This is one of my all time favorite 반찬 banchan dishes. I can’t believe I didn’t post it sooner. I sang the praises of this crunchy, garlicky salad as one of my top 10 banchan dishes, yet I never explained how I make it. As I mentioned at the time: Mung bean sprouts were one…
Recipe: California Bap-less Bibimbap (비빔밥)
California is famous around the world for many agricultural products — grapes, olives, avocados, lemons, apples, almonds. One thing that California is not famous for is wheat, but there are those in California who want to change that. The young farmers at Shone Farm in Sonoma County, Calif., have put Sonora wheat berries (kernels) in…
San Franciscans eager to learn the art of kimjang
San Franciscans seem quite eager to learn the art and science of making kimchi. Ellen’s Kimchi hosted a free kimchi-making workshop at the Last Batch Made Market on Sunday Nov. 10. A nice side of kimchi from Honey BBQ in Rohnert Park, Calif. (Photo by Tammy Quackenbush) The goal of the half-hour class, was “to…
Recipe: Korean Green Bean Banchan
October in Northern California is at the end of green bean season. Since August, my weekly baskets from a local community-supported agriculture (CSA) farm include 1 to 2 pounds of green — and sometimes, yellow — beans. These beauties deserve to be clothed in Korean flavor with a California wine country twist to create a…
Recipe: Koreafornian Carrots for Bibimbap
Here’s a Korean-style seasoned carrot mixture that is a better playmate for 비빔밥 bibimbap than the coriander seed–forward Korean-Russian Carrots salad famous throughout the former Soviet republics. This was an off-the-cuff concoction that Hubby liked so much I reconstructed the recipe. Koreanfornian Carrots Ingredients 1–2 tablespoons garlic olive oil 1 carrot, shredded or julienned 1–2…
San Francisco-area food documentary to feature Koreafornia Cooking
Koreafornian Cooking will star in a food-culture documentary on San Francisco Bay–area Korean cable television station, set to air in late October. San Jose, Calif.-based KEMS-TV broadcasts on cable channel 197 in most of the San Francisco Bay area. Beside original Korean-language programming, the channel also airs Arirang K-pop shows and MBC dramas. Here I…
Korean taco innovator Roy Choi rolls into Napa Valley
It may seem like an odd pairing of Roy Choi, best-known for popularizing Korean fusion street food in the U.S, and a gathering of A-list chefs in America’s top wine region, but organizers of Flavor! Napa Valley say his expertise and innovation will well-complement the conference in late November. “You can count on one hand…
Review: Wildbrine Korean Mat Kimchi
Northern California is becoming quite the kimchi-making mecca, even more so since my 2011 Yonhap News Agency article about north San Francisco Bay–area kimchi mongers. One newcomer is Wildbrine. Located in Windsor, Calif., about 60 miles north of San Francisco, this small specialty food company has been making kimchi, sauerkraut and pickles since 2011. All…
An ‘awesome’ clip on Korean TV for Hangul Day
Koreafornian Cooking literally had two seconds of fame on national Korean television recently. KBS2’s Good Morning Korea show on Hangul Day — Oct. 9 — included a feature on Babo Shirts and its T-shirts with funny phrases in 한글 Hangul (Korean script). The Koreafornian cooking clip used in Good Morning Korea’s segment is from my…
Review: Dick Blomster’s Korean Diner, Guerneville, Calif.
Finding California wine country’s hottest new 한식 hanshik (Korean food) can be as challengingly fun as discovering next pinot noir wine sensation, but it’s equally well worth the effort. Dick Blomster’s Korean Diner, formerly known as Hi Five Korean/American Diner, began pleasantly piquing the palates of locals and visitors to the Russian River Valley winegrape-growing…