Eric's Ice Cream Factory {2018 Summer Blog Project}

I decided that I needed a summer project.  Being new to northwest Ohio, I am not familiar with the area ice cream venues.  So Ian and I are going to visit different ice cream sites and give a rating / review of each.

There was a car dealership across the road so Samuel thought our seats were the best ever - life does not get better than ice cream and watching cars

First up, Eric's Ice Cream Factory. There are several in the area - we visited one in Defiance.  I have to say that I was really impressed!  They had 24 (I think?) different flavors of homemade ice cream (they had soft serve, but who has soft serve when there is another option?)

Positives:

1. nice employees
2. reasonable price
3. generous serving
4. wide variety of flavors 
5. the location we went to had indoor and outdoor seating (and the outdoor seating area was clean)
6. they had highchairs
7. they had little tasting spoons (this is a big deal to me as it helps me eat my ice cream slower)
8. the are "real food" items available as well
9. they are open late if Ian and I want to go after we put Samuel to bed

Negatives:

1. distance - it would be nice if it was in Paulding (I have a feeling that this will be a negative for all places we try this summer - deep sadness)

Being a good Ohio citizen, I had tried the Buckeye Ice Cream.  Ian had "the bomb" which was vanilla ice cream with brownie batter and caramel.  Both were so good (I think the Buckeye was better).  Samuel was indecisive and wanted to eat all of both.

I am glad that we gave Eric's a try. I now have high expectations for the other ice places in the area.  I can see a lot of summer date nights involving Eric's Ice Cream Factory.

Thankfuls 2012

Every since I was like 10, I have written a list of 100 things I am thankful for on Thanksgiving. The tradition began one year when I was bored while riding in the car to Grandma and Grandpas. It is one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving now. (Thanks Phumi for joining the fun this year - you rock!)

You would think with 28 hours (24 hours of driving and 4 hours of gas/food/etc breaks) of traveling this past Thanksgiving season, we would have had more than enough time to write out our thankful list.  Alas, we did not.  But better late than never.

A thought I had several times this past Thanksgiving season: Whom are you thankful to?

For me, the answer is easy: Praise God from whom all blessings flow.  

But what if you do not believe in God?  Then whom?  I mean in saying, "Thank you" there is clearly a someone referenced...so who do you reference?  Just my two cents.

As always, this is no particular order.

Here we go: (the ones in blue were stated by Ian - p.s. he was in the middle of something and I started with the "what are you thankful for?")

1. God is good.
2. and He is faithful.
3. My Love (that would be me)
4. Jesus
5. family
6. a big oven
7. Emily P. Freeman
8. Kakao Emoticons
9. Christmas lights
10. a good, patient, funny, husband that eats whatever I cook with only compliments
11. a vacuum
12. spell-check
13. M, B, & C - the kiddos I nanny for
14. G & K - the amazing parents of the kiddos I nanny for
15. books
16. computers
17. Seminary
18. warm blankets
19. big closets
20. gift cards
21. towels from the dryer
22. 908 lovely and fabulous days of marriage - and many more to come!
23. pretty authentic Korean restaurants in America
24. coffee
25. coffee creamer
26. Tsh
27. starting AND finishing cross-stitch projects
28. the ability to run
29. American grocery stores
30. God provided, God is providing, and God will provide
31. cereal + milk
32. warm (or cold) running water
33. being able to own and read the Bible in my language
34. Christmas music
35. Grandpa + Kathryn
36. treasured memories of my grandparents who have already finished the race set before them
37. America
38. cookbooks
39. pizza
40. making potato cakes
41. sex
42. Colorado weather
43. running club
44. friends (there is a lot here I could say, but I will keep it short - friends.are.vital.)
45. hamburgers
46. meatloaf
47. meatballs
48. our car
49. being part of the Church
50. the freedom to vote
51. World Vision
52. treadmills
53. checking the mailbox to find it is not empty
54. ice cream
55. paper snowflakes
56. grace
57. Facebook
58. the view out our window
59. libraries
60. those who have gone before me in high-altitude baking and left a record
61. slippers
62. smartphones
63. GPS
64. electricity
65. ranch salad dressing
66. lazy days
67. our Korean adventure
68. the Holy Spirit - our seal and guarantee
69. being done with the "I am adjusting to the high altitude" phase of running
70. candles
71. Laura
72. going on dates
73. Skype
74. touchscreens in the back of airplane seats
75. the change of seasons
76. the hubs making amazing, delicious food
77. the space heater
78. early birthday presents
79. the Word became flesh and dwelt among us
80. good health
81. places to pass along items that we no longer need (Goodwill/Salvation Army)
82. Google
83. beer
84. airplanes - getting us from point A to point B quickly
85. jokes
86. Therefore now, there is no condemnation for those of you who are in Christ Jesus...
87. discount grocery stores
88. online sermons
89. things that make running more fun, mainly my Garmin and the Zune
90. being able to get-up and go whenever we want, where ever we want (cough, we don't have kids yet, cough)
91. time to reflect
92. cheese
93. board games
94. staplers
95. my memory
96. alarms, timers, and watches
97. music
98. Ian giving me sips of his coffee or bites of his food
99. Advent
100. knowing and being set free by Truth

