A Birthday and a Bazaar

Yesterday was quite a busy day, probably my busiest in the last two and a half months. Let me give you the run down:

9:30 am - SIWA International and Diplomatic Bazaar
10:30 am - 12:00 pm - Check out the bazaar and partake in any shopping necessary to benefit charity
12:30 pm - 2:30 -  Surprise birthday party for Priscilla at Shing's apartment back in Hannam
7:00 pm - 11:00 pm - Girls night

This is A LOT of socializing and activity for one day, that is actually just as exhausting as working. Believe me.

SIWA

SIWA is the Seoul International Women's Association. It was created in 1962 as a group of women from different nationalities including Koreans in order to enhance the expatriate life in Korea as well as to support those in need in this country. Very rapidly this initial small group of women grew in popularity and over the years membership rose continuously to a peak of 1 000 women from 80 different countries. Different activities take place in order to serve the various interests of the members. The regular SIWA meeting is the monthly coffee morning where members get together to share friendship and enjoy presentations on different topics. The Newcomers' meetings allow new people to Korea to meet with long time residents and gain some knowledge about their new life and country. As a way to enhance the expatriate life in Korea SIWA also extends to its members the opportunity to experience new skills and activities realted to discovering Korea. The Enrichment classes offer a wide range of activities from handicrafts, to cooking to cultural sessions about our host country. The SIWA Tours & Events committee also helps its members discover Korea by organizing tours to museums, art galleries, markets, festivals and other places of interest in and out of Seoul.

The annual SIWA and Diplomatic Community Bazaar have been held by SIWA since 1978. These popular events have become recognized as one of the leading opportunities in Korea for the community to work together to support a wide range of South Korean Charities. The diplomatic and business communities as well as the Korean Government come together with SIWA to raise much needed money for these charities and over 50 Embassies, women's clubs, charity groups, and vendors participate in the bazaar, selling goods from around the world. 

Heather and I had a good time perusing the booths that offered everything from traditional Christmas crafts, to ethnic foods, to home decorative goods; things native to the country that you can't find here. As usual, I had no cash for a cash only bazaar, so I collected business cards instead in order to visit the actual shops the booths were representing. There was quite a scene around The Netherlands booth due to the selling of authentic Dutch goodies....along with one of my favorite cookies in the world "Stroopwafles". So I scrounged around my wallet for $5 was able to get a bag. It was ironic because RCP was just in Amsterdam, yet here I am in Korea buying them.

 Everyone loves the Dutch!

This is a Stroopwafel. 

They're have the thinnest, creamiest layer of caramel between the two waffles.

And these were real Dutch imports, from the supermarket chain

Albert Heijns that I've actually been too. Amazing to have them in Korea.

New Zealand wool ornaments!

This is a booth for the boys where expert negotiation skills are required.

The "Oriental Mood" booth was getting quite the action too with their ceramic candles.

Heather partook in the frenzy.

After the bazaar it was time to party....

Since Priscilla's fiance Ben was traveling this week, Shing planned  a surprise birthday party for her since Ben wasn't here to celebrate with her. Shing lovingly cooked everything and we brought the birthday banner. Priscilla was completely surprised and it was a great afternoon of champagne, finger foods, sushi and delicious cake.

Later that evening Heather came over with a homeade apple pie, I made chicken tortilla soup and we talked for four hours. It was a nice girls night....and she showed me how to used my Korean oven.

Heather and Sindu

Surprise! Happy Birthday Priscilla!

Capucine, Juliana and Irene

The Pixelation Creation

Approximately one month, 17 hours, three movies and 109 songs later we now have one piece of art for the apartment! White walls, beware! You are about to be decorated! I have finally finished  a giant collage made entirely of tiny 1 inch by .5 inch rectangles of magazine ad pages. Why I chose this rather small medium to work with, I'm not quite sure. Tiny pieces of paper and glue sticks can quickly become a very frustrating situation. I don't recommend it for those with little patience, which normally includes myself, but with the successful completion of this project perhaps I'm learning to tame the usual intolerance for time-consuming, monotonous work.

I don't think I've worked with such diligence on an art project since being in AP Art my senior year in high school when I usually waited until the night before something was due to start churning things out. I always used to say that my best ideas came at the last minute, late at night. I still believe that. This was also the first time since high school that I have had a dining room table to make a complete mess at...and a place to leave it for extended periods of time. However, I have to admit that the reason the project took so long to finish was a short stint of artist's block. So I just put the whole project under the bed for most of last month. Sometimes even good things need to marinate a little to become even better.

The piece is entitled "Pixelation". You don't have to like it. It kind of has an old video game vibe to it and it's very colorful....which isn't everyone's cup of tea. I have my own interpretation of what it means, but I'll let you come up with your own.  I was a marketing major and in retail, so I'm really good at creating a story out of nothing and selling things to people. You should create your own story behind the pixels. That's what art's all about anyway.

 

"Pixelation"

Detail Shots

 

A Work in Progress

w

Always work through dinner when you're on a roll.

Okay, it's Time....

Classic Yuletide circa 1994

Welcome back to my to my ipod Mariah, Michael Bolton, Chuck Berry, Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby and the Eagles! Oh, how I've missed you all and all of your carols!

