Not what we are accustomed to

We have been blanketed with snow here in Middle Tennessee for the past several days, and with temperatures barely rising above freezing for only a few hours, it has largely remained. The photo below was taken out my front door this morning. 

We get snow only occasionally, so it's a big deal. This was a good one, with about six inches of accumulation at our house.

Schools and many businesses close when it snows here. When it is in the forecast, grocery stores are overrun with folks buying provisions as if there will be food shortages and they'll never get out of the house again, with bread and milk being the biggest sellers. I have no empirical data, but I suspect beer and wine don't do too badly either. 

As it so happened, Wife and I flew to Naples, Florida last Friday night to visit friends who are renting a place there for a month, seeing how they might like the snowbird life. We have other friends from here who have bought places in that area (already snowbirds), and we all got together for dinner Saturday and Sunday nights. 

They were saying how lucky they felt to be there when we would be having this Arctic blast in Nashville. 

Me? Not so much. While I enjoyed our trip and being on the beach in January, I was disappointed to miss a good a snowfall. 

We were supposed to fly home Tuesday, but received notice late Monday afternoon our flight had been canceled. Seems the winter storm had a ripple effect at airports across the country. We were rebooked for late Wednesday afternoon. 

Our friends we were visiting were kind and understanding, and since we were staying with them, it did not cost us anything extra. Since I still have my day job, and I did not take my laptop with me, I had to spend some time on the phone during the day Wednesday. 

It was a nice trip, and I am still getting to enjoy the snow. I only missed the anticipation and the fun of watching it fall. 

Belated Merry Christmas . . . from Korea

This year's international Christmas Eve for our family was Korean. 

Shortly after Thanksgiving, Wife and I went to a local Korean restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed the food, so much so that we decided they could do it better than we could, so we would get it from them! We talked to a nice lady there who told us to call a few hours before we would like it, and she would have it ready for us. Let me tell you, this made preparation and cleanup much easier. 

We did the usual of drinks and apps in the entry hall, with steamed and fried dumplings, and a seafood pancake which may sound strange, but was awesome. We made a couple of cocktails from Jinro, a Korean spirit, and I bought some Korean, rice-based beer, most of which is still in the beer fridge in the garage if that tells you anything. 

The main course food included bibimbap, Korean barbecue and bulgogi, all served with rice (bibimbap actually has rice incorporated into it and mixed in a bowl) and sides of kimchi. 

As usual, it was a fun evening as we expanded our knowledge of cuisine and culture. Some pictures below, as well as a video I hope you can open. 

Korean cuisine

Drinks and apps in the entry hall