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.
A Night Walk Through Myeongdong
It is nine o'clock in Seoul. Steam is rising off a griddle of 호떡, brown sugar sizzling out at the edges as a woman flattens the…
RecipesWhat Korea Has Been Cooking
The rice cooker is on. A bowl of aged 김치 sits on the counter, ready to be cut on the cross-grain. Mrs. Lee lifts the lid on a…
RecipesWhat Korea Eats on August Fifteenth
On August fifteenth in Seoul, the 떡볶이 carts run late into the night. Steam rises off pans of hotteok, sugar syrup blistering the…
RecipesHow Many Kimchis Are There, Really
How Many Different Kinds of Kimchi are there? Kimchi is the dish a Korean grandmother teaches first. Cabbage rubbed with salt…
RecipesThe Cart on the Corner in Seoul
Korean street food is what you eat between meetings. Tteokbokki at four in the afternoon when the sun has gone soft. Hotteok…
Korean CultureWhat to Bring to a Korean Home
You are invited to dinner at a friend's parents' house in Palo Alto. The mother has been cooking since morning. You arrive with a…
Korean CultureFive Korean Styles You Can Borrow
A woman walks out of a cafe in Seongsu wearing a pleated wool skirt over black leggings, chunky loafers, and a cropped cardigan…
Korean CultureWhat Korean Women Wore in 2020
Late spring 2020, a woman crosses Garosugil in an oversized ivory blazer, straight-leg trousers, and a bucket bag with a silk…
Korean CultureThe Quiet Detail at Her Ear
A pearl drop the size of a grain of rice, set in matte gold, hangs from a client's ear at her daughter's dol. It catches the…
Korean CultureWhat Korean Jewelry Looks Like Now
A single gold norigae rests on a friend's dresser, catching the morning light. The tassel is fresh silk. The pendant is antique…
Korean CultureWhat K-Pop Is, Underneath the Songs
From IU to BTS, we’ve all seen their stardom rise and watched them capture the hearts of millions around the globe. This article…
Korean CultureThe Gift That Carries Respect
A shopping bag rests on the entryway floor of a Seoul apartment, folded fruit paper visible through the handles. The host waves…
Korean CultureHow Korea Became a Gaming Nation
Korea built one of the world's largest gaming cultures inside a country smaller than Indiana. PC bangs (computer cafes) on every…
Korean CultureWhy Korean Horror Stays With You
In A Tale of Two Sisters (2003), the camera lingers on a wardrobe door for six seconds too long. Nothing appears. The dread lives…
Korean CultureThe Korean Holidays Worth Knowing
The persimmons on my mother's tree turn in late September, which means Chuseok (추석) is close. She starts pulling out the…
Korean CultureFrom the Brush to the Loom
Korean craft has a particular character. The Joseon-dynasty white porcelain that holds its shape against the kiln without…
Korean CultureThe Gift That Says You Know Them
Gift giving in Korea is a small art with strict rules. A white envelope at a wedding. Fruit at a hospital visit. Tteok at a…
Korean CultureThe Twenty-Five K-Dramas That Made It
The first K-drama our household watched all the way through was Autumn in My Heart, on a boxy tube television in Daly City. My…
Korean CultureTen Korean War Films That Stay With You
The 38th parallel cuts through my grandmother's memory the way it cuts through the map. She was ten when the trucks came south…
Korean CultureThe Korean Zombie Movie Canon
Kingdom, season one. A magistrate in a black gat stands over a rice-paper door as the dead press against it from the other side…
Korean CultureSeven K-Dramas Worth Your Weekend
Mr. Sunshine (2018), episode nine. Ae-shin lifts a rifle at dawn in a white jeogori, and the scene holds its silence longer than…
Korean CultureThe K-Dramas We Couldn't Stop Watching
Ri Jeong-hyeok in the North Korean officer's greatcoat, standing in a Swiss meadow at dusk, hearing a piano piece he wrote as a…
Korean CultureThe Dramas That Kept Us Up
Reply 1988, the final episode. Deok-sun's father walks her down a Ssangmun-dong alley in the dawn light, carrying her suitcase…
Korean CultureHow K Drama Took the World
September 17, 2021. A green tracksuit landed on Netflix in ninety-four countries at once. Within a month, Halloween costume racks…
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