home*sweet*home

A 24+ hour mission from Seoul to Binghamton, NY brought me through Japan over Alaska to Chicago and finally landing in Syracuse, where my parents met me and chauffeured me back to the sweet, rural, small town, Binghamton NY~

home*sweet*home

I returned to a party celebrating a year of holidays that I missed!!

[my mother is so clever!!]

birthdays & valentines day & thanksgiving,

[yes! there was a plastic christmas tree in our living room in June!!]

halloween,

st. patrick's day,

& easter!

[Left over apple pie ~ luckily not actually from Thanksgiving!!]

Since my return I've been busy playing catch up with family and friends. So many places and people to see, time has been flying by. Even with being away for over a year, so little has changed~ The trees seem a bit taller, and there are some new franchised businesses (grrr) but all is quite familiar.

Jet lag set in for a solid 2 weeks of 3 AM bed times and 6 AM wake ups~

And all the food I missed for a year, I couldn't eat~ all my stomach wanted was some rice!

But a weak stomach didn't stop Chef Umma and I from playing in the kitchen.

the age old cookbook, with all the answers~ ^^

turkey and spinach meatballs

[YUM! banana cream pie!]

[avocado!~ i forgot about you!, and we roasted those red peppers at home & lettuce from the garden]

[my mom is the queen of cast iron pans]

Korean Grub

//a photo collage of unique Korean food //

American folks have a hard time believing that nearly everything is made from rice, and that children willingly eat rice and fermented cabbage every meal.

I scrounged my photos from Korea for food shots; here's a mix of favorite, terrifying, and tempting treats found on the Asian peninsula.

Dukboki_rice cakes with spicy sauce

Pajeon_Korean style pancake with kimchee, seafood/onion, or potato

Buckwheat noodles with cabbage and soy (?) based broth

Picnic lunch with my students: Kimbab and fruit

San Bipbim Bop_ Rice, egg, and veg (maybe picked from the mountain we just climbed) mixed together with a sweet/spicy red sauce.

Dolsot Bibim Bop - veggies, meat, egg and rice mixed together with mystery sauce in a hot bowl. [yum!]

Rice ball filled with various surprises: kimchi, bulgogi: marinated beef, tuna, cucumber salad, or..... spam!

A glimpse into the possibility of side dishes served at every meal. Featuring_tofu, bean sprouts, spinach, kimchi, cucumber, fish cake, and beans.

Bulgogi Hotpot: Marinated beef, starch noodles, lots of garlic, and mushrooms

Mountain snacks: ramen noodles, instant coffee, nuts, and bundagee: silk worms, if you're (un)lucky!

Crazy & disgusting bone soup, but if you think this is bad, the Korean guy next to me was eating blood soup. siiick!

Mandu Stew: meat filled dumplings in a spicy broth with pork, egg, and veg

Galbi: marinated beef grilled at the table. So fun! and served with rice, soup, and lettuce to wrap the meat.

shhhhh! my indulgence; cafe mocha. Koreans can make decent coffee & have a great winter treat, sweet potato lattes~

Dalgi Soju Cocktail made with real strawberries~ and served with the cutest glasses!

Soondubu Jigae: Spicy Tofu Soup

Some Korean rice is purple, "it's good for your health"

Serving it within an acorn squash really made me love this restaurant

Oh, yea, dried octopus is a treat eaten with peanuts and beer. Now that I look at it, I wonder if that is actually octopus or another sea creature?

YUM! Song Pyun!!! Eaten around the Chuseok holiday, this rice cake is filled with sweet red beans or sesame seed paste.

Being back in America, and the land of variety, I miss the chef at school, and the kimbap ladies! I'm happy to not pay $30 for a burrito, but where is the donkas and cold noodle soup? I can barely get a decent bowl of rice around this place!! ^.~

도자기 ~ Last Days

My final day at the wheel was play time. I had no quota or goal for the day, so I produced some of my most unique/disastrous/beautiful cup and bowl pieces thus far. My teacher comment on how diverse my cylinders were with a tone of surprise; due to the language barrier, I can never tell if he is disgusted or pleased with my free rein venture. ㅋㅋ

ㅠ.ㅠ After my day of play, all the pieces I created had no chance of a further life and were passed on to the clay graveyard of murky water. Here they will return to soft clay, and soon make new forms at the hands of another potter. ㅠ.ㅠ

From the kiln came some of the larger pieces I had made back in my studies of hand building and Korean decoration.

One day I made these spoons randomly, and I think they might be my favorite pieces!

They are so cute!!

These are the smaller pieces I produced from my elementary start at the wheel. When I saw the cups and bowls after glazing and firing, I was amazed that I made them, especially after it took me eight weeks to master a simple cylinder! ^^

Now these pieces are floating across in the ocean somewhere between South Korea and America, wrapped in excessive bubble wrap and my old blanket. I was told they will arrive in NY anywhere between one to three months. Lets just hope I'm still in NY when they arrive! ^.~

~

The last Thursday before my leaving we had a small leaving party for the "waguk-in" student. It was so special to me to have one last chance to sit with my teachers and fellow students. Everyone speaks limited English, but one student is quite fluent and has helped me throughout the year with some translations. I owe a good part of my success to him~!

We ate chinese food together ~ and let me tell you the difficulties I had with noodles and wooden chopsticks~ OH MY!!! Just me and three Korean men, eating ja-jang-myeon, (black bean sauce with noodles) talking about ceramics and North Korea. Then, a surprise visit from a female student I spent a lot of studio days working side my side, communicating via charades, arrived with a sweet farewell note!!^^ Maru & An blog @ farewell party

[김선생 님/Kim Seonsangnim]

[강선생 님/Kang Seonsangnim]

강선생 님 gave me the most special gift of a tea set from his work!! ^^ WOW! I felt so grateful, it is such a beautiful piece of work. He is very talented with ceramics, and as a teacher. This master piece made by my teacher is a reminder of the great shared times in Maru & An ceramics studio, and also an inspiration to continue my practice with ceramics so someday I can give him a tea set I made. I doubt it will ever be as well done as his work, but he would argue otherwise. ^.^

[these pieces were also wrapped in excessive bubble wrap, however they are too valuable to me to be sent on some crate half way around the world. Instead I carried them with me on three planes, and firmly told the security lady in Chicago that "no, I will certainly not check them in with my luggage"]

I'll miss my evenings at ceramics. Not only did I learn a craft I've always been intrigued by, but I learn from two great teachers and talent artist. I was able to work along side kind and inspiring students, and had a full fledged Korean experience. No other foreigner has gone down those stairs before, and I feel grateful when I stumbled down there that Kim Seonsangnim allowed me attend his classes. I learned a lot about ceramics, Korean language, and Korean culture. Studying ceramics in Korea was a very important and unique aspect of my travels in Korea, and I owe it to the welcoming teachers and students at Maru & An. ~감사합니다~ ^.^