Things I am Lovin' {and not so much}

Waaaa!  I have not blogged in awhile.  Sorry about that.  We are doing great!  Ian is rocking out his classes. I have learned about 10 Greek words from him so far.  And by learn I mean I can say the words, I can't read Greek.

Moving on...

Here is a list of things I am loving these days:
1.) Coffee Creamer - In Korea, I drank about one cup of black coffee a day.  Now we live in America and we have access to liquid coffee creamer.  It is addicting!  I easily drink three cups (American-sized) cups of coffee a day now.

2.) Speaking of which - DECAF COFFEE - waaaaaaaaaaaa!  It is so nice to be able to go out to coffee after 8am :-)  I know some of ya'll think decaf is gross.  I feel deep sorrow in my heart for you.

3.)

This is a picture taken out of our bedroom window on Ian's phone (and I did not edit it).  Ya'll should come visit us so you can see it in person!

4.) Thrift stores!  Yay!  I am so happy to be able to shop at thrift stores again!  And clothes in America fit me!  Double Yay!  We have donated quite a bit to the local Goodwill (for some reason, we had 5 potato peelers and 4 ice cream scoops...).  And we have done some shopping. Ian got a pair of shoes for $3.50 US Dollars (that is like 4,000 won!)  And they are nice.  I got a pair of jeans for 5 dollars!  I love thrift shopping!

5.) Speaking of which, if I can't find clothes that I want at thrift stores, I can order clothes on-line.  And they come to our apartment.  In less than a week.  And if they don't fit, I can return them to a store. (happy sigh) Life is so convenient in America.

6.) If you are in Korea, you may want to skip to number 7.  You have been warned.  FOOD!!!!!!!!!  I love American grocery stores.  We have made meatballs (twice), meatloaf, lasagna, Mexican Chicken something in the crockpot (with BROWN rice - Hallelujah), homemade salsa, homemade granola.  I have not really cried too much with our transition from Korea to America, but when I get in American grocery stores, I tend to get emotional - I am not really sure why, but God is good.  If you live in America, you are blessed.  American grocery stores are overwhelming.

7.) Kakao Talk!  I have a smart phone now!  And I have Kakao Talk!  Kakao allows me to text (and potentially call) my friends in Korea for FREE.  Granted, my friends in Korea are texting me in the middle of the night and I am replying in the middle of their night, but we can talk to each other and share pictures.  AND they have about a bajillon emoticon- that are so Korean.  (Friends in Korea: my Kakao ID is ianda0605).

And the {short} list of things I am not lovin' so much:
What is the deal with the weird code thing on the top of my blog?  Can you see it?  I am not sure how it go there or how to get rid of it.

Life is expensive, especially in America!  It makes me feel like a grown-up when Ian and I discuss money in thousands of dollars (that is millions of won).  But at the same time, God is so faithful and He provides for our every need, every day....and our wants too. (Thanks God!  You rock!)

God is good.  Life is good.  What are you lovin' in life right now?

Moving onto Apples

Well I started with a pumpkin, then I got a bajillon (that is 12) persimmons, and now I have moved on!

I may or may not have bought 10 kg of apples this week.  Yes folks, I am the proud owner of 22 pounds of apple deliciousness!  {Hi, I'm Alissa and I can not stop myself from buying things in bulk.}

I have plans, big plans.  (Keep in mind that I live about 7000 miles away from ya'll so my big plans are probably not as exciting as your big plans.  hahahaha)

So far I have made some apples in the microwave and applesauce in our crockpot (basically this recipe but a little different).  I have learned that my amazing husband likes his applesauce without the peels.  But he is amazing so he still eats it and smiles.  I am going to crank out as much applesauce as possible this weekend (hopefully three or four batches?)  Yes, one of them will be without peels.  I feel like I am a little squirrel or something, trying to fill up the freezer for a long winter when apple prices are outrageous and pumpkins are nonexistent.

I also want to try to make some applesauce bread, apple nachos, (switching the caramel for pb; caramel does not live in the land of morning calm.  shout out to my Illinois sister!  She posted apple nachos on pinterest and I can not get the off my mind - thanks sister!) apple granola, apple oatmeal, apple fritter bread, and maybe some pancakes.  I will definitely update you as to what turns out great and what needs potential improvement!

I also want to make an apple coffee something...apple pie mocha?  If you have any inspirations, let me know!

