Liam Neeson once said, “I’m not the kind of actor who would know what my character had for breakfast last Tuesday.” But I can tell you what my husband had for breakfast last Tuesday and every morning from then until now: granola. His morning routine includes a bowl of granola, usually smothered in raisins and…
Review: Trader Joe’s kimchi
A friend recently tipped me to Trader Joe’s addition of a new Korean item to its grocery store shelves: 김치 kimchi. Baechu kimchi is the most well-known Korean food. Until the last few years, it also struck fear into many with non-Korean palates, thanks to horror stories passed down by Korean War-era grandfathers. That wasn’t…
Recipe: Haman’s Fingers
I received an email two days before the festival of Purim last year, “I know you are so busy, but I am wondering if you could bring some cookies for Purim?” By “cookies,” she meant hamantashen. It’s a triangular pastry traditionally eaten at that time and made by folding a circle of dough into a triangle…
Quick Q&A on Korean Buddhist temple cuisine
Thomas Hulbert on Dec. 22 asked me in the Cultural, Ethnic & Religious Foods, Foodways & Dietary Practices forum on LinkedIn: “Tammy — can you tell us more about Korean Buddhist Temple cuisine?” Korean Buddhist Temple meal served at Sanchon Temple, Insadong. (courtesy of Julie Facine, via creative commons license) With its emphasis on fresh…
Recipe: Gosu (Cilantro) Kimchi 고수김치
If you read most Korean food blogs, they will tell you that Koreans don’t eat coriander, aka cilantro. They’ll tell you straight to your face that cilantro and Korean cuisine have never crossed paths before. As the Ask the Korean blog reported a couple of years ago: Korea has never grown cilantro, and cilantro is…
Recipe: Gingered Korean Pear Sauce
This recipe was originally developed as an applesauce substitute to accompany latkes during Hanukkah, but this condiment also can accompany any dish that calls for that sauce. This recipe originally was published on YouTube as a bonus toward the end of the Korean Latke video four years ago. If you are a visual learner, you…
Banchan pizza: A second life for side dishes
Typical of many Korean households, my refrigerator is stuffed with little containers of leftover 반찬 banchan. Many recipes for those side dishes are scaled to serve six to eight people, so the two of us always have leftovers. I can only eat so much 비빔밥 bibimbap. Banchan pizza with sauteed carrots, cilantro kimchi and bulgogi…
Review: Something’s fishy with Kiss-myun Spicy Chicken Ramyeon
I admit I eat 라면 ramyeon (ramen) once in a while. I’ve even made a ramyeon dessert once, but I’ve never reviewed ramyeon before. When I saw packages of Ottogi Kiss-myun aka Kiss noodles at my local Korean grocery store, I was drawn more by the name than the contents. I asked the grocer if the name…
Recipe: Greek Bibimbap
I received an announcement through Secret Recipe Club that Daniel Saraga, author of the The Haggis and the Herring food blog, died recently at the tender age of 37. He left behind a wife and two children (with one more on the way) as well as siblings and parents. His widow wrote a eulogy for…
Restaurant Review: Danji, New York
The gritty Irish-American roots of the Hell’s Kitchen area of New York City are giving way to a more eclectic food scene and home to Chef Hooni Kim’s Danji restaurant, which is America’s only Michelin-rated Korean restaurant. This was the second Korean restaurant I dragged my family into during a recent brief trip to the…