The Korean language is spoken by the entire population of North and South Korea, although there are certain differences between the Korean dialect spoken in the north and the one spoken in the south. The Korean language is also used in the autonomous region of Yanbian which is in the southern province of Heilongjiang in China.Approximately 78 million people speak Korean, including communities of immigrants now living in the former Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, United States, Brazil, Japan, United Kingdom, as well as the Philippines.

The so called denomination of the language varies between both Koreas. In South Korea it is usually called Hangugeo or Hangungmal. Within an official context the name it is given is gugeo which means “language of the country.Colloquially speaking it is also referred to as urimal that literally means “our language.”

North Korean typically refer to the Korean language as Chos nmal although it is also called urimal. The standard of North Korea is based on the way it is spoken in the capital P’yngyang while in the south the standard is the way it is spoken in Seoul. The differences between these two forms of the Korean language does not make it impossible for speakers of either group to communicate with each other because the differences are more or less equivalent to the Spanish spoken in Spain and the Spanish spoken in Latin America.

The origen of the Korean language is not yet clear. Some linguists say it belongs to the group of the Altaican languages whilst others put it in the same group with the Japanese language in one single group: Korean-Japanese.

Since neither of these two views have been demonstrated decisively, those who do study the language prefer to refer to the Korean language as a language significantly distinct from the aforementioned groups. From a morphological point of view, the Korean language uses agglutination which is the process of adding affixes to the base of a word. Korean maintains a grammatical syntax whose base is Subject-Object-Verb. Japanese, Vietnamese, and the Korean languages are influenced heavily by the Chinese language.

The system utilized for writing Korean is known as Hangeul, and it is at the same time an alphabetical and phonetic system. It is quite common to use the vocabularies that come either directly or indirectly from the Chinese language.

Jacob Lumbroso is a world traveler and an enthusiast for foreign languages, history, and foreign cultures. He writes articles on history and languages for http://www.ultimatelanguagestore.com and has used Pimsleur courses to learn various languages.

Learning a new language doesn’t have to be hard or tedious. It can be fun, if you have the right tools. No doubt, you’ve visited a book store or searched online only to find a ton of language learning kits and books. It can make finding which one is the right one very hard. In most cases, you can learn a new language with an hour. Yes, that’s right.Before you go out and spend your hard earned money on a language program, you first should understand what will be involved in learning the new language. First, take the language apart and understand how it is put together. This is one of the fastest ways to learn a new language.

You can deconstruct any language whether it is Spanish, German, Italian, Thai, Japanese, Korean, Swedish, English, Norwegian, Irish Gaelic, etc. Once you deconstruct the language of your choice, you’ll be in a better position to learn it quickly and easily, and be able to converse with no problems.

How is it possible to learn a language in one hour? That starts by taking them apart and then choosing wisely which ones you are going to be able to pick up easily and which ones are going to be difficult for you. Learning a new language is a lot like learning to play a new sport.

When you learn to play a new sport there are certain physical requirements you’ve got to have. For example, body building, you’ve got to have the ability to lift weights and build muscle. In basketball, height is a big plus. So for example, if you were shorter than average, never played basketball before, and you wanted to play basketball, you’d have to take into account that factor and the time it will take you to become proficient in that sport.

When it comes to learning a language the same principles apply. Think about the tools you already have now and how they will fit in with your new goal. If, for example, your native language is Japanese, then you may find yourself handicapped with more than 20 phonemes that are particular to your native language. Because of this, it may be that some language will be very difficult for you to learn. By picking a language that is similar in sound and in word construction (like Spanish for example), you could realize the difference between being able to converse freely in that new language in 2 to 3 months instead of 3 to 4 years!

You should ask yourself the following questions when beginning to deconstruct your new language;

1. Are there new sounds that will increase my time to fluency? 2. Are there any grammar structures that will take longer to learn? 3. How is this language similar to any languages that I already know? 4. What can help me learn this language faster? 5. What will interfere with my learning this language fast? 6. Will my learning this language erase any previous language that I’ve learned or cause fatal interference? (Ex. Some have thought that learning Portuguese after learning Spanish has caused them problems) 7. How difficult is it going to be to learn this language? 8. How long would it take me to become functionally fluent in this language?

It won’t take much to answer the questions above. You simply need just a few sentences translated from your native language into your target language to give you a clear idea of what will be involved.

Here are some to start:

The banana is yellow. It is Sam’s banana. I give Sam the banana. We give him the banana. We gave her the banana. He gives it to Sam. She gives it to him.

These sentences by themselves will expose much of your target language. From these, you’ll be able to decide just how easy or difficult learning your new language will be. They can help you to see if and how verbs are conjugated. This is based both on the person that is speaking and according to numbers and gender identification. You’ll also be able to see placement of direct objects (the banana), indirect objects (Sam), and respective pronouns (it, him).

You can even follow these sentences with some negations such as “She doesn’t give…”, “He didn’t give…”, “I didn’t give”, “I don’t give…”, and different tenses, so you can see if they are going to be expressed as separate words (such as “bu” in Chinese) or verb changes (such as “-nai” or “-masen” in Japanese), making Japanese a much harder language to learn.

Next, you want to look at the basic sentence structure. Is it anything like English where you have subject-verb-object? (Example; I eat the banana) Or is it subject-object-verb like Japanese (Example; I the banana eat), or is it something else altogether? If you’re a native English speaker, then subject-object-verb is going to be much harder for you than the other way around. If you’ve already picked up such a language, then it will not be as difficult for you. Your brain will have already been formatted for these kinds of languages.

Finally, go through the language alphabet and character system. See if your language has at least one phonetic writing system of less than 50 sounds, such as Russian, Japanese, and Spanish. Chinese would not be included here since Chinese tones create many variations of otherwise very simple sounds. Again, treat your new language as a sport. Learn the rules first, and then determine if it is worth your time and energy to learn the language. Once you’ve made the decision to either stick with it or quit it, you’ll be able to move forward knowing that you can learn any language in 1 hour.

Recently, I have had to come to terms with the fact that I’m adopted.

That statement may seem rather odd; I have, after all, been adopted now for almost thirty years.  I didn’t just find this out - growing up Korean with Irish-American parents, it was rather obvious that I wasn’t their biological child.

Being a child, though, I never learned to process any feelings that were related to being adopted.  My mother used to say to me all the time that all of my problems were because I was adopted.  I used to turn to her and respond that she used that as a convenient excuse for being a {{insert nasty words here}}.  Why do adoptive parents love to throw that around, and then wonder why adopted children have a hard time being adopted?  Well, that’s a subject for another day.

After a handful of tries getting in touch with Wide Horizons, I finally had a great conversation with a lady who deals with post-adoption issues, such as searching for a birth parent.  One of the services that they provide is that they help with Holt International, the Korean adoption agency.  One of the things that Holt asks for is a letter to my birth parents.  I’m not sure if this letter is given to the birth parent if we find each other, or if this is a psychological exercise to come to terms with my adoption.

In either case, here is my letter.

Dear �?�머�??,

A few months ago, my adoptive sister, Mary, came to visit.  As she walked into the door, she exclaimed, “Oh my!  She looks just like you!”  She was pointing to my five year old daughter, Stephanie.  Stephanie looked back at her, her eyes filled with fascination, and ran over to me, shying away from her aunt, and peeked at her around my legs.

This is a comment that I’ve heard a thousand times since my daughter has been born, but one that I’ve never heard growing up.  Sometimes I sit beside her while she is sleeping and amazement fills me.  This is the only person that I know who looks like me.

She hears those comments that other people say, how much we look like each other.  She studies her hands and says to me, “Mommy, we have the same hands!”  She will never know what it is like not knowing her mother.  She will never know what it is like not looking like me.  And when she is older, she can still look at my hands and say that they are the same.

When I was a child, I used to dream that my daddy and my mommy spoke Korean and that we used to eat kimchi and bulgogi for dinner.  I used to dream that when other people pointed at us in the store, that we just lived in an all-white neighborhood and it wasn’t because I was adopted.

But, even though I’ve never met you, I know that you think about me too.  Maybe you’ve dreamed that you’ve called me to sit at the dinner table, to eat kimchi and bulgogi.  Maybe you dream that I sit across from you, and you hold my hands, and I say, “Mommy, we have the same hands!”

There have been countless nights that I’ve wondered about you.  I used to cry and wonder why you hated me so much that you gave me away.  I know better now, I know that you loved me and that there are countless nights that you lie awake and wonder about me too.

A piece of my life has been missing for thirty years.  It’s a powerful force, the bond of maternal love.  It’s one that I know exists because I feel it when my daughter is near.  It’s one that I know you had for me, and that I have for you and it’s eternal, because you are still there and you are still my mother.  It transcends continents, or language, or even time.

Because one day, I hope that I sit down at the dinner table, to eat kimchi and bulgogi, and I can tell you that we have the same hands.  It won’t be a dream then.

For our podcasters, be sure to visit http://koreandiary.com for the grammar lesson.

Today’s word is the honorific term of “Wife” or �?�?�. The common term is �??�?� (Ah-Nae).

Wife

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For our podcasters, be sure to visit http://www.koreandiary.com for the grammar lessons!

just-so-so.mp3

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im-doing-fine-thank-you.mp3

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im-doing-fine-thank-you.mp3

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how-are-things-getting-along-these-days.mp3

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This post is part of our Basic Phrase series. I’ll be posting a bunch of phrases - you guessed it - that are basic ones to help build your vocabulary. At the end of it, you should have a mastery of 200 different common words. Never fear, because we will continue our grammar lessons at the end.

For those of you who listen to our language files through your MP3 player, this is a great opportunity to load them up and use iTunes as your virtual “flash card” system.

A neat way to use iTunes like this is to put the Korean word (copy and paste from this site) into the “Artist” section, like this:

Then, when you are looking into the main iTunes screen, you see both the Korean and the English, and you can play the file.

