Did I mention that I almost burned down my kitchen?

After being inspired by my friend's Blog, I've been trying to cook more these days (I'm not much of a cooker). And since I'm adopting a kid from Korea (and the fact that I'm also a Korean adoptee) I've also been trying to learn more about Korean culture (emphasis mainly on food at this point - although I have about 4 books that are going to teach me about culture, etiquette and where to sight see). Mix those two together, and you got me in the kitchen trying to make Bulgogi (Korean BBQ). 

This recipe has been posted on an adoption forum that I'm a part of. Every time I see it (which is when I 'search' in the archives to read the recipe again) it sooo puts me in the mood for Korean food. 

*** okay, I have to do a little disclaimer real quick. I talk about how I love Korean food - which I do - but it's only some Korean food that I dig. I actually can't handle spicy food at all. Seriously, like mild salsa makes my tongue hurt. And I abhor runny eggs - which there are recipes where they just crack an egg on top and are done with it. Yeah... not my favorite. So my version of 'Korean food' is really only the tip of the iceberg in what Korean cuisine can offer you. If you have an adventurous palette, then I say go to your friendly neighborhood Korean restaurant and try the real deal. If your palette is more on the simple side (like mine) then maybe my version is worth trying.  Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled blog post ***

So Monday was going to be the 'big day' where I was going to make Bulgogi. I had it all planned in my head. I would make all this stuff, surprise Bob with my homemaker-ish skills, and then have him cook the meat on the grill. Feeling pret-ty good at this point (this is before I left for the grocery store). 

Anyway, I take Claire to the store where I stock up on all the random ingredients that I need (pear juice? where do I find that? And ginger puree? Please tell me they sell that stuff. I don't know how to use a food processor - or do you need a blender?) and then it's back home and putting everything out on the kitchen island. I contemplated taking a photo, but then you would have seen how messy my dinning room table is, so I scrapped that idea. 

As I'm getting myself organized, I realize that I still have a piece of Meatball pizza left (which is a 'Take U Bake' pizza from Raley's and has a super thin crust - SO GOOD) so I stick it in the microwave on a paper towel for 15 seconds, and then start chopping my green onion... or scallion.. or whatever it is. 

I'm not exactly sure what happened between setting the timer for 15 seconds and hitting 'cook', but something really bad did indeed take place. I'm not sure how much time actually went by, but as I'm chopping away, I realize that I'm smelling smoke. I look up, and dark grey smoke (the really thick kind) is POURING from the microwave. I run over and hit 'stop' and notice that it's counting back from 92 minutes... shoot. I have no idea how long it was cooking for. Smoke is still pouring out, so I quickly run and open the sliding glass door... and then the front door... and open a window... *did I mention it's pouring rain outside?* and then open another window.... and turn on the ceiling fan. I can actually feel my throat itching from the smoke at this point so I grab Claire and tell her we have to run upstairs - which we do - but then I remember that smoke 'rises', so I turn on the two ceiling fans upstairs and then take her back down stairs and tell her to sit on the floor. I grab a towel and try to 'fan' the smoke out, to which Claire keeps yelling, 'Mommy - what are you trying to catch? Mommy - what are you doing?' At one point I heard her say, 'hey - I can't see my bike' (which that bike was only 15 feet away at best, and you could totally see it. We'll have to have a little talk about how exaggerating-during-crisis-moments-is-not-helpful-to-mommy on another day)

At this point I'm hoping that the pizza isn't on fire anymore, and gather the courage to open the microwave door (I'll admit, I kinda thought it might explode in my face). There wasn't a flame to be seen and I quickly grabbed the pizzapapertowel and threw it outside. 

I'm actually still kinda amazed at how much smoke that little sucker produced. 

Oh yeah... the silver lining in this story is that by some good fortune I did not have any batteries in any of my smoke alarms. (they were ALL doing that annoying, random chirping that literally drives you insane. So in a fit of rage we took all the batteries out. I'm actually thinking we need new smoke alarms in general because I read somewhere that the units need to be changed out every 7-10 years.) While some of you might have just gasped at the knowledge that there aren't any working smoke alarms in my house  (at the moment!) do not be afraid. I think more bodily harm would have happened if I had to go through that whole ordeal with a screeching, high pitched devil cry going off in my ears. And while you may still be contemplating whether or not you should call CPS, rest in the knowledge that Bob has tomorrow off and I'm sending him to the store to get new alarms or batteries - what ever he finds first.

And in case you were wondering...

my Bulgogi turned out fantastic!

PS... taxes are due today

More Cupcakes

As you know, I've been playing around with cupcakes lately. Ever since Claire saw the picture of these 'duck' cupcakes, she's been asking for them. I keep telling her that we don't have the stuff to make them, so then she asks to go to the store to 'get the stuff'. Man, she's persistent! It's a good thing it was her birthday, otherwise, I'm not sure if I would have caved (or at least caved this soon).  Fortunately Bob was there to help, so into the wee hours of the night, we melted, dipped, snipped, cut, frosted, rolled and shaped random bits of treats into little cupcake masterpieces. 

well... maybe that's exaggerating just a bit on that last part

We had a smallish 'party' with a few friends so I needed some cupcakes for that. And then we were also having dinner with some of her cousins, so we needed some cupcakes for that. And then as a family, I thought I'd have some for us as well. Fortunately, there were 3 different cupcakes that I wanted to make.

The 'Mums'

 Gotta do those again because they make me feel really good about myself as a person. 

So that was purely a selfish choice to help build my self esteem. 

'Apples'

These are made by laying half of a mini donut

 on top of the cupcake before frosting. 

The picture in the book is SUPER cool. 

What's not super cool is that fact my donuts

 were smaller than the diameter my cupcake.

