We decided to go out the day before to beat the crowds (we have a standing date night every Friday) and we went to our favorite Ramen place in Austin, Michi Ramen. The mr pointed out that they have roasted barely tea on their super cute, illustrated menus! I asked the waiter about it because I know I love the Korean version and he wrote it out in Korean with his finger on the table and brought me out a glass! Apparently barely tea in Japan is the same thing as barely tea in Korea! He lived in Korea for one year and we talked about how the culture is very food-centered. A common greeting in Korea is  “Have you eaten? ë°¥ 먹었니? or literally translated “Rice already eaten?” It used to trip up our waiter when the neighbor in front of his house would ask him that when he was learning Korean, so he would answer, “Yes, I had chicken/noodles/whatever he had eaten” that was not rice until he learned that it was equivalent to”How are you doing?” because back 3 generations or so ago food was scarce, so it was a way to show care. The Weekly Korean has a short podcast with an explanation. I didn’t grow up with this saying because only English was spoken in my home, for the fear that I would have a Korean accent. I learned how to read and write Korean later in life. AND cook Korean food! If you’re interested in learning Korean: Timothy Ferris turned me on to Ryan Estrada’s “Learn to read Korean in 15 minutes” illustrated guide during his talk at last year’s SXSW where he was talking about his favorite tools for cooking.  I attended all the food talks during the interactive portion, of course!
I get the same thing every time I eat at Michi. The dipping ramen! It comes with a reduction of the ramen broth and thick Chinese-like noodles. I sub the thick pork slices for fishcake (kamaboko) because it’s too much for me to eat even in two sittings, which usually happens anyway. I add the ajitama (pickled) soft-boiled egg and this time I tried the pickled bamboo shoots (a win!). I usually eat all the noodles while I’m there and get some noodles to go with my “lonely broth” and have a nice lunch the next day with shredded seaweed and an egg on top.
Since we went out on Thursday, I went grocery shopping and we had our Valentine’s Day meal at home: peach & mango salsa & tortilla chips, Â lobster mac ‘n cheese, flatbread & strawberry cheesecake.
I cut out some vinyl on my silhouette to decorate the master bathroom, so this happened:
I’m terrible about figuring out something to make or give to my mister, so usually it’s a frustrating holiday for me, but I saw these hello cards in the Silhouette store and I couldn’t pass them up. I had laurels downloaded already and a script font, but for a quick click of the button, I had the image all set up and ready for cutting, so the project probably took me less than 15 minutes including installation! It’s 12″ tall  x 20″ long and I’m happy with how it turned out. He got a kick out of it, (I heard him laughing from the living room when he saw it), so I was happy, too. I cut out the matching “Hello Beautiful” and will probably put it on the mirror later this week.
I had broken my large vase earlier in the year (and just replaced it, but he was unaware, so he brought home a bouquet of roses in this neat vase that’s a longgg oval! You know I’m going to etch it, right? I’ll probably just make a stencil vinyl mask (so reverse of the tutorial in the link.)
To sum it up, this was the best Valentine’s Day that I can remember, ever! It was so good getting to spending time with friends and my mister! I love you guys!