NYC, Days 2-3

We had a relatively uneventful Thanksgiving; we made mashed potatoes and green bean casserole and bought rotisserie chicken and pumpkin pie from Whole Foods. The mashed potatoes went fairly uneventfully, until I decided to add some of the half and half we bought for the green bean casserole. I opened the carton, poured some out, and then heard the plopping noise several very solid bits of cream made.

My sister and I looked at each other. "Uh oh. Is half and half supposed to do that?"

We took turns sniffing at the carton and scrutinizing the December expiration date.

( Further adventures in the kitchen )

Today, I got to see coffeeandink! We had ginormous, apple-loaded pancakes, corn dogs and tater tots at a diner (I forgot the name, but it had cute colored lights and happy flower wallpaper). We both waxed rhapsodic about the delights of deep-fried food, food on a stick, batter-coated meat, and the wonderful combination of all of the above that is the corn dog ("It's a hot dog! In batter! Deep fried! On a stick!" *blissful sigh*).

Despite all of Mely's attempts to segregate the savory from the sweet, I can now tell you from experience that ketchup and applejacks pancakes do not go together.

( Booking and more fooding )

My Name Is Kim Sam Soon, ep. 01-07 (no spoilers)

This is the most of any kdrama I have watched! (I am only up to ep. 4 of Coffee Prince, though I keep meaning to finish.)

Kim Sam Soon is a pastry chef. On Christmas Eve (a big day for romance in Korea, I think?), she finds her boyfriend of three years has been cheating on her. Fast forward a year, and she ends up becoming the pastry chef for the restaurant Bon Appetit, run by young Hyun Jin Hun (his parents own a hotel chain). Jin Hun is, however, still obsessed with a girl named Hee Jin, and then there's a cute Korean-American named Henry Kim who gets thrown into the mix.

Kim Sam Soon's apparently the Bridget Jones of Korea; the descriptions of the show on sites describe her as "chubby" and "middle aged." She's 30 and skinnier than me, but still, at least she's 30. And Jin Hun is 27! The actress was also 30 while playing the part, and the guy who plays Jin Hun was 23 at the time.

So far, I am enjoying the wacky hijinks, the food porn (not enough!), and the way Kim Sam Soon yells at everyone. She has the same reactions I would have in many situations, which is a relief, because everyone else in the show is definitely from a kdrama. Also, Jin Hun gets whapped on the head a lot by his mom. This amuses me.

From this and Coffee Prince, I have now learned the following about kdramas (please let me know if I'm wrong! I am totally making this up):

• Love is best expressed via piggy-back rides. I vaguely remember rilina mentioning that this was a part of Korean wedding ceremonies?


• Tragic misunderstandings are good. Tragic misunderstandings brought about by the complete failure of people to tell the truth or say what they mean to are even better.


• Why have a love triangle when you can have even more complex shapes?


• Your childhood love will leave your for three years and never tell you why and expect you to understand this.


• The heroine must come from a poor background.


• The hero must be insanely rich.


• The old love interest will be the childhood love of the hero.


• The hero must have an overbearing mother who whaps him a lot.


• The heroine has an annoying sister.


• Everyone finds true love by getting into the restaurant business.


• If you ever hug someone of the opposite sex, your beloved will walk in on you.


• The best way to the hero's heart is to fall down clumsily in front of him, or to engage in other such embarrassing activities. If he smiles a teeny bit and hides it under immediate gruffness, you win!

I alas don't include Damo in here because I suspect historical kdramas are a different beast all together. Except the part about the love triangles, and possibly with additional swordfighting.

Please no spoilers in the comments! I'll post something with spoilers later.

Links:
- shewhohashope's write ups
- rilina's write ups

Damo, ep. 01-02

shewhohashope pimped this as "like CSI: 16/17th Century Korea, mixed with some elements of wuxia, Sherlock Holmes-style deduction, a 'cop goes undercover' storyline, and possibly a star-crossed romance or two to come."

Then she went and posted a lot of pretty screencaps of the first episode.

Have I mentioned before that I used to watch historical dramas in Chinese back in Taiwan? I am addicted to anything with historical costumes and swordfighting, particularly when wuxia is in the mix. Or Qing Dynasty court drama.

So far, Damo reminds me why I loved them so much. Jang Chae-Ohk is a damo (tea server?) for the Left Police Bureau. Her commanding officer is Hwangbo Yoon. It is Chosun Dynasty Korea. So far, Chae-Ohk has solved a crime with her spiffy forensic skills, crossed swords with a lot of pepole, stoically defended her honor, attempted to stoically defend other people's honor, stoically faced her commanding officer, stoically killed some she likes for honor (not a spoiler; this is the first five minutes), and stoically dressed as a boy and wandered off.

I love her to pieces.

Her commanding officer has also honorably and stoically done many things, often with swords, and I love him too, but not as much as I love her. Part of this is because everyone wears very similar hats, clothes, and beards, and they are all roughly the same height, age, and build. I think I have managed to identify his eyebrows though, so all is well.

There is another curly-haired rogue type character who is clearly the other (other other) corner of the love whatever-shape, along with another woman who has yet to be identified. I am guessing some more complications will also come in.

I am not quite sure what the plot is about so far. Chae-Ohk and Yoon solve crimes, swordfight, honorably and stoically stare at each other, and honorably and stoically have heart-tugging flashbacks together. In historical costume! I love it! I am attempting to figure out the significance of assorted hats; some of them have peacock feathers and others have long strings of large brown beads, and yet others have wreaths around the top. I also need to read up on Chosun Dynasty history, because I think there is a whole lot going on with court politics that I do not know, and it is driving me nuts.

Also, Chae-Ohk and Yoon and curly-haired rogue fly around on concealed wires with swords!

I will try to have something more coherent later, but all I can say now is: Swords! Wuxia (um, at least I think it is taking off on Chinese wuxia tradition? is there Korean wuxia tradition?)! Stoic and honorable suffering! Historical costumes! Girl-dressing-as-boy! Stoic and honorable heroine! Flashbacks!

For anyone interested in watching, try to at least get to episode 2, which has the flashbacks of extreme cuteness and swordfighting in the rain, as it is excellent.

My Name Is Kim Sam Soon, ep. 01-07 (spoilers)

Non-spoilery introduction

Spoil me for the rest and die!

( Spoilers! )