Speaking of our files, we’ve taken care to put an extra “space” at the end of them now, so you can use this system to memorize your words.

Here is today’s word:

yes-im-fine.mp3

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My lovely friend Stacy, an adoptive mom herself, sent me over this.

WHO: Young Adult Korean Adoptees
WHAT: A Spiritual Journey to Korea
WHY: Searching for roots, connecting with others
WHEN: July 24- August 15, Summer of 08
WHERE: Cultural, historical sites in Korea, Korean Homestay holy sites and more.
COST: Full Scholarships available, see below
The scholarships for young adult adoptees (from college junior to 35 years old) include a free round-trip air ticket, transportation, and a three-week homestay for each recipient. KAM Center in partnership with churches in Korea is proudly to invite adopted Koreans who are interested in searching their root and helping others. This program will take place in July 24 to August 15, 2007. The due date of this application is February 1, 2008.

The purposes of this scholarships are:

- to have first hand experience of Korean family life through Christian homestay during this journey

- to enrich each participant’s spiritual life by participate worship services and inner healing retreat

- to broaden horizons by visiting adoption agencies, orphanage, DMZ, Korean War Memorial, Holy sites, and historic sites

- to build an intimate relationship with other participants, volunteers and Christian families who host homestay

- to empower adoptees and church members by sharing participant’s personal testimonies

- to support adopted Korean leaders to having the above experiences.

More information can be seen here:

http://www.kamcenter.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7b0E50495F-FD65-4673-8B9A-EDE1C908E689%7d

My apologies to everyone for my lack of posts this week.  Korean Diary and 5 Star Blog has undergone some major revisions, as well as our main site, 5 Star Dreams.  We will continue the lessons next week, after we’re finished with all of our redesign.

Thanks so much for your patience!

For our podcasters, head over to http://www.koreandiary.com for your grammar lesson.

This word (�?��?��?) is the equivalent of “Ladies and Gentlemen.”  You use it as an introduction to perhaps a presentation or a monologue.  This is not the same thing as, say “Everyone goes to the park,” but rather “Everyone, listen up!”

everyone-%ec%97%ac%eb%9f%ac%eb%b6%84.wav

For our podcasters, head over to www.koreandiary.com to view the language lesson!

Today we are going to learn about the word “What” (무�??) and a little bit more about object markers.  But before I begin, I would like to announce that Korean Diary is moving over to WordPress.com so our site might change on you within the next couple of weeks, so please don’t be surprised!

First, listen to our file:

what.mp3

In Korean, there are very confusing things called noun markers.  You’ve already seen one - the �??/�??.  This is another one, the �??/를.  This basically attaches itself to the noun, �?? for words that end in a consonant, and 를 for words that end in a vowel.  You attach these to the “Subject” in a sentence.  Like the �??/�??, it translate similiar “as for …”

So if you’d like to use “What” in a sentence, you have to add this little marker to it.

 It takes a lot of practice to figure out which marker to use with which noun, but the gist of it is that you use �??/를 if it is the subject of the sentence and �??/�?? if it is the direct object.

what2.mp3

Can you figure out how you would say “What do you study?”  You remember how to say “you study?”

If you guessed:

무�??�?? 공�?�?��??�??

Then you are correct!

Staying Connected

I’d love to hear from you! Come visit Korean Diary and tell me what you think. You can also sign up to my RSS Feed or join our Mailing List. Or would you like to get plugged-in to our Podcast?

What do you think of today�??s grammar lesson? Did you learn anything?

Ok, in direct confliction to my previous posts about learning only one or two words every day, I have a list of words that I’d like you to learn.  Because of the way the podcasts are coming through (it only picks up the first MP3 in my post), I had to divide each word into its own mini-post, so please forgive me if you are confused!  This is a very large lesson, which is why I put it on Friday.  You will be learning a lot of vocabulary here.

We are going to learn a bunch of words that are related.

Vocabulary

The first is “Student” or �??�??.  Here is the language file.

The second is “Language” or �?.  Here is the language file.

The third is “Person” or �?��??.  Here is the language file.

And finally, the fourth is “Teacher” or �?��??.  Here is the language file.

Countries

Let’s learn some country names!

Korea - �??국 (language file)

America - 미국 (language file)

Let’s Put It Together

We’ve learned two verbs so far, �?��?� and 공�?�??�?�.  We’ve also learned how to conjugate them.  So, can you make some complete sentenances with the new vocabulary that we’ve learned?

Can you say, Korean Person?

 - �??국�?��??

American Person?

미국�?��??

How about Korean Language?

�??국�?

And … Korean Student?

�??국 �??�??

How about Korean Language Student?

�??국�? �??�??

How about Korean Language Teacher?

�??국�? �?��??

How would you say, “I am a student“?

�??�?? �??�??�?�.

Homework

Since we’ve learned a lot of new vocabulary, your job over the weekend is to write out your flash cards with the new words.  Here are the words that you need to write out:

1. Student
2. Language
3. Person
4. Teacher
5. Korea
6. America
7. Korean person
8. American person
9. Korean language
10. Korean language student
11. Korean language teacher
12. I am a student.
13. I am a Korean language student.
14. I am a Korean language teacher.
15. I am a Korean person.
16. I am an American person.

Staying Connected

I’d love to hear from you! Come visit Korean Diary and tell me what you think. You can also sign up to my RSS Feed or join our Mailing List. Or would you like to get plugged-in to our Podcast?

What do you think of today�??s grammar lesson? Did you learn anything?

For our podcasters, here is your grammar lesson: http://www.5stardreams.com/lets-make-conversation-in-korean/

Student

To download file, right-click and “Save As…”

Stay Connected

I’d love to hear from you! Come visit Korean Diary and tell me what you think. You can also sign up to my RSS Feed or join our Mailing List. Or would you like to get plugged-in to our Podcast?

For our podcasters, here is your grammar lesson: http://www.5stardreams.com/lets-make-conversation-in-korean/

Teacher

To download file, right-click and “Save As…”

Stay Connected

I’d love to hear from you! Come visit Korean Diary and tell me what you think. You can also sign up to my RSS Feed or join our Mailing List. Or would you like to get plugged-in to our Podcast?

For our podcasters, here is your grammar lesson: http://www.5stardreams.com/lets-make-conversation-in-korean/

Person

To download file, right-click and “Save As…”

Stay Connected

I’d love to hear from you! Come visit Korean Diary and tell me what you think. You can also sign up to my RSS Feed or join our Mailing List. Or would you like to get plugged-in to our Podcast?

For our podcasters, here is your grammar lesson: http://www.5stardreams.com/lets-make-conversation-in-korean/

Language

To download file, right-click and “Save As…”

Stay Connected

I’d love to hear from you! Come visit Korean Diary and tell me what you think. You can also sign up to my RSS Feed or join our Mailing List. Or would you like to get plugged-in to our Podcast?

For our podcasters, here is your grammar lesson: http://www.5stardreams.com/lets-make-conversation-in-korean/

Korea

To download file, right-click and “Save As…”

Stay Connected

I’d love to hear from you! Come visit Korean Diary and tell me what you think. You can also sign up to my RSS Feed or join our Mailing List. Or would you like to get plugged-in to our Podcast?

For our podcasters, here is your grammar lesson: http://www.5stardreams.com/lets-make-conversation-in-korean/

America

To download file, right-click and “Save As…”

Stay Connected

I’d love to hear from you! Come visit Korean Diary and tell me what you think. You can also sign up to my RSS Feed or join our Mailing List. Or would you like to get plugged-in to our Podcast?

For our podcasters, here is your grammar lesson: http://www.5stardreams.com/hangul-chart/

Hangul (�??�?) is the official script of the Korean language, and it is a combination of the words great (�??) and script(�?).  Unlike English, �??�? is not used when referring to the language, that is �??국�? or Hangul-mal, and the Korean people are referred to as �??국 �?��?? or Hanguk-saram.

However, like English, Korean is devised of letters and it has an alphabet, some learning to read �??�? is actually not that difficult; it just takes practice.  Each letter corresponds to an English letter.

You didn’t think you’d get away with it that easy, would you?  Korean also has complex consonant combinations, but for now, we won’t learn those because, well, they are complex.  We’ll cover those more in-depth later on.

At the risk of sounding redundant, there are tons of MP3 files available for the basic letters in Korean script.  I’m going to refer you over to zKorean, my favorite dictionary, on the letters, and their sounds.  You can also check out my friend Geeone’s podcast, Sparkling Korean.  You can head over there to listen to his MP3’s.

The point is, it’s really quite easy to figure out how to pronounce things in Korean.  (Like I’ve said, there are exception with the complex consonants, but we’ll cover that later.)  I’ve printed out zKorean’s alphabet chart to phonetically sound out words.

Let’s try it out!  No MP3 file today!  But, let’s sound it out, and make up a vocabulary card.

The words are:

보�?��??�?�?? (boyfriend)
Boh-Ee-Puh-Reh-Duh

�?��?? �?구 (girlfriend)
Yuh-Ja-Chan-Koo

(I am using the Romanization from zKorean, although it is NOT the standardized form - more on that later!)

And yes, I chose these especially for Valentine’s Day.

For our podcasters, here is your grammar lesson: http://www.5stardreams.com/tacos-on-the/

The other day, Lizzie and I were talking about how to learn language.  I posed the question, when you were little, how did you know what this was (pointing to a table)?  Her response was, “My daddy told me what it was.”  My response to that was, “Well, instead of a daddy, I have a dictionary.”  Of course, we then had to look up what a table was in Korean (�??�??).  I had to sound it out for her, because she can’t read Korean script (I can read script fluently, even though I have little idea of what it means most of the time).  For those who are wondering, you say this “Tak-Ja” - both “a”s are the same as the “a” in father.  Being eleven, this meant that Lizzie found it hilarious as she was running around the kitchen saying “I’m gunna cook tacos on the Tak-ja!”

