Goodbye Korea

 It's been a little over one year, but we're now saying goodbye to Korea and heading to Washington DC.  Daegu, South Korea has been an interesting, fun and somewhat challenging place for us to live, but I am overall going to miss a lot of people, food and things you can only do and find in Korea.  (Like food delivery for cheap and so hot in 10 minutes or less.)  Didn't think I was going to say that six months ago, when I was craving anything but Korean, but the Korean food is really delicious and so very inexpensive.  Not sure what our last meal, will be, but we have been making very careful decisions for the last 12 meals we've have left here.

 We both picked #4 the Youngyang (Chestnuts, jujubes and pine nuts).  Delicious!!!

The amount of food is overwhelming, but so beautiful and interesting. We always order the smallest dinner at this restaurant 해밥달밥 Haebapdalbap (translated means sun rice, moon rice), which is still over 25 plates that come out. My hubby loves this style called Hanjeongsik, which is around $11 USD each.  This place is mostly vegetarian which I love and the atmosphere is cozy.

We start our new adventure tomorrow morning at 4:00am to catch a cab and fly out of Daegu, with a layover in Incheon (Seoul) to Narita (Tokyo) to SFO to Charlotte, to Reagan International (DC), where we will take a taxi to Maryland about 30 minutes to an hour away.  I've estimated that it will be about 34 hours of travel.  I hope it will not be more.  Ahh...

I'll write more when we get to our end destination.

c

Update:  Our trip took 34 hours from catching the cab in Daegu to being dropped off in front of the hotel in Maryland.   

Haebapdalbap
If you are ever in Daegu and interested in checking this place out.  I can email you subway directions or an address to give to the cab driver, since this link is in Korean and I can't read Korean either. 

little lion and ramblings

This is just a random doodle I did between my word sketches while waiting for the train a couple weeks ago. I was actually thinking about embroidering this image, but ran out of time.  So for now,  I'm going to cheat and use it as my sketch word of the week, "Childish" that Traci selected. :)

Traci - I like your pick this week.  I should draw something new, but this was much easier for a slacker like me.

My word for this week is "Ardent".   I will post Ardent along with the next word Traci selects in two weeks. 

My husband and I are leaving this week for our honeymoon part deux. We are going on our second honeymoon.  Well, technically it's 2.5 honeymoons, since Korea partly counts. :)

We were going to take a nerdy architectural trip to Shanghai to see the Design Expo that will be ending in October, but sadly our visas could not be issued in time. Plus the cost of the visa is totally outrageous. So instead, we are going to a different communist country that only requires a two week waiting period to get a visa. Good old Vietnam. We're actually going to Hanoi and staying in the Northern region the whole time. Now I wish we worked Angkor Wat into this trip, because we are sooo close and this may be one of our last big trip in Asia.

For this trip I plan on eating my way through Northern Vietnam and praying I don't see a snake in my path.  I really don't like jungles.

I can't wait to eat tons of delicious crispy non sweet baguettes.  FYI - All breads in Korea tend to be sweet, even garlic bread. Oh and just because it looks like a baguette, doesn't mean it's a baguette.  It might feel crispy, but it's a trick. And if it looks like wheat, it's probably red bean.  Korea is the "land of contradiction".  (Well to me and all the other foreigners I meet.)  Koreans actually refer to Korea as the "land of the morning calm".  Not sure where they get this...

Oddly the first meal I was planning on having when I came back to Portland was a banh mi sandwich with a bubble tea.  Yum!

So obviously the first thing on my agenda is to get a banh mi sandwich and Vietnamese coffee. I can't wait!!! A banh mi slathered with pate with the works... mmm and real strong coffee.  (How about, just regular coffee that will taste like coffee!)  I seriously cannot wait!

I'll post photos and sketches when I get back.

c

Don't forget to check Simple Huis.

snack pockets

I know I've been slacking on the posts this month, but I have been keeping busy sewing and crafting away. 

These little reusable snack pockets have been on my list-to-do for a while and I decided to whip them up late one night.  They seriously took no time at all.  For me, deciding on the fabric took longer.  

Here is a great pattern from a grey affair, that is easy to follow.  I modified the size of my pockets slightly and made two at 5.5 x 6.5 and one larger at 6.5 x 8.

I don't know the names or manufacturer of the fabrics I used.  They're just plain cotton quilting/calico's, that end up in most fabric stores States side.  I bought them at the fabric market in Korea (wholesale), since they make the fabric close to here.  Next time I go to the fabric market, I'll take a picture of the market since it's pretty dizzying. :)  I do enjoy the fabric market here and will miss it when we leave.

sketching warm-up... 'discombobulated, rupture & taut'

I've been slacking with posting these sketches.  I finished the last two immediately, but have been stuck on discombobulated, which was the first sketch I started and the most challenging.

