Happy New Year

Have fun kids. Like the past couple years, Cathy and I are having people over. This year will include such things as single malt scotch, lobster dip, and a chocolate fountain. Great stuff. Stop by if you can.

For those who haven't seen it, this year's holiday card:


If you guessed that we spent five minutes throwing this together in mspaint then you are correct. Give us a break, it was a busy year. I still think it's our best one yet.

Common Wildlife

Just got back from our Michigan holiday. As usual, there was an abundance of food and good times. Also as usual, I spent a good deal of my relaxing time watching squirrels and birds.


Northern Cardinal. Watched this guy and his wife eat berries just outside a kitchen window while we drinking our morning coffee. They tend to be relatively shy, so I took this photo through the window instead of stepping outside. Pretty common around here, although you won't really find these birds too far west.


I took a long walk on a local trail during the visit. The wasn't a person in sight due to the cold and snow, and that made for a peaceful and quiet walk. Along the way I did find this Downy Woodpecker looking for some treats under tree bark. Not that shy, but a bit frantic. I've seen them nearly everywhere I have hiked.


And of course there were a lot of a fat squirrels moseying around and giving me suspicious looks.

More Treats

Around here, there is a direct correlation between the holidays and treat production. Here are some of Cathy's recent creations for your viewing pleasure:


Mini cupcake cones. I feel like a giant when I eat these.


Peanut butter cookies, a favorite of mine.

We're going to Michigan to visit my parents for the holidays, which means good times, good food, and good beer are all in my near future.

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Trunk

Pie Components

Some semi-recent photos/trivia regarding the blackberry apple pie Cathy made for Thanksgiving:


The apples used were Northern Spy apples grown in Michigan. They say it's a good baking apple.


They were bought from here back in October (they also say the Northern Spy is a good storage apple). I think we spent the rest of that day eating donuts and looking for an imaginary cider mill from my childhood.

Autumn Deactivates

Autumn Acer palmatum.

Baked Goods

Hope you had a good thanksgiving. Ours was good times and as usual Cathy provided some desserts. Take a gander:


Pretzel cheesecake, a perennial favorite.


A pecan pie stuffed cheesecake. Seriously, it's basically a pie inside another pie. Sinfully delicious. I was hoping to show you a slice of this, but we had to leave it intact and in the springform for transportation purposes.


Apple blackberry pies just hanging out, having a good time.


And of course, pumpkin pie (my favorite of the bunch).

Scrumdiddlyumptious.

Happy Thanksgiving

Get your thanks on. I'm here in Chicago where I'll be hanging with the in-laws along with one or two dozen other people. I anticipate a traditional Thanksgiving dinner - you know, with turkey, ham, potatoes, octopus on a stick, kalbi, kimchi, japchae, and so on and so forth. Happy thanksgiving everyone.

Here's one thing I'm thankful for. Maybe I'll sneak ol' big head some leftover turkey this year...

Honeymoon Summary, Part 5

The last couple days of our trip were relatively uneventful. After Bali, we decided to take it easy and so didn't try to cram in too much the last couple of days.


We went to this seafood joint by the ocean and ate a bunch of grilled shellfish. It was tasty...but I suspect it was here that we got destroyed by a case of food poisoning. About 24 hours later, Cathy and I were sick as dogs and sequestered ourselves in our hotel room. I recovered relatively quickly but Cathy struggled with it for a bit. I haven't been in the mood for seafood since.


Gwanaksan Mountain in Seoul. We were originally supposed to go to Seoraksan Mountain way out east but did not due to our near death conditions. Instead, after semi-recovering, we went to Gwanaksan where I took a nice hike up to the top. It's a much smaller mountain but still provided some good scenery, expansive views, and fun minor climbing. Sweet radar equipment...


Gwanaksan climber. As you can tell from his getup, this dude was really into it. He would pick a weird route, climb it as fast as he could, and then strike this Mr. Cool pose everytime.


The next day we took a bus down to Itaewon. It was pretty unremarkable. Although there were some interesting antique shops and nice restaurants, it was a bit too touristy for me. Anyway, I took of photo of this yellow scene and thought I'd share it with you. Yeah.


Hotel Novotel, our home in Seoul. It was a basic hotel but we stayed there so long that I actually missed the place after we left. Good times.


And one more beverage photo. I knew this was Canada Dry because the can...it said so.

And that's about it for the summary! We did a lot of other stuff but I just wanted to give the gist of it here. All in all, a most excellent honeymoon.

Honeymoon Summary, Part 4

Bali! When Cathy and I arrived in Bali we finally felt like we were on our honeymoon. Although we were having an amazing time in Korea, it was nice to finally be by ourselves.


We stayed at the Conrad Suites. The room was ridiculous - dining room, living room, master bedroom, bathroom, vanity area, balcony, wall-to-wall windows, juicer, espresso machine, flat screen tv in the bathroom, and more nonsense. They asked what our preferred pillow type and firmness was, what aromatherapy oils housekeeping should burn, and which freshly squeezed juices should be stocked daily in our fridge. Honestly, it was all plain silly to me but hey, it was our honeymoon so whatever.


