Teacher Seminar on Korean History and Culture

This Saturday, the SVKS Korean school staff put together a wonderful Free Teacher Seminar on Korean history and culture. The many wonderful speakers present were: the Consul General of San Francisco, Mrs. Mary Connor (President of the Korea Academy for Educators), Jung Hae Kim (Principal of the Wilton Place School), and Gi-wook Shin (Director of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center). Their enthralling and informative lectures captivated the audience and were very educational at the same time. Following a delicious Korean lunch and free book raffles, several cultural booths were set up for the teachers to have hands on experiences with Korean culture. Some of the intriguing booths included making Korean pancakes, trying on Korean clothing(hanbok) or posing with Hanbok models, having a professional write participants' names in Korean on beautiful Korean flags, and watching the fan dance team from the Silicon Valley Korean School perform. Out of all of the fascinating lectures, scrumptious meals, and wonderful culture booths, I have to say that the Consul General's speech was the most touching and motivational to me. Hearing the strong and descriptive speech, I myself was motivated to become a diplomat later in my life. The Teacher Seminar was a wonderful experience to me, and I would like to thank everyone who worked hard to make it work. Thank you!

Waving the Korean Flag

Have you ever seen the South Korean flag? Whether it was from a flash on the internet, or a quick glimpse during a ride through a city, seeing the Korean flag is not an experience you are likely to forget very soon. But first of all, what does the flag even mean?

The flag of South Korea, or Taegeukgi, is actually a highly complicated symbol of the country. Simply organized, the flag is divided into three parts: the white background, the four black trigrams, and the red and blue taeguk in the center.

The white background represents the traditional color of the Korean people(which they also like to wear) and the cleanliness of their hearts. The blue and red taeguk in the center is the image of all things in the universe. It represents all of the opposites in the world merging together to form a nation. This symbol is also known as the yin-yang symbol, and it can be shown as unity. The four black trigrams technically also represent opposites: metal, fire, water, and Earth. The similar helping elements are on the same vertical side of the taeguk, while the opposite elements border each other diagonally. Traditionally, the four trigrams refer to the five elements of fire, water, earth, wood, and metal. In Korean, the trigrams are known as geon, ri, gam, and gon.

Inexorably, the South Korean flag is a true representative of the thoughts and minds in its nation, a bold reminder to all Koreans to live up to the courage it bequeaths upon them.

Information courtesy to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_South_Korea 

The Perfect Summer Meal

Summer, especially in Korea, is to be dreaded, with terribly hot and sticky days, melting into long rainy spells that never end. However, one thing to look forward to in the summer is the food!

Two different meals that are an absolute necessity during summer in Korea consist of naengmyeon, and galbi.

Naengmyeon is a chilled buckwheat noodle soup dish, where buckwheat noodles and starch are served in a chilled beef broth. Additionally added toppings include pickled radish, sliced Korean pear, a hard boiled egg, and vinegar or mustard.

Naengmyeon soup, the superlative conclusion to a hot summer day.

Galbi, on the other hand, is a meal of grilled beef ribs often marinated in a seasoned soy sauce(gan-jang). The juicy sizzling meat is sometimes even cooked right at your table!

Can it get any better than this?

Photo courtesy to my uncle, Eui jong.

Making Kimchi at Home

Today was a very exciting day. After years and years of eating store bought kimchi, we finally had the chance to make it ourselves, right at home! (But what is kimchi? Briefly, it's a Korean style mixture of Napa cabbage, vegetables, and lots of chili powder!)

Kimchi is actually a lot simpler to make than I first imagined. Here's a quick description of the procedure we used to make it.

The first thing we did was to clean the Napa cabbage and place it in a bowl of salty water. We put pressure on it, then left it to soak overnight.

In the morning, we poured out the salty water and carefully cleaned the cabbage in fresh water. After straining as much water as we could, we put it aside.

Then it was time to get to work on the filling. First, we peeled and finely minced some garlic. In a separate bowl, we grounded radishes. In another bowl, we sliced up some green onions before pouring in a little bit of sugar and salt(if you would like to put in shrimp or anchovy preserves, this would be the time). Next, we mixed the green onion mixture together before pouring it and the garlic into the radish bowl and mixing.

Finally, it was time for the most important step. Being careful not to rip the leaves, we placed small amounts of the mixture in between the leaves of the napa cabbage, and placed it in a seal-able bowl. For the final touch, we poured in a little bit of water and closed the lid.

Now all we have to do is let it sit in a shady spot for a week(letting it ferment) before it's ready to eat!