What a Weekend! {Buddha's Birthday/Memorial Day}

Hi friends!  For the first time since moving to Korea, we had a three day weekend the same weekend as people in America did!  Of course, it was for different reasons.  We did not have school on Monday because of Buddha's birthday.  Ya'll in America had Memorial Day.  {here is a blast from the past aka my post from Buddha's birthday last year}.  Just to clarify:  Buddha's birthday is on the lunar calendar, just like Chuseok and Lunar New Year.  Therefore it is not on the same (what do we call our calendars?  Julian?) day every year.

There were a bunch of lanterns (holding Buddhists' prayers or something) hanging in a park near our apartment...enjoy!

Our weekend started with a wedding of one of Ian's co-teachers!  We are so happy for the couple.  And the wedding factory hall was right next to Daegu Stadium where the 2011 IAAF World Track and Field Championships were held.  Ian had not seen the stadium before, so I was excited that he got to see it (well the outside at least).

Cutting the Wedding Cake with a Sword

Best part of the wedding?  One of the guests sang a song to the couple during the wedding...norribang style (picture the whole audience clapping and swaying along while the lights turn techno colors and swirl around the room.)  Or maybe my favorite moment was the "medical test" for the groom.  He went over to his mom and picked her up (off the ground) on his back.  I am not sure how medical this is, or what they are testing, but it provided entertainment for me :)

The Happy Couple

The rest of Saturday and Sunday were not all that interesting, just same ol' same ol' for us.

Quick shoutout to our fam in America!  Congrats Donnie and Kinzie!  We are SO happy for ya'll and wish we could have been on there on Sunday to help celebrate!

Monday (Buddha's Birthday) was Date Day 2012.  Since we had the day off of school, we thought we should spend the whole day going on a series of dates.

More lantern pictures

Date #1: with the pavement...just kidding.  I did get up and run before we left though.  I attempted to do a 6 x 400 meter @ 5k race pace with 400 meter recovery workout...kicked.my.bum.

Real Date #1: Starbucks!  We stopped and got a white caramel mocha for the train ride to Busan.  If I had to pick one date to go on every week for the rest of my life, it would be coffee dates.  (Sad, but true).

I did not take pictures of date 1 or 2, so here are some more lanterns

Date #2: Mexican Restaurant in Busan!  Ohmigoodness!  I am trying to think of a word to use to describe the experience...and I can't think of one right now (does that make it indescribable?).  I had a beef steak burrito

with fresh cilantro

in.des.scrib.able

I thought I had died and gone to heaven (not for real).  I can not even begin to tell you how amazing fresh cilantro tastes.  Fresh cilantro may have just beat out feta cheese for #1 food item I miss now.  But it may be because feta cheese is turning into a figment of my imagination....I can't remember what it really tastes like anymore (Goodness, I can ramble on about nothing).

It was a gorgeous day!

Date #3: The Beach.  We headed to Gwangli Beach to stick our feet in the cold ocean water.  And let our food digest before heading to date #4 location.  We just happened to run into some pretty cool people there and decided to hang out with them.  It is so fun being friends with a couple! (I just proofread that sentence and thought, "hmmm strange sentence"  but meh, I am going to leave it).

So glad we got to spend part of the day with them!