Fun fact: Different towns in Korea are known for something.  Jeonju is known for it's bimibap.  Daegu is known for it's beautiful girls and apples.  So I guess my 22 lbs of apples are the best apples Korea has to offer.

What is your favorite apple recipe?

*p.s. Sorry that I do not have any pictures for this blog post.  I always like to look at pictures when I read blog posts.  I promise I will take some pictures of Apple Craziness Weekend that is about to ensue.

From Scratch Cooking

My amazing husband and I have been making some foods from scratch this past week!  Some of our cooking adventures have turned out great and some have just been okay. 

Panera's Broccoli and Cheese Soup
Oh man!  I love Panera!  It was one of the first places on my list to visit while were in America on vacation this summer.  The soup turned out great!   I would give it a 8 out of 10 stars and it will be made again (especially this winter).

Cinnamon Rolls
My amazing husband made two batches of these delicious cinnamon rolls!  Thanks Paula Deen.

Hashbrowns
We made a breakfast casserole in our new crockpot (!!).  It called for hashbrowns.  So we made our own.  They did not turn out quite like American hasbrowns, but they still tasted good in the casserole.  The casserole turned out okay.  I am not sure if we will make it again or not.

Coffee Creamer
I LOVE liquid coffee creamer.  LOVE it.  I may or may not have splashed some into my oatmeal while I was in college.  Korea does not have coffee creamer.  So I made my own.  The recipe calls for whole milk (uh, I live in Korea so I used regular milk - I think it is 2% maybe) and heavy cream (uh, I live in the land of no dairy products - so I used regular whipping cream).  It turned out great!  I'm excited to try different flavors! 


Up next: my journey with a pumpkin - from buying it on a street corner to transforming it into some beautiful (and delicious!)

Housewarming

Since we moved into a new apartment, our coworkers have been eager to see it.  So we had a housewarming party today.  They requested that "authentic American" sandwiches be served.  We had chicken with mustard, mayo, lettuce, tomato, and cheese served with chips.  I whipped up some of the easiest tomato soup ever to serve with our grilled ham and cheese. We were worried that it might not be enough, so we also had some bulgogi pizza (kinda like sausage) and some sweet potato, pineapple, ham pizza (Hawaii meets Central America?).  I am not sure if we will ever have this as a menu for a party in America, but when in Korea, do as the Koreans ask of you.  (I almost forgot this part: for beverages we had 2 liters of water, 2 liters of coke, and a full coffee pot (10 cups maybe).  After the 20 people came, ate, and drank, we had lots of left overs!  I feel like 4 or 5 people can take care of a 2 liter in America.)

Today was a school Saturday (meaning that everyone has to go to school from 8:30 - 12:30, everyone except the foreigner that is).  Then our co-teachers and co-workers all caravaned to our new apartment.  My amazing husband and I spent the morning preparing food, cleaning, running last minute errands etc.  I did a super quick sweep of the floor right before they started arriving, I am so glad that I did :)

Time out for a Korean culture lesson:  In Korea, there are no little clusters of people chit chatting it up at social gatherings.  There are no people standing up or sitting on a few chairs.  When Koreans go to a social gathering, it usually ends up with everyone sitting on the floor in a big circle (if there are enough chairs then we sit in chairs).

So all 20 of us sat on the floor in a circle.  Forgetting that we were in Korea, we had set up a buffet line with plates, sandwiches, chips, pizza, drinks etc.  When we said, "let's eat" the Koreans stood up, took everything off the table, put it in the middle of the circle and started eating.

I did not have a chance to take many pictures, but here are two for you.

All 20 of them wanted to sit in the same room

so it was a bit crowded

After we finished eating, our coworkers asked us to sing a song (??). I guess there is a housewarming song to sing in Korea.  So they sang it to us.  Then they all got up and left (at the same time).

Since I forgot to take pictures during the festivities, I will leave you with these pictures (things we got as housewarming gifts):

Korean Grapes.  They are huge.  I could say a lot about grapes in Korea.  I will refrain:

We got a grow your own tomato plant from Nikki.  I guess you just add water and it grows.

Maybe we will have tomatoes to eat this winter?  

This is the typical housewarming gift in Korea. We now have over 45 rolls of TP, if you live in Korea and need some TP, let us know.

A kleenex box cover from the Kim/Cho family.  How sweet are they?  Mr. Kim's wife hand made it for us.

