crafty mum in changing places

Happy Valentine's day - same but different in Korea

I am sending you some Valentine-love from my Pinterest today:

You can find all the links for the photos on my Pinterest.

Here in Korea you will also find the shops full of things to buy for Valentine's Day. 

We were tempted by all the beauty packaging everywhere but finally settled taking these:

Yep, this has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH ME WANTING TO LIVE HEALTHIER!!!!

But a fresh cream roll with strawberries inside and a crème brulée topping - come on!

But coming back to Korea and Valentin's Day. Yes, they are sending Cards and buying chocolate but there is also a typical Koren tradition: Doing something love- or couple-related on the 14th of each month. In February that means the man gets chocolate (ladies, sorry, our turn will be on the 14th of March...).

My husband forwarded me this list today when he surprisingly got chocolate presents at the office:

1/14 - Diary Day : Couple exchanges a diary 
2/14 - Valentine's Day : Women give chocolates to men
3/14 - White Day : Men give chocolates to women
4/14 - Black Day : People who don't have a girl or a boy friend eat ja jang myeon (noodle with black bean sauce) 
5/14 - Rose Day : Couple gives a rose 
6/14 - Kiss Day : Couple kisses 
7/14 - Silver Day : Couple exchanges silver rings
8/14 - Green Day : Couple goes therapeutic walk in the forest  
9/14 - Photo Day : Couple takes a souvenir photograph
10/14 - Wine Day : Couple drinks wine
11/14 - Movie Day : Couple watches movies 
12/14 - Hug Day : Couple hugs each other 

So there is something to look forward to...

I love the 14th of August: Couple takes a therapeutic walk in the forest - this is so Korean and I love it! We will be in Paris then I think. Maybe the Bois de Boulogne will be a nice spot for this...or Versailles someplace?

I am leaving you here for now with the chance of making your mind up what to do on these days. I think it would also be a nice thing to introduce to other cultures to celebrate one day of the month like this, don't you think?

Yvonne, waiting for her husband to come home to get some chocolate from his bounty!
 

 

MIA for some days - I am sorry

Hello dear readers!

I have been MIA for some days due to two little boys at home with temperature and coughs wanting mum's undivided attention. They are feeling better now and one of them even went back to school today.

Jakob is still at home and even had to stay at home on his birthday. He turned seven on Monday and we just had a little birthday party amongst the four of us. The big party will be held later, when he is feeling much better.

I think you can already guess from that picture what will be the theme for that party...

I  gathered a lot of tips from this great site called Birthday Party Ideas. Over the years  I  found a lot of great ideas for throwing parties, like what to do with the children within a certain Birtday party frame or how to decorate. So this year will be space and everything rocket related.

I also had a lovely lunch at the home of a school mom. She is Korean and made a typical Korean lunch for me: All organic and perfect for a Pescatarian like me (Vegetarian plus seafood).

As a mom of three who is cooking and preparing food all day long it is such a treat when somebody else makes an effort to cook especially for me. Thank you so much Keun-hae! This is not a small thing because she has a tight schedule. She is  mom of four, works as a coach in intercultural communication for managers, is frightfully intelligent, funny and warmhearted and looks stunning: what a combination all in one woman! She rocks! And I am glad I met her because we are having children in the same class (Jakob's) and share soccer training with 5 of our alltogether 7 children.

When it comes to the Souvenir Foto School I have to admit that I am behind. But that does not mean I will drop out. I just continue along the alphabet and will add some more days in March - that's it.

I wasn't really imaginative when it came to "J". I thought of "journey" or "juxtaposition", "jar" or "jigsaw" but did not have enough time and fantasy to set up something. So I ended with "Jaguar" becaue we have so many little metal cars lurking somewhere in our home in different colours.

So here we have another blueish photo. That is ok. and I will now think of "K" as in kale, kangaroo, kingsize, knit, kiss or even kindred spirit....

See you later!

Yvonne

 

Winter wonderland

It started yesterday afternoon:  Fluffy snowflakes falling upon the city. it was enough to make the children extremely happy and let their mothers wait on the schoolground when they came to pick them up...

But then the inevitable happened: happy snowfall combined with rush hour: 

The traffic went with 15 km/h and the Koreans seem to be reluctant when it comes to using winter tires. Traffic usually moves slow here in the city- for no apparent reason. Maybe because they change lines without indicating it, they don't look in the rear mirror or they are engaged in conversation on the phone. Just add bad weather conditions and you have chaos! We had to take a different road and drive back several kilometers because a street was blocked due to a taxi having crashed into a shop and a passer by and watcher of the scene just did not make it up the hill and stopped for good in the middle of the street. To be on the safe side, the police blocked the whole road in both directions!

