March for Babies! belated

It's been nearly a month since I participated in a March of Dimes March for Babies with my coworker in lovely New Jersey. Shame on me for not reporting back sooner! Well, the event itself was only half the journey for me. Having never set foot in Jersey before, I was in for an early morning trek from Brooklyn. I woke up at 4:30 to a rainy, cold day, quickly readied myself in my walking gear, and headed to the subway, which I took to Penn Station. I cut it pretty close- had I been on the subway train 10 minutes later, I wouldn't have made the crucial connection to the PATH train that would get me to South Orange in time! I pretended I was on Amazing Race, frantically looking for the fastest way to my destination in order to avoid falling asleep on my feet. Once at the walk site, the rain really began to come down. Luckily, it only lasted long enough to thoroughly wake me up. Anyway, when all was said and done, I exceeded my pledge goal to the organization and raised $460!

Thank you so much, friends and family, for supporting me and March of Dimes!

Feast

I had the priviledge of dining at an extremely sought-after restaurant last Monday night, thanks to friend and foodie, Tom. I joined him, his lovely fiance, and their foodie friend at Momofuko Ko after he scored reservations for 4 online- the only way to secure seats at the chefs' counter of this 14 seat restaurant. My words on the subject will not be adequate to describe the beauty of the dishes we tasted, so if you're curious, please read the articles linked above. I felt it was necessary, though, to document here that I did indeed have the pleasure to enjoy a true food experience at this fabulous establishment. Thank you, Tom, for including me! I can still taste the fois gras shavings as they melted in my mouth....

Cucumber Kimchi

Second of the three kimchis made in my class at ICE on May 3 is a cucumber kimchi, made with kirby cucumbers, garlic, sea salt, ginger, shrimp paste, chives and red pepper powder. This kimchi is very similar to the pickles I love to buy from Pickles Guys on Essex- the spicy garlic, full sour variety, but with an added burn of ginger, and an added seawaterness of the shrimp. Though this kimchi is technically edible directly after making, we were instructed to wait at least 3 days to help the cucumbers leak out more of their moisture and mix flavors with the so. I've been trying hard to resist eating it, but it taunts me each time I open the fridge! I came home from class with two containers of it, and have since condensed them into one container due to my picking at them and the natural shrinkage of the contents as they loose water. Last night, I tasted it again and I think it's safe to say they've reached they optimum eating date! They were garlicy, spicy, briny and allover delicious. Surprising to me was that the cucumbers seemed to have actually become more crisp than originally. How this was achieved through loosing water, I'm not sure. But I like them. A lot.

These are extremely easy to make. Essentially, you chop up the kirby cucumbers in regularly-sized chunks and salt them liberally with seasalt. You let them sit like this for an hour or more, then pour off the water. While they're leaking fluids, you make the so: mince garlic, grate ginger, chop chives, and add seasalt and red pepper powder. This mixture, too, will bleed fluid (which you keep).

When both the so and the cucumbers are ready, hand-blend them together and package up!

Next time I make these (and mark my words, I WILL be making these again), I think I might cut out some of the ginger, and add more of the red pepper. To me, the ginger gave the kimchi an almost basic quality that burnt my tongue too much.

Stay tuned for my final installment of the kimchi chronicles, Napa Cabbage Kimchi, after they've sat for another month and I can report back.

silence

Mayanmar

China

Rauschenberg

Water Kimchi

Mool kimchi is a type of kimchi made to be eaten cold in the summer. Unlike the kimchi I was familiar with prior to this class, water kimchi is not fermented for a long period of time before being eaten. After preparing this type in class, it really hit home that using the word "fermented" to describe kimchi is an inaccurate translation of what kimchi is. A better way to describe it, maybe, is to say that kimchi is a vegetable dish that is cooked or marinated in its own juices with the help of salt, kind of like ceviche, and most like pickles.

Water kimchi is a refined dish that layers the delicate essences of vegetables into a cold broth. The result is literally a water essence with some finely sliced fresh red radish and nabak (refers to the regularly square-cut shape & size) Napa cabbage slices. Although water kimchi is a very fine dish, the preparation takes a lot of elbow grease. This kimchi is "royal style" and was made for the king, who was considered too divine to eat foods that weren't first broken down into finer bits and then remade in the image of the food they were (pork chops were boned, finely minced, and then reshaped on the bone before being cooked).

Our version of water kimchi includes Korean pears, white onions, garlic, Korean radish, Korean cucumbers, and ginger. All of these were minced or grated to a fine pulp, then strained through mesh, blended into distilled water and flavored with lots of lemon juice, salt, and fine pepper flake, then garnished with the fresh radish and cabbage. We were told this water kimchi can be served on its own or over cold guksu (thick wheat flour noodles). I ate a small bowl this morning and it was surprisingly savory, delicious, and refreshing!

Update: I demolished the rest of the water kimchi last night, over cold brown rice. It was so scrumptious!

