Korean 100th Day celebration

8:00 am

The Korean 100th Day Celebration

In Korean culture, 100 days is a big deal. Although there are various ways 100 days is celebrated, the most popular, and obvious, is celebrating 100 days after birth.

Baek-Il – The 100th Day After Birth Celebration

It’s been traditionally a important milestone when a baby makes it to 100 days. This is because historically many babies didn’t make it to 100 days due to illness and disease and the lack of medical knowledge and resources to treat these conditions.

It was an auspicious occasion for a baby to live to be 100 days old because it meant that they kind-of beat the odds and would likely make it to their one year birthday (i.e. Doljanchi). [Read more…]

A Story from a Korean-American Childhood – No Skeletons in the Closet

8:00 am

A Story from a Korean-American Childhood – No Skeletons in the Closet

It was a cold and stormy night….Seriously, it was.

I was home by myself because, of course, my parents were working and my sister was probably helping them (I honestly can’t remember where she was). It happened to be a particularly frigid and rainy October. And I was freezing since we kept the thermostat set so low. (They always kept it low in the winter months and high in the summer months. Gotta save those dollar bills y’know?)

So I went looking for a the electric blanket in the upstairs hall closet. The hall this closet was dimly lit, narrow, and adjacent to the stairwell banister. This closet stored extra blankets, linens, and things of that sort. It was shallow but very wide, almost spanning the length of the hall, with bi-fold doors.

I opened up the bi-fold doors to reveal exactly what I expected – neatly folded linens, a sewing box, and towels. But where was that darn electric blanket? My fingertips were turning blue!

I began to dig deeper into the corners of the closet, beyond where the closet door ended and past the extra blankets thinking surely, the electric blanket would be amongst these.

Pulling back a particularly fluffy blanket, I found… [Read more…]

Recipe for Korean-Style Pork Chops

8:00 am

Recipe for Korean-Style Pork Chops

Today, I’m going to give you the recipe for easy and delicious Korean-style pork chops. Yum!

Growing up, we ate a lot of pork. I can’t recall if it was just cheaper than other meats or if it was just my parent’s preferences. In any case, I remember having pork in a variety of ways. But you know what? I didn’t like it!

Sure, we had the occasional bacon which I loved. But who doesn’t love bacon?

That wasn’t the usual way my mom made pork. She usually made bossam (boiled pork wraps). I’ll try my hand at that dish another time.

But today, this pork dish is pan fried to get that beautiful caramel brown and roasted until fully cooked (if necessary). It’s going to be juicy and tender! [Read more…]

Gift Guide for Korean Food Lovers

8:00 am

Gift Guide for Korean Food Lovers

Know someone who loves to cook international foods? Or better yet, specifically Korean food?

Or, perhaps they love K-dramas and want to try their hand at some of the foods they’ve seen on screen. (By the way, did you know people get paid for having people watch them eat food? Yeah, so weird. It’s called mukbang.)

Whatever the reason, you’re going to find the perfect gift for them in this guide for Korean food lovers.

Tip: Getting a few of the smaller items and putting them into a basket would be an awesome gift.

[Read more…]

Gift Guide for Kids (with a Korean spin)

8:00 am

Gift Guide for Kids (with a Korean spin)

I know it’s probably hard to believe but I’m actually not all that Korea centric. Believe me, my kid has his fair share of Legos and Fisher-Price toys. But I like to sprinkle in things that kids in Korea might have so that there’s a sense of shared experience. It’s just another way for me to help my kid, and myself for that matter, connect with people who have the same heritage. Does that make sense?

However, I don’t mean for these gifts to only be for Korean kids. They’re just cool toys that are great for any kid, no matter what their heritage. Goodness knows, my kid is not going to realize the significance of these things being Korean! He’s going to be more like, “Ooh shiny!”

So without further ado…. [Read more…]