Mexican Dinner

Thursday was another easy day. We began with a trip to the E-Mart, for some shopping in preparation for cooking a western dinner for SY and YT. I wanted to have dinner cooked for her one time, since she cooked so many meals for me and John in the past. Mrs. Stumbler had planned on making her enchilada casserole since before we came to Korea, and brought along some tortillas in her suitcase. Also, she decided to make a lemon pie for dessert.

At E-Mart, we were looking for some final ingredients. Sour cream, and hopefully a pie crust. We struck out - none available, no sour cream, no pie crust. She adapted the recipe to use other ingredients instead of sour cream, and she decided to make her own pie crust from cookies (it only took 30 minutes to chose the right cookie in the store). We stocked up on some other items, vegetables, milk, bread, and the girls chose some ice cream bars. Then we ate lunch at the food court there at the E-Mart. The girls chose to eat at the McDonalds, but Mrs. Stumbler and I shared a pork cutlet from one of the Korean food places. I convinced the ajumma at the store to give me a small bowl of ddeokbokki with fish cake (떡볶기 + 오뎅) service - delicious.

When we got home, Mrs. Stumbler and YS#3 made the pie crust and pie. It was no-bake recipe (because we have no oven), and needed to chill in the refridgerator. Since we don't have a pie plate here, she improvised and used the skillet. Following pie making and YS#4 nap, we went to a nearby park and let the girls play some. YS#4 overcame her shyness this time, and we playing well with two Korean girls for about 30 minutes. I guess you don't need a lot of language skills to just swing and play in the dirt together.

After that, we proceeded to prepare the dinner. Since we don't have an oven, Mrs. Stumbler chose to cook the Enchilda Casserole in the microwave oven. However, we don't have a large dish, either. So she broke up the casserole into 4 separate bowls. They were four "mini casseroles". I decided to prepare my spicy vegetable stir fry with broccoli, zuchinni, onions, and peppers (the big kind, not the spicy kind). So my job for preparing the dinner was lots of vegetable chopping. And I also chopped the chili peppers for the enchilada dish - apparently too much, becuase the result was very spicy.

Mrs. Stumbler Preparing the Enchiladas 

We intended to photograph the final product, but we were so hungry when SY and YT arrived, we forgot. The food was a success with everyone. Mrs. Stumbler thought for certain we had prepared too much food, but there was a brief moment near the middle of the meal when I wondered it we had prepared enough. It worked out perfect, with almost all the food eaten. We got out the pie, and also some BR31 ice cream that SY and YT brought with them, and had a great dessert. When it was finished, we were all full.

Lemon Pie 

That BR31 ice cream was a mixture of several flavors, including one I had never tried. It was called "Shooting Star". I figured out the reason for it's name by surprise, when my mouth began tingling. Turns out it is laced with the candy that fizzles in your mouth. It has been a long time since I ate that kind of candy - it was a weird feeling.

We were too tired for another Pink Panther movie, so we played a short game (some word spelling game with special dice - even YS#4 could play it, because she can spell small words these days). Today we look forward to an tour of the DMZ, and also a dinner with a business colleague, whom I will simply call Chairman.