CHINGUS up here in the JIP

• Corey
• Amy & Dick
• Kara
• Janna
• Glenn & Amanda
• Chris & Monica
• Jill & Jack
• Wendi, Ben & BABY ROONEY
• Wendy
• Zakk
• Amber & Steve
• Lori
• Margie
• Cara
• Lauren
• Sean!

OK I’m going to be a sentimental bitchbaby here, probably for the duration of the whole post. I have looked at these pictures so m any times and felt so happy for truly one of the only times in the past year. The power of friends, you guys. They made me feel less alone in dark times just by sending simple texts (and also being a kitten scout – Kara!), but having them filling my house with laughter was THE TRUE MEANING OF CHINGUMAS. And even better is that I was able to hassle some of them into downloading the Party! camera app so that we could all see each other’s pictures the next morning and it was so fucking fun! It makes me want to have a fake wedding now so that we can use it on a grander scale, lol. Almost all of the photos in this post are from that app which is how I’m actually in pictures from my own party for once!

This wasn’t taken with the app, but here I am with my sibs Corey and Amy! Amy was super excited to sample all of the Korean beer and makgeolli!

Succulents from Jill <3

LOL tteokbokki smudge on my GD goblet. (I WAS DRINKING CASS AND I LIKED IT! Henry had it a few times in Korea and I had a sip once and said, “Wow, that’s actually not bad for beer” but now that I am a real beer drinker – haha – I appreciate it more.)

Actually, I don’t believe that anyone had any soju! Unless they weren’t using the shot glasses, I dunno!

Rooney was a fan of my clown town house :)

A lot of the pictures turned out this way because I was running into rooms, snapping and retreating. Also, some people (WENDY) didn’t know how to turn the flash off so some of these are a real treat and I was cry-laughing while looking through them!

Even Margie used it!!!

Zakk is Chooch’s Janna. He drags him over here every year for my holiday parties and Zakk is probably like, “Jesus Christ when can I go home?” Also, Chooch went to the store for me that day because I needed, well, everything and also I told him to get get a non-alcoholic holiday punch like the kind that Corey was pushing on him from Trader Joe’s on Xmas Eve. But Chooch couldn’t find anything pre-made at Walmart so he googled and found a “Jingle Bell Punch” recipe and subsequently came home with OJ, apple juice, cranberry juice and then had to go back out for Ginger ale. Also, I was going to go to CVS to get some bags of hopefully marked-down Christmas candy but Chooch said he would handle that too and came home with two big $15 bags of Kisses and Miniatures that weren’t IN HOLIDAY WRAPPERS. $30 for two bags of candy!!

But he did get Dolly Parton holiday plates, so that was something.

Cara stood with her purse on for a long time and I was afraid that meant she was going to leave early but she was one of the last to leave, phew. (She did eventually sit down next to Margie.)

SEAN CAME!! And he wore his BLAME HENRY pin from yesteryear. I saw him walk in and screamed from the back porch because I haven’t seen him since my last pre-covid Xmas party in 2019 when I didn’t want to have a party but Wendy made me. “Just have a small one. Invite Sean,” she said. Wendy is always strong-arming me into these things!

We must have been having a serious conversation. Also, Chris (& Monica!) always has the best hair.

Chooch was getting pelted with college questions all night long and learned that Lauren’s sister also went to Drexel!

Did I mention yet that we have a new doorbell that Henry made for me and I was getting so militant about people ringing the doorbell upon entry that if they failed to do so, I would shout at them to go back outside and try again?? Looking back, I feel like I yell at my guests at every party which begs the question: WHY DO MY FRIENDS KEEP COMING BACK? I’m such a party asshole!

Anyway, Margie in particular was like, “I didn’t see a doorbell! Where is it??”

“WHERE DOORBELLS ARE, MARGIE!” I cried. “IT IS LITERALLY LIT UP!”

All of this chaos over a lunatic doorbell.

