Operation Fort Bragg

Well, after closing the chapter in South Korea we opened it up in Fort Bragg, NC. The center of the universe for the Army world so I hear lol. It's not bad, a bit country, the bugs are on steriods, it's not as easy to make friends (or I just refuse to make new ones because I miss my old ones). But for the most part it has become home and I enjoy the craziness of it. Everything is literally 20 minutes away, on post housing isn't as bad as I have heard though my neighbors are never home so I must have got the luck of the draw. The boys love their new school and I am literally 8 hours away from home. Though I don't plan to go to Ohio regularly lol. Sorry guys but you are more than welcome to visit. We have been here almost a year so I think since we are semi settled it may be time to start the blog back up. Besides it helps to keep yall posted on the excitement the Taylor boys have will hiking, camping, and becoming country boys.

Happy Birthday To Me

So March 22nd I turned 27 woot woot. I am blessed to see another year. I started off by being homesick because this was my first year without my friends, brothers, gramps and in a new country. But I got over that quickly. lol....I made myself a cassata cake so I brought Cleveland to Korea. And had an awesome night out with a wonderful group of ladies. They made this first birthday in Korea very special and my brother texted me majority of the night while I was out drinking and partying lmao. Will hooked me up with some new appliances and forced me to try funnel cake. Sighhh I don't see the hype lmao but I learned how to make them at home watch out now I may get me a stand at the carnivals lmao. And as always my little men took me to dinner and were on their best behavior sang happy birthday to me so that in Shawnys words I would hurry and cut the cake lmao. Last night I went to Martys which I guess is considered like an american bar and grill lol. They had buy one get one free drinks lol. Delaina and Bj would have loved those lmao. Then since I haven't been out anywhere since I got here we headed to the ville and went to Rhino for soju buckets lol. Lord Uncle Wayne you were right after almost three soju buckets I was ready to dance in the middle of street lmao. They played all the latest music I laughed at the hoochies  who had on too tight dress and didn't know how to color match their panties to there outfits. Ladies if your dress is going to be showing your crouch lets invest in vicky secrets k?! lmao laughed at my girl Patrice who was mocking the break dance korea and took tons of pictures lmao. My brother, delaina and Will had a good laugh over my drunkenness. I recall sending a text to bj saying sigh I miss you I need someone to carry me home. Bwahhhhhaaaaaaa... I got home safely and fell straight into bed, at least I could still function enough to text lmao. I had will peel my boots off and then the floor started spinning lmao. Will was dying laughing he wanted to videotape me so that Bj and Delaina could see how wasted I was lmao. I text bj like dude the floor is spinning and I am sitting on it lmao. I would wait until I get to Korea to test my alcohol level but I enjoyed myself very very much. Thanks again ladies for the wonderful time and the free drinks!

Lady Gaga Concert

So after months of waiting around trying to find a good price for the tickets that I wanted I finally got tickets to go see Lady Gaga kick off her born this way tour in Asia. And of course her first stop was Seoul woot woot. It was the best concert I have been to in my life she really puts on a great show and the Koreans love her. She had the biggest sellout since Michael Jackson came to Korea now that's saying something. They changed the age of being allowed to see her concert to 18 or older they said that he concert was to much for younger kids. So she made sure that she gave an 18 and up show I think that I have seen enough of Lady Gagas ass to last me a life time. She cussed enough for a truck load of sailors and really enjoyed herself on stage. I wasn't sure if everyone knew exactly what she was saying because she didn't speak Korean but they still cheered her on all the same. I took the train there and back which was an experience in itself since the last train stops at midnight lol. We made it home at 12:05 lol go figure. It was sooo packed and we did meet some funny guys that of course wanted to know how the concert was and then asking us if we missed America or liked Korea. Lol my favorite statement was sigh I miss golden corral americans know how to eat lol all you can eat buffets korea doesn't have that lol. Surprisingly there were a lot of them that had been to Ohio or went to penn state for two years to learn english. And then there was another older guy who only moved back to take care of his parents until they die and he said his kids ask him everyday are we going back to America I just want to go to walmart lol. I guess I am  not the only one who misses Walmart. But it made me realize that no matter where they go in the world Koreans stick to traditions that us americans toss to the side. You very rarely hear of an american stopping their life for their parents because you feel as if you owe them that. I think I am blessed to have my kids grow up around people who actually have a culture that they pass down from generation to generation.

