Oh hi.

Apparently I've forgotten about the existence of this blog. I can't believe it's been nearly six months since Ken's birthday and nearly five since we moved to our new neighborhood. Really? Where does time go? 

There are many updates I should have been posting during these six months, but the mere thought of catching this blog up to speed is positively daunting. So, just to get myself going again, I thought I would start with a little warm-up post. And what better way to start than with Bubba's 2nd birthday? (November 20th.) 

I think it's beyond safe to say that Bubba hates his birthday more than any other day of the year. Not only do we make him wear stupid things (which he hates more than he hates being bathed)...

...but we also set a plate full of delicious birthday treats in front of him, light a fire on top of them, and make him stare at them -- with a strict no-touching-no-licking-no-tasting rule -- for however long it takes to snap a decent birthday picture.

It's nothing shy of torture.

But, thankfully, Bubba is quick to forgive (even if we don't totally deserve it).

Happy 2nd Birthday, Bubba!

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Ken's birthday was on Thursday, the 14th.  In celebration of his birth, we both opted to take the day off from work. (We may have called in sick....) 

We started the day with breakfast at Easy Restaurant. (A birthday tradition.)

We then meandered over to High Park where we spent a good chunk of the afternoon enjoying the natural scenery, before exploring more of our soon-to-be neighborhood.

 (Duck butts.)

When we started to feel a little overheated and in need of a break, we decided to check out the library located literally two minutes from the doorstep of our new home.

(It's a pretty great library.)

We ended the day with Thai food at Ken's favorite restaurant: The Golden Thai. (Another birthday tradition.)

It was a pretty darn good day.

And what is a blog post without a picture of Bubba?

(He has the sloppiest posture I've ever seen in a pup.... But it's pretty durn cute.)

A Little Birthday Post

My birthday was this past Monday, January 2nd. It was a "chill" kind of day. (...if old ladies like me can still use those "cool" words.) 

We went for coffee at Jimmy's... 

We had lunch at The One That Got Away... 

We had dinner at Epicure... 

(Deer in headlights. Who knew the flash on the iPhone camera was so darn bright?)

We ate cupcakes from Loblaws... 

(Bubba really wanted one...)

And I got the best birthday present I could have hoped for...

...a reading pillow/chair!  (I've been dying for one of these for ages.)

It was a pretty great birthday. And wouldn't you know we used my birthday as an excuse for some cheesecake a few days later?

We are now celebrating birthday weeks.  (I like it.)

Bubba's 1st Birthday

Bubba's first birthday was this last Sunday (November 20th), and since we take birthdays pretty seriously around here (human birthdays or otherwise), we made sure to celebrate his little day properly.

 (He was none the wiser.)

I leashed-up Bubba and walked him to the pet store that morning to pick up some doggy-safe birthday treats and maybe a little birthday present. (The birthday present part didn't happen, however, as Bubs got a little nervous while in the store and piddled on the floor, forcing us to make a hasty and embarrassed exit.)

And, of course, a birthday cake for the humans was involved in the birthday celebrations, too (not from the pet store).

As you can see, getting Bubba to hold still for a birthday picture was darn near impossible. When he wasn't wiggling around and trying to escape, he was shutting his eyes just in time for the flash.  I finally gave up and handed him over to Ken...

...when Bubba decided he wasn't having any of this picture business and had a full-blown squirming fit, nearly singeing his paws in the process.

The almost-catching-himself-on-fire part is what finally caught his attention...

...and he was transfixed long enough for a proper picture to be taken.

Happy Birthday, Bubba! (Here's to better picture opportunities next year.)

Ken's Birthday(s)

Ken was a lucky man this year: His birthday was this past Tuesday (the 14th) but we got the party started this past Friday and it just kept going until, well, his actual birthday.

