Go Canada Go!

This weekend was Olympic weekend for us. On Friday we had an impromptu hockey game party with a few of our friends. It was an exciting game and a good preparation for an even more exciting game today! We were all on the edge of our seats!

Saturday we spent the day cleaning and finally going to pick out our long awaited knife set from Williams Sonoma. Courtesy of my cousin Carol's family, Gerwyn and I have a lovely, shiny and very sharp set of 7 Shun Kaji knives. We are excited to use them!

Today I went to visit Grams and then had a little visit with Charlotte. She was super hilarious. I gave her a card that I found for her from my sister (I think it was a shower card for baby#2 but mom accidentally opened it so I just gave it to Char,) anyway, she says "For me?" looking SO surprised and I say "yes" and then she gets so excited and runs to her mom to show her what she got. Then she put the card back in the envelope and gave it back to me saying "For your birthday komo!". What a clown.

After lunch, I got home just in time to join Melandnorm and Gerwyn for the final US vs Canada hockey game. It was so exciting, what a nailbiter. After every goal every one had to jump up and shout and by the end we were all taking turns pacing to see who would get the game winning goal. Thank goodness Canada won! Mel so kindly brought a deeleecious chocolate chiffon cake which was very light and airy (much like Norm's mom's coffee cake but chocolate) and I made mom's mondoo and kimchi crepes. Later we ordered Thai and watched a bit of the closing ceremonies (yawn) before Mel and Norm had to head home.

Today we also received our house guest for the week, Evelyn's dog Kahlua. She was so excited to be here she spent the evening running around and around and is now tuckered out on my lap. We took her for a quick walk where she got completely drenched and had to give her a bath before bed. With this crazy weather, we'll probably be seeing a lot of that bathtub.

Snappy Snapper

As per my previous post, tonight I got to enjoy the culinary expertise of my husband who made Ginger and green onion Red Snapper. Although the photo doesn't look too pleasant (it fell apart upon transfer to the plate,) it was quite deeleecious! I love when I don't have to cook. And I'm not a big "fish" person so it is rare when I will actually cook it. Gerwyn scaled it, stuffed it with green onions, ginger and parsley and then made a marinade of sesame and soy to put on top. After my visit with friends I was pooped so I took a nap and got to wake up to dinner on the table! Woo hoo!

With my mom's spicy cucumber that I finally managed to make on my own, it was a perfect dinner. Now we are about to sit down to Olympics and half price Valentine's chocolate. We did our annual trip to the store to take advantage of the sale. That is definitely one plus about Valentine's Day. We each got to pick our desired item (one box of chocolate each,) and will now sit down to enjoy it. Thanks Gerwyn for dinner and thanks to whoever invented chocolate for dessert! YUM

Meeting Baby Camilla

Today we met some of my university friends to visit with their new daughter, Camilla Chiu. Ken and I also worked together at Loblaws (he got me the job actually,) and was a source of constant entertainment as we sat next to each other. Every day, we would come up with dares, games, and just hilarious antics to make the work day more enjoyable. (A few memorable incidents: Ken plastic wrapped my entire cubicle and all items on my desk with PC Plastic Wrap, I had to cut through it to get in. Ken losing a bet and having to wear my brother's blue velvet bowtie all day at work even though he had multiple meetings that day. Me losing a bet and having to wear yellow rubber gloves (PC of course) and adult diapers (over my pants,) at work all day. They were fun times!

Luckily since school, we've managed to all keep in touch and so its great to get together to enjoy milestones such as these. Camilla was adorable and very quiet all day no matter who held her (I will admit, I pretty much hogged her the entire afternoon. She smelled sooooo gooood.) She liked to nestle in my ample bosoms and fall asleep. After an afternoon of chatting, watching Olympics and pizza, we all headed home and tonight I got to enjoy Gerwyn's turn to cook dinner. On the menu, baked red snapper. Next post....

Carol's birthday!

