Give us this day our daily rice

This is truly what the Lord's Prayer is in the Korean Bible. "Give us this day our daily rice." Most people know that Asians eat a lot of rice. I didn't realize how MUCH rice they ate until I moved to Korea. Koreans don't have "breakfast" foods. They eat the same thing for breakfast that they eat for lunch and supper--rice, seaweed soup, fermented cabbage, you name it. (Their desserts are even made out of rice, and a picture of the rice cakes is above.) After moving here I found out that it was only recently that ovens were even something that Koreans could buy. Up until that point they couldn't even MAKE bread, let alone eat and enjoy it. I'm from the south where bread is so important to the meal that if you don't have a roll or biscuit to serve with dinner then you put a loaf of sliced sandwich bread and a tub of butter on the table.

With that kind of background in the wonders of bread, I always felt kind of sorry for Asians. There was no way that rice could be as good as bread! While I still hold to my belief that bread is better than rice, Jeremy & I must inform the American public that American white rice is the sorriest excuse for rice that has ever been manufactured. It is terrible. It shouldn't even be called rice. Before coming to Korea I could probably count on one hand the number of times I made rice with a meal since I've been married. Jeremy just "wasn't a fan" as he would say. After spending four days eating Korean cuisine (!) at the ski lodge we both realized just how much better Korean rice is than the rice we had eaten in the past. Someone told us it is because American rice doesn't have any gluten left after it has been processed. I don't know what it is that makes the Korean rice better, but I have had cravings for it. Can you believe that? I've been craving rice.

I went to the commissary on my initial search for Korean rice. Who knew--maybe I wouldn't have to go to a Korean store to buy it. Heading down the grocery isle where the rice is sold, I passed a Korean lady leisurely strolling behind her cart. She was obviously just picking up a couple of things at the store. Those couple of things happened to be two FIFTY POUND bags of rice. Do you realize that is the equivalent of 800 CUPS of cooked rice? I wasn't in the market for that much rice, so I left the commissary without my needed purchase. Thankfully, God provides for His children. On Thursday as I was driving back from a chiropractor visit in Seoul, I went through the toll booth to pick up my ticket. On this particular day there was a person standing at each ticket machine--you know the ones, were you drive up, push the button, and your toll ticket comes out? The person stood there, waited for a car to come up, pushed the button for the driver and handed them the ticket. On this particular day the people giving out the tickets were also giving "samples" of rice to all of the drivers! I say "sample" because to a Korean, a one pound bag of rice is about enough for one meal! But to this American, God fulfilled His promise to "give me this day my daily rice." Of course, the cooking instructions were in Hongul, so I had to guess how to make it, but man was that rice good!