Eventually, I wasn’t in the living room anymore and Kara took over as doorbell marshal. Between this and years of taking charge with reading the directions at game night, Kara is basically my second in command! Next year, I’m going to have special vest for herto wear, a la elementary school hall monitors, for when she’s on doorbell duty!

That’s Jill behind Amanda – I didn’t get any good photos of her, ugh! This was also her first time at my house and she is still chatting with me on Teams so I guess I didn’t completely scare her away. Meanwhile, Rooney and Jack played on the back porch and were both little delights. Chingumas is all ages, you guys!

The alcohol is NOT all ages though, lol.

This Party! camera is so weird – some pictures came out lovely and others look like I charged up my 2007 Blackberry for the night.

This was 100% when I was making Chris and Monica join the Party! camera. Monica started to do it and then said to Chris, “I’ll just let you handle this.” LOL.

I DON’T BELIEVE JANNA ASKED PERMISSION TO LAUGH.

Thoughtful trifle dissecting.

These pictures are definitely out of order.

Blurry but keeping! Lauren brought me a hostess gift from the Olive Tap – Sorrento lemon olive oil, which Henry quickly claimed was actually a gift for him and has been obsessing over it ever since. “No one ever brings me a gift!” he cried happily and when I reminded him that she gave it to me, he brushed me off and said, “Yeah, but she knows that I am the one who will be using it!”

He was even googling uses for it the other night and it was so annoying.

Old school work reunion!

Also, I love that we’re able to utilize the back porch and kitchen now because party guests can spread out – I remember our Xmas party in 2016 was one of the only times when every single person I ininvited actually showed up and, being contained to just the living room and dining room, it was such a fire hazard probably.

This was when I made Janna go back upstairs and come back so I could get a picture lol.

YES! Inkigayo sandwiches and a Kloud! Wendy was doing it right.

Everyone was reading the old “Book of Henry” that Chooch and I made, ugh, probably 10+ years ago!? I was so happy that it was getting read after all these years, and it was fun to retell old Henry stories, lol.

I can’t believe Monica agreed to hold a baby!

Amber and Lauren were work-gossiping which is the worst thing to when I’m within ear shot because I kept whipping around and saying things like, “WHO?” “WHEN?”

Anyway, Amber and her husband Steve came here straight from Steve’s work party which was a formal event. I was on the back porch when I saw them walk in and had NO IDEA who they were.

This looks like secrets are being spilled.

I truly can’t believe they sat through this all night.

LOL Corey took this picture of SERVICE ERA HENRY on the fridge.

They were playing some game, I don’t even know.

I dunno who brought these, but they were so good!

Corey’s sloppy plate. (I am sincerely so happy with how the trifle came out!)

OMG MORE SECRETS.

Is someone telling ME a secret now!?

Corey sat in that wheelchair for a long time.

LOL Margie took this of Janna.

I don’t even care about my massive double chin here – I was so giddy when Margie took this so it’s staying! This was when I was trying to help Amber download the Party! camera and she wanted a selfie with me to use as her profile picture and it took eleventy thousand tries.

Chronica foot selfie.

I know exactly what I’m doing here! I’m saying JANNA YOU IDIOT THE BOTTLE OPENER IS RIGHT THERE.

All of these adults orbiting the two teenagers all night, beer in hand.

My favorite thing about my parties is that all my friends from different circles end up talking to each other.

Wendy could NOT get her flash turned off!

LOL Lauren.

Me being an Inkigayo Sandwich server.

…and probably also me being an Inkigayo Sandwich defender!

Corey loves to get me going with old Janna stories and I was seriously almost peeing my pants telling the back porch crew about her Robitussin scandal, the time I made cupcakes for game night and made a “special” one for her, and the infamous Poopy Birthday Cake we made for her as a surprise many moons ago. This was me showing off the picture of it, which inspired questions like, “Why is there a Santa spitting out poop?” WHY INDEED.

This picture sums it all up!

Meanwhile, Kara pointed out that all of these years everyone has been like, “Oh poor Henry.”

“But what about Janna?” Kara asked.

“Justice for Janna!” Amanda said, and I almost peed my pants again.

