Visits, memories

Some pics from a recent visit with Aunt Paula and Uncle Larry. We hadn't seen them in way too long, so there was a lot of catching up to do, and being there brought back a ton of memories from childhood. A recently redone backyard, two wonderful dogs, a lovely day, and tasty snacks made for an enjoyable afternoon.

Larry is my mom's brother...see the resemblance?

Paula is a Dalmation lady; she has had them for as long as I can remember. The two that she has now, Edie and Keswick, are total sweethearts.

My mom fell in love with the dogs. The feeling was mutual.

Keswick with her buddy "Henrietta." I absolutely love this photo....

Stuffing Ourselves, Korean Style

The entire time I was in Korea, I kept thinking how great it would be to go back home and share bits of Korea with friends and family. I would plan meals that I would make for them, the things I would tell them, stuff I would bring back. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but when you spend time abroad, there is something about sharing what you learned with people back home that validates your experience. For the time you are away, your lives diverge, and you have all these unique experiences that are yours alone. And that is great, but once you come back, it becomes a little harder to relate to all the people you knew before because you all have been through so much without each other. So you look for ways to share what you experienced in order to build more of a connection. It not only allows people at home to understand a little of what you went through, but it also lets you prove that you learned something while you were there.

And what better thing to share than food? For months and months, I had been planning it in my head, the Korean BBQ I would make for my friends and family when I got home. I love to cook for others, and I don't get to do it nearly enough. And finally, here was a meal that only I could make - I got to be the expert, and that was fun. Not only that, it was mostly food that none of my friends or family had ever had the chance to try before.

Fortunately, I live pretty close to a KoreaTown in Santa Clara, where there are 3 markets. The first one I went to had pretty much everything I needed, but barely. When I went shopping the morning of the BBQ, I ended up going to a different market after making a wrong turn, and it was the best mistake I could have made. This second market, Han Kook Super Market, turned out to be 3 times bigger and 10 times better. It had EVERYTHING....far more than any market I ever saw in Korea! So amazing...meat, produce, kitchen goods, dry goods, sweets, drinks, pre-made side dishes...oh my god. Like I had died and gone to Korean food heaven. I just wandered the aisles and reminised for the longest time. I know that if I get homesick for Korea, I now have a place to go.

My menu was pretty big to begin with, but once I was in that market I went nuts. All these things that I just wanted people to try...and I ended up with insane amounts of food. 2 types of meat, 4 types of kimchi's, veggies to make 3 side dishes, 2 types of lettuce, 3 types of Korean wine, beer, rice, and Binch cookies for dessert. Luckily I have friends who love to eat just as much as I do!

When I left that market with a trunk full of Korean food, I was the most excited I have been since coming home. Never thought I would get so nostalgic for Korea, especially so soon....but damn, I was on a total natural high. And I had a LOT of cooking ahead of me!


The funnest part was seeing everyone's reaction to the Korea food. Silly me had actually been worried that they would not like it, but that was based on a total brain fart.....these are my friends, and they love food. Plus, who wouldn't love Korean BBQ?

The biggest hits of the meal were:

The meat, of course. Someone came up with the new nickname "Korittos."

Chap Chae, aka, Noodle Stuff.

Watery Radish Kimchi, which has been officially renamed "floppy white."

Binch cookies...and I'm sure you can guess what these were nicknamed.



Korea Friends, meet California Friends....

Andrea, my BFFManuel, her hubby, scanning the table for more food

Juan, aka JuanchoMichael and his favorite weiner

Nette and Jay, my former housemates and dear friends who taught me a lot of what I know about cooking
I made a big deal about everything being authentic Korean style. In fact, the only part about the meal that was not Korean was the beer; whoever has had Korean beer will know why. I had metal chopsticks, and only my parents reverted to using forks. When my mom tried to put nice American napkins on the table, I scoffed and got a roll of toilet paper. I'm talking authenic!

Grill master JuanThe cute blonde lady is my Mommy.

Poor Jay fell asleep right after the meal. He is the principal of a brand new high school which was opening the very next day, so he was a bit pooped....My Dad eating Samgyepsal...never thought I'd see this.

I got some Korean liquor for people to try, none of which they liked too much. Juan finds a clever new way to drink Soju.

Look at the photo above his head, and you'll see why Michael took this photo.

New Toy!

A few days ago, I finally took the plunge and bought myself a REAL camera. Digital SLR. I have been wanting to do it for years and years, and now I am immensely glad that I finally did.

I got a Canon Rebel XT 350D. It came with a 17-55 mm lens, and I picked up a 55 mm f/1.8 as well. It's the low end of the SLR's, and a good place for me to start out. So far, I am really, really impressed with the camera. The way it handles, the general feel of it, and of course the pictures that it takes. Anything is an improvement over a point-and-shoot, of course, but I definitely feel that I made a good choice.

Why has it taken me so long to finally do this? I've always loved and admired photography, and there have been a few times in the past where I hovered around the edges of really getting into it, but my attention always got distracted for some reason or another. I guess the time just wasn't right.

A huge part of it though, was the BIG D -- DIGITAL! I never had the patience for film cameras. I love instant gratification. I love that I don't have to spend money on developing bad shots. I love the fact that I don't have to learn how to use a dark room. Film photography just had all these limitations that I wasn't willing to deal with, and digital gets rid of most of those.

But there is one aspect of photography that has always intimidated me, which digital does not get rid of -- the numbers. Shutter speed, f-stop, film speed....these are all things that you need to understand to be a good photographer and they are all measured in NUMBERS. The thing is, me and numbers do not get along. It's the reason that I never like math class, the reason I did not do well when I worked as a bank teller, the reason I have a hard time playing dominoes, the reason I let other people figure out the bill at restaurants, and the reason that I can't remember my friends' birthdays no matter how hard I try. Numbers just don't stick in my head. I can't really relate to them or attach meaning to them. So anything that requires me to deal with numbers is hard to do.

So as I was making the decision to buy my camera, I was worried that I would end up getting intimidated by the numbers and revert to setting it on Auto, thereby never really doing it justice. But I resolved myself not to let that happen and promised that I would use my time at home to learn how to properly use the camera.

Fortunately, I have a fantastic helper, my friend Michael. He knows a lot about photography, and he is a natural teacher. He also knows a ton about Photoshop. And, he's incredibly photogenic to boot, so I didn't mind when I ended up with dozens of photos of him after yesterday's lesson.

Yesterday's lesson...wow...I have already learned a lot. And so far, it's not as hard as I expected. The numbers aren't really so bad after all. I am at a point now where I can put the camera in full manual and manipulate the numbers to make the photo look good. The basics, essentially!

My goal is to learn how to use my camera well enough to be able to great photos by the time I leave in early October. Practice, practice, practice....and, as Michael said, learn how to use it well enough so that I'll be able to do it easily once it really matters.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the practice sessions of the past few days:

Andrea in her new car

Downtown San Jose at sunset

Woman Crossing, Downtown SJMichael, Downtown SJ

The ground near SJ PavilionI got some lens flare on this one, but I still really like it because of the neat detail in the lamp post and the color of the sky.

3 shots of the same sign from different distances

Nightime in Downtown SJ

Then today I headed up to the hills to do some shots on my own.

See the face?

Wildlife Photography!And here's an arguement for having higher megapixels: This is the original photo...

With some zoom and cropping...

Even more zoom and cropping....check out the detail!

Some shots of my parents' dogs. They were begging to go for a walk, which is why they both look so forlorn.

My mom in her natural habitat.

I'm having so much fun with this!