KIMCHI!

Embracing the stink in the land of the morning calm.

Way before I ever even thought I'd live in Korea, I declared I hated Kimchi. My first experience with it in a converted 50's style diner, now Korean restaurant in south Alabama left me genuinely frightened of the "rotting" veggies that I had digested. So what of this stink-pot full of cabbage and radishes in my kitchen? A cruel joke? Forceful culturization by our friendly landlord? Nope. I think understanding the simple parts and pieces to something whether it be a machine or a culture leads to true respect of most anything. Strangely enough the past few weeks have given me a curious graving for this food that I have rarely sampled. The following details my first sojourn into a food that not only is simple to make, it defines a nation that consumes a quarter pound a day per person.

The recipe I used was (very) loosely based off of Sandor Katz's in his book Wild Fermentation. Having observed many Kimchi brews in my day I would have to agree with him that this is a classic mix with the two lead hitters being nampa cabbage and daikon radish. I bought all the ingredients at our local Korean farmers market. Being kimchi harvest season everything was easy to find and only cost me 15,000 won=$12. You can get mega daikon the size of a small Kia, or what i opted for, the compact version. I have never tasted this radish, but when gnawed on raw, it is surprisingly mellow and refreshing compared to the typical cherry bombs we are used to in the states.

I coarsely sliced up these puppies along with some bok choi I had laying around and soaked them in a salt water brine of 7.2% (4 Tbl salt to 1 litter H2O.) I left them in over night until they tasted salty when taken out of the brine.

Once that's complete, isolate any living beings outside a one mile radius and get ready to prepare the Korean kimchi cocktail of death. This usually involves some form of onions (I used leeks), garlic, fresh ginger root, red chilies, and fish

sauce. I chose to kick the fish sauce and tone down the chilies to fit my westernized palette. Crush, maim, dice, slice or whatever you so desire and can withstand to this mix and let sit overnight. Take heed to my warning, I almost became divorced and killed a rabbit during this process. It may not seem like it at first, but this mixture will begin to

develop into smells so pungent it literally made our pet rabbit who was parked next to the pot beg for escape from his cage. My wife threatened to leave me if I ever touched lips to my kimchi, and I was crying like a baby from the acrid sting of the leeks. All this and it hasn't even started to ferment yet. This is going to be good.

We survived the night by baking some decidedly western foods like this sourdough, whole wheat, bean sprout bread. I sprouted a basic salad mix and ground about a cup in the Cuisinart and added it to my standard bread recipe along with some of "Mr. Kim" (our wild Korean yeast sourdough. He's lovingly bitter but has a bubbly disposition about him most of the time.) We also had some fresh ginger left over so before I opened the pot we made ginger oat scones with a fresh persimmon spread over the top. I have never came across persimmons until I came to Korea, and we keep finding new uses for them every time we can't resist another basket full at the market. They are the lovely little orange jewels in the picture bellow. Note the bag full of Shitake mushrooms that we snagged at the market. Theres probably a pound there and it didn't even cost me $2.

Ok, so it was finally time to face the stink, the rabbit made it through the night, and luckily the smells toned down a bit. The next step was to drain the brine out but set it aside for later. Then it's just a matter of mixing the cocktail in with the cabbage and radish. Try and get it in between all the folds of the cabbage and make little kimchi sandwiches. After they are done fermenting you can take a knife and cut little steaks out of them. Pack them down tight into a masonry crock or glass jar. Sandor Katz advises that plastic, even food grade leeches out chemicals, and metal may start to rust and transmit unwanted byproducts into your ferment. By firmly packing the kimchi into the container, this releases it's own juices and adds to the residual brine already on the veggies. The brine level should be near the top of the kimchi once it's all in the pot. If not, pour some of the reserve brine in to cover the top line of the veggies. Stragglers will want to float to the top. You don't want this, since the top part will be exposed to oxygen and be subject to go rancid. No worries though, simply place a clean plate weighed down by a jar full of water, or use a cleaned and steamed rock. I used plastic Zip-Lock bags filled with brine in case they leak to weight down the mix. The final step is to loosely cover with a lid or towel and set aside to ferment. How long? I have no clue at this point for many reasons. One because I just finished this morning and it has only begun to ferment. The other being that the level of fermentation is largely dependent on temperature, salt, type of veggies, and perhaps foremost on personal taste. Salt and cold temperature act as a fermentation inhibitor, less salt and warm temps the opposite. Katz recommends simply tasting your brew every day to see how it is developing. I like this method because I get to see how each ferment I make reacts to it's environment. Surface mold is to be expected, no worries though, simply skim it of the surface and go about your merry way. Once my kimchi reaches a point where I like it, I'll report back. Right now it's in the laundry room with the rabbit. It stays a lot cooler in there than the rest of the house so I suspect it will be a few weeks until it's had a good chance for the good bacteria to get in and do it's job. With time and a little good will, maybe this hands on approach to my long-time enemy will win my heart and taste-buds.