We could go into a lot about how children learn a language, but suffice it to say, most toddlers and preschoolers don’t sit down and memorize lots of words.  Instead, they slowly absorb knowledge by someone else pointing out an object or action, and telling them what it is.  In contrast, the amount of information that we’re forced to learn while studying a language can be overwhelming, and this is why most people are convinced that they can’t do it.

If you’ve been a subscriber to our blog, then you know that we’ve only learned 6 words so far.  The reason that we’ve only learned 6 words is because overloading you with vocabulary doesn’t do you much good.  Like a toddler, you should absorb information slowly.  It’s easier to learn Korean if you only learn one or two words every day.

To reinforce your learning, I’m going to teach you the hash mark flash card system that I’ve devised.

Every day I take a regular index card and write out the phrase that I am trying to memorize.  On the opposite side, I write it in English.  You can write out the words from our lessons.  Don’t worry if you aren’t good at Korean script yet.  By reading through all the posts, you will eventually pick it up.  (We’ll also do a lesson in the script, and the alphabet, but for right now, we have skipped over this part.)

On the top left hand corner of the English side, I have hash marks.  Let me go into those in a bit more detail, but before I do, I need to teach you about Short Term Memory and Long Term Memory.

Short Term Memory

Short Term Memory, or Working Memory, is to keep bits of information for very brief periods of time.  Let’s say you call 411 and you don’t have a pencil.  You can recite the phone number over and over until it is dialed.  This is an example of Short Term Memory.

The brain, as wonderful as it is, can not keep all the information from your short term memory for anything more than, well, a short time.  As it stands, you may only keep about seven items in your short term memory.  Without going into a bunch of biological scientific mumbo, jumbo, let’s suffice it to say that you would have information overload if you could keep everything from your short term memory!

Long Term Memory

By contrast, Long Term Memory lets us recall information that was stored away by our brains.  This helps us in everyday functions, such as eating with chopsticks, or by less common things, such as passing a math test.

Many scientists have studied how exactly information gets passed from the Short Term Memory into the Long Term Memory.  I really don’t have a solid answer for you, but I do have two different methods to strengthen your vocabulary.

Mnemonics

Later the same evening after Lizzie and I looked up �??�??, I was telling this story to Don.  We went into ways to memorize words and I was telling him the process called Mnemonic, which language teachers use to help students memorize vocabulary. Simply put, it means to relate the new word to another concept or word.

Silly as it was, I don’t think I will ever forget what “table” is in Korean.  Why?  Because I have an association of Tacos on the Tak-ja!  And this is exactly how mnemonics works.

You won’t be able to memorize everything like this; some words, such as “Hello” (�??�??�??�?��??�??) you may just have to repeat over and over.

Flash cards

This brings me back to my flash card system.  As I’ve told you above, every day I write the Korean word on one side of the index card, and the English on the other.  At the top of each English side, I put hash marks in series of 5:

In order for information to pass into Long Term Memory, it needs to be “handled” about 25 times.  You actually handle words more often than what you may think: when you are reading my blog post, and when you repeat the MP3 in your MP3 player like iTunes 3 times, you’ve actually “handled” the word 4 times.

That’s great!  That means you need to handle this word about 20 more times.  Well, let’s write it out on your flash card.  If you come up with a Mnemonic association when you right it down, you can add 6 more hash marks.  Otherwise, you can only add 1.

Once a day, go through your flash cards.  If you can pronounce this word, AND you also know the English meaning, then you can put a hash mark up at the top.  If not, go back to my blog post and play the sound file (or if you know how to pronounce the word, flip it over).  If you don’t know either the pronounciation or the English equivalent, put the card at the bottom of the deck.  Try again with the next word until you are at the end of the deck.

If you reach 25 hash marks for your card, congratulations!  You may take that card out of the deck now and put it aside.  You don’t want to throw it out because later on, you can still reinforce your long term memory (yes, memories do “disappear”), but you don’t need to review this word anymore.

One more thing: you will want to write your Korean script somewhat near the top.  You don’t have to do this, but I always put the dictionary form of verbs and adjectives on the first line, then the conjugation underneath.  A fair warning: there are hundreds of ways to conjugate verbs and adjectives in Korean, so I only put the top three (Formal, Polite, and Standard).  We haven’t learned anything except the formal yet, but you might want to leave room on your card so when you do learn it, you can add it there.

Don’t cheat!  No one is grading you, so cheating only cheats yourself.

Thank You (고�?�?��??�?�)

I was originally going to give about 11 new phrases today, but then I discovered a very annoying problem with my Feedburner podcaster!  It seems that I’m only allowed 1 MP3 file per post.  So without further ado, here is your file:

Thank You

Homework 

Your homework is to create all 8 flash cards (7 from previous posts, and today’s 1) that we’ve gone over so far.  Remember my method of learning your vocabulary words:

1. Read over the blog post.
2. Download the file, and repeat the MP3 3 to 4 times.
3. Write down the words using index cards - if you can, try to come up with a mnemonic association.
4. Every day, see if you know the word; if you do, give yourself a hash mark, and if not, go back and review it again.
5. Once you reach 25 hash marks, put the word aside - you’ve learned it!

Other Materials 

If you’re eager-beaver to learn more vocabulary, and make up some more flash cards, go right ahead.  Two good ones are:

Vocabulearn Korean Level I

Vocabulearn Korean Level II

(Don’t buy these from iTunes, because they don’t come with the books that you’ll need to write down the Korean script.)

If you’re interested in reading more in-depth grammar, I suggest:

The Korean Language (Suny Series in Korean Studies) by Iksop Lee and Robert Ramsey

and

Roadmap to Korean by Richard Harris.

All are available from Amazon.com.

Files

To download any of the files here, right-click and “Save As…”

Subscribe to my podcast and keep up to date on all my Word of the Day MP3 files.

Here is a cute picture from Love Cute.  In Korean, “I Love You” is �?��??�?�.

The file: iloveyou_kr.mp3 (Right-click and “Save As…” to download)

Do you want to know why I am putting this up on February 12th?  Well, today is Don & my first year anniversary.  It is, coincidentally, 2 days before Valentine’s Day.  So say “�?��??�?�” to your sweetheart.

�?�, �?��??�?�

Don, I Love You

For our podcast listeners: http://www.5stardreams.com/%eb%af%b8%ec%95%88%ed%95%b4%ec%9a%94/

Apologies to all Korean Diary readers!  Somehow my RSS feeder got all the past blog entries and put them as new entries.  So, 미�??�?��??�?�!  I’m very sorry.

im-sorry.mp3

For those of you who are podcasters, here is the URL for our grammar lesson: http://www.5stardreams.com/to-study/

Today we are going to expand on our verbs by learning a new one, to study (공�?�??�?�).  Hopefully, by the end of the week, we will be able to expand on a bunch of our vocabulary by making complete sentenances.  You’ll be able to have a conversation in Korean! 

Let’s take a look at the verb stem.

to study

You write this in Korean: 공�?

How about saying, “I study” (공�? �?��??�?�)?  Now can you say “Do you study?” (공�? �?��??�??)

A little bit about Verbs

So far, we have only learned the very formal way of speaking, and for the time being, we will continue with this as to not confuse everyone.  We will, at some point, learn less formal ways of speaking.

If you haven’t already figured it out, you can drop the dictionary verb ending (�?�) to form verbs.  So far, we can say conjugate them with “I” and “You.”  You take the verb stem, in this case 공�?�?? and add the conjugated verb ending.

To figure out which ending to use, we must determine whether or not the verb stem ends with a vowel or a consonant.

If it ends with a vowel, we add �??�??�?� to the end.  So, in this case it is 공�?�?? + �?? �??�?� which equals 공�?�?��??�?�.  Let’s try the question.  The verb ending, if it is a vowel, is �??�??�??  So, in this case it is 공�?�?? + �?? �??�? which equals 공�?�?��??�?.

What happens if it ends in a consonant?  Then the verb endings would be �?��??�?� and �?��??�??

Can you conjugate the following verbs?

먹�?� (to eat)

and

�?�?� (to go)

-

먹�?� (to eat) would be: 먹 - �?� + �?��??�?� or �?��??�??

먹�?��??�?� (I eat) or 먹�?��??�?? (You eat?)

�?�?� (to go) would be: �? - �?� + �??�??�?� or �??�??�??

�?�??�?� (I eat) or �?��??�?? (You eat?)

Homework

Ok!  So now that you know how to conjugate verbs, can you look up some in the dictionary and write them out?  Your homework is that you must look up three verbs!  Have fun!

Files & Studying

To download files, right-click and “Save As…”

Subscribe to my podcast and keep up to date on all my Word of the Day MP3 files.

Tomorrow I’m going to write a new article about using flash cards for studying.

Don, Lizzie, and I went to our first Korean-type event here in South Central Pennsylvania.  We were all a bit nervous, partially because we didn’t know anyone, but also because we didn’t really know what to expect.

A lovely buffet was provided by the Korean-American Wives Club.  Five or so ladies, dressed beautifully in their hanboks, stood in line to serve all the guests.  Some of the food we recognized from my attempts at Korean cooking, such as Japchae (�?��?, below) and of course, Kimchi (�?�?), but others such as a sweet rice-cake dessert, we did not.  In fact, the best part of the entire event was when these wonderful women sang and danced, impromptu as it was.  It made me want to get up and put on my hanbok.

As far as traditional goes, we touched briefly upon some Korean things, such as the National Anthem, and the New Year’s bow, but as Stacey writes to me in an email, “Our take on things has been not to seek to reproduce exactly what would happen in Korea, either now or traditionally, but to celebrate our unique local Korean-American culture and community through events that are a fusion of many sources.”

Don and I stayed quiet most of the event, and we let Lizzie play some Korean game (I don’t know what it’s name was).  I had a feeling that we were, in fact, the newcomers, and that most people either knew someone else there, or came with an extended group of people.  We were perfectly content to sit and watch, though.

