Kimchi, Pickles and 한국어
I’ve been particularly bad about using my website as a means to write about my life and the things I’ve been up to. The last year has not been without its ups and downs, and there have been really great moments. But the one thing that’s really taken up so much of my life, and no shock to anyone, is work. In the last month we finally hired two new people for my department, growing my department from 1 to 3! Amazing for me.
Between all the stress around work, I’ve found time to do a few things in my own time:
Started making my own Kimchi 김치, and I’ll never go back to store bought unless I’m in a pinch!
Took my first stab at pickling! Dill pickles are currently in their brine, and previously made pickled red onions!
Began learning Korean 한국어 and can actually say somewhat complex sentences (albeit not in great detail or specific topics).
Kimchi
I used a recipe by Maangchi, the Tongbaechu-kimchi 통배추김치, and even asked a Korean friend what they thought, and it was approved to try!
It took me probably a month to finally get the energy and willpower to attempt because I was terrified it would be too long of an experience.
The whole process was incredibly therapeutic. From the brining of the Napa cabbage, applying salt all over it, to cutting up all the ingredients (garlic, radish, carrots, green onions, ginger, and more), the time passed quickly, and frankly, my stress levels decreased.
I won’t lie, I tested the cabbage while it was brining. Yum!
The one item that I could not find was the fermented salted shrimp 새우젓, but the show must go on, and so it did! I made the porridge, added in the fish sauce, garlic, ginger, onion, then mixed it all together and wow! The flavor is not something I’ve had in store bought kimchi.
And the process of putting the mixture on every leaf of the cabbage, then wrapping it in itself and placing them in my 3.4L e-Jen container was so much fun! I felt incredibly accomplished going through all the steps, and even more accomplished now that I eat it almost every day, either with rice, my morning eggs, and my roasted and seasoned laver 더 바삭한 재래김 with a slice of spam and rice has been incredibly delicious!
Pickling Cucumbers and Onions
Between fermenting cabbage and cooking a lot of meals, I’ve also been dabbling in pickling both red onions and, just today, cucumbers!
Last week I made smash chorizo tacos with sour cream, homemade guacamole, salsa, pickled red onions, feta cheese (subbed in for cojita), and the pickled onions. They were definitely filling, and I only ate 2 of the 3 I made myself! The red onions also added such a delicious flavor that I’ll keep making them for anything we need them for.
And, just today, I started a batch of dill pickles because my partner likes them. None of these were particularly difficult to do, but it’s nice to try new things and make homemade food.
Part of my interest in this is to lower the amount of sodium I eat, and making homemade food is helping to combat that.
More to come as I try different recipes! I kind of want to try mustard pickles next.
Learning Korean 한국어
My experience learning Korean in the last week has been lacking (I’ve been sick ㅠ_ㅠ), but I’ve learned quick a lot in the last month and a half thanks to resources like Talk To Me In Korean, and TUEIDA!
For me, the workbooks that TTMIK provides and the lessons are incredibly helpful—plus their online videos and audio that accompany each book are amazing to see someone speaking Korean and how things are pronounced. I certainly have issues distinguishing some similar consonants, but we all have to start somewhere!
Some highlights:
Learning hangeul 한글, the Korean alphabet, batchim and all!
Sino and Native Korean numbers.
How to tell time.
Conjugating past, present, and future tenses for verbs (and several…several……verbs…).
Conjunction words to make more complex sentences:
어제는 바람 불있었어요. 그런데 오늘은 추워요 그래서 차 마고 있어요 그리고 게임 하고 있어요.
And the learning continues.
I’m excited to continue learning, and while my aural skills in languages is poor (honestly, I still have a lot of issues even comprehending some English speakers and say “what?” several times for them to repeat), will be the hardest part of my journey, it’s been incredibly fun to pick up a new language and learn it with a friend.
So that’s the last month or so…
There’s a lot more I want to pick back up, like baking my own bread, trying more recipes from the Vol 2 of the FFXIV Cookbook, and more.
Hopefully I try to keep this more updated. No promises, but I want to get away from major social media and use this more often to talk about what I’m doing.
