Whipped Cream Difficulties

By way of my beloved and indulgent sister: a man and his wife are planning to celebrate the holiday holed up in their house. In Buffalo.

Then, on Friday at 2 p.m., with the storm already swirling and snow rapidly piling up, making roads impassable, there was a knock at the door. Two men, part of a group of nine tourists from South Korea that was traveling to Niagara Falls, asked for shovels to dig their passenger van out of a ditch.

Cutting to the chase, instead of digging the van out (these people weren’t going anywhere in that snow) they invited the travelers in.

The visitors — seven women and three men — filled the three-bedroom house, sleeping on couches, sleeping bags, an air mattress and in the home’s guest bedroom. The other travelers included parents with their daughter, an Indiana college student, and two college-age friends from Seoul. Three of them spoke English proficiently.
They spent the weekend swapping stories, watching the Buffalo Bills defeat the Chicago Bears on Christmas Eve and sharing delicious Korean home-cooked meals prepared by the guests, like jeyuk bokkeum, a spicy stir-fried pork dish, and dakdori tang, a chicken stew laced with fiery red pepper. To the surprise and glee of the Korean guests, Mr. Campagna and his wife, who are both fans of Korean food, had all the necessary condiments on hand: mirin, soy sauce, Korean red pepper paste, sesame oil and chili flakes. There was also kimchi and a rice cooker.

…

Had they been stranded for another night, they had been thinking bulgogi — Korean grilled beef — for Christmas dinner.

Really, the only downside to this story from my point of view is that the Buffalo Bills won. The rest of the tale warms the cockles of my heart.