Bates' Birthday Party

For Bates' birthday, Nick and I decided to try Korean food for the first time. I found a restaurant in Nashville that a friend recommended and we were off!

We ate dinner at Seoul Garden and what an experience!

The menu was in Korean, of course, but luckily underneath each had a translation.

We went sat down there were only chopsticks and spoons on our table. I knew I was in trouble- I CANNOT use chopsticks! I tried for a bit, but after just stabbing my food and Nick making fun of me, I finally had to ask for a fork!

I ordered BulGoGi which is grilled beef. Nick ordered BulGalGi, which was grilled beef ribs.

Before our main course came out, they brought out 7 little side dishes.
From left top: cabbage kimchi, korean jelly, eggs, raddish kimchi
Bottom left to right: tofu, bean sprouts, raddish kimchi

We HATED the side dishes. We tried all of them, except the eggs! Yuck! I decided they wouldn't have been that bad, but the sauce on them were YUCK! It was kinda spicy, but not bad, I just didn't like the taste of it. Nick had a problem with the texture of the tofu- I seriously thought he was gonna spit it on the table!

Our main courses came out. They were served on a bed of chopped onions on a hot plate, with a side of white rice.

Here is Nick with his BulGalGi.
Here is mine.
Notice, the full side dishes above my plate! ha!

Here's my first bite. Yum.....


The meat was long strips and we must have looked like we were struggling because the waitress brought us scissors, yes, scissors! We used the scissors to cut our meat and for Nick to cut the bones out of his. Thank goodness we were warned about this or I would have been so confused.

Here's Nick cutting away.

After we finished our main course, they brought us this cold tea. It was super yummy! I don't remember what it was called, but I know it had ginger in it. It tasted like the spiced tea my mom makes at Christmas but cold!
I loved it!

After dinner, we headed back to Murfreesboro to our friends Casey and TJs house for cake and ice cream with some friends.

Casey had Bates' a birthday cake made, and it was SO STINKIN' CUTE!


Casey is so thoughtful and found Happy Birthday in Korean and had that put on his cake! I loved it!
TJ prayed for us and for Bates and then we cut the cake. Part of a traditional Korean 1st birthday includes a special prayer for the child, so that was special for us!

Of course we wished our son was here to celebrate with us, but we are so thankful to have such thoughtful and caring friends! We had a great day celebrating the life of our little guy, but next year we will have a 2nd birthday with the guest of honor in attendance!