Christmas in Korea

Well the Christmas season has come and gone. We celebrated in style with a multi-cultural potluck feast in my tiny apartment. Almost all of the teachers from school were there, with the exception of two. And since I inherited the oven from Jo and Pete, I was the natural choice to host the party.

I made pumpkin pie from scratch. I should have gone for the small pumpkin...I only used a quarter of this one to make a double recipe. I have a lot of pumpkin frozen to use at Thanksgiving next year!

Here are the finished pies. I made the little heart-shaped one for sampling to make sure they weren't a colossal disaster. Luckily the substituting of Korean ingredients didn't affect the taste too much.

Christmas Eve we had a little party on the roof at midnight. It was a full moon and Mars was really bright. Lovely way to welcome Christmas.

Christmas Day I came home early to put the chickens in the oven. I managed to fit four chickens into my specially-bent pan that just fits my tiny oven. And a loaf and a half of bread's worth of stuffing. (was too hungry to remember to get an after shot...)

I had a tiny tree that was also bequeathed to me by Jo (I really should thank her for my Christmas) that set the mood for the party.

And I gave Hue a little bit of Christmas head gear to get him in the mood.

The gusts' arrival and the cooking of the chickens happened pretty much in perfect timing, and we all settled down to our feast. We had Korean food in the form of mandu (think potstickers/dumplings) and kimbap (Korea's answer to sushi) and jjigae (spicy Korean stewy soup). My Mexican/American friend brought some spicy ricey. The Brits made a traditional Christmas pudding (with some substitutions...). And Nick, from Buffalo, brought a meat and cheese tray courtesy of the stores on his brother's Air Force base. They were really the star of the show...you can't get good meat and cheese here. We all wanted to kiss Nick when he walked in with that.

He also brought veggies and dip, something else you don't get a lot of here, and devilled eggs. I was so happy to see those. We always have those at my Grandma's at Christmas and I really wanted to make some, but ran out of time and budget.

Here's a pic of everyone chowing down. We just passed all the bowls around the room because it was too packed to do a proper buffet. No one wanted to risk standing up.

And here's me enjoying the fruits of my pie-making labour. I must say I deserved a pat on the back for those babies. Grandma would be proud.

I stayed up late to call my family when they woke up so I could open my presents with them. Sadly, my web-cam was telling me things in Korean that I couldn't understand, so couldn't fix it. But I got to see them opening. When I could keep my eyes open, that is. Cooking for 15 people in a tiny kitchen tires one out.

I'm hoping to take some pictures of the Christmas decorations around here before they're all taken down...if I manage it I'll post them. 'Til next time...I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and I'll see you next year!

The Korean Wish Book

I came home the other day and found in my mail box what I will assume to be the Korean equivalent of the Christmas-time Sears Catalogue known as "The Wish Book." I was very happy to find it as I had just been commenting to my fellow Canadians how I missed having the Wish Book to look at. It is an essential part of Christmas in any Canadian household.

Now the official name of the catalogue, as I can read it, is "2007/Goodbye/Hyundai Homeshopping." Hyundai? Yes, not only do they make cars but they have department stores and, evidently, 2007 Goodbye catalogues.

I was very happy to discover that, despite it's small stature, it was what I would expect from a Christmas catalogue. Inside you can find anything you'd need for gift-giving. Fashion, beds, furniture, shoes, bags, food. But, as is usual in Korea, it also has a few unusual things in it. Things you would never find in the original Wish Book, or any other Canadian catalogue for that matter.

First off, these strange shoes. I will draw your attention to the soles. Now why on earth would you want to wear shoes with a curved sole? I'm sure this nice man in the red shirt is telling us why, but I've got to disagree in principle with whatever he's saying.. Maybe the arrow at the top means you can use them as street skis or something.

This little gem appears to be a cereal dispenser. I look at this and I think of those things you can buy that will automatically feed your dog when you go out of town for the weekend. Is this for those busy families who can't afford a baby-sitter in the morning before the kids go to school?

For those of you who are thinning (and trust me, Korea will do that to you) here's a contraption that will help you get back what you've lost. I wonder if it massages the scalp into relaxing enough to let the hair grow back? If that's not a cup of your tea, maybe you'd prefer the more traditional method:


Spray paint.

For the lady who has everything, including a jewelry fetish, a mirror that opens into a storage closet for her accessories! My only beef with this is that it's not really big enough. My earring collection alone would need maybe three of them. (Yes I nearly ordered this but luckily was rescued by the thought "how would I get it home.")

For the body-conscious, a selection of slimming underwear. And, as I like to call them, cleavage makers. Not just a regular push-up bra, these babies appear to pull all the fat off your back even and push it up to your chest. I guess some people can use all the help they can get in that area. (My favourite thing on this page has to be the little cartoon old lady in the upper left corner. She's thinking....hmmmm...i could look like that again...with the right underwear of course.)

And here's a little something for those of you who need a little help in....other areas. (NOT ME!)

On to the exercise equipment! This is something straight out of the '50s. Jiggle yourself skinny! They have these at the gym I go to and I've never had the courage to try them. (Mostly because you have to take off your shoes to get on.) Notice the many positions to take on the giggling surface to target various parts of the body.

And the "SlimU." How this works is any one's guess. But it might...steam you skinny? Shock you? Heat you? Who knows.

And the food! No where to been are the tins of cookies and taffy you would expect in a Christmas catalogue. No candy canes or anything like that. Instead we have...

...random fried things and spicy noodle...

...vacuum-packed all-nutrients-boiled-away corn...

...sweet potatoes (of course)...

...dried squid (what else?!)...

...mail order mussels (!!!!!???????!!!!!!!)...

...and a two-page spread of kimchi. What more could you need?

My favourite thing in the whole catalogue has to be this though:

I like to try to guess what it could be for. A personal sauna for your legs? Some sort of detaining device for concerned parents to keep their teen aged daughters out of trouble? Personal heating? Personal air conditioning? Vibration? Steam? I could get one of the Korean teachers to read it for me but I prefer to be left in the dark on this one. It's much funnier.