Lizzie, in all thing preteen, wondered when the next event was, if we could go, and could she have more food.  I’m not really sure how often Ta-Ri has events, so I couldn’t answer her questions.

In the meantime, here’s a recipe I found from The Seattle Times for Japchae.

Makes 4 entrée servings or 8 to 10 servings as part of a multi-dish buffet menu

Ingredients

3/4 cup sliced, rehydrated dried shiitake mushrooms
½ loosely filled cup rehydrated, dried wood ear mushrooms (also called tree ear mushroom or black fungus)
2 ½ cups julienned white onion, divided
½ pound rib eye steak, very thinly sliced
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon toasted ground sesame seed
5 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
2 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon Asian-style sesame oil, divided
2/3 to 1 cup light olive oil, or as needed
Organic Korean salt or kosher salt as needed
1 bunch green onion, trimmed and cut into 3-inch pieces
1 bunch spinach, cleaned, blanched, shocked in an ice bath, and squeezed well
1 ½ cups julienned carrot
1 package (6 ounces) dried vermicelli clear noodles (also called sweet potato starch noodles or yam noodles)
2 teaspoons sugar

Instructions

In a medium bowl, mix mushrooms, 1 cup white onion, meat, pepper, ground sesame seed, 2 tablespoons soy sauce and 2 teaspoons sesame oil. Set aside to marinate at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Heat a little olive oil in a medium nonstick saute pan or skillet over medium-high to high heat. Saute the remaining 1 ½ cups white onion, stirring frequently and sprinkling with a little salt, until lightly caramelized. Transfer to a large bowl, piling the onion in one side of the bowl. In the same saute pan, and without wiping out the pan in between ingredients, sauté in succession the green onion pieces, spinach, and carrot, adding a little oil as needed for each vegetable and lightly seasoning each separately with salt. Sauté each vegetable until just flash seared but still crisp and very colorful. As each is done, add it to the bowl with the onion, putting each vegetable in a separate pile.

Using the same saute pan and raising the heat to high, sauté the reserved meat mixture in a little olive oil but without adding any salt, just until the beef is no longer red, or until done to your liking. Add the beef to the bowl of vegetables. Set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the noodles, and return to a boil. Reduce the heat but keep the water boiling, for 3 minutes. Drain in a large strainer or colander then immediately rinse in cold running water, moving the noodles through the water and rinsing thoroughly until all the starch is rinsed off. Drain well.

In a large heavy pan, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon sesame oil over high heat. Add the drained noodles and toss to coat evenly with the oil. Add 1 tablespoon soy sauce and mix thoroughly, turning the noodles over and over in the pan (you can use tongs for this) for 2 to 3 minutes, just to get a little color on the noodles. Add the noodles to the bowl of vegetables and meat.

Toss the ingredients in the bowl to mix evenly, then, lifting noodles by the handful, cut with kitchen shears into 6- to 8-inch lengths. In a small bowl, mix the sugar with the remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce until sugar is dissolved, then toss this mixture with the noodles. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if needed, with soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Adapted from a recipe by Heejung Kim

Bridging the Gap 

For those of you who don’t know, Ta-Ri (�?�리) means “bridge” in Korean.  As such, one of the more interesting conversations of the day was with a woman named Helena, who shared with me her story of reunification with her birth siblings.  I had lamented at some point that I always thought finding my birth family was fruitless because I was told that I was abandoned outside of a fire station.  Helena told me that I shouldn’t consider this a stop to my efforts, because in fact, a lot of children are told that they were abandoned when this was clearly not the case.  For those adoptees out there, that might give you some hope!

Taking her advice, and some more from my friend Rhonda, I used Holt’s email form to begin the search again.  For anyone who doesn’t know, Rhonda told me that I would someday meet my mother and siblings (apparently I have a brother and a sister).  Don, of course, thinks that I’m crazy for talking to Rhonda in the first place, but these series of events are hard to shake.  The only way this would even be remotely possible is if both of us would be searching.  And if not, at least this gives me something to think about.

Is it the dream of every adopted person to meet his or her parents, siblings, or cousins?  Perhaps in a time of multicultural exploration, that gap isn’t so far, that a bridge can be made.

A local organization called Ta-Ri will be holding their annual Solnal celebration at the New Cumberland Public Library on February 9, 2008 from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. at the Foundation Hall (adjacent to the library parking lot).

1 Benjamin Plaza
New Cumberland, PA 17070

Admission is free, however, donations are gladly accepted.

5 Star Dreams Korean Diary will be there to celebrate, and we’ll supply pictures of the event.  Come join us if you can!

For our podcasters, the grammar lesson is here: http://www.5stardreams.com/as-for-my-name-%ec%9d%80-and-%ec%9d%b4%eb%a6%84/

Today, we are going to have three language lessons.  The first is the word �??, which means “as for” and the next is �?��? which means “name.”

�?? and �?? are called “Topic Markers.”  They are extremely hard to explain, but they are like prepositions, and the closest match is “As for …”

The first one, �?? is used if the word ends in a consonant and the second, �?? is if the word ends in a vowel.

Let’s put it together with another word, �?��? (”name”) and you have:

�?��? �??

Remember, we used �?? because the word before it, �?��? ends with a �?? which is a consonant.

This would mean “as for name.”

Well, that doesn’t make any sense!  Let’s put a possessive adjective in front of it:

�? �?��? �??

�? means “my” … we don’t really need to know this right now, so for right now, let’s just use it with our phrase.  So can you guess what this means?  If you guess “as for my name” then you guessed right!

[audio:http://www.5stardreams.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/as-for-my-name.mp3]

Let’s Have a Conversation!

Here is our conversation:

Maureen: Hello!

You: Yes, hello!

Maureen: I am Maureen.

You: As for my name, I am _____.

Maureen: I’m glad to meet you.

Can you write this conversation in Korean?

Maureen: �??�??�??�?��??�??

You: �??, �??�??�??�?��??�??

Maureen:  모린 �??�??�?�.

You: �? �?��? �?? _____ �??�??�?�.

Maureen: �?�?? �?�?��??�?�.

Wow!  We learned a whole bunch of stuff this week.  We can finally have a good conversation in Korean.

Files

�? �?��? �??

To download, right-click and “Save As…”

Subscribe to my podcast and keep up to date on all my Word of the Day MP3 files.

�?��?� (Sol-Nal) is the first day of the Korean Lunar New Year and it is one of the most important holidays of the year, a celebration of good fortune for the year to come.  It is typically spent with your family, and during this holiday season, Seoul will be an empty shell from its former bustle of activity, as the happy Koreans will return to their ancestrial roots.

Traditionally, older adults give their blessings in the form of money to the children of the family in order to wish them the best in the coming year.  Children perform a bow of respect to their elders (”�??�?� 복 �?�?� �?�?��?��??” or saehae bokmani badeuseyo) - wishing prosperity to adults.

Hanboks are usually worn during the New Year.

Help celebrate the New Year by serving up a traditional soup called �?�국 (Tteok Guk), or Rice Cake Soup.

Ingredients 

1 gallon water
2 ½ pounds flank steak
1 white onion, halved
3 green onions, cut in 3-inch pieces
2 tablespoons toasted ground sesame seed
½ teaspoon black pepper
7 tablespoons Korean soup soy sauce, divided
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/3 cup sliced green onion

Instructions

Throw all in a pot and simmer over low heat until done.

For podcasters, our grammar is located here: http://www.5stardreams.com/i-am-you-are-%ec%9d%b4%eb%8b%a4/

Today we are going to learn a bit about verbs.  We will learn the first verb, �?��?� (to be).

Verb Order 

In order to do that, we need to learn how to put word order.  In English, we are used to this word order:

{ Noun } + { Verb } + { Direct Object }

So, if you were to introduce yourself, you would say:

I (noun) am (verb) Maureen (direct object).

In Korean, it is:

{ Noun } + { Direct Object } + { Verb }

Dictionary

Ok, let’s take a step back.  In the dictionary, verbs have the ending “-da” (�?�) at the end of the verb.  If you drop off the �?�, that’s called the Verb Stem.  We won’t go into conjugating verbs right now, but the verb stem plus the verb ending (in the case of the dictionary, it is �?�) creates the verb.

Verbs are very complicated in Korean, so for right now, we won’t go too much into them.

In the case of �?��?�, what would be the verb stem?  If you guessed �?�, then you are right!  (�?� is pronounced “e” like the letter.)

Just as a side note, the verb �?��?� refers to when you are speaking about your identity.

Usage

Ok, so let’s say “I am.”  Do you remember the word order?

[audio:http://www.5stardreams.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/my-name-is.mp3]

You say this: �??�??�?�.  This is “I am.”

[audio:http://www.5stardreams.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/are-you.mp3]

You say this: �??�??�??  This is “You are?”

Hello, I am Maureen.

Let’s introduce ourselves!

(Maureen is written like 모린 in Hangul.)

I would say 모린 �??�??�?�.  Did you remember the word order?  Maureen goes first.  You’ll notice that there isn’t “I” in that sentence because “I” is implied.

Do you remember how to say “Hello”?  Can you put together “Hello, I am Maureen”?

�??�??�??�?��??�?, 모린 �??�??�?�.

Can you say, “Hello, are you Maureen?”

�??�??�??�?��??�?, 모린 �??�??�??

Files

�??�??�?

�??�??�?�

To download, right-click and “Save As…”

Subscribe to my podcast and keep up to date on all my Word of the Day MP3 files.

배 or Bae (the ae is the same as the “a” in “at”) are plumper and juicer than the Americanized version.

This pear is as big and round as a softball.  Koreans generally use grated pear for marinades and sauces, but it is mainly eaten peeled for a dessert or a snack.  For a quick and wonderful recipe, try using slices of Korean Pear in stir-fry.