Friday night we had a group of friends over to play some board games (we ended up watching the hockey game instead... oh Canadians) and then, of course, we went to the noraebang. There we sang our little hearts out for four whole hours before we finally decided to call it a night (because it was morning by that point). Did I think to take any pictures of the evening? Nope. Which means you'll just have to believe me when I say it really happened and it was a really good time.

But! I pretty much documented Ken's other birthday outings and happenings in pictures, so you lucky people get to see the highlights in all of their I-don't-know-how-to-use-my-camera-properly glory. Here they are:

Birthday Presents!

I took a stab at creative-gift-giving this year and made a little scavenger hunt for Ken's very cheap birthday presents. I had him start the scavenger hunt on the morning of his birthday, but poor ol' Ken was still so sleepy that my clues seemed a lot harder than they should have been and the scavenger hunt--which consisted of only five clues--ended up taking quite a long time. But it's the thought that counts, right? (I think he appreciated it anyway.)

Birthday Breakfast!

We went to what is now our second favorite breakfast place in Toronto, Easy Restaurant, for Ken's birthday breakfast (I'll tell you all about the number one fave another time). The food was so good, we didn't hesitate to devour it all before snapping a picture. (There isn't a "before" picture, but I think the "after" picture is a testament to how good the food is.)

Birthday Snack!

We went to our favorite cafe, Tequila Bookworm, with the intention of getting another coffee as a little afternoon pick-me-up. Upon plopping ourselves down next to their big ol' bookshelves, however, a different beverage magically appeared in front of us. On a Tuesday afternoon? It's positively scandalous! But it was Ken's birthday so we went with it.

Birthday Dinner!

We went to Ken's favorite restaurant in the whole wide world (Golden Thai) for his birthday dinner and, as you can see, he was pretty darn excited about being there. We love us some green and red curries! (Unfortunately, curries don't love us back and both of us spent the rest of the night moaning and groaning about stomach aches.)

Of course, I can't finish this birthday post without a shout-out to the other people who share Ken's birthday, can I? Ken has a twin brother, plus his mom's birthday is only a day before his (theirs).

It's been happy birthdays all around this month! (I think I'm going to have to start celebrating my half-birthday in July because summer birthdays are a lot more fun than January-day-after-New-Year's birthdays.)

The Big Three Zero

My big, scary birthday was on Sunday, and honestly? I probably wouldn't be so candid about my age right now had I not been carded last week. But, thanks to the man at the LCBO, I'm taking 30 in stride.

My birthday was a good one. I took it easy for most of the day, reading new books I got for Christmas and (of course) bumming around on the internet. Ken made breakfast for me in the morning...

...(yums) and then he invited a few friends over for a little birthday gathering in the evening. We played games (most notably a game called What? which is really, really fun) and then we headed to the noraebang, of course! (We forgot to bring the camera along for the latter.)

    

The only depressing part about turning 30? Blowing out the enormous number of candles on my cake and the smoke from said candles being enough to set off the fire alarm....

 But it was all good and the cake didn't suffer at all....

We went to the noraebang at 10p.m. and ended up staying there until it wasn't my birthday anymore. It was the perfect little party to ring in my personal New Year.  

And now here's to a monumental year! (Whatever that means.)

Tidbits

I stealthily threw a birthday party for Ken last night. It was small, fun, and there was hardly any mention of 30 being the new 20.

We started the night at our apartment with a pizza party (courtesy of Domino's), followed by an intense game of Catchphrase, and, of course, it all ended at the noraebang where three hours of some serious tune-belting transpired. T'was a great night and I think Ken enjoyed it thoroughly, in spite of himself. Of course, I forgot to take any pictures, so the night went completely undocumented.

I did, however, follow through with my plan to make cupcakes for Ken's party and I remembered to take a picture of the finished product before tossing my camera back to its forgotten corner.

Here's the recipe:

Here's the outcome:

They aren't the most beautiful cupcakes in the world, but they just might be the tastiest! They're definitely the best cupcakes I've ever made and I plan on making them again for any occasion I deem worthy of cupcakes. (Mondays? Fridays? Two-month anniversary of living in Toronto?)