We were doing this honeymoon package thing and so lots of meals, events, and tours were already planned out for us. We explored cultural areas, visited random villages, went rafting down the Ayung River, hung out with some monkeys, found some green starfish, had candlelit beachside dinners, shared forestside lunches, got weird massages which I never want to experience again, and a whole slew of other stuff.


A rocky pier, the Indian Ocean, and my lovely wife.


Although we ate some Indonesian food (which is somewhat similar to Chinese food), our package provided a lot of Westernized meals. It was a welcome change from all the Asian food I had been eating, although I did feel a bit guilty about it. I mean you don't go to Bali to eat croissants for breakfast but I just couldn't help myself.


The purple rock crab, Leptograpsus variegatus. These guys would hang out on rocky outcroppings and scurry into various nooks and crannies whenever anyone of apparent authority got too close. Kind of like me when I was in high school.


The Crab-eating macaque, Macaca fascicularis. I never saw one eating a purple rock crab but I did see one try to steal some guy's wallet. I saw another licking a wall. I also saw a group of them bum rush a lady holding a banana. Standard monkey behavior.


We visited a couple street markets which had lots of amazing piles for sale. Piles of baskets, piles of artwork, piles of clothes, piles of jewelry, piles of piles on top of other piles. It was all reminiscent of other Asian and Mexican street markets I've been to, complete with the preposterous bartering. For example, after one counteroffer for some bamboo basket, one merchant went from $200 to $10. Preposterous.


Indonesia's best selling brew. I knew this was Bintang Beer because, well, it said so on the bottle.

Back to South Korea in the next, and probably final, honeymoon post.

Honeymoon Summary, Part 3

After Ulsan, we had a day or two in Seoul before leaving for Bali...


Doksan Subway Station, where we met up with Cathy's cousin Haesoo and embarked on our journey for the day. After riding the CTA trains for over three years now, I almost expected Seoul's subways to be moderately rickety, mostly unreliable, painfully slow, and tragically odiferous. Thankfully my expectations were way off since I found that the trains were fast, reliable, and did not smell of sweaty socks.


Haesoo took us to Insadong, a large shopping district with lots of crafts and artwork. I have some nice photos of all that crap but more importantly, Insadong is home to a delicious mandu (dumpling) restaurant. Usually I eat bite-size dumplings with just a simple dipping sauce. At this restaurant we got a pot filled with homemade fist-sized dumplings, various meats, vegetables and mushrooms, tteok, noodles, and an egg in an onion which blossomed as the spicy broth simmered away. My mind? Blown.


After eating and exploring Insadong, we visited Gyeongbokgung Palace. This particular soldier was clearly not historically accurate because he did not have a fake beard poorly glued onto his face like the others did.


National Treasure No. 224, Gyeonghoeru Hall at the Gyeongbokgung Palace. A stunning two-story open pavilion which the king would use when a gigantic ornate lakeside royal banquet hall was required, as is often the case.


I knew this was makgulri (rice wine) because the bottle said so. I drank a couple of these and then went to some wacky karaoke place with Cathy's aunt and uncle. True story.

Bali in the next post...

Honeymoon Summary, Part 2

Part 2! Here are a handful of Ulsan photos. We spent about two days in Ulsan with another aunt and uncle of Cathy's. The visit involved lots of sightseeing, seafood eating, dayhiking, and using a bathroom that had a tub filled with homemade tofu.


We went straight to Daewangam Park from the airport. As the sun set we hiked around a pine forest lining a cliffy ocean coastline while enjoying some incredible views of Ilsan Bay. There was also a beach with a bunch of snorkel women in wetsuits shouting what I can only assume were sales pitches for freshly caught seafood. I guess it worked since Cathy's aunt bought some scallops from them.


The next day we went towards the mountains to do some sightseeing. We spent a lot of time at Bulguksa, a large Buddhist temple complex which has a number of South Korea's National Treasures, one of which is this 8th century Amitabha Buddhist statue.


This woman was in a shrine doing some traditional embroidering and knotting. It seemed to me that she was one of the various individuals I saw in the area still engaging in a traditional livelihood because she in a restricted area and appeared to be completely detached from the passing visitors...


We saw some amazing structures and buildings while in the area, but for some reason I liked this one the best: the Seokguram Grotto. Small, simple, unassuming, and tucked away into the side of a mountain. Inside is a 10 foot Buddha chiseled from a single granite block and an angry Korean woman making sure no one gets too close to it. Anyway, we had a great time exploring the temples, burial mounds, museums, etc. Although Bulguksa was particularly interesting for me since I had some interest in Mahayana Buddhism (closely related to Korean Buddhism) during my first years in college.


Well, after all that running around, we had to eat. That means a platter of raw fish, some root salad, seaweed, sesame leaves, golbaenggi (sea snails), mussels, and various other accoutrement. Also a bottle of pineapple Fanta, a Korean beer, and some pillows to sit on. One thing I noticed: The raw fish wasn't refrigerator cold like it is at the sushi restaurants I go to. I was told this was because the fish was alive and prepared moments ago. I'm not entirely sure if that thought makes it more or less appetizing to me, but it does taste better.

