Green Curry or Egg Nog? That is life's most difficult question!

It's a new year, woot, woot! And TODAY, my dear friend Elizabeth Lauer slapped me in the face. Ouch! What? Why?! Jerk! (can you believe her violence? I have red markSSS to prove the attack!) and then she told me that I should get it together and blog more often. Blog about what? I asked. "Blog about your life," she said ::I yawn:: "Who really cares?" I inquired.Lauer thinks that since I moved to Asialand 3 years ago that I am hard to get in touch with.. Can she really be talking about me? Me, hard to contact? really? no, no, not me!?! I am awesome at the keeping in touch! I'm really fabulous in this department. You know I think that I'm as good at keeping in touch with people as Superman is at flying or Garfield's is at eating or perhaps, perhaps! I am better!Ok. you're right, dear readers. The above analogies may have been exaggerations...er... or uh... boldface lies (sorry Mom, that won't happen again.). So this year I resolve to write more about the mundanities of life on this blog to keep in touch, and I shall also eat more pineapples!!Sooooo let's began...hmmm...Where shall I begin in my journey of story telling!?Life Story #1.One day long, long ago.. er..about 3 weeks before Christmas, I was riding my bicycle blissfully through the rice fields. Listening to my iPod 'White Christmas'  song to be exact! And then it hit me, almost as hard as Ms. Lauer slapped me today! This year an 80-degree, green curry-filled, no eggnog Christmas was not going to work for me, no sir!  I was not going to settle for a Christmas without a good measure of dark chocolate, ugly sweaters, weight gain and family drama. It wouldn't be Christmas, would it?So I turned my little bike around and peddled as fast as I could to the nearest Expedia.com hotspot, so fast my bike pedal fell of.. And there I booked my ticket back to Americaland for 3 weeks to surprise my family and enjoy a sweet Tennessee Christmas with them. Ahhhhh! It has been so worth it, and I'm so happy that the spontaneous side of me won over Ms. Practicality.Oh, you see! that ride made me realize that it truly doesn't really matter if I live in the most beautiful or tropical places, make oodles of money or most notably eat papayas and pineapples until my stomach explodes..... If I have all of these things, but I don't take the time to live life with the people I love, who cares about the rest?So Happy New Year Ya'll,... Aren't you excited to see what beautiful things will ensue? :)My beautiful family is below!   

Lift Up Your Head!

 Sometimes life doesn’t make any darn sense. During those times I’ve got to remember to lift my eyes up, up, up! All the way to the sky! The world is full of beautiful possibilities, if I just keep my head up, and my heart open. :)Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Psalms 24:9

Let's talk about my Korean Angels...Finally!

So I've been saying for ages that I will let you see my little orphan angels who I love so dearly. Well finally! I'm sharing! Remember a few months back, in April, I had a 5-month challenge for myself to submit my work to a magazine and do a portrait series on my little orphan boys (challenges number 1 and 6)? Well I did it! and I submitting this piece to 3 or 4 different magazines. And for political and editorial conflict reasons it was rejected by a couple of different Korea magazines, but I kept trying AND my favorite of the 4 magazines published it! So this is my first official spread in a print magazine. Yay!And a much bigger WOOT! WOOT! to my little angels who put so much joy into my time in Korea! You are surely missed.I did this portrait story on my ancient film Yashica Mat TLR Camera. Which was a fun challenge :) Here is how the story ran in NEH magazine's Aug/Sept Issue. And to read the more legible, full story look below the pictures :)