I love this picture so much.

<3

Lori! I walked through the kitchen at one point while Henry was asking her questions about her house and I took that opportunity to offer up Henry’s handyman services, then kept going about my business.

Everyone but Janna and Corey had left by midnight so this was the after-party. It felt so good to lay back on this chair and relax. This was also the FIRST AND ONLY picture Chooch took using the Party! camera the whole night, because he had JUST DOWNLOADED IT right then. So annoying.

I did have a panic attack that night when I was trying to go to sleep which was weird because I did not feel one iota of stress the entire night. Maybe it was just social overload. Maybe that means I shouldn’t wait until the end of the year to hang out with all of my friends in one go??

I also felt that this year’s was a lot better than last year’s. I missed the people from last year who couldn’t attend this time, but I just felt so much calmer overall and when I think back to last year’s, I feel like I didn’t talk to anyone. This year, I had some good chats with pretty much everyone and it just felt really good. It was a good way to end a not so great year – with the reminder that if you have good friends in your life, things can’t be all that bad.

CHINGUMAS! CHINGUMAS!

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Henry got me this Seoul skyline ring for Christmas and it is so special. <3

In other news, I made Henry do a Paul Eugene seniors aerobic walk to the oldies workout tonight because god love Paul Eugene. We were doing low kicks when Penelope walked into the room. Henry jokingly pretended to (gently) kick.

Right then, Paul Eugene said, “Don’t kick the kitty!”

I really needed that moment of levity so much today!

Anyway, this has been a general Tuesday in the life of Erin.

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For this year’s Chingumas, I thought it would be cute to make party favors so I bought some cute gift bags, filled them with thoughtful Korean treats, Ediya instant coffee sticks (Ediya is a really popular cafe chain in Korea, and forget what you think you know about instant coffee because Korean instant coffee is actually really good! I used to keep a box in my desk at work because whatever coffee we were provided with the coffee machine on each floor was…not good.). I spent weeks procuring the contents, and then a few more weeks convincing Henry to pose for pictures that we could turn into pocas  (photo cards) to also include.

LOL.

Henry also made little pots of vegan kimchi (original and cucumber-style) and I made labels for them because it’s the least I can do when a project involves food.

One of my favorite Korean treats is patbingsu, which is made of the softest, snowiest shaved ice, and flavored with pat (sweet red bean paste which is a staple in Asian desserts and one of my favorite flavors ever) and injeolmi – soft rice cakes covered in sweet soy bean powder which has a lightly sweet and nutty flavor. I had the great idea of taking that and making it into a trifle. Henry replaced the shaved ice with a sweet cream similar to that found in Korean bbang (bread/buns), the bottom layer was made of Choco Pie, a middle layer was crumbled matcha Choco Pie since matcha is also a very popular bingsu flavor, and then of course the pat layer. We topped it with just injeolmi and not more pat because people are weirded out by sweet red beans! It’s crazy to me how many people were like “nope, that’s disgusting” when I got to the red bean part of the ingredient explanation and am grateful to Kara who backed me up on the delicious “don’t knock it till you try it” virtues of pat.

This is patbingsu in its original form ^^^

And this is our trifle version of it:

We always included a small carafe of condensed milk to drizzle over each serving, a la the true Korean-style.

In full disclosure, Henry and I 100% were winging it. He did a trial run of the injeolmi a week before, but we left the rest up to fate and I am happy to say that it turned out better than I could have imagined! All of the flavors worked well. The Choco Pie soaked up some of the cream so it was moist and provided just the right amount of texture. Sorry to those who were too wimpy to try it because OMG beans. Ya gotta have at least SOME sense of adventure & willingness to try new things if you come to a party celebrating Asian culture!

The next contentious item was the mini Inkigayo sandwiches we made.

These sandwiches are very beloved in our family. The short version is that they used to be served in the cafeteria of the TV station that airs the weekly Inkigayo music show. Inkigayo means “popular song” and the show is sort of like TRL, to give it American context. These sandwiches were super popular with idols and there is even some lore behind them that idols were using them to covertly give out their phone numbers to other idols since everything has to be done secret because of dating bans in their contracts.