....44 Days 'til Christmas.
....36 Days 'til we arrive in Texas for Christmas.

Yes, I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet...doesn't change the fact that it's still only 44 days away...and Mariah will be played everyday until then.

Ladies Who Lunch

Yesterday my friend Heather and I decided to have a very "grown-up" day:  Lunch and antiquing in Itaewon. My exact words were, "I think my Mom will be proud." Heather's from Connecticut and went to school in Vermont so she's experienced her fair share of antique shops in New England and I've got the famous Round Top Antique Weekend back home, so between the two of us we were well qualified to go antiquing.

Before heading for Thai food, we made a very exciting discovery: Framing here is very affordable!  As everyone knows, to get a picture professionally framed back home can cost a small fortune. Heather had a giant leaf (like think 8 maple leafs put together) that she wanted put between glass and framed, so we went to a frame shop in Itaewon and not only did they speak great English and sell already framed art, he only charged her $35....after having a nice chuckle because we walked in with a leaf literally picked up off the sidewalk. Oh those silly American's.

So after Thai food and some nice conversation we headed to the street of antiques and just like that we could have been in any small town in America, any old town in the English countryside, or any back alley in Paris. These were antiques for the expats. With names like "Brittanica", "Vivaldi", "The London House", "Maison", "Queen's Antiques", and my favorite "Francois Fred Antiques" they have certainly figured out the business of collecting and selling antiques as it's done in the Western Hemisphere. These were not shops of junk. Each shop's collection had been carefully curated and  purposefully (or purposely not) merchandised. A few were set up to resemble home decor shops, our favorite boasting a country french aesthetic complete with the scent of freesia and French melodies playing in the background. Other shops not only smelled like old houses, they simply found it best to pack as much as they could into the space, leaving it to the customer to uncover their own treasure. Some collecting trends I noticed were gorgeous copper tea kettles, quirky non-traditional seating like church pews and train station benches, and old bottles for medicine and milk; basically all the things Grandmother, Grandma and Mom have ever collected. There were lots of fun things in the mix too: beautiful old footballs, old metal soldier hats, old luggage, and old rocking horses; and I found too many secretary desks and wooden school desks to count that I could have easily bargained for. I really fell in love with an old copper fire extinguisher (just like Grandmother's), a giant rectangular metal sign for the sparkling beverage Perrier, multiple giant metal clocks worthy of an Anthropologie Home inventory, and all the bottles. I think I've picked up Mom's love for old bottles. But the real treasure? Two giant metal horse busts that were sitting atop a bar. If I leave Korea in two years with anything, it will be these two heads.

We could be on the Upper East Side of NYC right now.

The names were fantastic and fit the part.

 There was a "King's", "Queen's" and "Prince" Antiques.
Old things sound fancier when associated with royalty.

 Francois Fred, Korea....teehehe.

I don't know why I find old luggage so appealing and in some cases incredibly chic.

Can you imagine a stack of black rolling Samonsite's in 50 years?
I don't think so. (Gross.)

Love the bike.

This is where my copper fire extinguisher lives, along with many fantastic

old chairs.

This is Zest, the fabulous rustic yet modern, "Country French" themed shop.

Gulliver's...what a wonderful name.

This could totally be New England.

 So great. 

Hey Dad, you want me to pick this up for you so you can join the bike group?

I guess Barbie from my generation is now considered an antique. 

This place looks promising! Multiple stories of piles!

Yes, lot's of piles of really cool things.

Are we in the prop closet at Anthroplogie?

Is it weird that I really like the antique suede pommel horse in the background?

 Where did all these German tins and coffee grinders come from!?

We're in Korea!

This made me think of Grandmother.

I think she had a strainer like this...

that she probably re-purposed it into a light at some point.

She was so cool :)

Mom, hang on to your Hartmann.

TV's - They don't make 'em like they used to.

Prepping some pub chairs for a customer.

Such a cool bike.

"Antique Flee Market Purchases and Sales"

LOVE.

And there is my horse head.

From One Great City to Another

I'm deep into the Michael Lewis book "Moneyball" (now a major motion picture that even Grandma Jones has seen). I never knew the business of baseball, the Oakland A's, and RBI's versus um, other baseball stat acronyms could be so fascinating. So fascinating in fact that I've gotten half-way through the book in two days. Quite an accomplishment, if I don't say so myself, especially since the last baseball game I went to I fell asleep at...only after missing an inside-the-park home run due to reading a book. From what I hear inside-the-park home runs don't happen that often. RCP never took me to another Met's game after that.

Anyway, due to this ferocious appetite to learn about the business of baseball, I have another cop out post but interesting none-the-less because apparently there are 50 reasons why Seoul is the world's greatest city....according to Asian tourists....so I think there might be just a tad bit of cultural bias in this declaration. Nonetheless, I think you'll  find some reasons familiar from other posts, some things might make no sense at all unless you live here, but all are definitely interesting. Take note, Reason #4 is where I run every day, Reason #26 was Michael Jackson's favorite dish?!, Reason #39 Rich has actually accomplished, and Reason #45 I can readily attest to. So yes, Seoul is a pretty cool place, where anyone can partake in the "coolness" on a regular basis. NYC, you may now have some competition in the "World's Greatest City" category. 