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An Unlikely Family

By Inge Kathleen 

Tucked in the Korean hillside, two hours east from the madness of central Seoul lies a small bustling village of sorts called Shinmang where a family of more than 40 young boys and girls live.This family looks nothing like your traditional Korean family, quite the opposite. Their ages range vastly from just a month old to 17 years of age; they all have unique stories, personalities and aspirations, yet the thread that ties them together is that they have all been orphaned or abandoned.Shinmang Orphanage has been in operation for almost 60 years, since 1952. It has slowly grown to house more than 30 boys, 10 girls, and an assortment of bushy dogs. Shinmang is a place where these children can grow up with a loving family until they reach 18 years old and then they will become independent.Most of these “orphans” still have one or both of their parents alive and almost all have closely related family, but most will likely never return to their families nor be adopted.The children come to Shinmang for a variety of reasons. A few have no parents, others have parents who are mentally or financially unable to provide for them, others have been abused or abandoned or others have single parents who have given them up because of pressures from their family or a future spouse. This pressure is rooted in Koreans’ Confucianist beliefs of bloodline. The blood is an important link between a parent and a child. It is so valued that new spouses do not want a child that does not have their own blood. Furthermore, the idea of adopting a child, a completely unknown one is that much more foreign to many Koreans. This is why adoption is so rare here.“They [Koreans] don’t want a kid from another bloodline,” says Myung Hee Park, the director of the Shinmang Orphanage.When Koreans chose to adopt, however, they usually do so without their friends or family knowing. One way they hide it is by faking a pregnancy and then adopting an infant.Since the 1950s, more than 200,000 Korean children have been adopted with more than 160,000 of these children going to international homes.However, most of the children at Shinmang are much too old to be adopted. According to the U.S. State Department, 86% of children adopted in Korea are under the age of one. Additionally, the parental rights for most of the Shinmang children rest with their families, even in cases when they are abandoned.I began visiting Shinmang Orphanage about a year and a half ago. I found it with the help of my Korean friend. The orphanage is just a subway stop and a 25 minute walk away from the little country school that I teach at.I remember the first time I went. It was a frigid winter day, and the director, Myung Hee Park, came to pick me up at the train station. I got in her car, and almost immediately we turned off the main road in favor of a back road that took us by little farms, worn hanok houses, and frost-kissed rice fields. We then wound up a narrow road and arrived at Shinmangan orphanage that at this time was only for boys.I was there not to teach English. I was there to do nothing but play with them. I was a little nervous about what I would do with them; my Korean language level was barely higher than survival. However, I figured despite this language barrier, I was a child from a family of nine kids, and I would improvise, somehow.Park toured me around the house and then led me to a room with a few little boys inside. She said that I could hang out with them for a few minutes while she finished up some office work. The boys were all gathered around the television enthralled with a Disney cartoon. I went and sat with them for a moment and tried to impress them with my Korean, but they just looked at me like I was a white ogre. Fair enough, I thought, apparently my language skills weren’t the way to their little hearts. I instead managed to bribe one of the smallest ones away from Mr. Walt Disney with crayons and white paper.With crayons and paper at our disposal, we sprawled on the yellow laminate floor, laying flat on our bellies. We began drawing anything and everything we could think of. I would draw a bunny and then he would draw the same one. He would draw a flower, and I would color it in. Then I drew a tree, but apparently it wasn’t up to his standards, so he dramatically scratched it out and then giggled mischievously. Before we knew it, time had flown by, and it was time for dinner.He motioned with his hands that it was time to eat. We guarded our masterpieces in his closet, and then he grabbed my hand tightly and led me up the stairs to the little dining hall. He then told me with grand authority where I was to sit. I must sit right next to him! My heart just melted right to the floor.From that moment forward, he and all his siblings have had my heart. On this day orphans became real to me. These little ones were not from Oliver Twist or the Little Princess. When I left them that evening, the movie didn’t end. They didn’t get to go home and be tucked in bed by their mother or father. They weren’t going to get chicken noodle soup when they had were sick or play catch with their dads. It wasn’t their fault either. There was nothing wrong with these children, they had brilliant personalities, and beautiful hearts, but that didn’t matter.Since that winter day, I’ve gone to visit their ever-growing family almost weekly. We’ve drawn quite a few more masterpieces; they’ve made me the official piggyback ride giver, human horse, tickle monster, and I am even required to give unlimited airplane rides for a nominal fee of 뽀뽀 (kisses) and hugs.After two years in Korea, I only have a few days left until I leave for Thailand to travel and to work with Burmese refugees. It will be sad to say farewell to my friends and all the delicious Korean food that I love so dearly, but I have Skype and a kitchen. These losses can be remedied.My greatest sadness is knowing that gone are the days of walking up the hill toward their house and hearing them scream at the top of their lungs ‘Inge wasayo!’ (Inge has arrived!) Or having them hug me tightly and then spending the evening spinning round and round until we all fall to the floor from blissful dizziness and then doing it all over again!If only I could take a couple of them with me, I pray, maybe one day soon.Shinmang Orphanage is located in Gyeonggido Province in Shinwon-ri between Yangsu-ri and Yangpyeong. For more information about how you can help go to http://www.shinmang.or.kr/ or contact director Myung Hee Park at 031-772-6244, email at shinmang1952@hanmail.net and their address is 경기 양평군 양서면 신원리 산 53번지published in NEH Magazine South Korea