Kidzania

Okay so I so suck at keeping this updated and that is just because of pure laziness so it's about to be a few new posts about all of the activities that we have done to date. I took the kids to kidzania which is basically a city for kids. They are the workers they run everything and parents aren't allowed to participate. The boys are now certified firefighters and airline pilots for korean air woot woot. They got their first little bank cards which they can use in the city only and they get paid with kidzania bucks which is cool. They have a lor of food places inside also I am not to sure if they all except kids bucks but I know that if they work there like baskin robbins or mr donut they teach you to make the stuff and then you take with you what you made. All in all it was an awesome day with great friends and needless to say the boys cannot wait to go back to work. Each job lasts about 30-45 minutes and you have to sign up for either first shift which is 10-3 or second shift which is 3-9 or you can do an all day. We just did first shift so you do as many jobs as you can within that time frame. It was funny because parents are not allowed inside of the places like the bank and stuff and the boys had to create their own pin numbers and fill out forms and stuff. It really teaches them about independence. It's a very good way to teach kids about life.

Myengdong

So me and the girls spent Saturday in Seoul shopping and then headed to the airport to pick up my friend Patrices mother. We went to myengdong and had a blast. We found a really good Italian restaurant that served a pizza and spaghetti combo with cheese over everything. It was the best spaghetti that I have had in a long time. But me not paying attention to my dairy intake ended up sick and barfing on the train ride to the airport. lol...it was the worst but once I got it up I felt awesome. There is a forever 21, H&M, Gap, Ralph Lauren Polo, Mac makeup and a big old plaza of other stores there. And hahaha I was able to find my size at the store woot woot.

Clevelands Own Strawberry Cassata Cake

Okay so I have been wanting some cassata cake for the longest and of course no one here has ever heard of it let alone how to make it. The cake place in affes has this crazy strawberry flavored cake without the custard and that is unacceptable lmao. So I decided to find the recipe to make it myself. Lord who knew that it would take me an entire day of searching to find the right one. And of course my genius husband waits until I call him saying hey did you know that the strawberry cassata cake is only made in Cleveland to tell me yea you didn't know that you should have asked me lmao. smh the first recipe I came across was for a cassata cake but it had like chocolate shavings and crap all over it. I read the comments and this lady was saying that wasn't the cassata cake that she had had. So then I kept searching until I came across another blog of a lady from pittsburgh whose coworker was raving about my strawberry cassta cake. She had also posted the recipe that she had found so I scooped it up and ran to the commissary to buy everything I needed. I was scared that we wouldn't have everything I need here in our little walgreens of a commissary so I had checked amazon to see if I could have the things i needed shipped here. I will say this if you try the recipe please follow the directions to the T. Do not try and use all purpose flour it will not taste as good as it should. We don't have cake flour here and granted everyone loves the cake I can tell the difference slightly.

For the cake layers:
2 1/4 c. cake flour
1 1/4 and 1/4 cups sugar, divided
1 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
3/4 c. cold water
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 t. lemon zest
1 t. vanilla extract
5 large egg yolks at room temperature
8 large egg whites at room temperature
1/2 t. cream of tartar

For the custard:
6 large egg yolks
1/2 c. sugar
2 c. half and half
3 T. cornstarch

For the macerated strawberries:
3 lb. strawberries
2 T. sugar

For the whipped cream:
2 c. chilled heavy cream
1 T. sugar

Make the custard: (you can do this step the night before)
Whisk together all of the custard ingredients in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-low heat, whisking constantly. Turn down the heat so that the mixture just simmers, and whisk until thick, 1-2 minutes. (The key words here are whisk constantly. The custard will tell you in no uncertain terms when it is done. It's like magic. One moment you can comfortably whisk your way through the liquid, and the next it is undeniably a thick custard. Cornstarch is neat like that.) Transfer the custard to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a round of wax paper, and cool. Then, chill custard, covered, for at least 3 hours, or up to 2 days.

