Birthday, ect....

This weekend we visited the "Mushroom Restaurant" again. it's a little restaurant that is actually shaped like a mushroom and specializes in Korean Pancakes and other amazing dishes. It's our fav place to eat out so far by a landslide!

The place has great atmosphere and a stove where they roast their own sweet potatoes. They give them to you as a dessert or as an app. Just hot potatoes on a plate, with no presentation, garnishes or toppings. Makes you appreciate good whole foods though. Their Korean pancake is AMAZING! I could eat tons of it. We tried the onion seafood earlier in the week so this time we tried the potato. It was great.

Of course they give you rice and a million sides. Sasha is STILL trying to master eating rice with chopsticks. Keep trying kiddo, you'll get there...

Teddy on the other hand has a new passion for all things seaweed. He eats it by the sheet and just thinks it's great. FREAK! Jeff just bought him some at the grocery store and now he is a happy camper.

 

Here's me and my boy:

 

Sunday the 7th was my Birthday ans we went on our second Hash. This one was up in the mountains around to the South and as always to get into the hills you have to walk past all these little garden plots and homemade greenhouses. There is usually about half a mile where you are walking past these things. I am still not sure if they are owned by anyone or just "claimed".

 

On this Hash Sasha had her buddy Lorena to hike with and Teddy had his buddy Thomas so they were both really happy campers.

 

All through the hills around here there are little grave sites and monuments. I guess up until recently this was the way people were buried. You found an awesome place up in the hills and put Grandpa to rest. Of course now that the population is much larger. They lean towards creamation unless you are super-important (like me) and then you still get a great spot. Even the old ones are meticulously maintained as much of Korea is Buddist and holds ancestors in high regard.

 

After the Hash we had soup at the clubhouse and then went back to the apartment where Jeff and the kids had an ice cream cake waiting for me.

 

They had some nice gifts for me including this lovely item:

 

This is how it all went down. Lunar New Year's was coming up (HUGE deal here) and the stores are all filled with gift boxes because you are supposed to give presents to like everyone you have ever met. Jeff: "Dude, there is a gift box for SPAM! I am definitely buying that for someone"

Me: "Well don't buy it for me...."

But then I had the next birthday see. Actually I took it better than either of the kids would have - getting a box of SPAM for a birthday present that is.

Here is what it says on the box:

"FOR YOUR SMILE:

SPAM!

SPAM contributes to your enjoyable moments through it's distinct taste and quality"

So there you go.

Even though he gave me the SPAM, I still made a bunch of pretzels for Jeff to take to work since he has gotten so many treats from the Koreans and wanted to bring something in. To make life easier I invited a friend for Teddy to play with thinking they would just go play and I could get jiggy with the pretzels. Yeah. HUGE mistake. That may have worked when Sasha was three, but it sure didn't work with Teddy and his buddy. By the end of the day I was ready to drop them both off at the Ulsan Orphanage.  5 hours It took me to make those damn things. Jeff said the Koreans loved them, but I'm thinking they probably just did what we do and acted like they were good and then went off muttering "what the hell WAS that, you call that food?" so we'll never know...

We also had a great playdate this week with Ingrid, Øyvind, and Naomi. The kids put on a runway fashion show for me and then posed for this group shot.

Next time I will tell you all about our ski trip and I also have another Korean Observations entry stewing away in the dark recesses of my mind. Stay tuned!