Monday, June 3, 2013

Bingsu is B-A-C-K

What is bingsu you ask?

Only this glorious-ness.

Back one is mango (or as Koreans pronounce it 'MAH-N-GOH") coconut.  Front one is a delicious berry bingsu chalk FULL of beans.  Yes, beans.  No, it doesn't make sense.  And nope, no earthly idea why they do that.  What's even weirder?  The cookies & cream bingsu that has even MORE beans in it..with a unusually large dollop of whipped cream.  I tolerate the beans in the berry one just because it is THAT amazing.  After all it has to have some protein value, right?  How awesome would these sell in Florida though?  I'm feeling a business starting?  (Minus the beans..you'd totally go out of business :P  )  Could you imagine a store sign... "BEANS n' ICE".  Ew.



Passing these lovely little "markets" on the way to dinner..still can't bring myself to buy these goodies.  I know everything can be washed...I just...well..I've just seen them POOP in peoples farms.  That's a whole other story.  Ah, what the heck.  So, you probably read that and possibly spit up a bit or perhaps even lost an appetite.  I only wish I could read this and not witness it with my own eyes and from the comfort of my very.own.front.yard.  Oh, it's true.  In fact, it's more common than ever should be in one human's lifetime.  Probably last year sometime, a couple was walking down the little alley way (separating my house and a tree farm).  I guess they really take the whole expression literally "When you gotta go, you gotta go".  And...they did.  Both the husband AND wife popped a squat, using the light pole as a balance.  Now clearly, we didn't watch it but..it was so obvious.  I mean, really people of Korea?  And let's not forget how many countless times we've seen men just go right on ahead all over the place..especially on peoples FARMS.  So..forgive me poor old ladies, I just don't know all what's going in or ON your stuff :P


On to something a little lighter on the stomach & even brain from filtering all of that VALUABLE information. ;)  This dish is called Dak-gal-bi.  I actually cooked a version of this in my cooking class I did last year.  This was a bit different than mine and sooo much better.  Why?  Because I didn't have to make it!  There were a good variation of side dishes like spicy sprouts, ridiculously spicy onions, leafs (I know, I know, woo hoooo leafs...) quail eggs (the Easter-eggish things) and so on.  The taste was excellent.  Just enough spicy to sweet ratio.  Inside is cabbage, onions, sweet potatoes, and little rice cakes (that resemble tasteless marshmallows...which I find slightly disturbing).  I went with the bank members & it was another nice experience, one I'd never have the opportunity to do simply because this restaurant was similar to finding a needle in like 57 haystacks.  But now I know and I shall return!




 Heatin' on up!



The head boss of Korea, (she's American-praise Jesus), invited us over for a casual Memorial Day dinner.  She has been such a blessing to know throughout my time here.  You have no idea how much of a relief it is to see an American face and one that is so sweet and understanding (and can relate to) of the many challenges of both living and working here.  She is the DEFINITION of a world traveler, running all the banks in the UK prior to running them all in Korea.  SUPER woman & I'll be sad to part ways.  She's a fan of Mike, too :).



My little pipsqueak enjoying this dew-y grass in the mountains.  


My big pipsqueak enjoying his newfound hobby...rolling in the dew-y grass in the mountains.  Or any grass for that matter EXCEPT the grass in our own yard.  Clearly..it's not "the same".  



Somehow, I convinced Mike to walk the dogs with me to the local traveling market they put on every Wednesday in the apartment complex nearby our house.  We've never gone and I was curious to see what exactly they sold.  It was a total ripoff but if you're not in the mood to cook it is the perfect place to get some good munch-y type of Korean homemade food!



Because without that white chef hat...it so would not be official outdoor market, ghetto set-up, high-class eating.  The sign says one chicken on a stick (our translation and no..it's not anything other than chicken, seriously) is around $2.80.  Believe it or not..you can get that for $ .90 nearby so while that is cheap, it's rather pricey for what it is.  I'd totally buy it though!



WOOP.  Check out that fine piece of acid denim.  Bet you wish you never threw yours out?  No.  Be glad you did.  They're pretty big here but woo wee..still hideous.




So pawpaw (Mike's new name-totally kidding) turned the big 2-5 last Friday.  You know why he's excited?  Lower car insurance.  Which, actually doesn't even apply to us considering we'll pay like $400 a MONTH in Germany to ensure us.  Don't even ask.  Something to do with German laws, coverage, Euro, the whole nine.  

It was a fun day.  Coincidentally, the guys had a big battalion organization-type day where they focused on team building.  Basically...a fancy way to say they played sports all day.  I woke up early and set up the house with balloons.  I made him the UGLIEST cake the night before..seriously so....ugly....which, I'm sad about because my days at Ms. Fields cookies were obviously a total waste :D.  




I'm sorry, it wouldn't let me rotate the picture on here.  Honestly, you don't even really have to.  There is this store here that every American mispronounces (I did, too, before getting hired at the bank and was corrected a number of times) called Da-ee-aa-so.  Anyways, kind of like a dollar tree.  CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE THESE suction cup hangars?  So much hilarious-ness and all for only $0.90.  Thanks for the laugh Ko-Ko.



There are no words.....................

 
Me and the BiRtHdAy BoY!!!! (can't you tell I'm working? Shhh.)



So, 2 funny stories before I sign out.  

1)  Let's just say..someone in the office...for the sake of someone somehow getting a hold of this, bless his/her soul, needs to be medicated for bi-polar.  I mean, I'm no doctor...but in this case they don't need one it is OBVIOUS.  I'm laughing out loud right now...
So, a friend of mine, they were customers, left a while back.  They were expecting their first child when they left and she was going to deliver stateside like 5 or so months later.  I showed them an updated picture of their new addition as well as the husband & wife.  Here's the conversation:

Me:  Hey, wanted to show you their family picture.  Don't they look great!

Them:  (Smiles)  Oh...mmhmmmm.

Me:  What?

Them:  Her face got the more bigger.

Me:  What does that even mean?

Them:  After delivering da baby, woman's face always gets more bigger.

Me:  Well, then why hasn't Michelle Duggar's head exPLODED?

And...that was pretty much the end of that one.  WHERE DO THEY GET THIS STUFF?  Someone please tell me.


Story 2:

One of the students I tutor, loves seafood..and when I say "loves", I literally mean he'd probably be reincarnated as a tuna fish.  So today, he shows up with a Korean bag of what I assume were chips.  WRONG.  Wrong a million times.  At first, I didn't even ask him what is was, mainly because I have no interest in eating it, ha!  Well, later on I saw a little shrimp on the bag and here's our conversation:

Me:  Ew!  Are those shrimp flavored chips?

Him:  No taste da shrimp..REAL.
Instead of saying "seriously" or "really"  he just says REAL-so bold and so sure of it HAH!

Me:  Thanks for the offer but I'm good.

SERIOUSLY not even 5 minutes later I was practically dry heaving from the smell coming out of his mouth.  It literally smelt like an abandoned fish market.  I'm surprised I can even put words to it but that's the first thing that came to mind.  Honestly.  "No taste da shrimp".  What a LIAR, he totally was setting me up.  The pieces even came with little indentations on them like shrimp have.  Cute?  Whatever you say.




Well, time to JeT!  
sleep-time almost.


Love to ALL
<3

M & B

1 comment:

  1. OH.MY.GOSH!!! I am laughing so hard!!!!! You've got the Korean lingo down!!! I think it's time for you to jet set to Germany. :)

    Love you, honey! You da best! :)

    ReplyDelete