Brian's Birthday Bash

I felt guilty for leaving Brian with the kids for nine days while I went out on wild and crazy (and AWESOME) adventures. So, to make up for it, I got a babysitter overnight and I took Brian up to Seoul for the weekend to celebrate his 38th birthday. It was one of the best weekend getaways ever. (Well, I guess that's hard to rank because we've had some pretty incredible getaways, but it was a blast and well-needed.)

Our hotel was Korean-fabulous! In the lobby there were swings and a giant couch (like for King Kong). In our room, there were mirrors everywhere and a mural of a seductive woman's face. All night I kept singing to myself, "Mirrors on the ceiling, Pink champagne on ice, We are all just prisoners here, Of our own device." As it turns out, it was a rent-by-the-hour place! In the bathroom which was surrounded by glass--with absolutely no privacy--was a bidet control panel on the side of the bathroom vanity. There was a picture of an old man on the toilet, a woman, and a couple hugging. At one point, I was sitting on the bed and Brian was washing his hands in the bathroom. I heard him say, "I wonder what this button does?" Suddenly, a gargantuan, firehose spray of water came shooting out of the bathroom, across the small entryway and soaked the mirror on the opposite side. I couldn't stop laughing! I can only imagine that if he'd been sitting on it when he pushed that button, he would have needed a skin graft to repair the tissue damage.

We stayed in a section of Seoul called Itaewon, which is the international section of Seoul. We heard more English spoken there than we ever have anywhere outside of the military bases. The food was phenomonal! Every sort of international food to be imagined. The food in Daegu sucks. Our options there are Koreanized Italian food, Koreanized Mexican food (I know, can you imagine the horror?), Koreanized Japanese food, Koreanized American food (and when I say "Koreanized" I mean nothing close to the original), plain old disgusting version of Thai food, Koreanized Vietnamese food, and some pretty decent Turkish food and Indian food. So basically we have two options to go out to eat.

So when we got to Itaewon, the only thing we wanted to do was eat. And pretty much, that's all we did do. We started with lunch at Ho Lee Chow Chinese food--delish!! Then we met some of Brian's friends from Seoul at a Bulgarian restaurant, Zelen. Fabulous--who knew? Bulgarian food? Can't wait to go again!The next morning we went for a Baklava sampler at an Middle Eastern bakery. Some of the best I've ever had. For lunch we decided to do a progressive lunch where we picked a few restaurants and ordered one thing off the menu at each place. The first place was a British pub where we ordered English beer battered fish and chips. We haven't had this since we were at the Epcot center in Florida. It was beautifully greasy and wonderful.

Next we went for a mango shake and penang curry at a Thai restaurant. Thai food is our very favorite kind of food. After having been in Thailand, it makes our standard for Thai food even higher. This was better than anything else we've had in Korea and pretty close to Thailand.

We intended to try the Mexican place next, but the problem with being skinny people is that we don't have expansive appetites. After just two places we were stuffed. We decided to go for a massage at a local spa. After that, we finished our wonderful weekend off with some good old American ice cream.

We sort of ate ourselves into a blissful stupor and rode the KTX (high speed train) home too full to move, but it was so much fun. I love being with Brian. I know that I am super gushy over my husband, but I'm telling you, he just gets better with age. He is everything I have ever dreamed of and so much more. I'm a super lucky girl to have him.