Date #4: Double Date at Sharky's.  Ya'll.  Imagine with me: Hamburger bun, hamburger patty, slices of avocado, bacon, onion, and Lord knows what other types of goodness all together on a plate.  And

Wait for it...

They also had cranberry juice + o.j.+ peach schnapps + vodka all mixed together in a glass.  (I am trying to keep this rated PG, so if you know what the name of the drink, you can insert it there for yourself...)  Ian ordered a mojito and shared with me.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA....best burger I have ever had in Korea.  Along with my two favorite drinks.

Date Day 2012!  p.s. it was windy at the beach, thus I have weird hair...

I think I will forever remember this day.  Best American food that I have had in Korea and even better company.

I love both of these pictures.  For different reasons, but they both crack me up every time I look at them - hahaha or kkkk (depending on what side of the globe you are on ^-^)

Thank you Buddha, for having a birthday and letting us get out of school for a day.

Date Night Questions

In case you don't know, I am a big fan of dating!  It is so fun!  One of my favorite parts of going on dates is taking a step out of life and talking about other stuff.  We try to not talk about work, plans for the rest of the week, things we need to get done, etc.etc.etc.  I am often asked, "What do you talk about on dates then?"

Enter Date Night Questions!

I think I should admit that I am an aficionado (aficionada?) of date night questions and Ian goes along with them.  But he does ask some pretty good ones.  Usually it just takes one or two questions to get the conversation going.  Then before we know it, we are dreaming, thinking, and sharing our hearts.  We are no longer stuck in the surface-y everyday life stuff.

I thought I would help you out.  Here are some date night questions (No, I did not come up all of them by myself...I got them from here and some of my friends.  I'll let you guess which ones I made up).  I am AR, so I have categories of date night questions.  My personal favorite is: Hypothetical Questions!

Hypothetical Date Night Questions: 

• If you had a seven story house, what room would be on the fourth floor, second room on the left?
• Follow-up: Hmmm, where would you put the {insert some hobby your spouse loves i.e. soccer field} then? 
• If you could choose any language to instantly know for the rest of your life, which language would you pick?  
• If you could be any kitchen utensil, which would you be and why? 
• If you could invent a new ice cream flavor, what would it be?  
• I have about 100 variations of this one: If you could perfect an already existing ice cream flavor, what would you change?  Or in the case of my husband: if you could create the perfect pizza (or cinnamon roll or drink) what would it be? etc etc so forth and so on...)

•  If you were a hobbit, what would your favorite meal of the day be?
• If you could have any superpower (or superhero or if you could only pick one of the Avengers), what would it be? Why?  
• Would you rather be deaf or blind?
• If you could name the street your live on, what would it be?  
• If you invented a new word that must rhyme with purple, what word would it be and what is the definition?  
• If you could go back to college and study a different major, which one would it be?  
• What day of your life would you relive with your date that your date had not previously experienced with you?  i.e. I could not say our wedding day because Ian was there with me.  I would have to pick a day that I experienced without Ian.
• Just for fun :) If you could ask any hypothetical question right now, what would you ask?

Oh yeah, I guess I should point out that you do not have to be on a date to ask these questions!  Sometimes I ask my friends these questions too.

Uncharted Territory

Ahem, this is going to be a post of uncharted territory for me.  But it is my blog so that means I can write about whatever I want.  I won't be posting this to Facebook, but if you happen to stumble upon this post, feel free to read, comment, or ponder the following.

Just my thoughts ya'll.

When Ian and I were dating, he would open the car door for me.  He would walk on the street side of the sidewalk.  He would do lovely and sweet things for me.  Some people {not everyone} would say, "Just wait until you are engaged..." like he would stop doing those things once we were engaged or married.  Well then we got engaged, and he still opened the car door for me.  He still walked on the street side of the sidewalk.  He would still do lovely and sweet things for me.  Some people {not everyone} would say, "Just wait until you get married...".