Spring gardening

I love spring. From the seemingly dead, springs new life. The world because fresh, clean and new. The start of spring is such a wonderful time to re-evaluate yourself, and the world around you. We are caught inside a job that tells us where and when to go. Like most people in the world we live in an apartment, surrounded by pavement. The only dirt around seems to be the dust on the counters. As the newness of the season re-freshens and awakens the world we are consumed with thoughts of our own piece land. We want to grow, to play in the dirt, to build things, to let our dogs run free. But, alas we have no land of our own. Someday we hope to own a chunk of land where we can be free to cultivate the earth as we please. But, for now, we are told to live here.

Our desire is strong to make for ourselves what we are able, so we are becoming creative in our earthen ways. We managed to get a small plot of earth near our landlord's garden and with plastic pots abound we have brought a garden plot to our balcony as well. Even with limited space and very limited access to familiar fruit and veggie seeds we have managed to start what I hope will be a nice little garden. We started the seeds early, over a month ago in cardboard boxes, egg cartons, plastic bottles with the tops cut off, and a Tonka truck package. The little seeds began their new life spread across our kitchen table. Now it is warm enough for our seedlings to grow up, and move out. The last of our plants will be in the ground within the next several days. The only seeds that we failed to sprout were also our most desired; basil and rosemary.

Our garden will consist of, zucchini, spinach, lettuce, cilantro, dill, cherry tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, tomatillos, paprika, eggplant, bell peppers, leeks, patypan squash, sweet corn, mint, oregano, peas, and a two small little basil plants we found. (We're going to need much more basil!) In the fall we'll plant broccoli and brussel sprouts.

It has been such a rewarding to joy plant possible food, I hope it grows well and with bounty to share with our neighbors. It's been amazing to teach our kids to enjoy the dirt (and even eat some, although I don't think he enjoyed it as much as his regular carb loaded diet.) They have been able to watch seeds grow into plants, and hopefully they'll see plats create edible food! Dirt is such a great pre-school!

It doesn't take that much dirt to grow food. What if we all planted just a few plants to decrease our grocery needs?

Easter

Holidays. An ideal opportunity to pack the cart with pre-packaged, manufactured wonders. It's so easy to walk into a store and view all the delicious holiday findings that we can't bare to leave on the shelf.

It used to be easier walk by the holiday of the month themed aisle. Now, with two kids we can't help but see a sweet fuzzy stuffed bunny and imagine it being hugged by our little girl, or admire the gorgeous little dresses, that will look so sweet on her as she rides her stick horse through a muddy field, permanently staining it never to be worn again... but it's so cute! The bags and bags of individually and brightly packaged candy tempt us, our little boy would devour that! He'd love one of those trucks too, to go with the several hundred he already has, but he LOVES trucks. Oh the temptation!

We love holidays, we love the chance to spoil our kids, and surprise them with treats. So, our challenge... to create quality Easter memories, spoil the kids, watch them receive something that they love, and remind them that holidays were not meant to be covered in plastic. We want to have a completely handmade Easter and teach our kids to remember that Easter is about the ultimate gift we were all given; sacrifice, love, and eternal salvation, not about who has the most candy in their basket.

We're making their baskets, their toys, their Easter clothes, the food and treats will all be handmade, nothing purchased from the "Easter aisle". We hope we can pull this off!

Guitar string poppies

How to make recycled guitar string poppies

When my husband changes the strings out on his guitar he discards these wonderful interesting worn metal spirals. I love them. I have tried to make jewelry out of the used strings, but they have not turned out very well. I can't bear to throw them out, the metal is so intricate and beautifully worn. One day I was making paper flowers and I couldn't find anything to use for stems, until I came across the guitar string recycling bucket full of the perfect base for my handmade flora.

I love how they turned out and eagerly await for the next guitar cast offs in need of recycling! Here's how I did it:

1. Take a square piece of paper. I used a 3"x 3" piece of rice paper. Old guitar tabs or sheet music would be really great. Fold the paper in half then in half again.

2. Fold once again until you have a thick triangle. Cut the top of the triangle (still folded) in a high arch.

3. Open. Cut out one section of the flower minus a small tab section. Place a small amount of glue onto the tab and press underneath adjacent petal. Gently soften the petals by bending the

tips, or rounding the petals with your fingers.

4. To atattch the used guitar string, simply poke the end of the wire through the center of your flower and pul through till tight against the metal ring at the end of the string.

5. You could fix the flower to the wire with a small drop of hot glue, but I like the freeness of just having them float on the string.

Make a dozen or so to build a nice bouquet.

1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

Step Three

When you just can't make it

When all the resources are examined, and possibilities discovered and you still cannot find a homemade solution what does a consumer do? You consume, but responsibly.

There are times when things just can't be made at home, or made by others. Some things need machines, mass production, assembly lines, or artificial materials. Some things cannot be purchased used, found or up-cycled. But, we as the consumer have to power to choose items created by a company that has environmental protection policies, one that gives back to the world more than it takes. Sure, it takes time and research to discover them, it's hard to buy impulsively when you look at purchases this way; but I think that's a good thing, impulse buys are destructive. We have to power to change how companies create merchandise, we can make them change.