Trust me, it makes it MUCH harder and the results are less than stellar. 

(but I already have an email in to the writers of the book asking what kind of donuts they use  - and no, I'm not joking in the slightest)

And here come the 'Ducks'

These are hard, and the beaks were the toughest part

In fact, we spent alot of time just laughing at our creations.

Like this guy.

go ahead and insert any funny, obnoxious sound you want 

(that's what we did... for a good 10 minutes)

I decided to take the duck cupcakes when we went to dinner 

with my sister and her kids.

So right before we were to leave, I grabbed my cupcake carrier

turned the corner and saw...

DUDE!

She ate all the BEAKS off! Are you kidding me?!?!?!

*grumble*you know how long this took me*grumble*

ugh. well, at least I still had the Apples. I took those instead.

So all was not lost.

But it is worth mentioning that using cinnamon sugar

is not the best choice when making them for kids

(it's much too 'spicy')

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Sweetie Baby!

Oh my sweet Claire, happy 3rd birthday to you!

Daddy and I just finished spending an insane amount of time trying to make the duck cupcakes you wanted. They were super hard...

 and I'm not sure if you'll recognize them as ducks, but just know we love you enough to even try. 

It's amazing to me how much you've grown 

(even though you're still teeny tiny)

Shall we take a trip down memory lane? 

Here you are when you turned 1. 

How you hated to be cuddled. 

And of course, here's your best friend Bunny

To think he was actually a shade of pink is amazing

When you were 2, we took you to see the Ocean

You loved 'running' from the waves with Daddy

And feeling the wind in your hair

And this was at our recent trip to Newport Beach

I think you look so old!

Smiling and eating powdered donuts

Life is pretty great - don't you think?

I hope this year brings you many more 'firsts'

I hope you learn many new things

I hope you know that Daddy and I love you more than you'll ever know

Our lives would not be the same without you

You make me smile every.single.day

(especially when you ask to listen to Justin 'Beaver')

So Happy Birthday to you

I love, love, LOVE you!

Love Letter

Dear ipad,

How do I love thee? 

Let me count thy ways...

Actually, there are too many.

But here are a few:

ibooks

seriously - this rocks. 

I went to check out the Nook/Kindle and the ipad...

yeah... it's not even a fair comparison.

calendar

this is the day planner of all day planners

so easy to use

app store

I've already gotten some really cool apps

There are pre-school games for Claire

Facebook for me

Epicurious - for recipes & grocery lists

Netflix

and the list continues...

email

surprisingly easy to use

the keyboard is awesome!

browsing the web

yeah... one more thing that is super nice

it's going to make using my phone seem kinda lame

Honestly, this is just the tip of the iceberg. There is SO much more I'm learning about this thing every day! No joke! I'm also going to set up a one-on-one meeting at my local Apple store to make sure I'm covering all the bases on what I need to know. 

And just to be sure that I can take 

extra special care of my new  boyfriend  ipad,

I bought a special case, but it won't arrive until the end of April

So I'm going to be a super nerd 

and keep the plastic wrapper on it until then

(sadly I'm not kidding either... I don't want smudges!)

Um... Someone Feels Like a ROCKSTAR (and that someone is ME!)

Hey - remember when I tried making those cupcakes with the chocolate butterflies and I ended up making super lame, crappy ones?

Well check out THESE BABIES!!!

Yeah. I know. SO freaking fabulous.

Aren't they just to DIE for?! 

I guess they're supposed to be 'Mums'...

but it totally doesn't matter to me

I'm just STOKED that they actually WORKED!

Granted, they were labeled 'EZ' in description, but who cares?! They were!

Ahh... nothing like a successful attempt at copying creativity to raise the ole self esteem. 

It's been just over a month...

... since we've been 'officially' waiting. And I must say, it hasn't been too bad. When we were going through the adoption process with Claire I remember the wait stunk. I would literally pray daily that God would help me keep my focus... which was that I wanted to be able to look back at my 'journey' and be able to say that it was not wasted being depressed, or anxious, or full of complaints. I'm happy to say that I mostly achieved that goal (but no-one's perfect, right?!)

This time is different. In some cases, I actually forget that I'm waiting. I know that sounds crazy, but it's true. I mean, of course I know that any day the phone could ring and instantly it could turn into that magical moment known as 'the call', but I'm not anticipating that every time the phone rings, that it's going to happen. Which is actually REALLY nice. 

(this is not my baby, but a stock photo)

But I will say that I am definitely looking forward to having a new little baby around - and a BOY at that! It does still kind of freak me out a little (since having a girl is all I know) but I'm really excited nonetheless.

And even though this is all fun and happy to think about, there is a more 'serious' side that I've been thinking about lately too. On the adoption forums that I'm a part of, the topic of 'attachment' has been discussed in great length. And if I'm being completely honest, it scares me a bit. My mom told me that my sister and I never went through any major 'adjustment period' when we came home. So I guess in my naive brain, I kinda just thought that's how it was for everyone - which is SO not true. There's alot of good food for thought in that forum, and some websites and books that I'll probably pick up, because I'm starting to think that I really need to prepare myself for whatever may come. 

I think another contributing factor to my apprehension, was that earlier today I was blog hopping through all the adoption blogs I read and I came across a video that some adoptive parents had posted of their daughter when they first got her. It was a short video that was taken at night, and showed how their daughter was crying inconsolably - she was grieving. And oh, how it completely broke my heart. In fact, as soon as the video ended, I just sat and cried. 

So while there will be some difficult times ahead, I know the 'good' will outweigh the 'bad', and I'm certainly looking forward to experiencing it all. 

Yum-O

Claire loves Ariel

So she spotted the 'chocolate' Princess right away and claimed her

I guess she wasn't as delicious as expected

Because this is how Ariel looked as we left