Try it after grilled beef.

Ingredients

2 Korean pears
2 tablespoons sugar
4 cups water
pine nuts

Instructions

Combine water, sugar and pear in a sauce pan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cook for 5 minutes.  Chill in fridge before serving.  Serve in a small bowl with some pine nuts on top.

Pakimchi (�?? �?�?) is kimchi made out of green onions.  (�?? or “Pa” in Korean means green onions.)

You can make this similiar to regular kimchi, except use a lot more scallions and white and green Chinese cabbage instead of napa cabbage.  It’s relatively easy to make, but more bitter and spicier.

Over at the Land of the Not-So-Calm, I read about a game called Tagged.  The author, Shang-Shil, has tagged anyone who has never been tagged before that read her article, so that would be me.  Thanks, Shang-Shil, and also junemoon, who originally started this.

The rules of engagement are:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

I chose “Roadmap to Korean” by Richard Harris.

However, the earliest archaelogical evidence there is of written Chinese dates back to approximately 1800 B.C.  At the time, the only people that used the written form of the Chinese language were government officials and record scribes.  Inscriptions found on tortoise shells and flat cattle bones reveal ancient China’s first signs of the writing system we know of today as Chinese, or Hanja (�??�??), as it is called in Korean.

This basically means that Chinese is the root of Korean.  Much like learning Latin is useful if you are an English major, because you’ll understand word roots and properties, learning �??�?? is important to learning Korean roots and properties.  However, how many English-language speakers out there actually learn Latin?  Not that many.  Learning �??�??, while interesting, is not totally necessary.

Come play with us.  If you like it, write a comment on the book that you read!

I decided to organize my posts a bit more, particularly not have them all over the place.  So Wednesdays will be our adoption stories day, where I try to find interesting articles about Korean Adoption Decendents (KADs).  Here’s the first of my new format!  Head on over at Harlow’s Monkey - I’ve been reading about a story of identical twins who were separated at birth, then reunited in an almost-accident.  I thought it was noteworthy enough to share at my own blog, but head over there to read the full articles.

The first story is titled “Emily Saunders finds the missing piece of her puzzle” and originally was published in the Star Tribune.

St. Paul resident Emily Saunders learned, six months ago, that she has a twin sister living in South Korea. Saunders will travel to South Korea to meet her birth sister and birth mother after the new year.

Emily Saunders made a startling discovery this year - she has a twin sister who lives halfway around the globe. This week, the two will come face to face for the first time since their birth 21 years ago.

Continue reading the full article.

The second article “Reunion in South Korea just the start of her journey” was a follow-up to that one, also from the Star Tribune.

Eunjin Song, left, and her twin sister, Emily Saunders, were inseparable over their eight days together. They even took turns dressing like the other.

Emily Saunders’ much-anticipated meeting last month with her twin sister and mother ended in joy, but questions still linger for her.

Continue reading the full article.

For our podcasters, the grammar lesson is located here: http://www.5stardreams.com/im-glad-to-meet-you-%ec%b2%98%ec%9d%8c-%eb%b5%99%ec%8a%b5%eb%8b%88%eb%8b%a4/

�?�?? �?�?��??�?� is something that is said when you first meet a person. The response is usually �??�??�??�?��??�??

Files

�?�?? �?�?��??�?�

To download, right-click and “Save As…”

Subscribe to my podcast and keep up to date on all my Word of the Day MP3 files.

Lately, I’ve been obsessed with pancakes; this is probably because I’ve just really figured out how to cook them.  They are so easy!  You can pretty much make these with just about any kind of meat, veggie, or seafood.   Here’s a great one to try if you are a seafood lover.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 3/4 cups water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 large scallions, halved crosswise and cut into very thin strips
1 large red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 large jalapeño, halved, seeded and thinly sliced
1/2 pound medium shrimp, shelled, deveined and halved lengthwise
1/2 pound cleaned squid, bodies cut into 1/2-inch rings, large tentacles cut in half

Instructions 

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch and salt. Whisk the egg with the water, then whisk into the flour mixture until smooth.

In an 8-inch nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil until shimmering. Add one quarter each of the scallions, red pepper and jalapeño and cook over high heat until barely softened, about 1 minute. Add one quarter each of the shrimp and squid, scattering them evenly in the pan. Pour in 1/3 cup of the batter, tilting the pan to spread it. Cook over high heat until the bottom is crisp and browned, about 3 minutes. Using a spatula, carefully flip the pancake and cook on the other side until set, about 20 seconds. Slide the pancake onto a plate and make 3 more pancakes with the remaining ingredients. Cut them into quarters, or serve whole

Koreans use an ancient firing process to make their ceramics, called celadon.  You can often see this stuff sold on eBay and it is marked by its greenish tint.

Here’s a beautiful picture of a water pitcher that I found.

For our podcasters, the grammar lesson is located here: http://www.5stardreams.com/fine-how-are-you-%ec%98%88-%ec%95%88%eb%85%95%ed%95%98%ec%8b%ad%eb%8b%88%ea%b9%8c/

This is the usual response when someone says �??�??�??�?��??�?? (or “Hello”) to you.

It is literally just “Yes, you are at peace?”  (Hello is literally, “You are at peace?”)  The word �?? means “yes.”

�??, �??�??�??�?��??�??) (to download, right-click and “Save As…”)

Subscribe to my podcast and keep up to date on all my Word of the Day MP3 files.

For our podcasters, the grammar lesson is located here:  http://www.5stardreams.com/hello-%ec%95%88%eb%85%95%ed%95%98%ec%8b%ad%eb%8b%88%ea%b9%8c/

The Korean Diary Word of the Day has changed! I’m now ripping my own MP3 files and sending them via Podcast, so we will have a lot more people enjoying the wonderful technology of today.  Here is your first word.

This is the very formal way to say “Hello” in Korean.  You would use this if you were talking to a teacher, or a pastor.  It literally means “Are you at peace?” and it is used for the first meeting of the day.  The word �?? �?? means “peace.”

Files

�??�??�??�?��??�??

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Have you ever had the urge for something and it just won’t go away until its satisfied? Well lately, I’ve had one for Kimchi and Tuna. Actually, I’ve had it since high school when my friend Jee Min made me some Tuna and Kimchi soup after school one day, and I haven’t been able to duplicate the recipe to live up to my memory of that day.

To satisfy my urge, I whipped up some of these pancakes from leftovers I had in my cupboard. I’m lucky that I found some because Don’s been getting mad at me lately for our rising costs of food and as everyone in the States is surely aware of (ok, everyone that doesn’t live near a Chinatown), Korean grocery stores are few and far between; you can read that as expensive.

Ingredients

3 heaping tablespoons flour
2 eggs
2 cans (6 ounces each) tuna, drained
leftover kimchi
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
pinch salt

You can add some onion and green onions if you’d like, if you don’t have enough kimchi. I chose not to because I had a 1/4 jar of slightly sour kimchi leftover.

Instructions

Chop up some kimchi, or vegetables if chosen. Add all ingredients in a bowl and mix. Turn frying pan on medium, add some sesame oil, and drop spoonfuls onto pan. I found out that it was best to “flatten” the pancakes with the spoon because otherwise the center doesn’t really cook too well. Flip over when done.

As you can see, I like them a lot because I had to sneak in a picture before I ate them all.

This makes about 20 pancakes, although I found out halfway through the recipe that it’s better to make bigger, flatter pancakes than it is to make smaller, fatter ones.

Serve up with your favorite dipping sauce. Personally, I like just rice vinegar, but you can add some sesame seeds and soy sauce if you’d like, too.

[ buy to Gourmet Magazine ]

This popular dish can be found on the menu at virtually every Korean restaurant in Manhattan. The beef is topped with various accompaniments such as a few raw garlic slices, kimchi (assorted spicy pickles), and steamed white rice, then wrapped in lettuce and eaten with your hands.

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 40 min

Servings: Makes 4 main-course servings.

Ingredients

1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil
1 bunch scallions (white and pale green parts separated from greens), minced (1/2 cup)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
3 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
1 lb flank steak, cut across the grain into very thin slices (no more than 1/8 inch thick)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Accompaniments: butter lettuce or other soft-leaf lettuce; thinly sliced garlic; packaged kimchi*; steamed white rice

Instructions

Stir together soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, white and pale green scallions, garlic, ginger, and 2 tablespoons sesame seeds in a bowl until sugar is dissolved. Add steak and toss to coat, then marinate 15 minutes.
Heat vegetable oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over high heat until just smoking, then add steak in 1 layer and saute, turning over occasionally, until browned and just cooked through, about 5 minutes total. Transfer to a platter and sprinkle with scallion greens and remaining 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, then serve with accompaniments.

Cooking Notes

*Available at Asian markets and many supermarkets.

For anyone who has been looking for a great multilingual plugin for WordPress 2.3+, try here:

 http://www.poplarware.com/languageplugin.html

Comes with a complete set of instructions (they are long) that show you how to do it.  All the other plugins I’ve tried don’t seem to do squat.

Hangul: �??�?

Sujeo (�??�?) is the Korean word for the set of eating utensils commonly used in eating Korean cuisine or food. The word is a contraction of the word sutgarak (�??�?�?� - spoon) and jeotgarak (�?�?�?� - chopsticks). The sujeo set includes a pair of oval-shaped often metallic (stainless steel, brass, copper, silver) chopsticks, and a long handled shallow spoon of the same materials. One can use both frequently at the same time, picking up food with a spoon, and eating it then with chopsticks, however this is a modern function of hasty eating. In addition, it is not an etiquette to hold the spoon and the chopstick together in one hand especially while eating with elders. More often food is eaten with chopsticks separately. Upon occasion the spoon apart from chopsticks is referred to as sujeo.

