GOLO or Gabby Adventure Time Now: Korean/American Thanksgiving!

HI THERE

It's Day 173. 어머나~ This might be my last post for 2014... I've got a lot of things to do from now on. I'm going on vacation this Saturday and won't be back until 2015! But first I need to write something for you all right? You are going to miss me right?

Now since it is the holiday season, I promised you some holiday stories last time right?

Let's talk about Thanksgiving!
Amelea, Leanndra, and I, the three Fulbright teachers in Hwacheon, decided to cook our own Thanksgiving dinner for our Korean host families. We all had some recipes from home, family and friends (and some Internet) secret recipes to help make a fabulous feast!
I was in charge of pumpkin pie and candied sweet potatoes (thanks for the recipes Mom!). There was also apple pie, macaroni and cheese, broccoli casserole, stuffing, chicken, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, and even more food (while I bragged to my host family about what a grand feast we would prepare, Amelea and Leanndra were a little more modest/apprehensive about the whole thing, and Leanndra's host mother starting thinking there wouldn't be much food at all, so she baked breads and made vegetable wraps before knowing that we would make so much food). We had quite a feast!

We had a challenge making everything because, actually most Koreans don't use ovens, any many homes don't have any. Actually Amelea and Leanndra's respective apartment and house don't have an oven at all. My host family's apartment has a small gas one, but they have never used it! Not once! They have lived in Hwacheon a couple of years, but still, personally, coming from a home where my mom was the baking god to everyone who had the good fortune to taste her baked goods, and baked at least once a month, this was preposterous to me.
Side note: My host family's apartment in Tokyo didn't have an oven either, so this non-baking culture is not limited to Korea.
Furthering this anti-baking notion, when I tried to buy a cookie sheet (flat sheet pan) to do some test baking for the oven, I couldn't find one in any of the main shopping complexes. Thus my hypothesis that Koreans do not bake cookies (what deprived souls!) was formed. The only cupcake pans I found at first were weird shaped too:

In the end I did find normal cupcake pans in a different store. Tested the oven. It works! But it is very small, and we could only use it the day before, since the dinner itself would be at Leanndra's house. So we also used some "portable" ovens as well. All in all, it was an adventure to bake/cook all this food. Here are some photos!

The Day Before (baking pies!)

Mother's pinching technique. Still not quite mastered yet by yours truly.

The best baking assistant ever. Opening cans. Crushing cloves. You name it. She does it.

The frustration upon discovering the ultra powerful "portable" oven burt the top of her pie^

Pumpkin pie success!

The Day Of (cooking rest of dinner)

Pose for the camera Amelea!

The above two photos were taken by Leanndra. They were our oven we used to cook almost everything.

Most importantly: OREGON CRANBERRY SAUCE!! I TASTED THE TASTE OF HOME

THE FEAST!! (sans pies)

Impressive, right?

Finally, I would like to share another lovely, English named company, that seems like a rip-off copyright lawsuit waiting to happen (just like REDFACE, remember this?) I give you CROCODILE LADIES

A store I saw in the nearby city, Chuncheon. Look familiar?

So maybe it's not that similar. But this is what instantly popped into my head after seeing this storefront.

It is also a Korean clothing brand (actually started in Singapore) with signed models and official websites. Actually one of my favorite actresses, Ha Jiwon, is their current model!