Tentatively tasting the kimchi a few days later, I felt so proud and happy knowing that Korean food was a new world that we could make ourselves, right at home!

So, why don't you give it a try?

(Every family has its own recipe for making kimchi, and this is just one of billions!)

A Delicious Korean Summer Sweet

Have you ever heard of bing-su, the world's most delicious, luscious, and mouthwatering dessert? Simply, bing-su is a combination of ice shavings, sweetened azuki beans (pat beans), sweetened condensed milk, and sticky rice cakes. In our contemporary culture, bing-su has been given a whole new shelf of toppings to add. Why don't we take a look?






Patbing-su with additional fruit and cereal.

A conventional ice cream bing-su topped with fruit and cereal flakes.



Green tea bing-su & fruit bing-su with beans and nuts. Doesn't it look delicious?



The Kimchi Chronicles

Have you heard of the Kimchi Chronicles? It's a PBS TV documentary featuring Korea and Korean food. The host: Marja Vongeritchten is the author of a cookbook known as the Kimchi Chronicles: Korean Cooking for an American Kitchen. In the book, popular Korean recipes are described and original dishes are shown with a slightly lighter, modern flair that is sure to make you tongue leap with delight. For more information about the book and the show, check out the website below.

In the website be sure to watch the introductions of each episode!

http://www.kimchichronicles.tv/ 

Q & A about Korean Food 1

 Hi Korean food! Would you mind if I ask you a few questions about yourself? Great, let's get started.

I've heard that Korean food is really different from any of the other Asian cuisines. Could you explain to us a little more about what sets it apart?

"Yes, well unlike usual Asian cuisines, Korean food uses a lot of seasonings, and for a variety of reasons. Green onions and garlic are sprinkled on meat and fish dishes to take away unappetizing scents, and roasted sesame, sesame oil, and red chili paste are used to spice up the taste of the food. One very interesting fact about all these seasonings is that they lower the cholesterol levels and remove any poisonous substances in our body. "

Alright, the next question: how do the meals of the ancient kings and queens contrast with that of the common people?

"Ah, as you know, the kings and queens were much richer than their subjects, so they were allowed to have more complexity in their meals and nicer food than others. For example, royalty always dined on a meal with 12 side dishes, while normal people had to make do with 3,5, or 7 dishes. In addition, kings and queens used brass and silverware, which kept the food warm and changed color if in contact with poison, while everyone else used simple ceramics. Finally, the king's every meal was accompanied by two court ladies, one who tasted every dish for poison, and the other lifted the lids of the dishes.

Wow, thanks so much for the wonderful answers! I might even want to bring you back for another interview!

My Favorite Korean Foods

Korean food is not very widely known to the world, but it is actually one of the world's most healthy and tasty cuisines. The five main colors of our cultural food are black, white, yellow, green, and red. The tables at Korean restaurants or at practically any Korean home are usually groaning with a deliciously diverse assortment of side dishes and soups, but the main dish is always(drum-roll...): rice! Enough introducing, why don't we go on to the lip-smacking food list!

My most favorite food is Seolleongtang(ox bone soup), a very nutritious and wonderful soup simmered in an ox bone, with beef slices, rice, and rice noodles added for flavor.

Next is Samgyetang, or a ginseng chicken soup.(You may have already noticed, but I happen to have a weak spot for broths containing meat and rice) In samgyetang, a whole young chicken is stuffed with ginseng, sticky rice(heavenly), jujubes(Korean dates), garlic, and cooked in a soup. Samgyetang is very hard to find in the U.S., so I usually only get to eat it once a year during our summer visit to Korea.

Finally, I really enjoy a traditional Korean dish known as Bibimbap. Bibimbap is a rice dish loaded with multiple cooked vegetables, lots of gochujang(red chili paste), and sometimes a little bit of beef. Bibimbap is served in a large piping hot earthenware pot that keeps the food warm and produces a fine layer of crunchy rice at the bottom of the pot that makes a perfect dessert.

So the next time you visit Korea, be sure to try at least one of these dishes, because you are missing out on the best food in the world!

Welcome!

Welcome to The Korea Book! Here we are an open book on everything about Korea, from photos, and power points to exciting descriptions of recent visits. It always frustrated me at how little the world truly knows about Korea, so I decided to make a website, dedicated exactly to the purpose of showing the world the true Korea. And what better way than to make you webpage represent an open book that everyone can read? The title is also symbolic because I am planning on publishing a book about everything I learned over this summer. Well, thank you for your visit, and please take a good look around before heading on your way! 안녕히가세요! (Korean for goodbye)