My Mother Dear

Or, a few observations in lieu of a proper post

Hello Kitty Cookie

The photo above is a Hello Kitty cookie that I’ve been meaning to write up a review for but I mean really what’s there to say? It’s a cookie, it tastes kind of like an animal cracker mixed with shortbread and it’s shaped like a pox-riddled Hello Kitty. So there you have it, Hello Kitty cookie review. Oh Yeah, the box was cute, too.

The review above was what you might call some clumsy, lazy work. That’s okay, it’s fitting because my mom is in town and that’s the sort of thing I excel at according to her. She still likes me though which is good because otherwise it would be most uncomfortable to have her come stay for 10 days. Right now it’s only some level of uncomfortable that is clearly not the most uncomfortable it could be, but still not quite in the comfort zone. Pleasant but not comfortable.

My mom is a small middle aged Korean woman with enough energy to power a small town. As a matter of fact, I’m wondering, if maybe all Korean moms are like her and if so maybe that means North Korea doesn’t have nuclear warheads after all and just has missiles powered by Omah power. Which is not to say we shouldn’t be afraid, rather we should be even more afraid and send them whatever the heck they want. If they want to keep Bill Clinton, fine, we’ll miss him but it’s for the greater good.

I think I mentioned being busy trying to get the house in order for my mom’s visit. We bought this house last year and my mother has never seen it in person so I wanted to make a good impression. So, she flies in and the next morning I hear her go downstairs at 5 am, which is normal enough because she’s jetlagged, but when I finally get out of bed, I find her scrubbing my downstairs bathroom floor, which I think is not so normal.

And she hasn’t stopped cleaning since. Not in an insulting way, mind you, like Oh mah nah this house is so dirty I must hose it down lest I get the scabies, but in a way that leaves me feeling sort of helpless and third wheel-ish (fifth? how many wheels are there normally? will any odd number do?).  I’m like “Sit down Mom, I’ll get it, I normally clean the dining room and load the dishwasher anyway. I mean, usually I wait until the crumbs have actually hit the floor to clean them up, but your way of diving for them is good, too. Rest, it’s your vacation.”

But she’ll rest when she’s dead she says and I’m left to try and speed clean as much as possible so I can do at least some of it, which really messes with my rhythm because I’m of the opinion that it’s best to let a mess mellow and age a bit before attacking, but my mom, she shows no mercy. She’s relentless.

My house is cleaner than it’s ever been. Possibly cleaner than it was the day after it was built before the first owners moved in. She’s weeded the back garden and bonded with all of my children and filled my fridge with all sorts of good things to eat and stocked my pantry with enough rice and other goodies to feed an army. All while jet lagged. It’s daunting, but all in all I have to say it’s good to have a mom and even better to have one in your house.

Speaking of good things to eat, this visit we’ve been measuring ingredients while making various Korean dishes and took a few photos of the steps so that I could post the recipes on my blog. So far we’ve made cabbage kimchi, beef short ribs (kalbi), bulgogi (I don’t know what that is in English, marinated beef strips you cook on the grill) and will be making a noodle dish called jap chae and my mom’s famous egg rolls and Korean style sushi rolls called Kim Bap. So stay tuned!