In today's news, I've decided I want to start learning to play the guitar again (I've been learning off and on for about 16 years and sure haven't accomplished much). Of course, I totally forgot to bring my guitar to Toronto with me and it's currently sitting in a closet in my parents' house... in Michigan. But thank goodness for friends who have guitars to spare! My friend, Jared, lent me his little blue guitar that he got for only $20 in Beijing a few years back. (Why didn't I see any $20 guitars when I was there?) It's a cute little thing, but it was in desperate need of a string-change, so I took it upon myself to do the job today. It's now leaning against the bookshelf in our living room with all new strings, two of which I put on backwards and another one I strung too tight (I'm waiting for it to go boinging off the guitar any second now).

Needless to say, I won't be playing it any time soon. And, yes, I'm incredibly annoyed with myself. At least it looks artsy sitting in our living room, right? *groan*

That's all for now. Ken will be arriving shortly with his brothers and a new TV in tow! Here's to more time-wasting!

Ken's Birthday is on Monday...

...and I've been strictly forbidden to do anything too birthday-ish for him. Whereas I've always basked in any limelight that may be given to me on my birthday, Ken just doesn't enjoy birthday shenanigans of any kind. Which I'm slowly learning to accept (even though I love planning birthday surprises).

It should be noted, however, that Ken's anti-birthday sentiment does not mean some noraebang madness won't ensue on or around his birthday this year. No, no. The noraebang is a must for anyone's birthday. (I think Ken agrees... deep down in his heart.)

I figured a birthday cake would be completely out of the question, as it likely falls under the "birthday-ish" category, but I'm thinking maybe birthday cupcakes could be an exception? They're a little more subtle, right? He's reluctantly agreed to indulge me there (but I don't think he will approve of me hauling them to the noraebang--candles and all--for his not birthday-ish outing). So, I'm going with it.

In pursuit of the perfect birthday cupcake recipe, I stumbled upon this gem of a website. I don't know who Ming is, but I think her cupcake ideas might be brilliant (I haven't tried them yet, so I can't say for sure). This is the one I think I've decided on:

But I really can't make up my mind. There are just too many to choose from, and my sweet tooth is telling me I should try all of them. You know... because it is Ken's birthday, after all. 

Pictures of the final outcome will follow (if they aren't too hideous), and maybe I can sneak some birthday noraebang pictures in while I'm at it. And happy, early birthday to Ken! 

Birthday & Beef

Story #1: My Birthday Adventures

My birthday this year (January 2nd!) was spent in a freezing cold airport in northern China--waiting for a flight to Seoul--for most of its entirety. It was an exhausting day but, thankfully, I have some dear friends who surprised me with a birthday cake while we were sitting in a Chinese KFC in Dalian, China (a city that turned out to be surprisingly huge, considering I had never even heard of it before... but I suppose it is China).

The cake and surprise were great but, needless to say, my 22nd birthday (ahem!) won't go down in history as my best birthday ever. My most unusual birthday? Perhaps.

Ken, however, redeemed the last birthday of my twenties this past Friday evening. He very kindly called together a group of ten people to have a little belated-birthday party for me, in all of my mopey, nobody-loves-me glory. (I'm a master at feeling sorry for myself!) It started out at my favorite Thai restaurant in Korea for some yummy green curry and ended in my favorite noraebang in Haeundae (my favorite because it comes complete with a view of Haeundae beach, allowing us to serenade the unaware-people going for a stroll along the shoreline). It was the perfect little birthday outing and I wouldn't have wanted to celebrate it any other way! And without further ado, here are some photos of the evening's highlights:

Here is Mel at the Thai restaurant, trying to take apart her "shrimp" plate that she had ordered (she had no idea it would look like this):

Does anyone else find this entree a little terrifying? Kudos to Mel for eating the whole thing (except the legs and eyeballs)!