On Thursday we celebrated my cousin Carol's 40th birthday. Unfortunately we were a little late in the celebration but we didn't want to let the big milestone pass without acknowledgement. So some cousins gathered at Mark and Meredith's house for dinner and of course, dessert! It wasn't the same without Carol's deelightful conconctions but we managed to do pretty good with the So Good cake from my cousin Hanna (which lived up to its name,) and my brownies from a box. Mark and Mer also made deeleecious slow cooked pulled pork sandwiches. YUM!

After dinner we presented Carol with her birthday gift, a Tiffany's signiture Charm Bracelet. You only turn 40 once and we wanted to get something special for the cousin who always makes our occassions special with her thoughfulness, creativity and baked goods! Plus, now we have great gift ideas for years to come.

Happy Belated Birthday Carol, hope it was a good one!

The verdict is in...

As I sat in my kitchen on Saturday, my entire body smelling of garlic while in my apron and slippers, I decided that I had finally made the transition to the good Korean wife. The kalbi was cooked, the "pan-chan" was on the table and everything tasted... good!

On Sunday we went to my aunt's house to celebrate Korean New Year's. I had arrived early in the morning to visit with grams and also help my aunt with the cooking since everyone was coming for lunch. It was actually quite funny. My mom gave me an apron (a first,) and she actually LET ME cook! Every single time I've ever "cooked" with her, its involved me stirring for 2 seconds until she would come over to take the spoon from me because I was "doing it wrong". Then I would spend the rest of the time watching her do everything while being lectured. This time was interestingly very different. She left me to my stirfrying, and only took over once! I was shocked. We made "chap-chae" and I watched my aunt make "duk-kuk" the traditional new year's soup made with rice cakes.

After 2 full hours of cooking, again I found myself stinking of garlic but it was all made worth it when lunch was over and it was time to do the dishes and my aunt yelled "All the single girls have to clean up". Woo hoo! I've finally managed to get out of cleaning. It only took 35 years, but man, it was worth it!!

Just like mom

While on vacation, I will admit, there was one thing I missed very much. Being surrounded by the same food all week, I seriously craved some good ol' home cooking, my mom's Korean food. While sitting on the beach or even during my dreams, I would imagine all of her deeleecious dishes, the Korean ribs, the kimchi, and many many more. I realized though, that as much as I craved it, I wouldn't actually be able to reproduce any of these dishes once I got home. This has been a sinking feeling of mine for awhile now, but it really hit me while I was on vacation. Once my mom is gone, I will never have access to her cooking again. So now that I'm back, I've decided to make it a priority to learn some of her dishes.

I got started right away with a visit to the Korean supermarket. I picked up some kalbi, black bean paste, and soy bean sprouts. After a few phone calls to my mom, I managed to make two dishes: "kong-na-mul" (seasoned soy bean sprouts) and kalbi. Both are sitting in my fridge right now and I'll post pics tomorrow once I determine the result. So far, I got a thumbs up on my sprouts from Gerwyn. These are probably the two easiest dishes to make but baby steps right? Tomorrow I will attempt spicy marinated cucumber ("oy-gee") and seasoned spinach.

Back from Jamaica MON!

We're back, the honeymoon is officially over. Jamaica was beautiful and we both agree, the most relaxing vacation ever. Each day consisted of sleeping in, having breakfast, and then heading to the beach for a few hours of sunning, followed by lunch, then a nap, then dinner and then movies back in the hotel room. We caught up on sleep, I caught up on reading (finished 2 books,) and we vegged our hearts out. Halfway through our vegg-fest, we met our friends Mel and Norm during their pitstop to Jamaica while on their cruise. We took a day trip to Dunns River Falls and toured the small shopping area of Ochos Rios. It was great to see them and a perfect interlude during our resort stay. (I think I may have gotten a little stir-crazy otherwise.) After spending the day together, we resumed our usual routine back at the resort, and ended up with pretty good tans. (Only sunburned on my feet, the one spot I forgot to apply sunscreen.)

Its amazing to be surrounded by snow and minus 20 degree weather one moment, and 3 hours later, you get off the plane and you're surrounded by crystal blue water and beautiful sun. It was just what the doctor ordered. Now we're well rested and ready to get back to the daily grind. Well, not really, but after a week of gluttony, we deserve to go back to work.