Chopsticks may be put down on a table, but never put into food standing up, particularly rice, as this is bad luck. At tables, the spoon may be layed down on the rice bowl, or soup bowl, if it is not used. As food is eaten very quickly, and portions are often very small, little time is spent in putting eating utensils down.

Cases for sujeo in paper or Korean fabrics were often embroidered with symbols of longevity and given as gifts, particularly at weddings. They are now sold as souvenirs.

English: Grapes
Hangul: �?��?? (Po Do)

The “o” sound in both Po and Do are the same as “dough” in English.

Do you like the photo?  Today, we bought grapes at Walmart and I had to test out taking a picture with a white piece of paper as the background.

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There are many kinds of Korean pancakes, but bindaedok, made with yellow mung beans and whipped eggs, have a light, airy texture. They are very versatile, and work well as an hors d’oeuvre, side dish, or vegetarian main course.

Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 2 3/4 hr (includes soaking mung beans)

Servings: Makes 4 main-course or 8 side-dish servings.

Ingredients

For dipping sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons rice vinegar (not seasoned)
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
1/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon Asian sesame oil

For pancakes
1 cup dried peeled (yellow) mung beans*
2 medium carrots
1 bunch scallions (white and pale green parts only)
1 (5-inch) fresh red chile, thinly sliced crosswise (2 tablespoons), including seeds
1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 3 cloves)
1 cup water
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons vegetable oil

Special equipment: a Japanese Benriner** or other adjustable-blade slicer

Instructions

Make dipping sauce
Stir together all dipping-sauce ingredients in a small bowl.

Make pancakes
Rinse mung beans in a sieve under cold running water until water runs clear. Cover beans with cold water by 2 inches in a bowl and soak, chilled, at least 2 hours.

Cut carrots into thin matchsticks, preferably using slicer.Halve scallions lengthwise and cut into 2-inch pieces. Combine carrots, scallions, chile, and garlic in a large bowl.

Drain mung beans and puree with water in a food processor until smooth, about 1 minute. Add eggs, flour, and salt and blend until smooth, about 30 seconds. Pour mixture over vegetables in bowl and stir with a flexible spatula. (Batter will be thick.)

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large heavy nonstick skillet (at least 8 inches across bottom) over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then swirl to coat. Stir batter, then ladle 1 cup batter into skillet, pressing down lightly with a large spatula to flatten and evenly distribute vegetables, to make an 8-inch pancake (less than 1/2 inch thick). Cook until edges begin to bubble and turn golden, 1 to 2 minutes, then turn over with spatula and cook until other side is golden, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer pancake to paper towels to drain. Make 3 more pancakes in same manner, stacking them (after draining briefly) if desired. Transfer pancakes, 1 at a time, to a cutting board and cut each into 6 wedges. Serve warm or at room temperature with dipping sauce.

Cooking Notes

Mung beans can be soaked up to 12 hours.

*Available at Asian markets.

An interesting story about a Korean Adopted child.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It_AkCBAruk&autoplay=0 500 500]

Originally by DeAnna M.: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Korean-Crab-Cakes/Detail.aspx

“Crab cakes with a Korean flair! These are great, I like to eat them with sweet and sour sauce, or hoisin sauce! Tasty!”

4 servings

Ingredients

1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
2 teaspoons Asian fish sauce (nuoc mam or nam pla)
1 (6 ounce) can crabmeat - drained, flaked and cartilage removed
3 ounces chopped shrimp
1 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs, made from crustless French bread
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil

Instructions

In a medium bowl, mix together mayonnaise, cilantro, fresh ginger, and fish sauce. Mix in crab, shrimp, and 1/2 cup bread crumbs. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Place remaining 1 cup breadcrumbs on a plate or shallow bowl. Drop 1/4 of the crab mixture onto breadcrumbs, and turn to coat. Shape into a circle or oval. repeat with remaining crab mixture.

Heat oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Cook cakes in oil for about 5 minutes per side, or until golden brown and cooked through.

Dan Goldberg

Maria Slape enjoys this Korean-inspired salsa on grilled pork, chicken, or beef. The juices also make a good marinade. Prep Time: about 15 minutes

Ingredients

2 cucumbers (1 1/2 lb. total), peeled
2 Roma tomatoes (8 oz. total), rinsed and cored
1 red onion (6 oz.), peeled and chopped
5 green onions, rinsed and thinly sliced (including green tops)
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
About 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
About 1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Preparation

Dice cucumbers and tomatoes into 1/4-inch cubes and combine in a bowl. Add red and green onions, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, and black pepper and cayenne to taste. Mix well. Cover and chill at least 30 minutes.Yield Makes 5 cups salsa (serving size: 1/4 cup)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 14(6.4% from fat); FAT 0.1g (sat 0.0g); PROTEIN 0.6g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; SODIUM 124mg; FIBER 0.5g; CARBOHYDRATE 3g

Maria Slape, Mountain View, CA , Sunset, SEPTEMBER 2005

This video made me cry because it was so sweet.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAFhLvaeUz0&autoplay=0 500 500]

This article has been updated here:

Tacos on the �??�??

Let’s take a moment and flash (no pun intended, really!) back to your grammar school days when you made up little flash cards to memorize your English definitions. The basic principle of flash cards is that they are portable, expendable (in case, say, your coffee cup decides to put a ring on one), and quick. Stuck in an elevator? No problem - snap out your handy, dandy flash cards and you’ve got a minute of Korean.

That being said, I don’t recommend learning a language based solely on a minute here or a minute there.

I use 3×5″ index cards cut in half (because I’m cheap). On one side, I write down the Hangul and on the other, I write the English equivalent. I highly recommend just using Hangul instead of Romanization for all of your Korean writing, because everytime you see it, it will reinforce your learning of the script.

Start by playing the recordings on this site. In the near future, I’ll provide a few of my own clippings for you. Write it down on your half-sized index card, play the recording a few times to get it stuck in your brain, and then whenever you have a moment of “Hangulization,” try recalling what it means.

While you are at it, check out some language books:

The Korean Language (Suny Series in Korean Studies) by Iksop Lee and Robert Ramsey

and

Roadmap to Korean by Richard Harris.

Both are available from Amazon.com.

This is a great way to use up all of your leftover kimchi that’s gone slightly sour.

[ buy A Korean Mother's Cooking Notes ]

Ingredients

3 cups kimchi
8 ounces or 1 cup pork, beef, or canned tuna
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1 teaspoon crushed ginger
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
beef or anchovy broth to cover

Instructions

Cut meat and kimchi to 1-inch lengths. Heat a pan. Fry chopped garlic and crushed ginger with oil. Add meat. When the meat is half cooked, add soy sauce. Stir-fry some more, and add kimchi. Stir. Pour beef or anchovy broth to cover the kimchi. Bring to a boil and simmer for 40 minutes.

Cooking Notes

When kimchi has gone sour, or just not tasty, rinse it in water. Season the meat as you would to barbecue it (with bulgogi sauce), plus a generous amount of red pepper paste. Fry it and add kimchi, then add to soup stock and boil.

If you want to use canned tuna instead of pork, fry the kimchi first in salad oil. Drain the tuna well before adding it to the kimchi.

A glorious combination of fresh stir-fried vegetables, each cooked separately to allow its flavors to stay true, is liberally seasoned with garlic and sesame oil. To gild the lily, every serving is topped off with a rich fried egg that gets added just before eating.

Bibimbop

Active time: 1 1/4 hr Start to finish: 1 1/4 hr

Servings: Makes 4 (main course) servings.

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Ingredients

1 2/3 cups Asian short-grain white or sushi rice
2 cups water
1 (10- to 12-ounce) bunch flat-leaf spinach, stems discarded
1/2 pound fresh soybean or mung-bean sprouts, trimmed
2 large carrots
1 small zucchini, trimmed
1 cup drained preserved fiddlehead fern stems (also called bracken fern, kosari, or warabi; optional)
1/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
6 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded and caps cut into very thin slices (2 cups)
6 teaspoons finely chopped garlic (from 4 cloves)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil
2 teaspoons sesame seeds, toasted and coarsely chopped
4 large eggs
4 tablespoons Korean hot-pepper paste (sometimes labeled “gochujang”)
8 (3 1/2 - by 3-inch) sheets toasted nori (dried laver, preferably seasoned), cut into thin strips with scissors

Special equipment : an adjustable-blade slicer fitted with julienne blade
Accompaniments: packaged cabbage kimchi (Korean spicy pickled cabbage) or other vegetable kimchi

Instructions

Wash rice in several changes of cold water until water is almost clear, then drain in a sieve. Bring rice and water (2 cups) to a boil in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart heavy saucepan, uncovered, then reduce heat to low and cook, covered, until water is absorbed and rice is tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, 10 minutes, then stir rice from top to bottom. Keep warm, covered.

Wash spinach well and cook in a 4- to 5-quart pot of boiling salted water, stirring, until just wilted, 15 to 30 seconds. Transfer with tongs to a large bowl of ice and cold water to stop cooking, reserving cooking water. Drain spinach and squeeze small handfuls to remove as much moisture as possible. Return spinach-cooking water to a boil, then add bean sprouts and cook, stirring, until just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain in a colander.

Holding each carrot at a 45-degree angle to slicer, cut carrots into thin (1/8-inch) matchsticks. Cut skin and firm flesh of zucchini lengthwise into long strips using slicer, avoiding center core with seeds (discard core). Rinse and drain fern stems, then cut off and discard any dark or hard pieces. Cut ferns crosswise into 2-inch pieces.

Heat 2 teaspoons vegetable oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat, swirling to coat, until hot but not smoking, then saute mushrooms, 1 teaspoon garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon salt, stirring, until mushrooms are tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil and transfer to a small bowl. Wipe skillet clean with a paper towel. Working with each vegetable separately, saute carrots, zucchini, bean sprouts, fern stems, and spinach, each in 2 teaspoons vegetable oil with 1 teaspoon garlic and 1/4 teaspoon salt, in same manner, then stirring in 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil for each. Transfer each vegetable to its own bowl as cooked and season with salt. Stir 1 teaspoon sesame seeds into spinach.