So now you have a glimpse into daily life on the streets of Seoul.

At home it looked much more tranquil without the traffic.

So we snuggled up on the sofa, had some treats and watched two episodes of Gilmore Girls. The children just love it!

The next morning I had to get up very early because the children were going again to a ski resort with school. So departure time was at 7 something at school and my phone greeted me with these weather conditions: 

A sled would have been better but we had to take the car. The next underground is a few kilometers away. That is the bad thing when living in a scenic neighborhood...

Back home I treated myself to a nice breakfast. HOME ALONE! What a treat and the day had just begun!

I read some blogs and a few chapters in my books from my current reading list.

And a few hours later it looked like this: 

and this:

and this:

Good for the children they weren't here. I maybe would have mentioned how much I love to see the mountains... 

And how about lunch?

Again it paid having cooked in advance and in batches. I am mostly cooking huge amounts of certain things and then freeze them in family size portions and individual portions. So I always have something at hand in case we are running late one day for dinner or Markus comes home hungry like a wolf, or if I am home alone and don't want to cook. So I am not tempted to eat unhealthy things because the freezer always has something homemade. 

I had a mixed salad with parmesan shavings, yellow bell pepper, apple pieces, roasted, caramelized pine nuts and pecan nuts and balsamic glaze ( so much for my sweet tooth!) and baked vegetables. 

And my new serviettes are making me extremely happy. I just got them recently from here. (Thank you again Ilze!!! Now that you are leaving they will remind me of you!)

I picked up the children later that afternoon and took them for a treat to our local bakery. We had some cake and Jakob just sat there watching the magic that was done down in the kitchen. You can sit above the kitchen and see how they make tarts and bake bread. They were making chocolate cakes: creamy and layered. (Of course we had it before). Jakob wants to become a chef and have his own little restaurant like I told you before. And again I could see how fascinated he is with all the things cooking and baking related. 

I would also love to spend a day or two there to learn from them...

So this is life here in Seoul. Not so exotic as it may seem from afar. I will look out for some very exotic things soon, I promise!

Have a great day! I am off to bed where two little boys await me. Markus is in Germany so they take turns sleeping in our bed.

Yvonne

 

Vapiano

Rumor was spread that a Vapiano restaurant exists in Seoul. Research found out that theere are even four of them! Our famiy love this Italian restaurant and so do our friends here. So we went to the Gangnam branch, the ten of us (4 parents, 6 children).

 

It is huge. Much bigger than the one we are usually going to in Hamburg. But it was cozy anyhow because they had so many separate corners where you did not feel like being in a huge restaurant.

The system was the same as in Germany and I love this open kitchen style self-service concept. You can exactly tell how much chili you want or what to leave out in the mixed salad...

Pauline has chosen a seat where she could see the city lights and the ice rink on the ground floor.

Have I told you lately that I love this city?  You can live traditionally Korean but also find everything you have in mind around the corner due to its internationality. That is what I love about these huge cities: You have everything, you can have your own personal village and the anonymity of a big city. And this city feels sometimes like New York and sometimes like the countryside and sometimes like being in a Parisian cafe or shop.

So next time there will be ice skating first (another inner city ice rink!) and Italian food later!

 

Today I took Markus to the Incheon airport because he travels to Germany. When driving home over one of these numerous bridges over the Han river I could see the mountains again. It is lovely to drive home into the mountains and into the Green with the city at your feet. And I keep telling the children daily how beautiful I think it is. And they think it is like a sermon and remind me that I already stated how much I love to drive home in the sunlight with the mountains in view. But one schould appreciate the daily things that make one happy. And yes, I am so thankful for that every day on my way back home!

Enjoy the beauty of the everyday!

Yvonne 

Eat your Greens

Dear readers!

The pescatarian adventure is coming along nicely and the family is taking the ride with me at home. They are still eating the whole stuff at school but don't eat meat at home any more. We started this in early november and it feels good!

Pauline jumped on the wagon and ordered her vegetarian school meal a few weeks ago. There are already a lot of people doing this at the German school so she is in good company. And with the healthy food here and the amount of soy in the Korean cuisine there really is no problem of missing anything!

As for "Move more, eat well", there is also progress. Markus and I are doing our exercises, we eat well, spend time outside in the wonderful winter sun and I am tracking my progress in a journal. There are even days when you can find me walking the dog at 7.30 in the morning WITHOUT MOANING!

Thangs again to Cathy to initiate this new workshop wich is a great way to combine healthy living with scrapbooking (who would have ever thought that?!)