Well then we got married. (Do I need to insert a rant about "oh you are still in the honeymoon stage"...You can just insert in your brain).  Folks, he still does lovely and sweet things for me.  He carries the heaviest grocery bags all the way home and does not complain.  He works hard to provide for us.  He takes responsibility and leadership in our family.  He probably does more lovely and sweet things for me, than before we got married.  And still some people say, "Just wait until you have kids...".  I married the best man I have ever met in my life.  He has become my best friend too.  I seriously doubt that he is going to stop doing lovely and sweet things for me.  (But if he does, we will cross that bridge when we come to it, instead of critically evaluating every action "oh maybe he is finally turning into that man that does not do lovely and sweet things for me anymore...that was just before we got married").

Here is where the uncharted territory part comes in (good Lord I am blushing already).  I decided early on our marriage that I was not going to be a "I have a headache.  I am tired.  I am {put any excuse in you would like}." wife.  I was going to be an honest, communicating wife.  Ian is so great about sitting with me in coffee shops and chatting about matters of my heart.  I would be SO HURT if I started sharing something that has been on my heart and he rolls his eyes, and says, "okay, let's just make it quick.  I have a headache. I am tired. I am fill in some excuse."  You can connect the dots and blush along with me now.

I am not trying to be legalistic here.  I am trying to be real.  I am trying to provide a different perspective than what American culture has shoved onto me for the past 20 years.

And still there are women who hear my perspective, give me the look and say, "oh just wait until you have kids, then you will really be tired".   (I may or may not think this in my brain when I hear this: Did your husband still find time to connect emotionally with you after you had kids?  I certainly hope so)

Love is a choice.  Joy is a choice.  How we spend our time is a choice.  How tired we are is a choice.

I will get off my soap box now.  Oh yeah - by no means are we perfect.  We still need grace and have a lot of lesson to learn.  But we are striving.

Happy Hearts Day!

China 2012

15 thoughts from my 15 miler

I ran 15 miles this weekend.  Here are 15 of the 19723098709375 thoughts I had while running. {in no particular order}

1.) I am running!  Yeah! 

2.) Do not eat french toast the night before a long run.  Or any food with eggs in it.

3.) If you do eat french toast the night before a long run, make sure you plan a route that has a port-a-potty ('nough said).

4.) I wonder where my amazing husband will take me on our hot date tonight?  {he took me to a fab Italian restaurant called Little Italia.  I had spaghetti noodles with alfreado sauce with mushrooms and bacon.  it.was.divine.  Proof that marriage changes you.  Before meeting my amazing husband, I would have NEVER eaten anything with bacon in it.}

Hot Date Night!

5.) What should I wear on our hot date tonight?  {see above}

6.) I wonder what I should make with the 12 persimmons that I bought?  {persimmon pudding cake!  see below for recipe}

7.) I really miss having people to talk to while I run.

8.) Praise Jesus that a half marathon is only 13.1 miles.  {mile 14 was not the most fun mile of my life.}

9.) I am racing a half marathon in 15 days.  Yikes!

10.) I am taking 2 whole entire weeks off after the half.  It has been over a year since I took two whole weeks off from running.

11.) Thank you, Jesus, for this amazing weather.

12.) I kinda like listening to music while I run.  It is growing on me. (Don't worry Mom, I only have one ear bud in, I have the volume on the lowest possible setting, and if I am in a busy part of town, I take both ear buds out.  I am a responsible music listening runner.)

13.) I wonder how Koreans celebrate Hangul Day?  {Hangul Day is 10/09.  Hangul is the written Korean language.  It was invented by Sejong the Great in 1443.}

14.) Is that construction worker cheering me on or trying to tell me not to run through the construction?  I am pretty sure he is waving...

15.) Thank you Jesus for allowing me to run, breathe, and do this for Your Glory!

----------------

Persimmon Pudding Cake {adopted from Taste of Home}

Ingredients
     4 eggs
     1 cup milk
     1.75 cups sugar (I could not bring myself to put all 2.25 cups of sugar in)
     splash of vanilla extract (who really ever measures vanilla?)
     4.5 Tblsp butter, softened (mine was more towards melted)
     3 cups flour
     1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
     1 tsp baking soda
     9 or 10 ripe persimmons (you want to end up with 3 cups of persimmon pulp)
     1 cup flaked coconut (thank you HomePlus)
     1 cup (or however much you happen to have on hand) chopped walnuts

Directions:

To prepare persimmon pulp, cut the tops of the persimmons, then cut each persimmon into fourths.  De-seed the persimmon, cut into smaller pieces.  Throw Put the pieces into the blender (or a food processor if you have) Blend until smooth-ish.