Meanderings...

I've been having a lovely time meandering on my bike around Thailand and asking unsuspecting people for their pictures. Luckily for me almost everyone has said yes!. Why? Well I'm not sure why people say yes to a stranger with a big camera. It has always confused me, but I'm not dumb enough to ask them why. I just smile real big and thank them profusely. :)You know as nervous as I get before I get up the nerve to walk up to another stranger to ask for their picture (sometimes I fight with myself  ~ don't worry not physically, well not usually.... ~ I argue for quite a long time before I actually stop to ask.., I'm quite sure I look like a crazy as I wobble around on my bike, muttering profanities at myself and then finally turning around to go back to talk to the school girls on the roadside or the old man with the fantastic face.., why people would say yes to my craziness is a mystery) ,But when I do get up the courage to ask, Wow, almost every time the pay off is greater than a picture, the interaction and the little bit of relationship we have because of it is incredible. And on those really blessed days the payoff is 1000x better than a picture. Like yesterday, I stopped at a little roadside family daycare and ask the nanny if I could take pictures, she said yes and somehow after that, I ended up spending 2.5 hours in her house drinking tea and coffee while listening to her friend play and sing traditional music on his guitar. It was a wow moment, I couldn't have planned a better morning if I had tried.By the time I left, I think I might have taken about 10 bad pictures., but it's not about the pictures really, it's about the journey, the people and the relationships. Now every time I pass her daycare we wave and nod at each other, and I know that I'm welcome back whenever I want to drink tea and listen to hours of beautiful music... :)Below are some images of my meanderings this morning....  

Dreams of Coconut Curry and Tea Leaf Salad!

I recently made a life goal to learn how to eat and cook as many different foods possible.. My first challenge was Korean food and now my current one is Thai food! Oui! How delicious it is! Good thing I have to bike everywhere I go.. If I didn't, I might soon become Inge super~sized with all the delicious coconut curry that floats around this place and tempts me with its devilish smells.The next challenge is figuring out how I can fuse Korean and Thai Cuisine?., Now this is a quandary!And don't you dare suggest that I add fermented kimchi to coconut curry! I might just excommunicate you from ever eating delicious food again! And yes, I have that power. I know people in very, very high places., very important people who can make you eat only kimchi for the rest of your life.. Kimchi with nothing but rice! Muahahaha :)

Hellos and Goodbyes....