Now, from here on out, the photos are about to get blurry and grainy. The reason for this being that, once again, we only took video and forgot to take actual pictures that night. Since I've found uploading videos on this blog to be next to impossible, I decided to take a few still-shots from the birthday videos. As I've mentioned before, I'm either really bad at doing this, or getting a clear shot from Ken's video camera is simply impossible (I have a feeling it's probably the former, though). Here we go....

Here are the ladies singing "Mama Mia" at the noraebang:

If we're looking a little too serious about this business, it's because most of us only really knew the chorus of the song.

Here are some of the boys singing "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" (a song they take very seriously, as indicated by Ken's delicate grip on the microphone and Kevin's emphatic hand-motions):

Here's my birthday cheese cake, courtesy of Costco, complete with ten candles (very gracious, considering I'm practically old enough to be a 10-year-old's mother--eek!):

An evil-looking picture, no doubt! Here's the only other still-image I could grab of the cake-event, taken while Mel and Gino sang the Korean-version of the "Happy Birthday Song":

Hello, crazy eyes!

And, last but not least, a picture of our impromptu dance party that took place while Ken bellowed out the notes to "The Twist":

Just a teeny bit embarrassing, I'd say! But a whole lot of fun, nevertheless.

And now moving on to our 2nd story: The Bulgogi Adventure

For my birthday, Mel and Gino generously gave me a gift certificate to a new, fancy bulgogi restaurant in Haeundae. Now, bulgogi is a Korean food I like because--hey!--you can't go too wrong with beef, right? Unless, of course, it's raw. Well, last night Ken and I decided to take advantage of my birthday gift, so we meandered on over to Bulgogi Brothers (the name of said restaurant) for an early dinner (which also happened to be the first meal of our pathetically lazy day). After arriving at the restaurant and being seated in a cozy booth in our own little corner, we were surprised to find the entire menu was in Korean! (Duh, we live in Korea, but usually popular restaurants include an English menu around here, so we were ignorantly surprised, nevertheless.) We can both read Korean, but we understand very little, so we decided it would be a safe option to simply order the standard "couple set" and see where that would take us. Guess what? It took us to an enormous tray of raw beef! Some of the beef was meant to be cooked on the grill in front of us, but a fairly large portion of it was not meant to be cooked at all. That's right: We accidentally ordered beef that was meant to be eaten in its raw form! Eww. Now, if I hadn't known the meat was supposed to be eaten like this, I would have given the restaurant some points for presentation:

...but it was meant to be eaten like this, so they lost some points (even though it was our own fault for not learning enough Korean to understand the menu).

Anyway, to make a long story short, we both ignored our gag-reflexes and tried to pretend like eating a raw, freshly-killed-cow was great. Ken ate his entire share of it and I put a large dent in mine (I was quite proud of myself). Truthfully? It didn't taste too bad. It tasted like... beef that happened to be raw. The texture, on the other hand, was a bit repulsive. I was proud of myself for eating as much as I did because I'm extremely sensitive to texture, which makes me a bad candidate for mushroom-eating of any kind. Raw meat? I would rather eat my toenails, thank you very much. But I did it! And here's what I looked like while doing it:

The look of terror on my face isn't even remotely fake. Coincidentally, the sign in the background resembles the exact thought in my head at that very moment.

And here's Ken, not handling it much better than I did:

To be fair to Bulgogi Brothers, the rest of the meat was pretty good (the cooked meat). It was definitely high-quality meat (or maybe I'm just assuming it was, since it was pretty pricey). Here's a not-so-flattering photo of some of our other entrees:

And there you have it. Our bulgogi adventure. To top it all off, it gave us both diarrhea just a few short hours after eating it. Of course, it may have been more psychologically-induced than raw-beef-induced. Regardless, my new New Year's resolution? Become a vegetarian!