Wipe skillet clean and heat remaining 2 teaspoons vegetable oil over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then crack eggs into skillet and fry until whites are cooked and yolks begin to set, 4 to 6 minutes.

Divide rice among 4 shallow bowls, mounding it into a dome. Arrange vegetables on top of rice and place 1 egg on top of each rice bowl. Spoon 1 tablespoon hot-pepper paste over each serving, then sprinkle with nori and remaining teaspoon sesame seeds.

Cooks’ notes

• Vegetables can be cooked 1 day ahead and cooled completely, then chilled separately, covered. Bring to room temperature before serving.
• The eggs in this recipe will not be fully cooked, which may be of concern if salmonella is a problem in your area.

This is a great recipe for an appetizer. 

[ buy A Korean Mother's Cooking Notes ]

Ingredients

2 bundles plus 1/2 tablespoon green onions
1/2 cup sliced beef
1 cup sliced seafood (such as squid, shrimp, or tuna)
3 eggs
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
dash pepper
tablespoon sesame salt

Instructions

Clean green onions and quarter lengthwise if thick and half if thin. When making small pancakes, about palm size, cut the green onions into 2-inch lengths; you will need about 4 cups. Season meat with soy sauce, sugar, salt, 1/2 tablespoon green onion (chopped), garlic, sesame oil, pepper and sesame salt. Mix green onion pieces with seasoned beef, adding whatever seafood you have. Season mixture with salt. Sprinkle with flour and mix with egg. Spoon mixture into disk shapes in a heated pan and fry.

Dumplings are one of Don’s favorites.  Although we usually have them fried, you can also steam, bake, broil, or drop them into soup! 

Source:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=429498

Photography: Randy Mayor; Styling: Melanie J. Clarke

Ingredients

Dumplings:
1/2 cup finely chopped shiitake mushroom caps
1/2 cup finely chopped Shang Kimchi
1/4 cup finely chopped green onions
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger
2 teaspoons mirin (sweet rice wine)
2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil
4 ounces ground pork
24 gyoza skins
1 teaspoon cornstarch
Cooking spray

Sauce:
1 tablespoon minced green onions
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons mirin (sweet rice wine)
1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted
1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil

Preparation

To prepare dumplings, combine first 10 ingredients. Working with 1 gyoza skin at a time (cover remaining skins to prevent drying), spoon about 1 1/2 teaspoons pork mixture into center of each skin. Moisten edges of skin with water. Fold in half, pinching edges together to seal. Place dumplings, seam sides up, on a baking sheet sprinkled with 1 teaspoon cornstarch (cover loosely with a towel to prevent drying). Arrange half of the dumplings in a single layer in a bamboo or vegetable steamer coated with cooking spray. Steam dumplings, covered, for 10 minutes. Remove dumplings from steamer; keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining dumplings.

To prepare sauce, combine 1 tablespoon onions and remaining ingredients. Serve sauce with dumplings.
Yield 8 servings (serving size: 3 dumplings and about 2 teaspoons sauce)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 131(24% from fat); FAT 3.5g (sat 1g,mono 1.4g,poly 0.8g); PROTEIN 5.8g; CHOLESTEROL 12mg; CALCIUM 29mg; SODIUM 466mg; FIBER 1.2g; IRON 1.3mg; CARBOHYDRATE 17.7g
Cooking Light, MARCH 2003

You can buy kimchi from an Asian market or make your own. Most kimchi is fermented for days or weeks to develop a pungent flavor. Although this recipe skips the fermentation step, it tastes authentic.

Source:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=429503

Ingredients

14 cups coarsely chopped napa cabbage (about 2 pounds)
3 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
2 1/2 tablespoons sambal oelek or Thai chile paste
2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil

Preparation

Place cabbage and salt in a large bowl, tossing gently to combine. Weigh down cabbage with another bowl. Let stand at room temperature 3 hours, tossing occasionally. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain and squeeze dry.

Combine cabbage, sesame seeds, and remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving.

Yield 4 cups (serving size: 1/4 cup)

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Nutritional Information

CALORIES 19(47% from fat); FAT 1g (sat 0.2g,mono 0.4g,poly 0.4g); PROTEIN 0.9g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 51mg; SODIUM 302mg; FIBER 1.9g; IRON 0.3mg; CARBOHYDRATE 2.5g

writePublicationAppearance();Cooking Light, MARCH 2003

Bulgogi has become somewhat famous over the past few years, as Korean food has gone into the spotlight and more and more cooks and writers have added its spicey flavors to their repetroire. 

Source:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=429498

Photography: Randy Mayor; Styling: Melanie J. Clarke

Ingredients

1 pound top sirloin steak, trimmed
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine)
1 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
Cooking spray

Preparation

Wrap beef in plastic wrap; freeze 1 hour or until firm. Remove plastic wrap; cut beef diagonally across grain into 1/16-inch-thick slices. Combine beef, sugar, and next 5 ingredients (sugar through garlic) in a large zip-top plastic bag. Seal and marinate in refrigerator 1 hour, turning bag occasionally.

Prepare grill.

Place a wire grilling basket on grill rack. Remove beef from bag; discard marinade. Place beef on grilling basket coated with cooking spray; grill 5 minutes or until desired degree of doneness, turning frequently.

Yield 4 servings (serving size: 3 ounces)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 208(33% from fat); FAT 7.6g (sat 2.7g,mono 3.2g,poly 0.7g); PROTEIN 26.1g; CHOLESTEROL 76mg; CALCIUM 19mg; SODIUM 457mg; FIBER 0.2g; IRON 3.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 6.4g

Ann Taylor Pittman , Cooking Light, MARCH 2003

“A savory soy sesame delight! Serve over shredded cabbage if desired.”

Originally from Cheryl Stark: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Korean-Chicken/Detail.aspx

4 servings

Instructions

1 (3 pound) whole chicken
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 green onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon peanut oil
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon monosodium glutamate (MSG)

Instructions

Using a sharp knife, remove all chicken meat from bones. Cut into 1/8 inch thick, 2 inch square slices. Put chicken in a medium bowl and add soy sauce.

In an iron skillet heat sesame seeds until they begin to swell up and pop. Put the seeds in the bottom of a wooden bowl along with the salt. Using the back of a large spoon, crush the seeds as finely as possible. Add the pepper, onion, garlic, oil, sugar and monosodium glutamate. Mix together. Stir the chicken and soy sauce into this mixture and let stand for 30 minutes.

Put chicken mixture in previously used skillet. Cover and cook over low heat until chicken is tender (if it becomes too dry during the cooking time, add a little water).

Just by chance, I happened upon this recipe!  Yeah!  Readers of this blog will know that I have been looking for this recipe for a while.

http://weblog.xanga.com/koreancooking/431151570/item.html

I’ve adapted it a little because I don’t like red pepper flakes in mine.

My daughter Stephanie is in love with this namul.  She eats it up every time.

Ingredients

1/2 pound soy bean sprouts
1 teaspoon salt
pot of water
1 stalk green onion, chopped
2 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
salt to taste

Directions

Wash bean sprouts.  Fill a pot with water and boil.  Add salt and sprouts and cook for 15 minutes with the lid on.  Drain and transfer to a bowl.  Add remaining ingredients, plus more salt to taste - I found a pinch or two helps.

Bibimbop is a popular one-dish lunch of piping hot rice, an assortment of vegetables, often a small bit of meat, and always an egg on top. Koreans like this spicy, so they usually add at least 2 tablespoons chile paste per serving after cooking. It’s customary to stir everything together before eating; omit that step to taste each element independently. 

Source:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=429512

Photography: Randy Mayor; Styling: Melanie J. Clarke

Ingredients

2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
4 ounces eye of round or top round steak, thinly sliced
Cooking spray
1 cup (2-inch) julienne-cut carrot
1 cup (2-inch) julienne-cut English cucumber
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted
1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon dark sesame oil
1 garlic clove, minced
4 large eggs, divided
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 cups hot cooked short-grain rice
1 cup thinly sliced shiitake mushroom caps
1 cup Seasoned Spinach
4 teaspoons sambal oelek or Thai chile paste

Preparation

Combine first 4 ingredients in a zip-top plastic bag. Seal and marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes. Heat a small nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add beef mixture; stir-fry 3 minutes or until done. Remove from pan. Cover and keep warm.

Cook carrot in boiling water 1 minute or until crisp-tender. Drain. Rinse with cold water; drain and set aside.

Combine cucumber and next 5 ingredients (cucumber through 1 garlic clove); set aside.

Heat skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Break 1 egg into hot skillet. Cook egg 1 minute; carefully turn over. Sprinkle with dash of salt. Cook an additional minute or until desired degree of doneness. Remove from pan. Cover and keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining eggs and salt.

Spoon 3/4 cup rice into each of 4 bowls. Arrange 1/4 cup each of beef, carrot, cucumber mixture, mushrooms, and Seasoned Spinach over each serving. Top each serving with 1 egg and 1 teaspoon sambal oelek.

Yield 4 servings

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 374(20% from fat); FAT 8.3g (sat 2.4g,mono 3g,poly 1.4g); PROTEIN 23.8g; CHOLESTEROL 238mg; CALCIUM 138mg; SODIUM 699mg; FIBER 5.6g; IRON 6.9mg; CARBOHYDRATE 50.6g

Cooking Light, MARCH 2003

I found another Korean recipe blog today called My Korean Kitchen.  Sue, over there at her blog, doesn’t seem to write too often, but all the posts are pretty good and come with photos as well.

Here’s one of her photos, which is currently on the main page:

I browsed briefly through her recipes and I think most of them come with good photos.  It looks like she does them herself.  Kudos to her for some good photography - it’s definitely better than mine!

