From the journal.
Recipes, culture, hanbok, and the meaning behind Korean traditions. Written by Eric and Mrs. Lee Youngsook, posted as we cook and source.
The Pieces That Finish the Hanbok
The Head to Toe Fit of the Hanbok Aesthetic Youngsook keeps a lacquer box on the studio shelf that holds a single 노리개, a set of…
Hanbok GuidesFour Measurements, Ten Minutes, One Friend
What you need Four measurements. A soft tape. A friend who can hold the zero at your shoulder without slipping. Ten quiet minutes…
Hanbok GuidesThe Chima, the Jeogori, the Line
Women's hanbok is two pieces in conversation. The chima is the wide high-waisted skirt that carries most of the color and the…
RecipesThe Noodles at Every Korean Party
What japchae is The dangmyeon go into cold water first, coiled in a wide bowl on the counter. Youngsook slices sirloin thin…
Hanbok GuidesHow to Spot a Costume
What “authentic” means The first hanbok a Bay Area bride sent Eric for a second opinion had arrived from an Amazon…
Hanbok GuidesThe Thread, the Brush, the Coin
Three objects sit at the front of the table. A length of white thread, a small ink brush, a coin. The baby reaches once, and the…
Hanbok GuidesModern Hanbok, in Plain Language
A client in Palo Alto asks the same question at nearly every first meeting. What actually makes a hanbok modern. The answer is…
Hanbok GuidesWhat Real Hanbok Actually Costs
Why hanbok pricing is confusing A mother in Palo Alto once asked Eric why one 저고리 quoted at seven hundred dollars, and another at…
Hanbok GuidesKorean Gifts That Mean Something
The most thoughtful Korean gift is rarely the most expensive one. A jar of well-fermented kimchi from a relative. A small…
Hanbok GuidesChoosing Your First Hanbok
Start with the occasion, not the price A first 한복 is a specific decision. It sets the palette a family will photograph in for a…
RecipesKimchi, the Way Mrs. Lee Makes It
What kimchi actually is The napa cabbage sits in salt water overnight, weighted with a heavy plate. In the morning Youngsook…
Hanbok GuidesHow Hanbok Came Back
Ten years ago, 한복 in the United States meant a rental for a wedding weekend and a garment bag in a closet. Today it means a linen…
Hanbok GuidesDressing Like a K-pop Idol
The Hanbok And Its Significance In Korean Culture For a long stretch, hanbok was the dress you wore for the family photograph and…
RecipesMrs. Lee's Doenjang Jjigae
What doenjang jjigae is The 뚝배기 is on the burner, already warm. Mrs. Lee dips a wooden spoon into a jar of 된장 the color of wet…
Hanbok GuidesTen Things to Do in Korea
The first time you land at Incheon, the country moves faster than your body does. The train to Seoul is quiet and clean. The…
Korean CultureThe Harvest Moon and the Family Table
What Chuseok is Han-gawi. The great middle. The full moon at the center of autumn, and a family gathered around a table of newly…
Hanbok GuidesWhen Hanbok Walks the Runway
On the Seoul runway last spring, a jeogori appeared in silver charmeuse with a tie the color of oxidized copper. The skirt…
Korean CultureThe Ten Boy Groups That Defined a Year
Dynamite lands at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on a Sunday morning in Seoul. Fans are awake, refreshing charts…
Korean CultureThe Women Who Carry K-pop Alone
Jamsil Arena, 2019. IU walked to a single spotlight in a white dress and sang "Through the Night" without a track under her…
Korean CultureBefore Gangnam Style, There Was This
A Guide to K-Pop History, Evolution, and Idol Groups Wembley Stadium, June 2019. Ninety thousand voices sang the second verse of…
Korean CultureKorea Past Seoul, In Order
The KTX pulls out of Seoul Station and clears the city in nine minutes. Two hours later you are eating milmyeon in Busan. That…
Korean CultureWhy August Fifteenth Still Matters
August 15, 1945. Radios across Korea carried the voice of the Japanese emperor announcing surrender. Thirty-five years of…
Korean CultureWhy March First Still Matters
On March 1, 1919, a declaration was read aloud in Tapgol Park in Seoul. Within hours it was being read in villages and market…
Korean CultureWhat Makes Korea Itself
What makes Korean culture distinct is rarely the items a Western reader lists first (the food, the K-pop, the dramas). Those are…
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