In a bowl, beat eggs. Add milk, sugar, and vanilla; mix well. Stir in butter. Combine flour, cinnamon and baking soda; add to milk mixture. Fold in persimmon pulp, coconut and nuts. Pour into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. {I used a 11-in x 8-in baking pan because that is what fits into our oven.  I also baked at a slightly higher temperature for longer than an hour, but whatever flips your pancake.}  Bake at 325° for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.

---------------- 

Ohmigoodness!  I was skeptical about how this would turn out, but it tasted great!  The cake is really moist.  The cocnut, cinnamon, and walnuts help to balance out the persimmon.  My amazing husband thinks that the cake taste similar to carrot cake.  I think it would be amazing if some vanilla ice cream was served along side.

Success - persimmon pudding cake

Monsoon Running

I went for a run on Saturday morning.  It was raining sporks!  About half a mile into the run, I realized that I was already completely soaked.  There are some advantages to running in a monsoon though.  (I ended up running 10 miles, so I made a list in my mind while running).

About 3 seconds after said run (trying to look Bear Grylls-tough)

Pros to running in a Monsoon:

1.  Most people stay inside when it monsoons resulting in a less crowded running path; also resulting in less people staring at me.  
2. Your shoes end up really clean.  The shoes I ran in on Saturday have 500+ miles on them; they do not look it at all {post-monsoon run}.
3. For the most part, the weather is cooler.  Sometimes it is hot and rainy, but it was more like warm and rainy on Saturday.
4. As a result of number 3 and combined with the rain, you feel less sweaty.  I do not like the feel of a completely sweat-soaked shirt.  However, rain-soaked is much better (in my mind at least).
5. You feel like you have endured a "Bear Grylls" experience and become a better person for it (or maybe that is just me).

----------

Sometimes the weekend goes the way I think it will.  Sometimes it does not.  Sometimes I forget that I am a control freak.  Then Saturday does not go at all like I planned it to.  Then I remember quite quickly how much I like to be in control. 

Let’s just fast forward to Sunday :)

Sunday went the way I thought it would.  {I returned to my life of denial that I am control freak.}  The hubs who is amazing took me on a date!  I like going on dates on Sunday.  I like going on dates any day of the week.  For those of you who are not married, hang in there!  Dating gets way better once you get married in my opinion (um duh Alissa, everything on this blog is "in my opinion").  I got ready for the date in about 3 seconds and I spent 0 seconds being nervous or second guessing my attire, hair, awkward moments, weird jokes etc.

We went to a coffee shop called Cafe Blooming.  The coffee mugs said, “coffee is delicious communication” on them.  I agree with the coffee mugs.  Chocolate muffins from Costco are also delicious communication.  Coffee shops dates are so fun (and inexpensive).  We did some journaling, talking, planning {read: for America!}, reflecting, and maybe some teasing too.  If you are married and go on a date, try to think of some good date questions.  It is okay to preference a question with "this is a date question".  "This is a date question" is code for "please do not just say Yes or just say No and please indulge me and tell me what coffee creamer flavor you would be if you were a coffee creamer flavor or whatever other weird hypothetical question I am asking".

Two questions:

1.) What are other pros of running in the rain?


2.) What are some date night questions that you like to ask? 

Random Update

This is a random update on my life.  There will be 0 transitions.  I have been working on it since Tuesday morning.  Here we go:

1.) My amazing husband accompanied me to a concert last, er, Monday night.  It was a concert.  It was in English.  It was great.  Did I tell you that it was a concert in English?  Yes!  Bonus: They said "all ya'll"   Double Bonus: I got to worship God.  I was so happy.  Here is Lori Morrison's website.  And her babysitter, Frankie Barranco.  They came to Korea together.  They were amazing.  Great way to spend Monday night.

2.) Taper week has begun!  I am so happy to not be running 45-50 miles this week!  1 week 5 3 days until the marathon!  Yikes!  I am praying for good weather, I really hope that the wind is not blowing somethin' crazy.

Spring has sprung!

