Cucumber Kimchi Making?

As agreed, I am back at Uncle Daniel's place for a session of Kimchi-making. But this time, I brought a guest - Huiwen - my Taiwan buddy!

Kimchi is a staple in Korea - I don't know any Koreans who don't enjoy Kimchi. Not yet.

Presumably most married women should be able to make their own kimchis for the family.  (I assume of all natures- radish, cucumbers etc.) 

So, without further ado, we arrived at Uncle Daniel's place to find his so-very sweet wife ready for action with all the raw ingredients needed for the session. Namely, onions, spring onions and cucumbers.

So we each had a part to play in the preparations by slicing, peeling and chopping.

This is the teach at work.

 

 Me looking so domesticated!

Hey yo! No skiving with the kid - taking selfies and all!

  

To balance the equation, here she is taking our share of selfies!

 Seriously, I should have been more serious and take notes instead of selfies, cos I cannot recall what are the next ingredients. All I remembered was the mixing, stirring and playing etc.

Was that salt and vinegar?

 

Oh well... to some extend, the fun was not in learning to make the kimchi, but the time spent having all our hands dipped in the same pot, mixing the vegetables thoroughly and working the sauce through all the vegetables as a team in momentum.

Needless to say, the Kimchi came out "daebak"! Can't expect any less from the expert home-maker!

We even got the approval of her girl!

At the end of the day, what was really memorable was that of spending time together, working towards a common goal. 

The night ended well with another session heart-warming dinner, reading stories to the girls and basically just chilling at home with them - just so awesome!

Ending this day on a high!

Dinner @ Uncle Daniel's @ 상록수

Winter is soon approaching.. as it is, the weather is already getting pretty cold, but bearable. (Now I understand why I see people wearing jackets even at home in Korean dramas)

Today I got an invite for a home dinner at one of my mum's church friend's place (Uncle Daniel). Uncle Daniel was a missionary (i think) stationed in Singapore for a period of time, hence, it kinda felt like I was meeting someone from "home". The location was 상록수역 (Sangnoksu, on line 4), about 20 stops with 2 transit stations in between. Total travel time was close to 2 hours - but it was soooo worth the effort and distance.

Uncle Daniel waited for me at the station as he was afraid I might get lost. Very sweet of him.

The moment I arrived at his place, I was greeted cordially by his 2 little darlings and his lovely wife whom I address as 언니 (big sister)! They can't really speak English and so my Korean was put to the test!

It didn't take long for them to warm up to me and soon we were communicating in all sorts of body languages and hand signs! HA!

Even though I offered to help, 언니 refused any help in the kitchen & in no time, the food was prepared and we gathered around the table for a feast.

It's not my first time being in a Korean house (the first time was when I visited my buddy's) and I really do think they all resemble what you see on the Korean dramas.

We dine sitting on the floor. The dishes are always covering every bit of the table leaving no spots empty. And there's just something about meat wrapped in cabbage!

As we said grace for the food, I really thanked God for such friendships (though they were more like my mums friends - I felt they were my friends or even my uncle/auntie). The warm feeling of home just washed over me at that point. I can only say I'm truly blessed.

Could simply feel the TLC in there!

  

And there you have it, my cute buddies!

And my kind host!

The amazing thing is, it's the first time I am meeting each of them and yet, I felt like I've known them from before.

They treated me with great hospitality and even though we have a communication barrier (my Korean proficiency is just hopeless), it doesn't affect the way we communicate. 

We share stories, experiences, words of encouragements about life and crisis and many more...

Due to the change in seasons, the day gets really short and before we knew it, it was dark, even though it was barely 8pm. 언니 was asking me to stay the night (I felt so accepted and loved, somehow), but being the OCD me, I need to sleep on my own bed and hence I promised I'd be back soon for a round 2 and that will include me helping out in the kitchen! 

She gladly obliged and offered to teach me the art of making a cold cucumber dish! 

*HAPPY & TOUCHED*

My goodbye hug to the little one!

And a promise that I'd come back soon!

The thing about traveling to foreign places on your own and randomly hanging around, is that you never know what you are gonna get. 

And experiences like this one doesn't come easy cos its like a spirit-meet-spirit association. I cannot even begin to describe the fuzziness... Just absolutely grateful.