Photos I've taken while out and about in our neighborhood.....
Redbuds, outside our apartment building, ready to bloom, in early April
A kindergarten class, taking a springtime walk during the cherry blossoms.
Dog, cart, and bicycle in front of a blue home along the river
A blue heron in the river
Redbuds in bloom!
:The Worlds Best Chocolate Cake (really!):
Note: Usually I am all for making my recipes healthier. This recipe is my one big splurge, where I make an exception to that rule.
This recipe was originally "Hershey's Perfectly Perfect Chocolate Cake". It was modified by my friend Donna, whose mother was a prize winning cake baker. She says you should always add an extra egg, and use cream in place of milk. So we do. We made further modifications, making it dark chocolate and gluten free (but I include the regular recipe too).
Perfectly Perfect (Dark) Chocolate Cake
2 C sugar
1 3/4 C flour (we use gluten free flour, plus 3/4 tsp xanthan gum)
3/4 C cocoa (we use dark - it makes it so much yuumier!)
1 1/2 tsp baking poweder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs (Donna says 3, so we use 3)
1 cup milk (Donna says cream, so we use cream)
1/2 C oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 C boiling water
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two round cake pans.
Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, & vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water. Pour into pans.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until middles spring back when touched. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pans to finish cooling.
Frosting
1/2 C butter
2/3 C cocoa (we use dark)
3 C powdered sugar
1/3 C milk (we use cream)
1 tsp vanilla
Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Add milk. Then add sugar and beat until spreading consistency. Then add vanilla.
We couldn't find powdered sugar in Korea, so I tried making my own in the blender. It worked fairly well. Here's a recipe. The key is to do small batches of no more than 1 cup at a time.
And to make up for that less than healthy indulgence, here is a scrupmtious muffin recipe that is flourless, has no refined sugars other than in the chocolate chips (if you use a natural peanut butter), no dairy, no trans fat (if you use a natural peanut butter), and and batter tastes like a little bit of heaven. I just made them for the first time today, to share with our sister missionaries, and it was all I could to keep from eating the batter by the spoonful.
I also tried making them in regular muffin cups, baked them for 15 minutes, and they also turned out great. I even reduced the honey by 1/3, and I thought they were plenty sweet. But after 12 years in Japan, I don't like my food super sweet.
And another fun recipe I tried this week, since we can't buy cottage cheese in Korea.
It was surprisingly easy, and turned out nice and dry like it is in Japan. I love it that way! I found that I like it better with a little salt added to it.
And since I had fresh cottage cheese, and left over Easter eggs, I also tried this recipe:
Estonian Egg Salad (with butter and cottage cheese)
This was really yummy too. We ate it on baked potatoes, since we are gluten free, and the family loved it. It is really heavy on butter, which I didn't realize just from reading the recipe, because I'm not used to measuring in grams. So I cut the butter in half, and it was still delicious.
:Laundry hanging out to dry in our neighborhood, beind our apartment complex (in the background to the right):
One of the things that I am enjoying most about our life here in Korea is the opportunity for us to simplify. We moved here in our suitcases - 5 large suitcases, 5 carry-ons, and 5 large suitcase-sized boxes. So we didn't bring much with us. We have a simple apartment without a dryer, which is typical for Korea. We have a small kitchen with a tiny oven, not much bigger than the typical American microwave overn. And we don't have a car. We may get one. We haven't decided yet. In some ways not having a car makes life more complicated. But not having a car helps us get more exercise. We walk much more, and carry out groceries home from the store. And a lack of car also keeps life simple by not needing to worry about car insurance, car registration, drivers licenses, keeping gas in the car, repairs and maintenance of the car, etc.
:Our laundry - mostly hapkido uniforms - hanging to dry on our veranda. I love hanging my laundry out to dry at home in Nauvoo too. But I am used to the option of using the dryer on cold, rainy days and when in a hurry:
I am truly loving it. Having fewer belongings frees up so much mental space, time, and energy that can be directed in so many different ways. It also helps me to focus on the basics and what is truly most important. We value each other more as a family and are less distracted, pulled in fewer directions. I am so grateful for this opportunity. We lived the simple life almost 20 years ago in Japan, when our family was just starting, and I have missed it ever since. How lucky we are to do it again with a new crop of children. I'm so glad that they can experience it too.
:our apartment:
And speaking of those children, after more than two years of having no teenagers in our family, today we officially have a teenager again. Mia came into this world 13 years ago today on a beautiful Easter Sunday. We didn't know about it until 3 days later, but throughout that Sunday I had a joyous feeling that something wonderful and significant was happening. I just didn't know what it was.
I'm making her request, our favorite dark chocolate cake, today, and grinding up my own powdered sugar in the blender, since I haven't been able to find any here. I'm also making gyoza and simmered kabocha (Japanese foods) at her request. I love that girl.