It is hard to believe that just 2 years ago I arrived in South Korea., and today after 2 years of teaching English in South Korea. I am finished, done.  No more are the days of eating pounds of kimchi, chatting with my favorite fruit lady, slurping delicious Korean soup, sleeping on heated floors, nodding to the nameless man at the garden store, trudging to Paris Baguette for my morning watery, overpriced coffee or seeing if I could coax a smile out of Mr. Grumpy, my school's old crossing guard each morning. (It worked twice!)All these familiarities will never be again. They took months to build but were gone the second I stepped on this bus to the airport., This is the weirdest thing about traveling. All these things that you take so long to carefully construct dissipate when you pack your bags and board the plane to another land. Life will, once again, completely change.  Your normal will no longer be the same, it will and must adjust. It's strange and sad leaving a place you get to know, but then it is also so addicting to know the next destination will be full of unpredictability, challenges and newness.So I'm in that weird, magical period of transition. Saying goodbye to my old haunt, South Korea and greeting my new one, Thailand.Yet before I jump into learning what makes Thailand tick, I will wait a moment. And in honor of the past and all the happy memories that Korean life bestowed upon me, I wanted to make a list of all the beautiful things that I will miss ever, ever so much., in no particular order. And please excuse all the food references. I have a big love affair with food. If it were legal, I would be in holy matrimony with food. It would be the best husband. No ring needed, Sir Food, just give me Tuscan wedding full of what I love the best, food! ^^1. The Korean Apple ~ the most perfectly crisp, sweet, fantastic apple ever.2. Korean Elevators ~ ahhh the ride is so smooth!3. My students.. Of course not all of them. some I thank the Lord above that I'll never see again, but there were some angels among the devils. ^^ As you may have guessed, I'm one of those bad, bad teachers who had favorites. It's True!Gasp! Inge!? You what!?!Well, let's be honest here. It's just easier to like the kid who remembers to bring you a nectarine after lunch versus having affection for the one who steals one off your lunch tray without asking..hateful child! Yes! Again my world revolves around food, sad but true., and you better not ever steal fruit from me, or else!4. Koreans and their never ending willingness to help you.5. Slurping Korean stews (jjigaes) in the Winter, Yum, yum, yum!6. Market Day7. Eating7b. Eating with Chopsticks (Oh don't roll your eyes all you awkward chopstick eaters, these little devilish sticks are fantastic for more than just eating rice, If only you knew!, Angel hair pasta was never so easy to retrieve from a vat of boiling water and then when you're finished you can use the chopsticks to keep your hairdo up! Mr. Fork has nothing on you! and I bet you didn't know that you can eat cake with chopsticks too?)7c. Ordering a meal at a almost any Korean restaurant and getting it 8 minutes later. The service is incredible!7d. Korean Barbeque ~ but mostly BBQ Eel., Oh so tasty!8. Sleeping on the toasty, heated Korean floors in the bone chilling winters.9. Tea fields, sweating in rooms of jasmine ovens, and bathing in Green Tea saunas with Koreans.. Oh yes, I did!10. Getting told by a student that my hair 'looks like ramen noodles.' The most creative assessment of my knotted nest of hair yet.11. Eating silkworms, rotting skate fish, boiled blood, live octopus, and ehh... a bite, just ONE bite of man's best friend!... Yes I did it! I'm a terrible human being, I deserve death, but how many people do you know have done that, eh? Ruff, Ruff :)12. Learning that thanks to Kimchi, the Korean's manna!, garlic breath was the only acceptable smell for one's breath. No need for mouthwash in this country. So freeing! I feels as good as being old enough to tell your mom that you won't wear tights ever again! (don't judge, I had a weird childhood! and tights are oppressive!)13. Realizing that it is actually a complement and not an insult when Koreans tell you that you have a small face,white, white skin, and a pointy Pinnochio nose, who knew?14. Learning that the way to get out of trouble every time is to play the "I'm a dumb foreigner" card. Magic!15. Using toilet paper to clean up everything. No napkins needed.But Some of the most special memories, the ones that will stick with me forever and ever?1. My little orphan boys and girls., Without them I'm not sure I would have made it out of Korea sane. I would return to Korea just to see them again. I will write much more about them soon, I promise!2. My lovely Waygookin (foreign) and Korean friends., Amazing, Amazing, Amazing lifelong friends.3. My sweet North Korean Grandmother, chef extraordinaire that always made it her mission to fatten me up by giving me double the kimchi and a double-decker Korean pancakes., and never letting me leave her restaurant without giving me a million hugs and telling me how much she loved me.4. Learning that salsa dancing is my caffeine., Give me 32oz of espresso coffee at 1am and I'll be asleep by 1:30, but get me salsa dancing and I'll be going till 6 in the morning. ^^5. And every other amazing blessing, relationship, lesson, trip, conversation, etc.. that there is no time to write about, so, so blessed!So we need pictures, yes? Well I decided to focus on fully enjoying my last month in Korea will all my favorite people in Korea without the burden of carrying around my ever so heavy but beloved camera with me. Instead I decided to carry around the most awesome invention ever, the disposable camera, Magic! Here are the fantastically terrible pictures that came from all the fun!Pictures to come of Thailand, but right now I'm concentrating on napping, eating, yoga, eating fruit, salsa dancing and taking in all the sights and sounds without carrying around Sir Camera. He needs a vacation, like myself., but he'll be out in full force very soon I'm sure :) 

