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Chopsticks

When J was a little kid, his parents bought him a pair of ivory chopsticks that were engraved with his name. Twenty-plus years later, they are still his favorite pair of chopsticks: When J's parents came to the states for our wedding, they brought me a gift from Hong Kong: my own pair of ivory chopsticks, engraved with my Korean name written in Chinese...

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Starship Kimchi

An article in today's NYTimes caught my eye: Starship Kimchi: A Bold Taste Goes Where It Has Never Gone Before Ko San, the first Korean astronaut, blasts off into space onto the ISS on April 8, and he will be bringing a hefty supply of kimchi. While bringing a cherished food on a long journey might seem like a simple act, taking kimchi into space required millions of dollars in research and years of work. “The key was how to make a bacteria-free kimchi while retaining its unique taste, color and texture,” said Lee Ju-woon at the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute, who began working on the project in 2003 with samples of kimchi provided by his mother. Ordinary kimchi is teeming with microbes, like lactic acid bacteria, which help fermentation....

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Wonderland

Yeondoo Jung, a Korean photographer, has a fantastic photo series called Wonderland (2005) where she translates children's drawings to real-life recreations. I love it!키다리 꽃 Giant Flowers c-print 2004가수가 되고 싶어요. I Want to Be a Singer. c-print 2004고래가 꽃으로 변해요 The Magician Turned the Whale into a Flower. c-print 2004Miss Sparkle Sprinkles the Magic c-print 2005 Via Neatorama. ...

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Pho32 & Shabu

Last Friday a friend and I had planned to have lunch at BonChon Chicken. However, upon arrival, we were disappointed to see that they weren't yet open for the day. Walking around K-Town for an alternate restaurant, I noticed Pho32 & Shabu: It's a tiny place on 32nd St, and we wondered why we hadn't noticed it before (did it open just recently?). The decor was cute, and each table had two round heated openings for the shabu-shabu pots. I was in the mood for some pho but we ended up going for the "Land and Sea" (combination of beef and seafood) shabu-shabu instead. Yummy...

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