosions but it was neat that we were far enough that we would see them go off and a few seconds later we would hear the boom. The one draw back to our location was that the wind was blowing the smoke our way so it obscured most of the later part of the show. We still enjoyed it though. I was not even sure we were going to have a show. I am glad we did.

The next morning when we woke up the first time it was super foggy. We slept in and it was gone when we woke up later. We made some oatmeal and broke down camp and headed for home. It was a fun adventure. I don't think we will be camping there again but it was enjoyable for the night, especially being able to enjoy the firework show. It was a grand first camping trip together. And we look forward to many many more together.

{pictures to come soon}

Chimichangas

Bee and I LOVE Mexican food. I have always been a big fan but Bee didn't really become a fan until she met me. We discovered it was because every time she ever went to a Mexican restaurant she did not know how (what) to order so she always got something she didn't want or like. She liked Moes, a popular burrito place, but that was about it. Now we are one the same page and love all sorts of Mexican dishes. Too bad we are in Korea where there is not much in the way of mexican to be found.

We usually buy flour tortillas to have in our cupboard for breakfast burritos. Recently however we discovered a recipe for chimichangas on the back of the package. It did not look very hard and I love chimichangas so we decided to get the few ingredients we were missing and make a batch. They turned out delicious! They are not exactly a true chimichanga because it is baked in the oven as opposed to having a fried shell but I think they taste just fine. The recipe has you brush it with oil before placing it in the oven which gives it a crisp flaky outside similar to being fried. I like it! This past week Bee was itching to make them again so we baked them this evening for dinner and it looked so good I just had to take a picture and share it with you.

If you wish to try your hand at them I included the recipe below.

Ingredients: · 2tbsp olive oil · 1/2c chopped onion · 2 cloves garlic, minced · 1/3c chili powder · 16oz salsa · 4tbsp water · 1/2tsp ground cumin · 1/2tsp cinnamon · 2 cans (12.5oz) chunk breast of chicken (we pre-cook frozen chicken breast) · 6 burrito shells, warmed · 1c refried beans

Directions: In large saucepan, over medium-high heat, heat oil. Add onion and garlic. Cook 4 to 5 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Stirr in chili powder, salsa, water, cumin and cinnamon. Pour mixture into blender or food processor bowl fitted with metal blade. Process until smooth. Pour back into saucepan; stir in chicken. Add salt to taste. Heat oven to 425°F. grease rimmed 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Working with 1 tortilla at a time, keep remaining tortillas wrapped, spoon a heaping tablespoon of beans down center of each tortilla. Top with about 1/4 cup chicken mixture. Fold up bottom, top and sides of tortilla; secure with wooden picks, if necessary. Place chimichangas in greased baking pan, seam-side-down. brush all sides with oil. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown and crisp, turning every 5 minutes. Serve with salsa and sour cream.

We have found the chili powder to be a bit much for our liking so we only use a 1/4 cup. We also sprinkle the top with mozzarella cheese as soon as it comes out of the oven.