Woomi is an old-school 닭갈비 dakgalbi restaurant that has been in the mountain lakeside city of 춘천 Chuncheon, South Korea, since 1970. If you see the wagon wheel, you know you’re in chicken heaven. (Jeff Quackenbush photo) This was the Chuncheon dakgalbi I remember from my teaching English in the city in 1997. That was…
Visiting Jackey’s Seafood at Jagalchi Market, Busan
If you visit 부산 Busan and skip 자갈치시장 Jagalchi Shijang (Market), you haven’t really visited Busan at all. The market opened in 1924 and gets its name from the nearby pebble beach — 자갈 jagal means pebble or gravel. In other words, Pebble Beach, Calif., is not the only famous pebble beach in the world….
Review: Kokoro Bento, Bukchon Village, Seoul
On our first full day in Seoul on a 10-day trip to Korea in mid-May, hubby and I spent a good part of the afternoon wandering the streets and alleys of Bukchon Hanok village. My goal was to find the 한옥 hanok (traditional Korean house) featured in the Korean TV drama Personal Taste (개인의 취향)….
An unintentionally hilarious Google AdSense #EpicFail
Sometimes, it’s good to laugh at someone else’s expense. Hubby found this advertisement at the bottom of the mobile version of KoreafornianCooking.com on Friday, June 7. How Google decided that Hubby might want to visit North Korea this summer is beyond my finite understanding.
Fun food find: Ssiat hotteok (씨앗호떡) at BIFF Square, Busan
BIFF Square gets its name from the Busan International Film Festival. This annual film festival is one of the most prestigious film festivals in Asia. BIFF Square was the original location of the BIFF, which started in 1996. Although BIFF Square no longer plays hostess to the prestigious film festival — it was moved to…
Daejon: Three lessons from a hotel breakfast
My first destination on a mid-May 10-day tour of Korea was the city of 대전 Daejeon, more than two hours south of the Incheon airport by express bus. View of downtown Daejeon as we entered near dusk on the express bus from Incheon airport. (credit: Jeff Quackenbush) I had never been to Daejon before, so…
Review: Trader Joe’s Korean Seaweed Salad
I have to give Trader Joe’s credit. The California-based grocery chain noticed the increasing chic of 한식 hanshik (Korean cuisine) in the U.S. and went headlong into offering private-label prepared meals — 갈비 kalbi (marinaded beef ribs), 불고기 bulgogi (sauteed beef), 비빔밥 bibimbap (vegetables mixed with rice) and 김치복음밥 kimchi bogeumbap (kimchi fried rice). The chain…
Recipe: Cod in Yuja Butter sauce
Someone I know dislikes fish that tastes or smells like fish. She will eat it as long as she doesn’t detect it. That means fish and chips with a generous bath of malt vinegar. Such a person is certainly a challenge for any cook who wants to expand an ichthyophobe’s culinary horizons. Whether it’s lemon,…
Review: Trader Joe’s Dried Kimchi
I recently bought a package of Trader Joe’s Dried Kimchi, which is 0.7 ounces of dehydrated 배추 김치 baechu kimchi that retails for $2.99. But is that centuries-old red chili-and-cabbage spicy-sour staple of the Korean dining table being marketed by this Western U.S. grocery chain as 반찬 banchan — a side dish that accompanies the…
Korean Independence Movement Day dogged protest at an Oakland, Calif., grocery store
Oakland’s Koreatown/Northgate neighborhood, nicknamed KoNo, and its 40-year-old Koreana Plaza grocery were the curiously chosen stage for an anti–dog meat protest Friday, March 1. It was organized by In Defense of Animals, an animal-rights group based in nearby Marin County and behind past protests, usually in front of South Korean diplomatic stations across the U.S….