Because

Because I'm working 12-hour night shifts for two weeks straight



Because my husband is going back out in the field before I get to see him again



Because it's sleeting outside



Because I'm almost out of shampoo



Because I'm craving Chick-fil-A and the closest one is approximately 5651 miles away




...





I am sharing one very happy thought with you.

      

Romance Rocks

A couple of weeks ago I saw a notice for an essay contest sponsored by the Army and Air Force Exchange Service--the agency that runs PX stores worldwide.  It was right around Valentine's Day, and the title--Romance Rocks--caught my eye.  "Send us your craziest story of love and romance for a chance to win $1000!"  Ok, I thought.  I certainly do have a crazy story to tell.

So here (in 500 words or less) is my tale of crazy love and romance.  Enjoy!

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This is the story of a sailor and a soldier; of three continents, five time zones, thousands of long-distance phone calls, and two people madly in love through it all. 

It started at a West Point student conference.  He was a cadet from Los Angeles; she was a student from a liberal arts school in Tennessee (and was soon to be a Naval Officer Candidate).  They shared a week of intellectual discussion and interesting conversation, and parted friends. 

He graduated with honors and started training.  He came to visit her at college after a week of sleeping in his tank in the snow.  They shared a wonderful weekend, and their friendship deepened as their respect for each other grew.  “You should come visit me while I’m stationed in Germany,” he said.  “Don’t make that offer lightly,” she said, “I’ll take you up on it.”  And a year later, she did. 

They shared a magical weekend of travel and fun.   But she was headed for Officer Candidate School, and he was headed for Iraq.  “I know it’s crazy,” he said, “but would you consider dating me?”  “Just don’t break my heart,” she said.

Off she went to face sand-pits, push-ups, and Marine Corps Drill Instructors.  She earned her commission, then made her first trip to California to meet his family.  They shared a delightful week with family.  Then it was off to Iraq for the handsome soldier.  She cried in front of his parents, then again at the airport.  “Oh goodness, I can’t cry—I’m a Naval Officer!”  she said.  “I’m glad you’re going to miss me,” he said.

She headed out to San Diego, to her first job onboard an aircraft carrier.  They traded emails daily, sometimes more than one.  She lived for her sailors and his phone calls—even the ones that came in the middle of the night.  He came home on R&R with a diamond ring in his pocket.  “Will you marry me?” he asked.  “Of course!!!”  she said, ecstatic. 

That settled it—they would be husband and wife.  But when?  He had six months left overseas, and she herself was deploying just weeks after he was to return.   Getting orders to be together for their next duty station would be tricky, and that piece of paper certifying their marriage was important.  “Well,” she said, “there’s always Vegas.”  “Why don’t we just get the paperwork done at the courthouse here in L.A., and have our wedding after the deployments” he suggested.   And so they did. 

They spent pre- (for her) and post- (for him) deployment leave together in Italy, then port calls together in Singapore and Dubai.  Her deployment was extended—right up to the week of their wedding.  But she made it home to her family and fiancé just in time for the wedding of their dreams.  And finally, a few months and two PCS moves later, they were sharing happily ever after in South Korea—living in the same time zone for the first time.

Macgyvered Moroccan Meatballs

Hard-working husband is back out in the field.  The next month or so is going to be pretty busy for both of us; I probably won't be making it up to Dongducheon very often.  So today I decided to finish my Valentine's present and add the Moroccan meatballs that Mike likes to my freezer stockpile.

I use this recipe as a starting point; I found it because I was looking for recipes to use my ras el hanout spice (bought at the San Diego farmer's market because I love Moroccan food).  I know, the recipe does not call for ras el hanout.  I use it anyway, instead of the saffron and tumeric and in addition to the meatball spices.  You might have guessed already that my perfectionism / OCD does not extend to cooking.  I am not much of a recipe follower; often because I don't have all the right ingredients or equipment, sometimes because I'm crunched for time or simply don't want to bother with some of the more involved processes, and very occasionally because I get creative and make the recipe more involved.  My macgyvering does not always yield gourmet results, but I get the job done, more or less.  And I figure I'm learning as I go, and hopefully the accumulated experience will count for something when my husband gets tired of being nice about less than awesome food.