When fans found out about this, it made them want to try the sandwiches but they were not available to the public. Various convenience stores started making their own versions of the “idol sandwich” and we ate the fuck out of them the first two times we were in Korea. I heard that the cafeteria no longer makes them, possibly because the creator of the recipe no longer works there? Anyway, we loved them so much that Henry found a recipe and started making them for us to eat on Easter – Eastergayo sandwiches, lol.

I made these cutie foodpick flags from screenshots of actual Inkigayo footage.

The OG recipe has imitation crab meat, so Henry made some like that too and put it on a separate plate with different food picks in them to differentiate. I think everyone who tried one liked it but there were still a bunch of people were like BIG NOPE.

And to that I say BIG SHRUG.

(Although there was someone who said they just genuinely don’t like egg salad I think so I will let that one slide!)

My black sesame shortbread cookies! I loved how these turned out – they had the nostalgic texture of a Keebler Sandies, sort of?? And they weren’t too sweet which I really appreciated. Also, I say “my” cookies because it was idea to make them but all I did was order the cookie cutter and send Henry the recipe LOL.

KIMBAP FOR DAYS. We put vegan bulgogi and smoked tofu in some of them. I told Henry he had to make extra this year because last year we ran out very early into the party, and of course our biggest kimbap fans didn’t come this time so we had so much left. I wasn’t complaining though because I could live on kimbap so I ate very well for the next few days!

The one thing, my actual favorite thing, that I failed to photograph was the crockpot chockful of tteokbokki that we left on the kitchen counter. I love tteokbokki and would happily eat it every day if I wasn’t so hyper-conscious of my waistline. It is always the first thing I eat when we get to Korea! There is nothing in the world like a paper cup of tteokbokki served straight from a street food cart by an ahjumma. It is my favorite comfort food right up there with grilled cheese and now I’m wondering why I have never combined the two?!?! Tteokbooki halves inside of a grilled cheese?!?!

SHOULD THIS BE NEXT YEAR’S CHINGUMAS FINGER SANDWICH!?

FFEOK ME UP, TTEOK.

^^^ Actual footage of tteokbokki that we ate in Namdaemun Market on our wedding day! <3

Ugh, I love so many things about Korea and just want to spend the rest of my life sharing that with my friends no matter how hard they resist.

Here’s the box of treat bags and kimchi that sat there ALL NIGHT until I locked the door after the last person left at 1:30am and noticed it. I hadn’t given out the favors to a single fucking party person the entire night. Literally screamed, “MOTHERFUCKERRRRRRRR!!!” and then could barely sleep that night. Luckily, with the help of Chooch, a/k/a Mr. Always Looking for a Reason to Take the Car, I have successfully delivered these to most everyone at this point.

I’m excited for the next post, which is just a collection of pictures of my friends Chingu’ing it up with other. We really put so much effort into these parties, even crossing state lines (3x!) to round up Korean beer, and it means so much to me when people show up for this. Even when I yell at them for not ringing the doorbell and make them go outside and try again, or scold people for calling kimbap “sushi”* – I know I get a “little” out of control but it’s just in my nature! And if I’m having a Korean-themed party, it’s only right that I commit to the cause! I think everyone is used to it. “We’re going to Erin’s to get yelled at and have curious foods shoved in our faces. Not to mention constant kpop** in the background.”

Thanks for indulging me!

*(Next year I’ll have information sheets pasted throughout the house, but until then, here’s some facts to prove that they are different and I do believe that it would be pretty offensive to call it sushi in front of Korean, but that’s just me having thin skin when it comes to defending Korea I guess.)

**(here’s the playlist of YouTube videos which you will note is a BTS-free zone lol.)

 

 

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Booooo, we took Chooch back to Philly today. Unlike after Thanksgiving, this was a much better experience. Drove straight there. No fighting. Everyone was in a good mood. I helped Chooch take his stuff back to his room and organized his stack of games while I was at it because they were encroaching on his roommate’s side of the room.