So  Kimbap ( the Korean variaty of sushi rolls), Turkish sigara börek and Cheesecake (all homemade) and green tea count as a healthy teatime in our house.

And again and again I am thankful for the best kitchen helper ever: Jakob is joining me all the time preparing food. He wants to become a chef and have his own restaurant. Markus is constantly warning him what these working times will do to his family life but he is still convinced. 

And here a glimpse of a leftover lunch setup for me alone when everybody was at school or at work: Salade Nicoise, mushroom risoniotto, penne with spinach and green tea: Life can be so good - and yummy!

For the Lunar New Year we got our yearly gifts from the companies Markus works with. They sent us like 10 kg of meat in a freezer gift suitcase. I told him he'd better bring one of these fruit cakes they are selling for loads of money in the supermarkets now. And as if they had heard us, he came back the next day with one of them:

So we are eating our daily apple and I also did make a super delisious Tarte Tatin but unfortunately it was one before I could take a picture...

Have you eaten your Greens today?

Yvonne

 

It looked like springtime...

Yesterday it really looked like springtime when I took the children to school. The sun was coming out and I ignored the temperature sign on my car showing minus 10 degrees and drove straight to the Han river to go for a spontaneous walk. I thought I could go for 30 minutes and then head over to Yeouido to check out Paul Patisserie, a gem I knew from my time back then in Istanbul. 

My walk took not 30 minutes but one hour. I am glad I did it. One words for 2012 is health and what is better than an early morning walk by the river in the sun? but of course, to minimize the health effect I went to Paul to have a croissant and a cappuccino. I have been  limiting myself to 2-3  cappuccinos a week for a while now. This was a special treat: sitting in the Patisserie, having some of my books at hand (Big big Thank you  to Markus ' parents for giving me a Kindle for Christmas!  - it is great to have my books available in a second!). 

I am currently reading "Living the savvy life" by Melissa Tosetti, "Pictures at an exhibition" by Sara Houghteling and "Wild Things: the Art of nurtutring Boys" by Stephen James. And yes, I am a parallel reader. I definitely need more than one book by my side!

And on my way home towards the mountains I have been listening to this in the car: 

 

 

 

Life is good! Has it been good to you lately?

Yvonne

 

Baby, it's cold outside

Hello again! It is freezing cold outside. 

I am definitely not a winter person. But because of new standards for a healthier life we walked downhill through the woods to Samcheong-dong the other day. Pauline is also always a little grumpy when it comes to going for a walk. She loves Sports but not walking. But once she is in motion she loves it. On our way to the forest we've been greeted by a friendly little helper of the street worker in our area:

This really is the country of cute (and I did not even start showing you all the cute paper goods....).

The footpath  to the national park starts near our house and we can walk all the way down to Samcheong-dong through the forest. In the middle of the walk you have a wonderful view over Seoul. It looks amazing when the lights are on!

I am thankful and happy we chose to live here! We are surrounded by Green and have a big city at our feet. 

And for healthy living; do you remember I started the habit of trying a new recipe every week? I kept that but was less diligent when it came to the mail thing. There weren't that many letters posted every week. but you should only start one new habit at a time and wait a few weeks until it really turns into a habit, right? Babysteps!

The new recipe for last week was oven baked Ratatouille from the "River Cottage veg everyday" cookbook I got myself for Christmas. I am not such a fan of Ratatouille but my husband Markus loves it. For me it is a bit to sour if cooked the normel way. But I thought it would be a bit sweeter because the heat from the oven might caramelize it. And so it is. It is more creamy and sweeter and absolutely amazingly yummy! If somebody wants the recipe, please contact me! It is so worth it and super easy to prepare because it is roasting all by itself. You just need to cut the veggies and toss them!

And this week I'll try another one from the book: "Mushroom risoniotto". 

Doesn't it look yummy? I will try this out tomorrow after a few rounds on the ice skating rink with the children. The best thing about the recipes is that there is no fuss in making them. You don't need to prepare things for a long time or need to memorize an elaborated recipe with a lot of ingredients. Not that I don' like elaborated recipes but when time is short like sometimes in the evening it is perfect to have a new recipe at hand that is quickly prepared. 

I will tell you if it was as delicious as the last one.

What did you try out this year? Any new vegetarian or fish recipes?

Wishing you a lovely evening! I am off now to a tomato-mozzarella-pesto-salad-baguette prepared by Moritz. He is our baguette- and Panini-maker in the family. Jakob is the salad guy and tea-maker and Pauline just enjoys...

Yvonne