For me, I’m waiting for the recipe to the above picture, called Noodles in Chicken Soup (Dak Kalguksu).

“This is a great marinade for beef short ribs, chicken, or steak. Serve with steamed rice, beer, and kim chee.” 

Originally by Curlie: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Korean-Marinade/Detail.aspx

6 servings

Ingredients

6 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 green onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 pinch ground black pepper

Instructions

In a medium bowl, mix together the soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, green onion, garlic, toasted sesame seeds, flour, and pepper. Place meat in the marinade, cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes, or overnight.

This article originally appeared on Cleveland.com’s Memoir page.You can also buy her book, Trails of Crumbs, from Amazon.com.

Sarah Willis

When Kim Sunee was 3 years old, a policeman found her abandoned on a bench in a South Korean marketplace. She has little memory of that time, but does have a photo from the Star of the Sea Orphanage. “Lined up like rows of fruit for sale, we’re looking not at the camera, but beyond, as if expecting someone, anyone, to come and press on our skins to test for ripeness and cart us home.”

Adopted by an American couple, Sunee and another girl go to live in New Orleans. As her adoptive parents “fall into the routine of their lives,” the two children are looked after by Grammy and Poppy. Poppy introduces Sunee to the love of cooking. In the years to come, Sunee will travel a great distance from Poppy, her family and Louisiana.

At 17 she leaves for college in Florida, at 18 studies in Europe, at 20 transfers to the University of Nice, then follows a boyfriend to Stockholm, where she “discovered the first of many places I would never quite belong.” This beautifully written memoir follows Sunee’s need for the comfort of food (there are recipes at the end of most chapters), her travels and the complications of love. In Sweden she meets the older, exceedingly rich Frenchman, Olivier Baussan, founder of L’Occitane, who asks her to come live with him in Provence. Their relationship is the heart of “Trail of Crumbs.”

Olivier is not yet divorced, and has a young daughter. Sunee cooks consummate meals for his frequent guests. The couple travels the world, stopping once in Korea where Sunee finds no answers to the riddle of her identity. She loves Olivier, he loves her, but he makes all the decisions. Sunee wants to be a writer. Olivier buys her a bookstore. “It’s something you’ve always dreamed of. Or I have, for you.” He designs it, chooses its name and schedules readers. Actually, he buys her a lot of things. At “the Bon March, we look at shoes, to see not if they are comfortable, but if he likes them on me . . . I am his China doll.”

Sunee develops panic attacks and sees a psychoanalyst. Olivier dismisses her concerns, saying “you really need to have a child . . . I think it will make you feel better.” She leaves him, finally, supporting herself with various part-time jobs. Cooks. Travels a lot. This is a woman who wakes up and seriously wonders “What part of the globe am I on?”

Word for word, the writing is vivid, and her descriptions of food will make you lust for every morsel. But the reflections all feel immediate, not as wise or thoughtful as we would expect from a memoir. The book has the odd feel of an open love letter to Olivier, explaining why she left him. She says she’s over him, but perhaps she “doth protest too much.”

Still, “Trail of Crumbs” tells the story of the power of food to “ground and comfort in times of disarray.” I enjoyed reading it from the comfort of my home, a large bag of chips nearby to satiate my hunger for all the glamour that Sunee gives up.

Willis is a novelist, teacher and critic in Cleveland Heights.

To reach Sarah Willis:

books@plaind.com

This recipe was originally adapted from A Korean Mother’s Cooking Notes for use in the average Western home.

Ingredients

1 pound pot roast
10 cups water
10 cups beef broth
2 bundles green onion
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon red pepper paste
1 teaspoon red pepper powder
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons flour
1 egg

Instructions

Put pot roast in large soup pot with water and beef broth until tender.  Remove when well cooked and shred into 2-inch long strips.  Cut the green onions into 3-inch long strips, scald in the broth, and then mix with the shredded beef.  Season with garlic, red pepper paste, red pepper powder, soy sauce, salt, black pepper and sesame oil.  Sprinkle flour over the mixture.  Add mixture to the broth and bring to a boil.  Add a beaten egg.  Salt the soup to taste - usually 3 cups of soup will need 1 teaspoon soy sauce and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Cover until ready to serve.  Any mixed Korean vegetable can be added for taste.

Makes 6 servings.

It’s been my experience that you can make Korean pancakes with just about anything. If you throw in some kimchi or green onions, it’s considered Korean, right?  One of my favorite is from A Korean Mother’s Cooking Notes for Potato Pancakes.  Sometimes, when I am lazy, I use instant potatoes instead.

Ingredients

1 or 2 potatoes, to make 1 cup when grated
1/2 teaspoon table salt
dash black pepper
1/2 cup any vegetables or kimchi

Instructions

Peel potatoes, removing eyes and soak in water.  Slice vegetables into thin strips.  Grate potato; add salt and black pepper.  Mix together vegetables and grated potatoes.  Heat a pan, pour a little oil and drop potato batter by the spoonful.  Fry until both sides become golden brown. Serve with soy sauce or rice vinegar.

Serves about 12 pancakes.

“I am originally from Nebraska; one of my favorite places to eat is a small chain of sandwich restaurants called Runza. They are famous for their pillowlike beef and cabbage sandwiches. Since my husband is Korean, I created these pairing the traditional filling ingredients and flavors from his culture. These make a great snack.”  Mollie Lee, San Jose, California 

Source:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1696592

Howard L. Puckett; Lydia Degaris-Pursell; Martha Condra

Ingredients

Filling:
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon dry sherry
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon bottled ground fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/2 pound ground sirloin
Cooking spray
2 cups thinly sliced green cabbage

Dough:
4 cups all-purpose flour (about 18 ounces)
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups water
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon water
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375.

To prepare filling, combine first 11 ingredients in a large bowl.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add beef mixture to pan; cook 8 minutes or until done, stirring occasionally. Stir in cabbage; cook 4 minutes or until cabbage is tender. Remove from heat; cool completely.

To prepare dough, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Combine 1 1/3 cups water, honey, and canola oil, stirring with a whisk. Add water mixture to flour mixture; stir until a soft dough forms. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes); cover and let stand 5 minutes.

Roll dough into a 16 x 12-inch rectangle (about 1/4-inch-thick) on a lightly floured surface. Cut dough into 12 (4-inch) squares. Working with 1 square at a time (cover remaining dough with a towel to prevent drying), spoon about 1/4 cup beef mixture into center of each square. Moisten edges of dough with water; bring 2 opposite corners to center, pinching points to seal. Pinch 4 edges together to seal. Place rolls, seam side down, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Combine 1 tablespoon water and egg white in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Lightly brush tops of dough with egg white mixture; sprinkle each with 1/4 teaspoon sesame seeds. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes or until rolls are lightly browned. Remove from baking sheet; cool on wire racks.

Yield 12 servings (serving size: 1 roll)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 247(20% from fat); FAT 5.4g (sat 0.8g,mono 2.5g,poly 1.7g); PROTEIN 9.1g; CHOLESTEROL 10mg; CALCIUM 152mg; SODIUM 564mg; FIBER 1.8g; IRON 2.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 40.7g
Mollie Lee, San Jose, California , Cooking Light, JANUARY 2008

“When I lived in Korea, I was shown this Korean Cucumber salad, made with cucumbers, green onions, and sesame seeds. Goes good with Bulgogi (Korean Barbecued Beef) from this site!!”

Originally by Paula: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Korean-Cucumber-Salad/Detail.aspx

2 servings

Ingredients

1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
1/2 green onion, sliced
1/2 carrot, julienned

Instructions

In a medium bowl, stir together vinegar, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in sesame seeds, and reduce heat to medium. Cook until seeds are brown, about 5 minutes. Remove seeds with a slotted spoon, and stir into vinegar mixture. Mix in cucumber, green onions, and carrot. Cover, and refrigerate at least 5 minutes.

Despite the protests of the Japanese, the Korean and the Japanese culture span similarities which includes the food. Kimbap would be the Korean version of the ever popular sushi; this is probably why you see many sushi bars inside of a Korean restaurant.

Kimbap is a very popular dish especially to bring to a picnic. It can incorporate any ingredient inside of it, and it is prepared in the same manner as sushi.

4 sheets of dried seaweed (nori)
3 cups rice
4 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons salt
vegetables, cut into thin strips
oil, pepper, salt, sesame oil
Bamboo mat (made especially for the purpose of rolling kimbap) and a kitchen brush

Cook the rice. Bring the mixture of vinegar, sugar, salt and water to a boil and condense it so that the mixture equals about 3 tablespoons and mix it well with the cooked rice while it is hot. Cut the vegetables in long parts and stir-fry with a pinch of salt. Place the dried seaweed onto the bamboo mat and spread the rice on top. Do not cover the seaweed completely (about 2/3). Make sure that the layer of rice is not too thick - spreading the proper amount will take practice and most people inevitably put too much. Place the long pieces of vegetables in the center. Roll using the mat, lightly brushing with sesame seed oil. Cut into bit size pieces. After every cut, make sure the knife is moistened with a wet towel so that the pieces will be made in a nice, clean cut.

Garlic is one of the key ingredients in Korean cooking, and Koreans make frequent - and often, overpowering (to the non-Korean) use of the ingredient. 

In Korean:

Once the basic mechanics of growing this flavorful and heathful plant is mastered, storage is equally as easy. Chop off the hardened ends of each clove, remove the thin, papery outer layer, and put through a press, or for the old fashioned, mince finely. Store in a glass or plastic container in the refrigerator, and garlic will keep its pungent flavor many months.

Here’s another recipe for Gochujung. 

From:

A Korean Mother’s Cooking Notes

2 tablespoons red pepper paste
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon vinegar

Quick and easy.

Good sauce. 

From:

A Korean Mother’s Cooking Notes

1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Depending on the dish, add red pepper powder, sesame salt or ground pine nuts.

I was excited th