Special Dinner Date!

Sitting down to our delicious meal!

Frank (glasses), Nathan (middle), Nathan's cousin

The spread!! Mmmm....bottom left corner is bibimbap, Jap Chae is above that, kimchi is the red fermented cabbage, the salad in the blue dish top right, bulgogi is the bowl of meat in the middle, red paste is the pepper paste, yellow pumpkin porridge and miso soup....

Nathan's mom in the background, Lonnie and Susannah!

Nathan and I

The boys and teachers

The lovely host! Nathan and his Oma (mom in Korean)

Eating the desserts I made after dinner

I was recently honoured by getting an invitation to have dinner at one of my student's houses. His mother had heard that I would soon be leaving and told my Korean teacher (who delivered the invite) that Nathan often spoke of me at home and she wanted me to come for dinner. It was so amazing! I can't believe the generosity of the family! I was really nervous because I didn't think the mother spoke a lot of English and I was scared that it was going to be awkward. However, Nathan's mom is friends with another child's mother that comes to my school and he's in grade three so he was there to help translate. I also brought along Susannah as my date and she is able to speak a little bit of Korean too!

When we got there the mother's were cooking so the kids were running around, being kids. Nathan's mom teaches piano lessons and they had four pianos in their house! We got the boys to play for us- they were so good and it was adorable to see!

We finally sat down to sooo~ much food, everything was DELICIOUS! We were given bibimbap which is rice in a bowl with some cooked veggies and you put a scoop of hot pepper paste in and mix it all together- mmmm! There was also bulgogi which is meat in a yummy sweet-ish sauce with onions and they put some dok (rice cakes- but not cake at all, like thumb size noodles, hard to explain). There was miso soup, a squash porridge, jap chae (glass noodles with spinach, other veggies and meat), salad-like coleslaw, and obviously kimchi- SOOO GOOD!

We were there for a couple hours, chatting away, eating and just having a good time! It was so kind and thoughtful for the mother to invite us over. It was also great to see a student in their own environment! Their house was lovely! The mothers were very down to earth and welcoming, never did I feel awkward.
This was such a great experience and something I'll never forget. I'm so thankful for the invitation! The generosity was amazing. Nathan's mom even insist she drive us home at the end of the night and gave both Susannah and I a takeout tub full of Jap Chae...mmmm!~

I look forward to getting back to Canada and cooking Korean food for my friends and family although I must say, anything I make probably won't come close to authentic Korean food in a Korean home!~ xo