Happy birthday! This blog is two years old now. I couldn’t have done it with you, my friends and lurkers (I know you’re out there!!).

Here’s our strawberry cake for our party.

And here’s my happy video for the occasion. It’s a follow-up from the video I posted a while back.

 

Their budding friendship is a joy to watch. I don’t follow this channel but when this video popped up on my YT feed, I immediately clicked on it.

Random comments:

1. Yes, the children were wearing matching sweaters. From what I understand, ODG is a children’s clothing company like Gap Kids. Carson and Hyunho are models, however, I think Carson Britten is only a recurring guest in these videos.

She currently lives in South Korea with her family. She and her sister share an instagram account, thebrittensabroad.

2. I thought Hyunho was trying to be cool when he punched and karate-chopped the pack of noodles. I raised two boys so my mommy-radar is on whenever a boy does things to impress a girl.

But it was also cute of Carson to copy him. It seems to me that she’s more willing to ham it up (i.e., shake the pack vigorously, giggle, play with the whipped cream) in front of him while he’s more reserved in his reactions. His shocked reactions to the sound of the whipped cream were his way of reciprocating and making her laugh, too.

3. I was surprised that he ate that uncooked ramen 5 times a week! What?? I never thought of snacking on cup-a-noodles but maybe I’ll pack a pack today and try it.

I thought Carson explained well that the ramen snack would be popular to people who liked spicy things. For good measure, she personalized her endorsement and said that her mom would like it too.  (Her answer wasn’t scripted but if I were an ad-maker, I’d hire this girl. She’s a natural. Last time, she made people look up “Tightrope” from the movie “The Greatest Show on Earth” because she liked it. Now, she’s making people curious about the spicy taste of this ramen snack.)

In contrast when Hyunho was asked how he liked the whipped cream, he shook his head and said it was too sweet. “It doesn’t taste good.” Carson quickly agreed and “I have to agree. I have to agree.  This tastes bad but in America there’s a different one. And I think it would be much better than this one.”

She meant Reddi Wip, of course. To me, childhood and reddi wip are correlative.

To me, childhood and Reddi wip are correlative. But of course, kdramas JUST had to add the cheesiness to whipped cream. Remember this scene from “Secret Garden”? lol.

 

Ugh. Thanks for ruining a good café Viennois, Ha Jiwon! I was so annoyed with her dumb, deer-in-headlights look, I was turned off from sipping espresso with whipped cream for ages.

Anyway….

since Hyunho declared that he didn’t like sweet stuff, I think Carson tried to match –or counterpoint — her taste with his. Thus, although she earlier loaded her pancakes with M&M chocolate, she told him that she doesn’t like chocolates because HE said he liked chocolates.

Hyunho: (in English) Do you like whipped cream?
Carson: Yes, I do.
Hyunho: (in Korean, addressing the translator). She likes it a lot, I think.
Carson: Do you like chocolates?
Hyunho: Yes. Very like.

How cute! “Very like” is the kind of wrong grammar that can easily become trendy when said by an “oppa.”

Carson: It just came to me that I really don’t like chocolates.
Translator: (addressing Hyunho in Korean) She says that she doesn’t like chocolate.
Hyunho: (gasp!)
Carson: (giggling)

This is so coquettish! She knew she was going to shock him with her answer so she was giggling. I love this girl.

Hyunho: Hey, but chocolate tastes so good.
Carson: Too much sweetness.

I just love the way she said this. It had the right amount of “hauteur” to it. Like, “No, commoner! Too much sweetness!”

By the way, the Ghana chocolate that Hyunho mentioned is a brand name. Ghana chocolate was the name of the chocolate that Deoksun “misplaced” in Reply 1988… it said so in the ads that ran when Reply 1988 was televised.

And because we’re smart bitches, here’s the trivia for the day: http://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/Business/view?articleId=126647

Translator: Carson says it’s too sweet.
Hyunho: I’m sorry to say this to Carson but this (the pancake with M&M and whipped cream) is sweeter than chocolate.

+1000. He made an excellent point there but heeeeyyyy, Hyunho, welcome to the female mind! This is the kind of nonlinear logic that confounds men forevermore.

To me, this is what she meant: she doesn’t like chocolates “as is” because their sweetness is apparent. However, she likes chocolates when paired with something else, like pancake and whipped cream, because their sweetness enhanced the combination of flavors. So she’s got a point, too.

Case in point. I don’t like eating anchovies by itself. It’s too …fishy. lol. But when I put anchovies on pizza with mozzarella, black olives, green peppers, capers, pepperoni, meatballs, the anchovies “complete” the pizza.

lol.

4. It was cute Carson sprayed the whipped cream straight into her mouth, and shocked Hyunho. Didn’t you or your kids do that, too?

He was so “culture-shocked” that he mentioned it later during the taping of their other segment.

At 4:40, he was asked what was his favorite video and he answered, “meeting Carson today.”  He explained, “it was a culture shock for me because of the way she ate whipped cream.”

I also thought it was cute that she instantly stood up and helped him squirt the whipped cream.  I liked that she didn’t hesitate and just did it. But I was worried that she’d put too much in his mouth and he’d choke or cough as a result. She squirted the right amount.

Carson teased him a couple more times and he laughed at her for liking whipped cream so much.

Now, if I were a kdrama writer “inspired” from this childish interaction, I’d write a scene where the two kids meet each other again after 20 years and one of them is a famous patissier and the other one is the CEO of a conglomerate like ConAgra. (ConAgra manufactures and sells food products.)

5. Messy eating?

I also loved that Carson didn’t mind being messy.

In the opening seconds, Hyunho seemed to playing with something on the tip of his finger. Without missing a beat, the translator just reached out, took it from him, and flicked it away.  Then, when he folded the pancake to take a bite, the translator told him to be careful. She didn’t want him to make a mess. 

On the other hand, when Carson wanted to spray whipped cream into her mouth, the translator just asked her, “Do you want to?” and allowed her to do so without a word of warning to be careful.

Later, Carson dropped a yellow M&M from her pancake concoction and startled Hyunho. She didn’t fuss and only said, “Okay…let’s just eat over here”… meaning she’d eat over the plate.  But another M&M dropped, and she started to giggle.

Hyunho eyed her and wondered if she squirted too much whipped cream. He then called her attention to demonstrated one big bite. She knew he was coaching her and followed him. 

That moment reminded me of scenes from dramas. How many shows have we watched where the guy is fastidiously tidy, the girl is the messy one, and the guy ends up teaching the girl how to be neat?  I just saw one such scene from a Cdrama last night.

6. Thanks for the meal.

This was another cultural peculiarity. The translator was teaching them to say, “Thanks for the meal. It was good.”

Hyunho: (taking the lead) Three, two, one.
Carson: The meal was good.
Hyunho: Thank you for the meal. (then bowing. Carson saw him bow so she bowed too.)
Translator: Okay, one more time. One more time.
Hyunho: Three, two, one.
Carson: (bowing) Goodbye. (pwahahaha!)
Hyunho: Thank you for the meal (bowing).

I was laughing at this scene because, of course, Carson didn’t know why it was necessary to say thank you for the meal. In Catholic tradition, it’s customary to say a blessing before eating. “Bless us O Lord, and these thy gifts which we’re about to receive, from thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen.” But nowadays, it’s said silently and individually.

But I like this Korean table etiquette. It’s good to acknowledge the meal shared in good company.

And on that note, I’ll end my birthday greetings for all of us here at Bitchesoverdramas. Thanks for gracing this blog with your wonderful company!