Then we went to Nourish for a late vegan lunch and it was gooooood.

Buffalo wings and scallops to start.

Henry’s Philly steak or whatever. (It was fucking magnificent.)

Chooch had a chik’un Philly cheesesteak thing which I tasted after I had already declared mine the best of the bunch and now I’m just not sure because that seasoning, the peppers, the sauce. Sheesh.

LOOK AT THIS THICC BOY ARE U KIDDING. I have never had a sandwich that tall before.

Not even the Inkigayo!

It took me OUT. I ate half and honestly probably could have housed the rest but Henry gave me the “you’ll get sick” speech so I tapped out and am already anticipating polishing it off later tonight on the road.

Chooch walking the streets of Philly in his Seahawks hoodie and Minion crocs. Sigh.

I briefly got to see one of his friends he’ll be living with next year and then he quickly hugged me and that was that…

…until he came running back to the car because he lost his room key in the backseat and found it lodged inside the middle console thingie. Jesus Christ, him and keys, wallets, and debit cards. I can’t.

ETA Sheetz over Wawa everyday all day long. Fuck Wawa, truly.

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First Friday Five of the New Year, what’s good yo.

1. My Top Nine of 2024

I had already checked out my Top 9 earlier in the month, but now you apparently have to pay to UNLOCK the middle picture? Too bad I already know that it’s the picture of my Bambi memorial tattoo, nice try Diddy.

I feel that these are pretty self-explanatory but:

1. Married in Korea
2. Chooch’s last day of high school
3. Chooch’s graduation
4. Chooch’s first day of senior (wow, a theme you say)
5.  :(
6. Chooch’s graduation party
7. Bambi’s memorial IG post :(
8. Making our wedding bands in Korea
9. A click-bait re: Chooch letting me buy him a jacket in Korea because it was March and chilly and he only packed t-shirts per his norm.

2. We Got a Rug

….we got a rug. It doesn’t fit the entire back porch but it covers most of the cold cement that wasn’t already covered by another rug. I like this. It was cheap and fits the bill. And so PINK! It arrived just in time for Chingumas which was nice because the weather was mild enough to use the porch as a “party annex” and the rug made it feel so cozy.

3. Suprise Package

My co-worker Amanda sent me this cute squirrel dish towel set for Christmas and I thought that was really nice. And speaking of my squirrels.

One of my neighborhood squirrels came to the porch last week, begging for walnuts. I started to open the door to put walnuts in his bowl (literally a small pet food bowl that I keep on a chair on the porch – they’re so spoiled) but one of my neighbors was outside so I didn’t want to get stuck talking. Instead, I opened the door a bit and tossed some walnuts onto the porch….

Buddy jumped off the chair, sniffed the walnuts, stood up at my front door with his paw on the window, gave me A LOOK (I swear to God) and then jumped back on the chair next to his bowl. He wouldn’t eat the walnuts off the ground because he wanted them in his bowl!! They have me wrapped around their creepy little fingers!

4. Petty Post-Christmas Feelings

Although, I have confirmed with several people and my therapist that my feelings are valid. But on Christmas Eve, I had taken a large bottle of Delirium Noel to Corey’s house so that we could all enjoy it with dinner. My mom didn’t have any of it, so I was surprised the next day when she texted me some questions about it, i.e. where I bought it, how much. I was so stoked about this because silly me, I thought she was showing an interest in something that I clearly based on my exuberant Belgian beer gushing at Christmas Eve dinner.

But no, she was just interested because her best friend’s daughter who she is like obsessed with and likes so much more than me “likes beer” – just “beer” in general I guess so presumably my mom is going to get her a bottle or tell her about it, or adopt her as her own daughter and turn the attic into one large bedroom for her with a slide that goes down into my old bedroom which will be converted into a walk-in closet/lounge area which was something that I wanted to happen when I still lived at home BUT NEVER DID probably because my dad intervened, who knows.