3.) It is spring!  Yeah!  I took some pictures while running yesterday.  It was on my phone, so it might not be the best and I had been running for over an hour at this point, not the best time to snap a photo, but it was so pretty!

4.) I'm getting really excited for biggest loser!  Hahaha, I love that show so much.  There are days that I lift weights solely because of that show.  I can't wait until tonight to watch it!

5.) So maybe there will be one transition in this post speaking of tonight, it is Date Night!  Woohoo!  I know that this may not sound romantic to those of you in America, but if you live in Korea you will definitely understand.  My amazing husband is taking me to Costco.  I am so excited!  I will try to remember to take a picture of the chicken bake.

6.) Here is my current desktop for my computer at school:

Hello spring flowers and blue sky!

I love it.  It says spring to me!  You can get it here if you want it  (click on the link and scroll down)

7.) Do you know what a serving size of almonds is?  23.  23 almonds has become my mid-morning snack at school.  Or if I am not hungry, then I save them for after lunch (kinda like dessert).  I am addicted.  I think almonds + mini chocolate chips + dried cranberries + pecans would be an awesome combo...Whenever I live somewhere where the aforementioned items are not expensive, I will let you know how it tastes.

8.) There was a staff meeting at school yesterday, er, Monday.  The teachers were told to have more children.  I say this to remind myself (someday when I old and retired and do not live in Korea) of what life is like here.  The government sends a note to encourage the teachers to have more kids.  random.  I will not be taking the suggestion.  Well maybe in 5 years.

9.) More pictures captured on the run:

My new favorite color...

Remember the whole I had been running for 60+ minutes

10.) Next blog post title: Never say Never.  It will be riveting, I can tell already.

Challenge #3: Order at a Korean Resturant without a Translator

Today my amazing husband took me on a date!  Can I rant for a moment please?  Why do married people never go on dates?  If you are married, set a "hot date night" part to your budget each month and go on dates!  It is worth every penny you spend (I promise).  Sometimes we go on coffee dates, which I like a lot.  Sometimes we go on dinner dates which I also like a lot.  Sometimes we go on order a pizza and have it delivered dates.  We also go on Take a Walk Dates, where we go for walks and talk (free!).  Do not talk about your children or work or stuff you talk about every day.  Ask introspective questions or talk about hypothetical situations (my personal favorite is what would room is on the fourth floor of your dream house?).  I would love to meet the person who told American culture to stop dating after you get married.  Dating is sooo much fun!  Why should getting married change that?  Do not tell me that you do not have time or money or whatever.  You can make time and you can go on free dates.  Okay I will stop ranting now.  Point of the rant: Go on a date with your spouse!

My amazing husband and I have finely honed our ordering skills when we are not with some one who can speak Korean.  Ready for this?  We point at something on the menu!  If there are pictures, then that is really helpful, if there are not pictures, we are surprised and try to enjoy whatever we get (this did backfire on us once).

The restaurant we went to today was delicious!  I had baked spaghetti and my hubby had pork cutlet (You can order bimimbap or sushi at the restaurant, but 5 months is a long time to go without baked pasta).  We both got a side of kimchi, soup, radish, and a salad (with mystery dressing).  Our meal all together was 14,00 won (so maybe 12.50 US dollars) AND  (this is a  big and) we got FREE dessert!  You have a choice between a scoop of ice cream or a cup of coffee.  We threw the no caffeine thing out the window and my amazing husband got a cup of coffee and I got the ice cream (we shared with each other).  Another great part about the restaurant is that it is about 5 minutes from our apartment!  I was so happy that we tried this restaurant out.  It was a success on all accounts.

Speaking of eating out, we eat with chopsticks here in Korea.  I had eaten with chopsticks once before coming to Korea.  It is really hard to use chopsticks at first, but be persistent.  If I can learn, you can learn.  Fun fact about Korea for the day: You will hear from every Korean that you eat with this dialogue: "Can you eat with chopsticks?"  (If you say no, they will reply) "Learning to use chopsticks will make you smarter."    I think I heard that sentence about 50 times in the first month we were here.  Everyone felt the need to tell me (and my amazing husband too!).  I do agree that different fine motor skills are utilized, but I am not sure that makes you smarter.  By Korean standards, if you are feeling a little on the not so smart side, pick up a pair of chopsticks for your next meal!