A little inspiration on a rainy Saturday :)

I recently read this beautiful quote by Marianne Williamson on my friend Susan's blog. Susan is a fellow photographer and Mexican Taco lover.^^ This passage so exemplifies what I've been feeling lately that I just had to share..

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” ~ Marianne Williamson

Happy weekend world!

And Mandy, are you ready for the most glorious week of eating, dancing, cooking and lollygagging that Thailand has ever experienced? Mark your calendar, lady, and get Thailand ready because Thailand has never seen the likes of Minga! ^^

The City of Ants

I did a little Seoul excursion this past Saturday, and I was greeted by one of the most beautiful places I've yet to know in Korea. This is officially my new favorite place in Seoul. It's called Gaemi Mauel, directly translated as the Ant City because it is a little town set on a hill. I probably love it so much because it feels nothing at all like the big, gray city of Seoul. It is full of color, hidden in the hills from the madness that Seoul is so well known for. I met some high school girls on my way down who escaped the city life and their nasty high school exams to take a day's vacation. We chatted about how much we disliked exams and how much we loved, loved, loved all kinds of food! It was such a lovely Saturday.The sun was setting, and it was threatening to rain, so I didn't get to explore all the nooks and crannies, but perhaps next weekend? I am itching to do a portrait session there. It would be amazing! 

So long Kimchi, Hello Sauerkraut!

Meet the Harbert family. They have been living in South Korea for almost 2 years, and they've loved it, but they are currently packing their bags and saying goodbye to Korealand and their favorite food, a Mr. Kimchi (hahaha). I lie, them and Mr. Kimchi are well, you see, they just haven't found the beauty in all the garlic and months of fermentation. I don't understand personally, what is not to love about a food that is full of rotten garlic? I mean, it makes your breath rancid for days. It's fantastic! ;) They much prefer Guacamole, which you all know, the Mexican in me applauds.But before they said goodbye to our little country of bitter winters and fermentation and head off to their next adventure, they asked me capture a bit of their family in Asialand. I am so happy they did. It was a perfectly sunny day, and it didn't feel like work at all, much more like I was hanging out with friends and taking pictures of their cool kids., who happen to like mohawks, skateboards, Ben - 10 and tutus! A photographer's dream! (yes, I admit, I did a little happy dance when I heard that Noah had a mohawk) Thank-you guys for the opportunity to photograph your family and best of luck on your next adventure! May it be full of many blessings.view my portfolio here 

Just Fail.. It's cool ;)

