MAKING KIMCHI WITH MY MOM

My mom always makes us kimchi when she visits - hers is very good, and she says that store-bought kimchi is filled with all sorts of things that aren't good for us, so she wants to make sure we have the homemade kind - and every time she does, I have had the thought that I should learn how to make it myself. It seems like one of those things that I would like to acquire as a person who is Korean and loves Korean food, and married to a person who also appreciates things like kimchi. So this time around, I was resolved to learn for myself so I paid careful attention and wrote down the details.

We made both kimchi (with napa cabbage) and kakdugi (with radish) and they turned out so delicious! Other motivations for knowing how to make this is because kimchi is so good for you - the fermentation, along with all the red pepper flakes, garlic, ginger and onion is super for your health - but I also want my girls to grow up around it and get used to these flavors.

I am including the recipes that we used here so that I can reference in the future:

For Kimchi
1. Cut open and wash 2 Napa cabbages. Cut into 1-2 inch pieces and salt generously with coarse salt. (1 1/3 cup of coarse salt per cabbage plus 2 cups of water)

2. Let it sit for 3 hours, and then wash the salt off the kimchi (three times).
3. Make rice paste by first mixing 5 tablespoons sweet rice flour in 2 cups of water over heat.  Add this to blender, along with 1.5 heads of garlic, 1 onion, 2 inches of ginger, 1.5 cup of gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes), 2/2 cup of fish sauce, and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Blend until smooth.
4. Mix into cabbage pieces along with 5 scallions cut up into one-inch pieces.
5. Store in an air-tight container, pushing down the cabbages to eliminate air pockets. Leave out in room temperature for 1-2 days and then put into the fridge to enjoy.

for Kakduki (cubed radish kimchi) 

1. Wash, peel and cut up 3 medium radishes (about 6 lbs) into one-inch cubes.
2. Add 1/3 cup of coarse salt and 1 cup of water to the radishes in a big bowl and let it sit for 30-40 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, make rice paste by first mixing 1 teaspoon of sweet rice flour in 1/3 cup of water over heat.  Add this to blender, along with 2/3 cup of gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes), 1/4 cup of salted shrimp, 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, an inch of ginger, 4 cloves of garlic, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Blend until smooth.
4. Drain the liquid from the radishes and add in marinade rice paste mixture, add 3-4 scallions cut up into one-inch pieces, and mix everything together.
5. Store in an air-tight container, pushing down the radishes to eliminate air pockets. Leave out in room temperature for 1-2 days and then put into the fridge to enjoy.

The girls painted while we were prepped the kimchi. I don't usually let Logan do things like painting unless I'm right next to her the whole time, but I let her be and she loved it. They both got into the zone (painting their inspiration from Dr. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech that my mom had read to them from a children's book) and Logan looked up a couple of times while she was painting and said, "Mom, I love this!"

There we have it! Kimchi and kakdugi - some of which we shared with friends and other of which we have been steadily making our way through. I am excited to try making this again soon!

OUR JANUARY WEEKS

We did it! We are almost done with January! This is usually my least favorite month - it seems like the darkest and most dreary month, especially after Christmas - but it didn't seem so terrible this past month. I think a lot of it had to do with me changing up my days and most of it had to do with the fact that my parents were here! 

I'll write about this more later, but one of the things I'm trying to work out is how to incorporate regular exercise back to this new rhythm. I usually go work out after dinner, but that means I come home late, and after a shower I'm strangely wired and tired at the same time. I'm experimenting with things here and there, I'll report back! 

I always feel the most like myself when I'm with my parents. On one of the nights they were here, we went out just the three of us and hung out at a cafe to talk and eat dessert.  I love hanging out with them. Also, isn't my mom's beret marvelous!

We went down to Virginia Beach the first weekend my parents were here to visit Ken's mom and grandma and we had really good dim sum! Then we hung out at the bookstore with some friends, and then all went out to go eat Mexican. It was a cold and blistery day, but we filled up with good food and conversation. 