She used hanji (Korean traditional paper) to make this

A stand up full length mirror!   We have been wanting to get one for quite a while.  Woohoo!

And we got this super cute rug from the Waygooken Housewife.  She did not come to the party, but it was still a housewarming gift.  I love the colors - exactly what I would have picked!

She made this for us.  How sweet is that?

This has nothing to do with the rest of the post, BUT while at Costco this past week, we somewhat impulsively bought a crock pot!  YEAH!!!!!  So please, start sharing your favorite crock pot recipes :)

March 14: White Day

Today was White Day here in South Korea.  There are a series of "days"

Feb 14: Valentine's Day: the girl buys the guy chocolate.
March 14: White Day - the guy buys the girl candy  (who came up with the idea that women want candy more than chocolate?  NOT this girl, that is fo' sure)
April 14: Black Day - the single people eat jajangmyeon

My Amazing Husband was not fooled by the adorable candy jars everywhere.  He bought me some Tolberone Chocolate.  Way to go Amazing Husband.  Sadly Pi Day is not celebrated here :(  Pi Day is March 14th too.  I miss pi and pie.  Oh well.  I celebrated White Day by running on the dreadmill for awhile.  I have composed a blog post titled "what to do when you are running on a Korean dreadmill and you get bored" about 200 times in my head.  But I have never written it.  Maybe some day I will.  Instead today I am going to tell you about is a very special day for runners

The day after laundry day!

Honestly, I rarely wear all clean good-smelling running clothes.  There is usually at least one piece of clothing that is on the second or third time of being worn.  I get really excited about wearing a complete outfit of freshly laundered running clothes.

Herbie when I found him

In other excitement in my life, we have added a few new friends to our apartment.  Let me tell you the whole story.  So the other day I was cleaning Zappy (our microwave) and he whispered to me, "I am lonely.  I wish I had a friend."  I said, "How did you get so dirty?"  (Conclusion: the people that previous had Zappy never cleaned him ever). (Addition: I think it makes cleaning much more fun if you talk to the appliances while you are cleaning them.  Especially when the appliance are grateful for all you do for them.)

Herbie's new happy pot

Zappy's wish came true.  Please meet Herbie.  I am not sure why his name is Herbie.  It just is.  Herbie came to us in a little black pot.  So I transplanted him to a bigger happier pot.  It is blue.  Now Zappy is not lonely and Herbie has a new home.  I hope that Herbie can flourish and Zappy will someday be clean.   Do you like my story?  Do I spend too much time with children?

I will leave you with my favorite Pi Day joke...What do you call March 15th?  The aftermath (you smiled didn't you?)

Herbie, Zappy, and another plant that my Amazing Husband purchased and transplanted

New Additions :)

It is a new year and we have added some new members to our family:
Heidi is our new humidifier.  She is a cute little thing.  She is also very thirsty.  Maybe that is because she is such a hard worker.   Hopefully Heidi will help alleviate us from waking up with sore throats.

Isn't she cute?

We have also purchased a really relaxing chair to sit in!  We do not have any comfy chairs in our apartment so we were really excited about getting something comfy to sit in.  We bought some shelves at the same time as the chair because our first bookshelf is now overflowing with books.
 

Our chair is black instead of yellow and came with a foot rest thingy

I think getting the shelves and chair back to our apartment from Emart will be a memory that I have for a long time.  We had basically two options.  1.) Get a taxi  or 2.) Take the subway.  If we were in America we probably would have gone for the taxi option, but we are in Korea and taxi drivers do not understand us very well :)  So we took the subway, which meant we had to walk to the subway from Emart.  My amazing husband decided to carry the chair box on his head for awhile.  We have grown semi-accustomed to people staring at us whenever we are public....but I am pretty sure people stopped walking to stare at us while we were walking to the subway.  I was laughing hysterically while I followed him :)

It was one of the few times that assembly was actually easy and not too time consuming.  My amazing husband is an amazing direction-picture follower.  He did a much better job than I do when I am trying to self assemble. I just handed him stuff


 We also bought some socks.  They are sooo Korean.  My amazing husband's socks have a boy on them.  He is calling a girl (the girl is on my socks) by one of those tin can string phones.  Sooo Korean.  Koreans LOVE cute.  Our brains have been fried by cuteness since moving here. There are also T-shirts similar to this that couples wear.

I will have to try to get a better pic of them

Well guess that is all....my new year's resolution is to run a marathon!