Recently with the fad of a "green" becoming a modern business tactic, the word green is thrown at us as with the casualness of media. Green has become a way to appear environmentally conscious. Are these businesses that claim to have a green spirit actually protecting our world, are they actually providing non-toxic product? Are these companies giving back to the world, or are they just recycling the soda cans from the employee lounge and calling themselves green? Instead of using a color for attracting conscious consumers, I want to see companies advertise with specific things they are doing. For example, what if a coffee company stated on it's packaging (which just happens to made from used and torn old coffee harvesting cloth sacks that have been re-used to prevent more waste being produced) they state that these beans have been harvested with machines running on electric power, the company headquarters use solar-voltaic power and implement rain-water catchment systems. That the plants have not been fertilized with toxic chemicals therefore resulting in a slightly smaller bean, or that 1 % of the companies yearly profits go to counteracting the pollution that the company produces. That would be a product that I would buy. Companies are doing those things, some are truly "green". Others are claiming to be green, but not doing all that they can. It's our responsible to make companies liable for how they create their product.

An excellent example of a company, that I will continue to buy from, is Patagonia. They excel at recycling materials, using alternative power, and giving back to the world some of the resources it consumes. When you buy a product from them it is made from quality materials that endure. My husband owns a Patagonia rain jacket shell that he has owned since high school, that he actually bought used then, and it is still awesome. It has dealt with serious outdoor adventures, countless possible destructive circumstances, and over 10 years of wear. It has outlived numerous North Face jackets that have either been thrown out, or given away, fleeces from other outdoor apparel companies have deceased during 'ol Red's lifespan. The point is, it is a quality item, and it is made by an outstanding company. Patagonia is a company that I will consume from.

Now, when I must consume, when all my other options won't work, I will research all available sources and choose to buy a quality item that will last a long time, that has good design and classic purpose and style from a company that is more than green, it's non-existent in the eyes of mother nature.

Step two

Making

So much is lost between production and purchase. We never meet the person or people, or machine, who make our goods. There is a massive disconnect that is hurting us all. The quality of materials has depleted, customer service is so rare that it is nearly obsolete, prices of goods have sky rocketed. Pollution and the use of fuels stains the things we own or eat. No one claims responsibility for these things, it's simply past on to the closest scape goat and forgotten. It's so much easier not to think about it, to close our eyes and consume.

The satisfaction that comes from making something ourselves is so fulfilling for us. It's therapeutic and rewarding. There are few things better, or easier than homemade bread for example. When we make something instead of buying it it becomes instantly special, unique and we become aware at the time, energy and materials it takes to create. We suddenly are reconnected to the source of what we need, aware that it takes cotton to make fabric, yeast to make bread, dirt to make food, and time to enjoy the process. We are forced to slow down, and use our brains, creative energy and relationships to arrive at a solution to achieve what we need, or want.

Making things is not easy though. It eagerly consumes time. Lots of it. We feel it is worth the reward of slowing down our world, examining our purchases and protecting the things that can not protect themselves from humans harm. It also takes skill, practice and sometimes tools. There are many things that we cannot make, we don't have the appropriate tools or training. But, someone out there does. We want to find them, and buy a product that they make, appreciating the skill behind it. We cannot make a glass vase, but we can find someone who blows glass and when we purchase a vase from that person we establish a relationship, an appreciation for the work and skill. It will not be something we re-sell or throw out, we will treasure that handmade item because we have reconnected to the source of it.

We have so much to learn about making things. But we can't wait to learn!

Step One

Buying

First we are re-examining how we buy things. Everything from toothpaste to carrots, socks to light bulbs. We have come up with some questions that we ask ourselves each time we are thinking about buying something.

1. Can we make it?

2. Can we buy it from someone who has made it? ( www.etsy.com )

3. Do we really need it?

4. Do we love it and will it still be something we use in the years to come or even pass on to our kids?

5. Can it be re-used or recycled?

So far, food has been the easiest transition. We buy only whole foods, no processed foods, with some exceptions. 90 % of our food comes in the form of fresh produce. We bake our own bread, and crackers, when available we shop at the local farmer's market and buy local produce. We use raw sugar, whole wheat flour and whole grains whenever possible. We don't eat meat, so that makes not buying meat easy. We use butter not margarine, and Extra virgin Olive oil for all our oil needs. We love to eat well, so we spend a great deal on quality, fresh ingredients, and enjoy the extra time it takes to prepare food from scratch. We don't feel like we are missing out, or reducing the quality of food in our house, in fact we have never eaten better.

There are certain things though, which we have not been able to give up, chocolate for me, and tortilla chips for my husband. Our kids are able to pick out their treat as well. Although the last time we went shopping, my three year old daughter chose a mango for her treat, I unfortunately do not have her discipline and couldn't wait to eat my German made dark chocolate!