Bake the cakes: (you can also do this step the night before)
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line the bottoms of two 9-inch round cake pans with lightly oiled (I use cooking spray) parchment paper . Otherwise, leave the pans ungreased.

Sift together the flour, 1 1/4 c. sugar, baking powder, and salt twice into a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, use an electric hand mixer on high speed to beat together the yolks, water, oil, zest, and vanilla until smooth. Stir into the flour mixture.

In another large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Add the remaining 1/4 c. sugar, and beat on high until the peaks are stiff but not dry.

Using a rubber spatula (and a very light touch), fold about a quarter of the fluffy egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Then fold in the remaining whites. Be very gentle. The goal here is to incorporate the egg whites without allowing them to deflate significantly. It is all of the air that has been whipped into the egg whites that will make for tall and light cake layers. As soon as the egg whites are no longer visible, stop folding.

Scrape the batter into the two prepared pans and spread evenly. (Here is a trick for making sure you have poured an equal amount of batter into each pan: Grab two toothpicks and stick one into the center of each batter-filled pan. Then, pull them out and see if the amounts of batter on the picks line up.) Bake for approximately 35 minutes, until the top springs back when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

For the next step, and for the splitting, wax paper is your friend. Any surface that carries a cake layer, I line with wax paper for easier transfer.

Allow the cakes to cool in their pans on a cooling rack for at least an hour. When completely cool, run a knife around the sides to release the cakes, cover each pan with a wax paper-lined plate, and flip. Gently lift the pans off of the cakes, and carefully peel back the pieces of parchment, taking care not to take the very tops of the cake with you. (I did end up pulling off a teeny tiny bit of the top of one layer, but it didn't matter, since the cake would ultimately be covered in whipped cream.)

Wrap the two cakes in plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least three hours, or overnight.

Meanwhile, prepare the strawberries:
Slice the strawberries thinly (but not too thinly - you want the slices thick enough so that you can really taste and feel the berries even once they are smothered by custard, cake, and whipped cream!), and place in a bowl. Sprinkle with the 2T. sugar, and stir. Allow the strawberries to macerate for 1 hour. Their juices will release and pool at the bottom of the bowl. Every so often, give them a stir. Strain the berries, reserving the released juices.

When the cakes are thoroughly chilled, and thus a little sturdier, it's time to split them in two. Using a long serrated bread knife, carefully saw each layer in half. Place each layer on a wax paper-lined baking sheet or plate.

Whip the cream:
Whip the cream and sugar together until stiff.

Assemble the cake!
(I experimented with my layering technique: custard alone between the first and second layers, strawberries alone between the second and third layers, and strawberries and custard between the third an fourth layers. In the future, I'll put strawberries and custard between every layer.)

Place one cake layer on a wax paper-lined baking sheet. Brush the top of the layer with 1/3 of the reserved strawberry juice. Cover with a layer of strawberries, and then with a layer of custard. Top with the next layer of the cake, and repeat: strawberry juice, strawberries, custard, cake layer. And again.

Using a spatula, cover the entire cake with whipped cream. Top with either leftover macerated strawberries, or a few "raw" strawberries. (Next time, I'll go with the latter.)

Chill the cake for at least 8 hours before serving, so that the cake has time to absorb the strawberry juices. Bring to cool room temperature before serving.

(To transfer the cake from the baking sheet to a cake stand, use the wax paper to gently scooch the cake from one surface to the other, then tear away the visible wax paper.)