The next weekend we went up to Silver Spring, MD to meet my sisters, their husbands and my cousin Lo.  It was a chance for us to all gather together, do a gift exchange and also celebrate my niece! 

We got to celebrate my niece's first birthday and my sister set up a dohl (Korean tradition of celebrating the baby at one year) which included a table with rice cake and fruit and a game where the baby gets to choose an item to indicate her future aspirations. My niece is not quiet one years old yet, but since my parents won't be here when she turns one, we decided to celebrate it now. 

I have hanbok that my mom had gotten the girls for Logan's first birthday, and they both got to wear it this past weekend. 

The girls wore their hanbok (traditional Korean dress) and 

The next day was a beautiful sunny day. So gorgeous that I celebrated with the girls by going to one of my favorite places, North End Juice Company, after church. I especially love their smoothie bowls and empanadas and avocado toast. We also sampled their amazing ice cream and brought two cartons - one of charcoal lemonade and the other one that we affectionately call "dino" ice cream. They are vegan and the latter one has mango sorbet, spinach, tumeric, wheatgrass, spirulina, chlorella, goji berries, and kale. It is so good! 

This is Sloane saying "I want to be an artist." and Logan saying, "Where is my smoothie bowl?!"

WHAT I'M READING V. 30

Resistance, Rebellion and Life: 50 Poems Now

This is a short book of poems - I was able to read the whole thing in a sitting at Barnes and Nobles - but it is powerful, and for me, it felt like a lifeboat in the sea of tumult that is my emotions about the political climate these days. Many times, I find myself unable to even find the words to my frustration and sadness, but this collection of compact and powerful stacks of words that captured the feelings without expounding or explaining, soothed me and made me feel less alone.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates 

My friend recommended a podcast episode with Ta-Nehisi Coates, and after listening, I was intrigued enough to go find one of his books to read.  It was a really compelling, lovely and honest description of a black man's experience growing up in the complexities of racism and varying reactions and remedies to racism, and him trying to relay those complexities, as well as his hopes, to his son.

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

I am only about a third of a way through this book, even though I started it a few weeks ago, I am going through it slowly. Partly because I don't want to rush through this and miss anything because it is so well researched, well written and thought-provoking. It grips me, makes me gasp, makes me sad, and also it makes me so appreciative that there is a book like this in existence. It is slow read because it is chock full of those facts and research, but it is absolutely worth it.

Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977-2002) by David Sedaris

This is David Sedaris' most recent book, and it is excerpts of his diaries from this particular time period (from which he pulled so many of his short stories!), and so it is a more stark and raw version of his writing in that way. I'm only a few chapters in, but I'm enjoying it like I do all of his work; reading him always inspires me to notice everything - especially the small details - and write about everything single possible thing.

DUMPLING MAKING

We made dumplings! 

My friend Ray hosted a dumpling making party the other day. The original plan was to have each of us make a slightly different kind of dumpling - a Korean style, Japanese style, and Chinese style.  At the last moment the Japanese style representative had to drop out due to a family sickness, but we made a whole lot of Korean and Chinese style dumplings together. I was in charge of the Chinese-style, and while I had never made them before, I was excited to try. Granted, all these versions have overlapping elements and there is an endless amount of variations that you can put into dumplings, regardless of nationality, but the first time I tried my mother-in-law's pork and cabbage dumplings, I was surprised by how different they were compared to the Korean ones I was used to. They are also delicious, which is why I was excited to try my hand at it. My mom-in-law gave me the list of ingredients she uses, along with some instructions, and I also found this recipe to help me with specific measurements. We used pre-made dumpling skins (maybe next time we try making our own!) and made a ton of dumplings - plenty of which we consumed that day and others that we froze for later consumption. We also tried different ways of cooking - steam, pan-fried and even deep-fried some! Ken rightly pointed out that the pork and cabbage ones should be boiled to get the right effect, and he boiled dumplings and made the perfect sauce to go with them. It was great fun and I can't wait to try it again. Here are some photos of the making process; I didn't get any photos of the cooked dumplings because we were all too busy gobbling them up!