But yeah, I’m jealous of a girl I only met once when I was in my 20s and she was like, who knows, 5 or something and even then my mom was smitten with her and me, the 20-something year old, got so upset at my mom’s house when we were all over there one summer afternoon that I hid for hours underneath the antique roll-top desk in the living room and no one cared except for Corey, and Henry’s sons, who were all in elementary school at the time, and they were the only ones trying to find me.

Suddenly, a text message about Delirium had me wanting to hide under antique furniture all over again, age 45.

I talked about this in therapy yesterday because my therapist knew I was anxious about seeing my mom on Christmas Eve and I just started pouring it all out of my brain and heart and she was like, “This is really unfortunate because you live such a cool and colorful life and you and Henry are always going places and doing fun stuff, but she doesn’t show any interest in knowing this about you.” And that’s it for me, exactly. What else can I do? Nothing really. I have to just live the best life I can for myself, for Henry, and for Chooch and that has to be enough. I know this deep down and I know that with a lot of hard work therapy will eventually help me with that but everything still feels so raw like it was yesterday that I moved out of her house.

HAHAHA FAMILY AMIRITE.

5. End of a (sweet) era

Our Sugarspell Scoops friends are temporarily closing shop here soon because they were not able to come to an agreement with their landlord, so we stopped by last weekend to stock on some pints and give them some Kpop Dad’s (Vegan) Kimchi, haha.  I have loved supporting these guys over the years and am confident that once they find a new location, people will follow.

Anyway, we got a Ho-Hos pint and dammit if it doesn’t actually taste like frozen Ho-Hos in ice cream! It made me nostalgic because I can’t remember the last time I had a Ho-Ho (they were my faves as a kid until I discovered Zebra Cakes in the middle school cafeteria) and I attribute much of baby-fat to those delicious rolls of processed sugar.

——————————-

A BONUS PICTURE OF PENELOPE THROUGH THE CHRISTMAS LENS:

 

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New Year’s Eve was relatively boring and lowkey which is really all I wanted because I wasn’t feeling celebratory by any means. Henry and I just watched kpop stuff and had like, 1.5 drinks. We go hard.

But then Chooch started messing around with stuff on his new phone, for example, he made an emoji that looks nothing like me by putting in “woman crying” because that’s me.

Then he showed me a picture he made of his friend Zakk as a farmer using Apple AI and I was like OOOH MAKE ONE OF JANNA HOLDING POOP IN HER HANDS AND IT’S BEING SQUEEZED THROUGH HER FINGERS!!

I laughed so hard that it turned into a really painful wheeze. Apparently poop is a banned word so he had to use manure.

This was supposed to be Janna sick and slurping Robitussin.

But he said it wouldn’t accept the sick command and he had to get creative with Robitussin, nevertheless Corey knew exactly what it was supposed to be and died along with me when I sent it to him that night lol.

LOL the nose specifically is so accurate. Uncanny.

this was supposed to be in Korea holding a lightstick but all variations of SK and Seoul are banned, but it took the lightstick portion very literally!

I tied this is a few weeks ago in Instagram but it wouldn’t give me any results for “Danny Bonaduce dressed as a clown on a toilet” so I quit.

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I hated 2024 A LOT a lot. It was full of death, stress, college tuition hardships, mental and emotional breakdowns that had me wishing death upon myself more times than I can count most vividly in a parking garage outside of Chicago where I had the scariest fleeting thoughts of “what if I just jumped?”, all while trying to get comfortable in this new chapter of life where Chooch doesn’t live here anymore. I haven’t felt this out of control since my early 20s. This past year made me lose myself in ways that are terrifying and I have spent the second half of 2024 working through that in therapy but so far I still feel the same.

Yeah, there were good moments but the bad / tragic / traumatic really do overshadow what looks like it could have been one of the best years of my life. I don’t even have the energy to recap those moments so instead here is a picture of me casually blending into a rug and wishing it would just completely engulf me forever. C H E E R S.

I hope 2025 is gentle on all of us.

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