Real Life at the Jeongs

Today,

I was going to make homemade biscuits for the first time.

I lined up the ingredients real nice, so you could see everything that went into my biscuits...

And then, pleasantly surprised at how fast I got done, I stuck the two trays in the oven and turned on a Friends rerun to watch while waiting.

Three minutes into baking, my oven started smoking. And suddenly, I noticed that our whole apartment looked hazy and smelled like burning wax.

I yelled for YS, and just as he ran the 5 steps from the bedroom to our kitchen, the fire alarm started ringing. Great. A visit from 911 to start off our vacation.

Thankfully, it wasn't a fire (whew!) and we were able to turn off the alarm by wildly fanning the air under it with our pillow; and I rushed my two trays of half-baked biscuits outside to cool off.

What is the lesson you can gain from this? You probably should not use wax paper as "cookie sheets" when lining your baking trays, especially when the baking temperature is quite high (like 450 F). That's the only thing that burned and smelled, so I assume that was the problem.

When I started this blog, I resolved to share both the goodies and the mess-ups of my life - recipes included. So here you are: one major mistake that you should learn from and not repeat.

There is a time for second chances, though! I will re-try these tomorrow morning. From the half-baked biscuit that I tried (and then spat out at my husband's command), the taste was promising! Maybe tomorrow I'll add some herbs and garlic... Stay tuned!

Now if someone could just tell me how to get rid of that awful burning wax smell...

::Edit: I just realized that my laptop deleted the 2 photos that I uploaded from my camera, after I deleted the photos off my memory card. Ah, well. Tomorrow will be a new day for photos too.::

To the girl that became a woman overnight...

On November 13, 1991, when I was just 4, my life was changed forever. That day, Mom went to the hospital to take out the baby hiding behind her big belly. I was excited, but also scared. Why did she have to hide inside Mom for so long? Would she share my toys with me? 

At first I didn't like it. Mom, Dad, and all my relatives had focused their sole attention on me.... until my sister was born. Now I had to share the love with her.

But soon I found that having a baby sis around wasn't so bad after all! When Mom and Dad were busy, I could play with my sister. When I wanted to practice being a teacher, or doctor, or pilot, I always had someone to play my student, patient, or passenger. 

There was never a dull moment in the house, especially with a funky, goofy sister like mine!

Having a sister to complete our family was (is) a huge blessing from God as well. He knew how much I would need a sister to weather all of the changes that our family would face. 

Together, we moved from our big home in Canada to the small apartment in California. 

Together, we found new friends and fell in love with our church family in LA. 

Together, we braved out the mean boys on the school bus who kept calling us Chinese. 

Together, we were able to turn what could have been a difficult, lonely move to Mongolia into a Boxcar Children adventure (the book series we were obsessed with back then). And because we had each other, it was much less daunting to play with kids whose language we didn't understand; to endure   the walks to gym class in -40F weather; and to adjust to our new school and church communities. 

My sister was just a little girl of eleven when I had to leave home for boarding school in Germany. I was sad to leave my family behind, but the transition was much harder for my sister. In my eyes, she turned into a woman overnight. One summer I came home, and my sister still wanted to play "Chinese jump rope"; not many summers later, she had grown into a teenager who experienced and saw more of the hurts and difficulties of life than I wished for her. But our God is a God of extravagant love: I could clearly see His hand in the life of my sister; praise Him for molding her into the woman she is today!

I can hardly believe that this beautiful, caring girl is now 21 and a senior in college. My sister is the most deeply loving, gorgeous, kind woman out there. Many more life lessons and experiences are sure to come, but I know that God has been faithful and will continue to reveal His faithfulness in her life. 

Dearest Lemon,

Happy 21st Birthday!! You're the rock star of the Pak clan, the only one that would ever have the courage to take new risks and blaze through a Pak-untrodden path. I love you to the moon and back (and I only pull out my cheesy phrases for you)! Thanks for blessing my life with lessons in love, laughter, and second chances (that is, after our fights... hehe). Can't wait to see you in January!!

Love,

Unni

PS: Stay goofy!