I love the smell of fermented cabbage in the morning

Saturday morning, I headed to midtown's Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) for my first recreational cooking class- how to make kimchi! I've loved kimchi since childhood, but until recently was only really aware that a few types existed. Moving to New York and eating Korean food opened up my eyes to lots of other varieties of kimchi. In my class, I learned to make three kinds:

-Bae-choo kimchi (Napa cabbage kimchi in the peasant style) - this is the kind I've known since childhood, not pictured but found here

-Mool kimchi (Water kimchi in the royal style) pictured here:
-Oh0yi So-Bahk-Yi kimchi (Cucumber kimchi) pictured here:
Aside from learning how to make these (totally different) kinds of kimchis, I learned a little bit about the philosophies of Korean food. Can you tell I'm totally stoked on this class??

Kimchi making is pretty time-consuming. Though there is no actual cooking with heat, there is a ton of preparation involved, which explains why this is usually made with the help of all the women in a village or family. The cabbage, for instance, needs to be washed, divided in quarters, rinsed, salted, then soaked in salt water for hours, then be carefully rinsed several times, then drained thoroughly, the stuffed with So, which is a whole separate process requiring many steps and careful attention. Traditional kimchi recipes don't have precise measurements- instead the recipes are passed down through families, and are committed to taste memory and muscle memory to make. Kimchi making is very much a sensual experience. You must handle the vegetables (carefully) a lot. It is said that two people could make kimchi with exactly the same amount and quality of ingredients, as well as the same fermenting time, and yet their kimchi would come out tasting different because the heat from each maker's hands would leave an imprint on the final product.

Right now, I have samples of each of the 3 kinds of kimchi we made in my fridge. I'll report back on the blog about the results of each when I taste them. Right now, 2 of the 3 can be eaten now, though only 1 has actually reached its prime eating time: the Water kimchi....

Check in on my next blog entry to read more about my adventures in Water kimchi!!

Kids' Stuff: FOs

Recent FO's for two friends' babies (sorry for the lousy shots- the sun was on it's way out for the night).

Top picture:
-Crocheted baby hat with tassel, my own pattern
-Knitted Baby Kimono (I) pattern by Cristina Shiffman, in the Mason Dixon Knitting book

Bottom two pictures:
-Knitted cotton baby hat, my own pattern
-Knitted Baby Kimono (II)

Thoughts on the Baby Kimono follow...

Pattern: Knitted Baby Kimono pattern by Cristina Shiffman, in the Mason Dixon Knitting book

Yarn:
-for Baby Kimono I: Knit Picks Swish Superwash worsted weight in baby blue and ... forgot! Some reddish-orange denim yarn bought at Webs- it's very soft
-for Baby Kimono II: Sugar'n Cream cotton worsted in natural unbleached and Lion Brand Nature's Choice organic cotton heavy worsted in Walnut

Needles: Size 8 Addi Turbo circulars

Other: Crochet hook, size H

Reactions:

-Pattern: This pattern is a super fun, easy and quick knit! I love that the pattern doesn't follow a very conventional construction- it helps keep things interesting. Of course, it's such a little knit that you're done soon after you cast on, so that helps too. I can see myself making more of these in the future, for other babes.

-Yarn: This pattern was designed with Sugar'n Cream in mind. I used it for my second version, and while I like the natural, raw-looking results, it isn't my favorite to knit with. It feels sticky and slows my rhythm down. The Nature's Choice organic is loooovely. So soft. Like a cloud. Adore it. It is very hard to knit tight with it, though, as it is also somewhat tacky-feeling on the needles. (I don't have much to complain about for this particular pattern, though, since I only used it to crochet on a tie.) As for the Swish, I think I've said before that this is an knitter-friendly yarn. I stand firm at that, though it does have a hint of that superwashy plastic finish to it.... The denim yarn I used for the ties (and for the matching crocheted hat) was so delightful to work with! Soft yet firm, and easy to work in a tight gauge. Wish I could remember the make of that stuff.... Anyone recall some closeout denim sold on Webs a few months back?

Hats for Sale!

Finally- my etsy store is up and running!

Visit the shop

FO: B's 2nd Boy Hat

Just over 2 years ago, I finished a baby blanket for Jeremy's friend's new born baby boy. Now I'm putting the finishing touches on a jacket and hat for the same friend's second baby boy. Pictured above is the hat- the first piece of the set to be completed. I crocheted this little number yesterday afternoon, using a soft cotton denim yarn in kind of an orange-red blend. I topped it off with a tassel of baby blue merino, to match with the jacket (it is pictured underneath the hat in its unfinished state).

Happy Birthday, Lil MC!

My adorable nephew, Lil MC turned 1 year old this Saturday! I can't believe a year has passed already. Each time I visit him, I'm amazed at the new parts of his personality that have emerged. He is such a fun-loving, sweet, adventurous little man. I cannot wait to see what this next year holds for him.

Happy Birthday, baby!