Anyway.  Meatballs.  Since I have a fancy camera that doesn't get enough use, and since I've been inspired by a really fun blog, I decided to give you photos of the process.  Here are the ingredients:

The can in the back next to the raisins is bread crumbs; only I didn't have the right kind (the recipe calls for Panko, and I figured Italian-spiced might not be the best substitute), so I used crunched-up Rice Krispies.  I used bullion and water instead of broth, ground ginger instead of fresh, and ground cinnamon instead of sticks, and normal purple raisins instead of golden ones.  I also used frozen onions left over from my spaghetti of a week ago, baby cut carrots, already-sprouted garlic, and wilted cilantro--all from my shopping trip of a week ago.  You do what you gotta do.

Here's the meatball pile:

And my rings, on the counter.  Away from the meatball mushing:

I got everything mushed up, then got the stew put together and simmering:

And made the meatballs.  I chopped the rest of my wilted cilantro for the stew.

Into the oven it went.  I'm sure if I had used fresh ingredients--as well as only and all of the ingredients the recipe actually calls for--I would have ended up with a tastier end product.  But I gotta say, it was pretty yummy despite my substitutions.

I didn't have cous cous, the traditional Moroccan grain, so I went with quinoa, which I've never cooked before.  I'm actually not sure if I've ever eaten it before, but I've read that it's good for you, and when I saw it in the commissary a while back I decided I'd take the opportunity to try something new.

Not sure if this is what it's supposed to look like:

But it was decently tasty, and went well with my meatballs:

The rest went into the freezer, along with the rest of the spaghetti and southwest soup (after I snapped a picture of the stockpile):

And finally, the aftermath:

Although let's be honest--that's a couple of days' worth.  It seems to somehow multiply in the sink.

Valentine's Day Domesticity

My sweet husband and I have a Valentine's Day tradition of giving each other handwritten letters and homemade gifts, rather than relying on Hallmark or Godiva.  This year, since I've been gaining confidence in the kitchen, I planned a cake and dinner (in that order, yes).  Mike asked for Moroccan meatballs, which I've made before fairly successfully, and I saw this cake online and decided it would be appropriate for a Valentine's Day celebration.  Our work schedules weren't going to allow us to be together on the 14th; no problem--we'd celebrate when we could be together.  Mike came back from the field for the weekend, but Komo's cooking beat out my meatballs (an obvious choice, I'm just being honest), so we ended up going over to see family for dinner.  But I still made my cake.  (I'll make the meatballs tomorrow after he goes back out and put them in the freezer for when he gets back.)

I used a box mix, since I wanted to try a recipe touted as "The Best Buttercream Ever."  Which, since it uses two cups of shortening and a full two pounds of powdered sugar, had better be good.  (Thanks for the apron, Michelle!)

The result:

 Ok, so not as pretty as the one from the website.  It is a step up from the cookie cakes I made my sailors on deployment (decorated with "Happy Birthday _____" in store-bought icing, from a ziploc bag with the corner cut off).  And I'm slowly accruing the pans, icing bags, tips, etc. to do this stuff the non-Macgyver'd way, so I have hope for my future attempts.

I'm a little embarrassed to show you the close-up, but here it is.

 

My handsome husband (on his laptop) kept me company while I decorated.

I gotta say, it tasted pretty good.  I'm not in love with the icing--it's not good enough to eat in this kind of quantity.  My husband liked the final product though, so I'll call it a win.

I surely do love this guy.

Family Dinner

 

 

 

Odds and Ends

First, a cute baby picture, just because it makes me smile:

She's my friend Joy's daughter.  Joy told me, "She's still a baby, so she doesn't have a pretty face."  I begged to differ.
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"I heard," said Joy, "that in the U.S. women drink and eat cold things after they have a baby."  "Uh, I guess so, I don't know why they wouldn't."  "Oh, in Korea women only eat and drink warm things after they give birth, to keep their bodies warm."  She thought for a minute.  "I think American women must be stronger than Asian women."  At that, a mental picture from the Pearl S. Buck book The Good Earth popped into my head--when the Chinese farm-woman gives birth in the morning and is back at work in the fields by lunchtime.  "No, I don't think so."  I said.  I thought of another example.  "It takes a certain kind of fierce to walk around in sub-freezing temperatures in a miniskirt and four-inch high heels, like so many women do here."  "That's true," agreed Joy.
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I know Mike wrote about the KATUSAs--the Korean soldiers assigned to the U.S. Army.  I work with KATUSAs as well, and I never cease to be amazed at how smart these guys are.  Today I was walking through the office next door when I noticed one of the guys was reading something in English; I poked my head over his desk and asked what he was reading.  "Oh, it's just a textbook on financial derivatives."  Oh.
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I was in the KATUSA Snack Bar--our little Korean food restaurant on base--the other day in uniform.  As I was waiting for my take-out order, an older Korean guy walked past me, then turned and looked at my name tape.  "Wow--she's a Kim!"  I told him that my husband is Korean.  "Wow--good job!" he told me, flashing a thumbs-up.
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And one more picture, from the ah-pah-tu:

The Daiso Store

For the most part, the PX here in Korea is the same as the one in Virginia Beach and the one in San Diego and Huntsville. There's the main store, then the "concessions" area, where there's always a GNC, some kind of cell phone store, and Anthony's Pizza (ick) among others. Here in Korea though, most of the PXs also have a Daiso store--known in Japan I think as the 100 yen store.  Here, household goods-type items are sold in increments of 1000 won, or about a dollar, with the most expensive items being 5000 won.  

The Daiso on the base in Dongducheon is right next to the PX and Commissary, so I'll usually walk through if I have time before a grocery shopping trip. It's a really small space--just three aisles--but that makes it more manageable; I can see everything in 15 minutes or so.  Some items are stocked all the time: air freshener, glass and plastic food containers, and fingernail polish. Other items are seasonal or just rotating, so it's always fun to pop in and see what's in the store.  I've found some really fun stuff at the Daiso--fleece gloves, an Easter basket and squiggly paper filler, mini spoons (probably designed for tea, but perfect for digging the seeds out of pomegranates), etc. I also enjoy discovering distinctly Asian items, such as an eyelid-tape applicator, cartoon pillows with   ^ ^ eyes, and scrubby shower towels.

Last week I headed to the Daiso to pick up one of these scrubby towels (my sweet husband wanted one for the sauna) and a few glass food containers so I could freeze some spaghetti and soup--my supply of plastic containers having experienced significant attrition due to microwave damage. I picked up a few clear glass containers with colorful plastic snap tops for 2000 won each, grabbed a suitably masculine scrubby towel, then poked around a bit to see what else I could find. I ended up with some fabric ribbon, some tape ribbon, some (I think) plant food, and some Korean alphabet stickers.  Which I discovered, when I got home and looked at them more closely, include such useful phrases as "Sale 20% off" and "How Much".  

I left the containers and scrubby towel in Dongducheon

This stuff is really fun--it's tape for wrapping presents.

My total was just over $13.  Fun!

Date Night

Night shift is kind of a bummer--even when Mike and I are able to be in the same place, we're not on the same schedule.  (Mike actually spent last Saturday while I was sleeping cooking me gourmet food for the rest of the week!  Do I have the best husband ever, or what?)  We definitely make the most of the time we have together, though.  A couple of weekends ago we braved the icy chill and headed up to Namsan mountain, which is visible from the ah-pah-tu, but which takes a good 20 minutes to reach by taxi.  And yes, I gave in and accepted the taxi even though I'm usually all for the bus and subway--it was date night, after all, and very cold, and I was in a dress. 

 Our reservations were at 5:30, which turned out to be perfect--we got there with just enough daylight left to appreciate the view, then got to watch the sunset.  In warmer weather, I'm sure this pagoda by the tower would be a great spot to linger; it was too cold for us though, and we headed inside as soon as we could.

We ate at N Seoul Tower, on the top floor of the observation part of the tower. The restaurant is laid out so that every table has a view, and the seating area actually revolves, slowly, around the kitchen, so diners get a chance to appreciate the view from every direction.

The view is pretty spectacular.

Of course I liked this view a lot too:

Dinner was a prix fixe menu with five courses.  Yum!  The first was an amuse-bouche of a kind of ceviche.  (Whew, three languages in one sentence, and none of them Korean!)

 Next an appetizer, then soup.  This soup--a tomato bisque with some kind of melty parmesan tofu block--was spectacular.

The sunset was pretty amazing too.

Steak (of course) for my husband.

And my favorite part of the meal:  a berry compote dessert with ricotta cheese and lychee foam.  Fancy!

The night-time view.  Those long strings of white lights?  That's Seoul traffic.

After dinner we explored the observation level just below the restaurant.

Fun!