Click here to see why Seoul is the greatest city in the world.

Home Alone!

RCP left this afternoon for a ten day, whirl wind business trip to Europe; Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Frankfurt, with a quick layover in Paris. Samsung GSG (Global Strategy Group) "Better Halves" aren't allowed to tag along on trips so this has left me HOME ALONE! What am I ever going to do with myself for this week and a half!? I'm alone all day, every day, so I'm sure it won't be that different, except I now have the luxury of sleeping smack-dab in the middle of the bed, a place that I adore.  I'm sure there won't be one moment of boredom; plans are in the works for some lunches and dinners with friends who have also been left home alone and I've been wanting to check out the Rodin museum for some time now.

I think one activity that I'm definitely going to try to work on is practicing some of the cooking tips and lessons that I've been receiving via email from Uncle Derick. His advice, in response to some very important questions I had regarding mashed potatoes and sauteing eggplant, has sparked my culinary spirit, so since I have no one relying on me for a hot meals cooked to perfection, this is the perfect time to experiment.

With that said, this is also the perfect time to NOT COOK and explore the world of Korean frozen food. I have yet to find my favorite home alone food here: the frozen microwaveable meal. My all-time favorite used to be Healthy Choices' Beef Pepper Steak. I ate this every Friday of my childhood when Mom always declared she wasn't cooking because it was Friday and proceeded to let us pick out whatever kind of dinner we wanted. I'm not sure what made me start choosing Healthy Choices' meals at that young of an age; Christopher ALWAYS chose Red Baron's frozen personal pan pizza. Anyway, I've since graduated to a new and somewhat more sophisticated frozen meal: Lean Cuisine's Spa Cuisine Apple Cranberry Chicken. I mean where else can you get grilled chicken in an apple reduction with cranberries, french cut green beans and whole wheat orzo pasta in 5 minutes? Needless to say, I have yet to find these culinary wonders of the freezer section at any grocery store here, but I'm happy to settle for other frozen entrees until I do.

Tonight's menu? Frozen pot stickers! They were a little more effort than the Spa Cuisine used to be, only because you actually have to put some oil in a pan to brown them AND I made a soy/garlic dipping sauce to accompany them). They turned out fresh, fantastic and extremely filling....and with that, the personal chef at Villa Nova Apt. #201 is now officially on vacation.  

 Frozen goodness.

An ingredient and always helpful prep pictorial, for those of us who can't read.

Sizzle sizzle.

The pot stickers have slightly more plate appeal than my Lean Cuisine's.

(One should ALWAYS plate their frozen microwaveable meals).

It might be time to learn Korean.....

Due to the providing of some wedding consulting services to Christopher and Danielle this week, I haven't really been out in the field; no new palaces to report on or strange meals to share. Then on Wednesday the need for dishwasher detergent came and with it, the one domestic situation I've been waiting all my life to encounter. This story definitely beats the one where I tried making gourmet pigs-in-a-blanket with chorizo and oil pooled in the bottom of the oven. The oven continued to smoke for about 6 months.

I had run out of detergent for the dishwasher, so on my trip to Emart with my new friend Heather, I tried to look for the same stuff -- normal powder dishwasher detergent. We couldn't find it so Heather suggested the liquid kind. I have never used liquid dish washing detergent in my life. As usual, the package was completely in Korean, but as always, there were helpful photos of giants limes and what appeared to smelly fish and other "situations" that the product apparently helps get rid of. I poured the liquid into the same compartment where the powder goes, set the cycle to Auto and left.

Two hours later, creeping from underneath the dishwasher and halfway through the kitchen was a giant band of soap suds. (!!!!!) Inside? Sparkling clean dishes surrounded by suds only achievable by Mr. Bubble in the bathtub. I've always wondered what to do in this situation, when giant soap bubbles are flowing out of an appliance. After a slight moment of panic, as I started to wonder if it would start seeping through the floor down to the neighbors, I took to toweling out the bubbles and scooping out the water with a mixing bowl. After removing all the dishes, I fired it up again, checking every 10 minutes or so to make sure it was rinsing away the bubbles and not making more of them. Situation rectified.

How in the world was this liquid detergent any different than the powder kind? After just assuming I put the liquid soap in the wrong compartment or too much of it, it dawned on me. It seems I missed interpreted or completely overlooked one very important part of the pictorial guide on the back of the container; that of a refill being poured into a container. It was dish soap!

Maybe it's time to sign up for Korean class...for the many practical, daily situations for which it would get used (or prevent from happening).  The saving grace from this very foamy situation is that it ended up exacerbating a pre-existing, unknown plumbing problem. Thanks to the overabundance of bubbles, the problem reared it's ugly head. We now have a new pipe that connects to the dishwasher, the bubbles have disappeared, and the scent of sewer that occasionally and mysteriously used to appear is now gone.

Moral(s) of the story: Always buy the same detergent you've just run out of when you can't read the label....or learn the language the labels are written in.