Today is your Birthday!

To Markus;

Happy Birthday my sweet boy, today you turn 3!

Not one day goes by, that I don't thank God and life, for blessing me with such a healthy, happy, beautiful, SUPER funny & incredibly sweet boy. You make days brighter with your smile, sweeter with your love, funnier with you craziness...

Dari was here!

The title of this post reminds me of when I was in school and we used to write our name (if you did) on the restroom door, a bench or at the school desk... Tania was here!.... Sorry, just having a lame flashback moment...

Let's just say, somewhere in Seoul it says;

Dari was here... 4 / 1 / 12 

: )

Dakgalbi

I forgot about this one!!!!
The other day we went to Coex, (Our Plaza Las Americas here)...
In PR we went to Plaza when it was just too hot to do anything else and here is the contrary. It's so cold! I don't mean to complain about it, because when I was In PR all I did was complain how hot it was. Now I get to be in the cold & not sweat, so no complaints!
I'm not particularly fond of the cold I got because of how cold it is, but if I have to choose, I prefer the cold weather rather than being hot 24-7. This weather just makes me crave hearty food, so for  lunch I was looking for a very Korean restaurant to have lunch. We randomly picked one and to my surprise it was Dakgalbi.... Yeaaayyy!!! I looooooove Dakgalbi!!! Then I realized I totally forgot the post I was supposed to do about it.

So here I share with you, a part of the very special weekend we had and us learning about what has become my favorite Korean dish...

       * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The weekend we went to Nami, we stayed over night around the same area,  I think Chuncheon...

I got a liiiittle scared of spending the night there. What would you think if the first thing you saw in the room when you went in was this...

ummmmhummm..... bug spray korea, hotel

How was I supposed to sleep after the thoughts this bug spray brought to my mind. Nothing I hate more than roaches. I am terrified,  horrified, disgusted with the idea of having bugs crawl over me. The movie Just Married came to mind...
Luckily nothing happened, the only thing I saw was a lady bug. After some sleep we woke up to the most beautiful misty, happy morning. : )

 In Chuncheon they are known for their Dakgalbi.

I found my favorite food heeeEEEeere... Oh my, was it good!

It's basically stir-fried chicken with vegetables. The first version we had of it, was barbecued on coal, so it had that yummy flavor.

It brought back very happy memories of my childhood. Times when we used to go on daytime trips to the beach and make barbecued chicken on an improvised grill.  It has always stayed in my memory as the best chicken, even if it had a bit of sand on it! I miss those days....

It also made me think of how the things we do now, are going to be a very important part of our kids life. When you have kids you get the chance to live a second childhood through them, I get to be part of a lot of first times again. Building their memories is so exiting and giving them a healthy & happy childhood, is our goal : )

So back to our dinner....  Yes, it was yum, yum, yum, yum, yum.... delicioso!

Grilled Dakgalbi

                 Our very first time having Dakgalbi.

Dakgalbi

The flavor the tteokbokki (rice cakes) gets from the grilling is just sooooo good!

I can remember what this dish was called. I really liked it. It's made out of potatoes, similar to a hash brown but less greasy, mashed and maybe mixed with some flour. 

I'm really starting to like the floor seating. Marky just runs around without knocking down chairs and I'm not afraid he might fall from one. He is to tall for a infant feeding chair and to small for a regular one. The floor is just perfect! 

The next day, we went to a ski resort (tons of fun)...

First time holding a sled...

A first time for us!!!

weeeeee..... lol

Another first time moment!

Before heading back to the city we stopped for some more Dakgalbi. This time it was done the more traditional way. 

Dakgalbi

Dakgalbi

Dakgalbi

You make it yourself...

The area is also known for their Buckwheat Cold Noddles. 

You add the Gochujang & mix it.

The potato pancakes again <3

Hurray for a great weekend filled with memories, first times, no bugs, new friends & Dakgalbi!

We ate so well! Now that I posted this, I can't stop thinking about Dakgalbi & the yummy potatoes! Can't wait to go back!

Till next,

xoxo 

Hwaseong Fortress

 A couple of weeks ago we went on a little road trip and ended up in a town called Suwon, the provincial capital in Gyeonggi-do. The only remaining completely walled city in South Korea. It's known as The City of Filial Piety... to respect ones parents and ancestors. 

We looked what to do here on our "i Tour Seoul" app. & the first thing that come up was the Hwaseong Fortress. Not gonna write the whole history, but I'll put the links to wiki-it' on the labels.

 We only got to see about 1/4 part of the Fortress, because we decided to hike up the mountain first, by the time we got down, we were exhausted.  But there was so much to see on our way up that I was satisfied with our little adventure. 

We tell Markus all the time; "Let's go on an adventure"... he loves it. Now when he's bored he tells me; "Mommy we forgot to go on an adventure, let's get the car".

Como dicen en Puerto Rico; "salio paticaliente y andariego": )

We parked right in front of these steps, so we decided to hike up first. 

the stairs aren't gonna do...

we have to say hi to the cat...

wow...

WOW... again

that's one big Buddah...

Buddhist temple

Inside the temple...

Buddhist temple

Buddhist temple

We noticed the use of the Swastika symbol all over Seoul.  It's in signs, buildings, even in cars. In the beginning I wondered what it meant here. I needed to find out, since my ignorant and judgmental self first thought was; Nazi?!?  Know I'm happy to know it is a symbol widely used in indian religions, like Hinduism, Buddihsm & Jainism, as a tantric symbol to evoke "shakti" or  good luck. 

I must be getting smarter by the day here.... lol

Swastika

Fresh water

The idea of fresh mountain water seems nice, but, do we really have to share cups with the world...   Sorry, I pass..... my germophobic self got hers at the vending machine.

After all that...

Still all of this.... 

Poor Sean, Marky gave up, he had to carry him up.

I guess no matter on what side of the world you are, people are mostly the same...  No one reads or follows instructions.  Sorry, but to say the truth, they will push you down before moving to the side. No apology either.

 Po-po-po... I got a lot of stories on pushing, shoving, touching... You'll get a laugh at that post when I do it.

Almost there, almost there...

We did it!!!! 

Suwon

After I caught my breath...

Suwon

The view of the city.

Suwon

This...

Must be that... If you know how to read Korean.

             This reminded me of  " El Morro" in Old San Juan...

Oh... to stare at the sky...  Not trying to get all "strawberry shortcake" on you, but it really was a pretty view!

See... Beautiful!

Left, left, left, right, left...

Suwon, City of Suwon, Korea, Fortress

The wall that surounds the City of Suwon.

Well, that's it for this post. You don't want to see the pictures after these. Two grouchy parents,  a tired & even grouchier boy and a hungry baby.  If you have kids, you know how it goes from there...  straight home : )

xoxo