So I'm finally posting all three at once. 

Just a recap: Three weeks ago, I selected 'discombobulated', Traci selected 'rupture' after that and I selected 'taut' last week.  I'm finally all caught up. 

Okay Traci, what's next?

                            "Discombobulated"

                             "Rupture"

                            "Taut"

Don't forget to check out Traci's sketches at Simple Huis.

Sharky tea infuser

This ingenious and whimsical little guy was designed by Pablo Matteoda from Argentina.

I was looking for a tea infuser a while back and found Sharky, which is still a concept and not for sell just yet.  I came across this again today, so I thought I'd share this with you all.

Sharky came in third place, of the "Beyond Silver" competition at Design Boom.

www.designboom.com

Such a bitter sweet morning

That's right.  I'm talking about The Hunger Games series.  So far the best series of books I've read all year.

I lounged all morning in bed to finish the last hundred pages of the "Mockingjay".  

Now I'm mopey and feeling sad, because the story was so wonderful, exciting and entertaining that I just didn't want it to end.  I'm going through a withdraw phase now. 

Although the the sweet part is, my husband made me breakfast this morning.  Taro pancakes, eggs, bacon and coffee.  (He makes the best pancakes.  Better than my mom. :)  The taro was an experiment, which was surprisingly delicious.)  While he was cooking I was trying to slow down my reading pace so that I could savor every detail of the final book.

(Sorry no pic's of breakfast) :o

I do have another book lined up to start, but let's be real.  Even without my current pessimistic attitude the next couple of books will be a disappointment, since I will still be thinking about "The Hunger Games".

Is anyone reading something amazing that might distract me from thinking about the best books ever?!?

Riff with Bruce & Rex

"Bruce, Rex, get into the pool!"

This is an embroidery of my dear friend Riff and his ex-pets (oranda goldfish).  Bruce is a black oranda at the top right / Rex is a red oranda towards the bottom / Riff is the one in flippers and goggles.

This embroidery image turned out a little different from the last one I did of my husband and Steve.  I've been having a difficult time lately, because everything I draw comes out realistic, which is not the look I'm going for.  I'm going to give Riff another try in the future, when I can loosen up my sketches. 

Riffy - Sorry you look lumpy.  It's not you, but a different stuffing I had at home. :)  I'm going to re-stuff it. 

My husband was lying on you last night... thought you would like that. hee hee :)

*Fabric is a natural linen with navy thread

sketching warm-up... 'merriment'

"Merriment"

I am really enjoying these black ink drawings/doodles.  I keep saying I'm going to use color for the next sketch, but at the end really like the simple feel of the black and white.

There's just to many color options sometimes, which makes it hard to pick just one.

Detail of "merriment"



Next sketch: discombobulated

See Simple Huis...

sketching warm-up... 'capricious'

"capricious"
Well my interpretation anyway. :)


See Simple Huis for Traci's sketch.

dabbling with embroidery...

"A Boy and his Dog"

This is a pillow I embroidered for my husband as an anniversary gift for our first year being married.  It's an abstract depiction of him and Steve the Dog.  (Steve kind of looks like a sausage.)  

This all started, because I got an idea of a quilt design I wanted to make, which I could possibly create using a darning or stippling foot on my sewing machine.  Otherwise known as free-motion quilting.

So I started researching free-motion quilting and figured out that I could also use this same foot for embroider.  I purchased a darning foot for my machine and slightly modified it to work for me.

I would have posted my progress as I practiced this embroidery technique, but wanted to surprise my husband.  So I'm giving this to you all at once.   I practiced three times, before I attempted the pillow above.

This is my third practice piece.
"Dead Roach"

My husband was traveling for work the last couple of weeks and while we were chatting on the phone, I asked him to name an animal, since I was having a design block.  He was being difficult and said, "cockroach".  I know he was being funny, because he hates bugs and all crawly things.  So I went ahead and did a cockroach... but dead (to make it interesting).  Now he's living with it on our sofa for the time being and I'm now contemplating a dead bird pillow. :)

My second practice piece.
"Crustacean"
This little shrimp was great to practice because of all his legs.

My very first embroidery attempt.
"Pink Elephant"

I'm also pondering stitching my friends... :)

*Riffy- do you have a picture of Bruce and Rex?  I'd like to try and design one of you and the two of them.  hee hee

sketching warm-up... 'something hot'

Ahh, the sketching continues.
"Something Hot"

Next sketch:  Capricious
(It's my favorite word and I love how it sounds.)

See Traci's sketch at Simple Huis.