The cherry blossoms have almost come to an end, but we are savoring every moment that we can with them. The kids (and I) have wanted to take walks and take pictures every chance we get.
I was able to quickly snap photos of this beautiful elderly woman enjoying the blossoms. When I see elderly Koreans, I can't help but wonder at the difficulties and heartbreak they must have seen in their lifetimes - being conquered by the Japanese, having their country split in half and devestated by the Korean war and the evil of communism, the destruction of their cultural heritage sites, cities, and farmland, and the decades of economic devastation that followed.
The KTX towers.
The Solbridge International Business School Campus (where Brock works) is comprised of this single tall building. I took the photo while the kids were playing on teh playground.
The view from our balcony now that leaves and blossoms are appearing. It was a hazy day, but still lovely.
The cherry blossoms (Sakura in Japanese & Peojggot in Korean) have been the most wonderful surprise. They came earlier than expected, and are much more abundant than we expected. There are cherry trees everywhere. We don't see the huge, ancient cherry trees like we did in Japan, here they are fairly new, young trees, but they line the riverways, fill our parks and playgrounds, and make us very happy.
Sunday after church we went for a walk in the perfect weather, and enjoyed the blossoms.
cherry blossoms and plum blossoms along the river
Sharing the bounteous blossoms
I've been excited for the neighborhood to green up so that it would look better in photographs. It will get much greener still, but I couldn't wait any longer, and brought my camera with me on my walk on the first day of spring. The same day that I took these photos, and these.
Daejeon seems to be full of Christian churches. We can see at least 10 steeples topped with crosses when we look out from our balcony. Korea is estimated to be as much as 30% Christian. That is a huge number compared to other Asian countries. (Japan, for example, is less than 1% Christian). Only in the Philippines is Christianity more of a way of life, and that is because of their colonization by Spain.
As I walk along the river, at one point I can see these two Christian churches alongside a Buddhist Temple (the backwards swastika is the sign for a Buddhist Temple - Hitler actually took that sign and turned it backwards to make his swastika).
I love seeing people pushing or pulling carts along the roads like this.
Another Christian church along the river.
Our apartment complex.
An elderly man sells "popped and puffed goods" from his cart on the bridge near our complex. He has a machine inside his truck that heats up the corn, rice, wheat, etc, and pops it. I've heard that it is illegal to sell on the streets in Korea, but policemen can be paid to look the other way. Street carts like this are common.
The grocer right in front of our apartment complex. I enjoy being able to pop into this shop, and many others like it right in our neighborhood when I need something.
I finally tried these pancakes, and they were a success! The family loved them.
All you need is one banana and two eggs per serving. Really.
You can add cinnamon and vanilla if you'd like. I did. But it's not necessary.
They are gluten free, dairy free, sugar free, high protein, low carb, low calorie and really yummy.
And so simple!
The recipe is here.
I mixed mine up in the blender, to smooth out all the banana lumps. I'm not sure if that was a good idea or not. It made the batter really smooth, but it also made it really airy and runny. They still tasted great, but it took me a while to figure out how to not pour too much batter into the pan, and when was just the right time to turn it so that the pancakes stayed in one piece when they were turned. Next time I may try it without the blender to compare.
One of the things I love most about Asia is the mixture of the ancient and the modern, the old and the new. I am captivated by the juxtaposition of rickity old buildings next to sparkling new skyscrapers, electronic shops with all the latest techonolgies next ancient shrines.
Our neighborhood in Daejeon, Korea is an old neighborhood. And while many old and run-down homes and buildings are being cleared away and replaced by new high-rises, many intriguing and old structures & homes remain.
Last week, on the first day of spring, I tried to capture these contrasts & their beauty with my camera.
A picturesque scene from old Korea painted on a house wall. At first glance, it seemed to me like a cowboy riding a horse - a western scene, but on closer insepction I saw it was a man in traditional Korean dress.
I LOVE Korean roof tiles.
This green seems to be the most popular color for gates.
More roof tiles
As I was taking pictures of the roof tiles above, a man asked me in what seemed to be an unfriendly and accusatory tone "why". Why was I taking pictures? It made me nervous, but I tried to stay calm, and told him it was because I thought it was pretty. He beckoned me to follow him, and I questioned the wisdom of it. But I tried to follow my heart, and it felt right to go with him. He led me into a narrow alley way between two old houses, which made me a little nervous, and then he proudly showed me this gate, and wanted me to photograph it. The yellow tape seems to be caution tape. I wonder if it will be torn down soon.....I hope not.
It is common to see people pulling carts like this around, even on busy streets.
The "backwards swastika" is the sign for a Buddhist Temple. And actually, the swastika is a backwards sign for a Buddhist Temple. Hitler stole it and turned it backwards.
Buildings like these remind me of structures we saw on our trip to Beijing.
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