Fail!!! What!?!? Yes, just do it! Fall flat on your face! Why? WHY would I say a terrible thing like that?? Well you see, I have had this realization recently that the world (well, maybe just me) is so terrified of falling on our faces or doing something not quite perfect that we don't try or we don't jump as high as we could, we hold back, and don't challenge ourselves to go for those all the things we love because we are just scared of failing.And this is frankly, dumb. What's so wrong about failing? Really? I mean what is going to happen, if one day my pictures are crap, if I look stupid on the dance floor, or if I get a 'B' on my exam (yes, I admit, I was one of those annoy 'A' student)?If I fail, the world won't end, everyone won't hate me. I won't have to give away my camera, burn my dance shoes, or ride the short bus for the rest of my life. No one wakes up just taking amazing pictures or composing musical masterpieces. You have to learn, and you learn by trying. If you try hard enough to learn you will fail many times, and that is OK. It's awesome actually. It means you have pushed yourself so hard that you could fail and when you fail you have this incredible opportunity to grow! Just like when you lift weights. The goal is to push your muscles so far that your muscles can't lift anymore, and in that instance when your muscles are too weak to lift any more, when they fail you, they are too tired for any more, this is the point when your muscles actually will become stronger.So I know we're in April, and the whole new year's resolution is so 4 months ago, but who cares? There are still 8 more beautiful months of this year left.. So this year, I want to propose a challenge to myself and everyone who is holding themselves back because of fear of failure.. Please just let go and fail!!!!Push yourself, scare yourself more and more, take yourself to that point of failure and let yourself fail. Then do it again. We'll still love you. Go learn to dance, cook a souffle, travel to Europe, or better yet invent a pineapple tree that grows in the arctic (OK, that last one was my selfishness coming through). You'll probably be terrible at first, and your souffle will look like I jumped on it, or you'll look as graceful as an elephant with four left feet on the dance floor, but you'll get better and better and then you'll be Fred Astaire. So Just Fail!So my first point of this challenge? Well I only have 4~5 months left in Korea and I have made a list of what I want to accomplish in these next months of my life... All of these are scary things for me to attempt, and even scarier to put them online. I tend to keep my goals all locked up in my journals, so if I don't ever get around to attempting them, I only know. However, this is a new year of going toward my fears. No more excuses!Challenge #1 Be more open!So here is the dastardly list. Short, Sweet and Scary. What would your list look like?1) Submit my pictures to a magazine that I like2) Collaborate with another artist(fashion designer, make-up artist, etc.) on a Photography Shoot3) Do a Fashion Shoot in Seoul4) Start a CREATIVE bi-weekly self-portrait series (all turn the camera around/in the mirror pictures are banned!) with Mandolyn McConaha in May.5) Finish learning to cook all of my favorite Korean dishes.6) Continue and Finish a Medium Format Portrait Series on my little Orphan Boys (Much more on them later)Finally this is my first attempt at using a Medium Format TLR Camera! I got a lot of uh blurry, underexposed, fail pictures, but I got some that I liked too. Using the camera was such a challenge, a totally foreign experience, but really fun all at the same time. Expect more TLR Pictures in the next few months. :)

Father, I have Sinned..Kimchi Jjigae My way!

Yes, it took me 3 whole weeks of cooking Wednesdays to finally deviate from God give Perfection or in other terms, the Korean recipe! I did it my way this time AND because I did, I have committed a sin, and I shall never be forgiven. No matter how much Kimchi I eat or how many times I finish my entire rice at school. I have committed the ultimate sin. God will have no grace for me.This sin is almost as bad simultaneously walking under a ladder, opening up an umbrella indoors, throwing away your rice and then cursing your mother to her face. Ohhhh! it's bad.. but OH! it was worth it!. I'm surprised it took me this long to sin. ;)So I have deviated from the right way to make Kimchi Jjigae, a most sacred fermented stew that is sipped all around wintry Korea, day in and out. Legend has it that it keeps you not only healthy and happy, but it also gives you mad chopsticks skills so that you can attract the proper mate and then marry in 2 months time. I swear it's true!How did I manage to mess this soup of the matchmakers up? You see, I have not only added mushrooms, but I also added Pumpkins! Yes, I'll never marry! I'll be an old maid for life. Gasp, yes! You have permission to Gasp again! ::Inge, pauses to hear the crowd gasp, again and again:: I should be slapped in the face, thrown out of the country or worse, be forced to clean a Kimchi factory with a toothbrush.Expect more delicious unholiness from me in the future. What will I do next? Perhaps make riceless bibimbap..?  ::all the Koreans in the room gasp and say "You wouldn't dare, Inge!" "Ha, just watch me! Muahahaha!" So here's the Traditional Kimchi Jjigae recipe from www.maangchi.com and just throw in some delicious Pumpkin and Mushrooms to take it up a notch!Ingredients:* 200 grams of Pork belly (about 1/2 pound)* 4 or 5 cups of chopped kimchi* 1 tbs sugar, 1 tsp of hot pepper flakes, 1 tbs hot pepper paste* onion, green onions* half a package of tofu* sesame oil and waterOk, let’s start!1. In a shallow pot, put some chopped kimchi and juice.2. Add sliced onion, hot pepper paste, and hot pepper flakes, sugar, and green onions.3. Pour water until all ingredients are submerged.4. Close the lid of the pot and boil it 25 or 30 minutes. (first 10 minutes will be high heat and then turn down the heat over medium heat)5. Add some tofu and boil it 5 minutes more and put some sesame oil right before serving.Ta Ta for now!