Also, in an older post I stated I ate beondegi (silkworm pupa) and claimed to have eaten a sea slug. I now know it was not a sea slug I ate but instead a sea worm under the phylum Priapulida. So that means I ate a Priapulid worm, which is literally a "penis worm." In Korean, the sea worms are called kaebul, or roughly translated, "dog penis." That's just terrific. Anyway, it was interesting since although the worm was cut up into small pieces, if you touched a piece it would still move. Despite sounding and looking gross, it tasted pretty good (insert kaebul joke here).


Rolls of fabric at a hanbok store. While in Ulsan, Cathy's aunt insisted on getting Cathy a hanbok. If you were at our wedding, Cathy was wearing one under the ornamental coat during our paebaek tea ceremony. I have no idea when Cathy is going to wear the thing, but she'll be prepared should restaurants ever start requiring hanboks.


I knew this was Chilsung Cider because the can said so.

Next post, back in Seoul!

Honeymoon Summary, Part 1

I took a lot of photos in order to document our honeymoon. I think I'll be making an actual printed album with around 500 photos but I'm just going to post a small fraction of them here. I'll show you the rest when you come visit me.

Anyway, nearly immediately after getting hitched, Cathy and I fled the country.


Seoul was about 7,000 miles away so we had some time to kill. I liked our flight with Korean Air: I read a book about cod, I was served a surprisingly delicious bibimbap lunch, I was given a "refreshing towel" which claimed to have a "sterilizing effect," and I drank several glasses of wine from a inverted truncated plastic cone. Drinking at Mach .75 never felt so good.


After arriving in Seoul, the first step was to obtain currency with lots of zeros and a Korean dude on it. After accomplishing that, we went for a walk.


I immediately became illiterate.


We then found an old lady neatly arranging dead fish.


Shortly thereafter, we found a different old lady neatly arranging vegetables. I would say that so far this has been just your typical honeymoon.


Later that night we got some shabu-shabu with two of Cathy's aunts. However, the next day we had to fly to Ulsan, located in southeast South Korea, to visit another aunt. That will make it two days in Korea and I will have met three aunts, three uncles.


I knew this was orange flavored because it said so on the can in Korean.

Next post, Ulsan.

And We're Back

Cathy and I got back from our Super Gleeful Honeymoon Action Quest today. After walking in the door I promptly took a six hour coma-nap. Besides all the traveling, we were extra tired due to having fell ill the last couple of days. I suspect some mischievous clams and a few other unscrupulous bivalves were responsible.

We're next headed to good ol' Michigan where I plan to roll around on the ground with Quentin and be scoffed at by Kya.


I took this photo in Seoul. Just take my word for it.

More honeymoon-relevant photos (with actual content) will be posted soon. For serious.

Today I Got My Butt Rubbed

We arrived in Bali last night and spent today in complete relaxation mode. Korea has been awesome, but it involved a lot of running around. That's why it was nice for Cathy and I to kind of relax and recuperate today. A bento breakfast, a quick swim, a tasty lunch on the patio, a walk on the beach, two hours at a spa with Cathy (totally weirded me out but she loved it), a delicious dinner on the beach, and all sorts of fresh fruit throughout the day. We have a couple more fun-filled days here before heading back to Korea and I plan to soak it all up. Good times.

No photos again, although I have a bunch since I've been toting my camera around like the Asian tourist I am. From the looks of it, I probably won't be posting any until I get back to Chicago and have some time to sort through them...

Ok that's it for now, back to our Happy Fun Time Good Ultra Honeymoon Escapade!

I Ate a Sea Slug

Quick post from Ulsan.

Cathy and I arrived at Incheon International Airport relatively unscathed and immediately started our 100% Happy Time Korean Adventure. We spent a day in Seoul where we had some shabu-shabu and wandered some street markets. After that, we flew to Ulsan to visit one of Cathy's numerous aunts and uncles. The seafood here is ridiculously good since it is right by good ocean fishing. It is also here that I ate a delicious baby silk worm and a still moving sea slug. The silk worm tasted like most other babies, earthy and nutty.

No photos for now, I'm too busy to transfer them. But stay tuned for more updates from Cathy and Albert's Mega Wonderful Honeymoon Super Odyssey!

Married

I am.
Much love and thanks to all the friends and family, it was great to see and be with everyone. It's rare that I can be with all my close friends or family at the same time so the weekend was special to me on many different levels.

And by the way, all the credit for the wedding must go to my lovely and beautiful wife Cathy. Our amazing wedding was the culmination of countless hours of her imagining, planning, organizing, creating, crafting, working, and loving.

In a couple days we're traveling all over South Korea to see some of Cathy's extended family and then to Bali for ourselves. Excitement abounds. I'll be sure to post travel updates and other assorted crap while I'm out there, at least whenever I have spare time and an internet connection.

Photo unrelated.

Swing ride.