Japan is known to take ideas from other countries and adapt them for their own. From castella to ramen to hambagu, the Japanese menu is full of food items that could not exist without outside influences. Many of these foods have deviated so far from the original, clouded in cuteness, mildness
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Remember when I made kimchi fried rice? It has become my staple meal when I feel ultra lazy. Read: ALL THE TIME.

So how panicked was I when I went to the kitchen yesterday to take out all the precious ingredients out of the fridge,
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I am happy to announce that Korean Cuisine, a cookbook I photographed, has just been published. The author is chef and food writer/educator Yongja Kim. I developed a new found
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Looks like we’re celebrating carbs here at UM, as this rice post is back to back with Yoko’s mugi-toro don! Ain’t nothin’ wrong with carbs, people- get over it!!! Kimchi fried rice is my new favorite dish to cook up at home- it takes seven minutes
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Don’t you love home cooked food?

Assorted veggies, or “namul”, chwee namul which is some kind of vegetable that I don’t know the English name and fiddle head ferns + roasted asparagus.

Kimchi soup. Yes there a plain soup version rather than a stew. Much lighter and basically broth and in this case with clams added.

One
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In the spirit of March Madness, the heaven-sent blog LA Taco has posted their Elite 8 bracket for Taco Madness 2009. Since college basketball’s Elite 8 commences tonight I thought it would be appropriate to post an
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Nengmyun or naengmyeon, meaning “cold noodles.” Originally North Korean, to be eaten in the winter. They’re made of buckwheat and in a slushy beef broth base, slightly sweet and tangy. The more modern addition has a spicy sauce, but normally you add a dash of white vinegar and
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Yay, look what came in the mail!

If you thought that life could not get any better than the fake paninis produced by the George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling (Grillin’ ?) Machine, you would be wrong. Because life did get better. Did you ever think that one day a home fryer would employ the principle of centrifugal force to
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There’s a little Korea-town in the Akasaka section of Tokyo, just a little side street filled with Korean-owned and operated restaurants. Here, my friend Maho took me to one of her favorite spots, Ton-chan. There
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IceSomen/somyunGround beefChopped kimchiSliced Korean pear, cucumbers and a spicy sauce (gochujang – Korean spicy chili paste, garlic, sugar, rice vinegar, garlic, sesame seeds, sesame oil).The taste of summer…I actually love cold noodles in the winter. So North Korean of me.

*Bibim means to rub/mix, kooksu is noodles. So literal.