Famous in Seoul

Sunday afternoon in the middle of the Yeouido Cherry Blossom Festival a mass of Koreans began to form, mouths were gaping, hundreds of cellphones were out, all busily snapping pictures, and they weren't looking at beautiful cherry blossoms.. Oh no, they cared nothing for the millions of flower-filled trees, they were more enthralled with the massive blue eyes of all the Taylor children. You would have thought that the Olsen twins had arrived or perhaps Hannah Montana had just come on stage... All the grandmothers wanted their pictures taken with the beautiful waygooks (foreigners) and the grandfathers wanted to shake their hands. And the funny thing is that all this madness is just a normal Korean day for the Taylors. Korean made celebrities. :)Want your Korean life documented? contact me @ ingekathleen@gmail.com view my portfolio here

French Toast and Funny Faces

Sunday Morning, just as we were getting ready to eat massive amounts of French Toast at BUTTERFINGERS, the best breakfast place in all of Seoul, Seo Yeon marched up to us, a group of 6 very funny, very strange foreigners, and decided to join us for an hour long chat about life., Well actually, all she really wanted to do was laugh at us and our funny faces. :) I can't blame her because our faces are ..eh...Well. there IS a reason, I don't put my face up on this blog very often. I'm protecting the little ones. You should thank me and send gifts to show your appreciation. *Don't worry, the gifts don't need to be in the form of money, just fruit. I have a gift registry at fruitisamazing.com ~ I'm not picky, Pineapples, Pears, Mangos, let your imagination run wild! :)view my portfolio here 

A Magic Salad Invention!

My favorite thing in the world to do is open up my refrigerator, grab all the ingredients that look and smell somewhat edible, wash, chop, shred, tear, and beat them silly, throw everything in a bowl, put some oil and vinegar it and then Say Abracadabra!, Open Sesame!Then! I walk behind a black cat, glue together a broken mirror, close an umbrella indoors, sprint under of a ladder, and unspill milk. I do all of this while praying to the salad gods that magic will occur. This morning it did! Woot, woot!It was a crazy concoction, and it actually workedA Coconut, Sesame and dried seaweed salad topped with two delicious eggs! Amazing. Who would have thunk that it all these flavors could be such fabulous friends? not me. I should unspill milk more often!

For all of those curious here are the magic ingredients : Amounts subject to personal taste. More of what you like, less of what you don't or in my case a lot of everything! :)1) your favorite greens: lettuce, spinach, etc.2) chopped cucumbers3) halved cherry tomatoes (optional)4) the secret ingredient (look in your international grocery store) --> crumbled dried seaweed (Korean name: Miyok)5) sesame seed oil6) toasted sunflower seeds or sesame seeds7) toasted unsweetened coconut flakes8) 2 perfect sunny side up eggs