Kimchi and more

In between bouts of laundry and  The Hills reruns, I managed a thought of kimchi outage on our table for the past weeks (or has it been months?). We sure had our constant supply from my mother-in-law replenished every so often but the last time she returned our huge plastic container, it was not the cabbage kimchi I expected but radish or chonggak kimchi which I cannot stand! I love our regular cabbage or paechu  kimchi which I helped make for the first time last November along with my omonim's ajumma neighbors! That was my first daunting task as a dutiful daughter in law. :) And mind you, my MIL's kimchi is the best surpassing the restaurants' deliriously MSG filled goodness. Legend has it that my husband couldn't eat kimchi in his friends' houses when he was young.

I understood it's not kimchi making season yet so I opted to buy pre-packaged, over-priced cabbage kimchi from Lotte Mart. I definitely can never stand the chonggak kimchi's bitter taste and dreadful smell when taken out of the fridge. To date, we don't own a kimchi refrigerator as we're getting the stash from the mother ship (a.k.a. in-law's house and farm) along with other vegetables and rice. They live just about 5 minutes by car so it's almost just a trip down to my neighborhood sari-sari store! We're truly blessed to have in laws providing us with our basic needs as a newly-married couple. Btw, my neophyte tip to remedy the awful kimchi smell not to dominate your entire fridge or the kitchen for that matter is to cover the container first with plastic or saran wrap before putting on the lid.

So what takes me to this point is this news article I've read a few days back on Chinese cabbage price hike affecting Korea's staple food for next year. The culprit it says is the unusual weather conditions that we are experiencing. True enough, it's almost we're skipping fall season this year with unusually cool to cold temperatures come nightfall and early mornings.

Read full article on JoonAng Daily Cabbage crisis causes kimchi crunch. To quote "Even the Blue House has been hit. President Lee Myung-bak has switched from kimchi made from Chinese cabbages to European cabbages..."

Now, who knows the relation between Heidi and cabbages? kidding...lolz!

Musings

Well, I've been out of the loop for a while. It's not that I've been totally hibernating 'coz I still check this site once in a while or my blogger friends sites for the matter. Maybe I've been spending too much time on Facebook or Twitter reeling on more real-time posts (mostly not mine, though) that blogging may seem as ancient as mIRC trying to connect to a server!

It's almost the last quarter of the year...and the most (un)eventful so far. I'm pushing my third year in Korea and still struggling to learn the Language. I'm not blaming it on anyone or making excuses any longer for this sad fate. Heck, I don't want to even talk about it. I'm a big snob when it comes to this. So, pardon me...

I've started on a new job/employer at the start of the year and eventually, next week will be my last...Nice try, huh! Another tragic story that I'm not too happy talking about, either. It wasn't a big loss, anyway. One good thing came out of it though. I've gained experience in teaching adults in a classroom setting. So I've finally found some decent conversation while in class and not just playing silly games or tongue-in-cheek chants! And realized that I'm made for the latter anyways.

Our love story hasn't gone sour yet, I suppose. Rather, it has stabilized to where it should settle in the first place---reality. It's almost we're back to square one. We're still to coming to terms with living together. For the longest time, we couldn't live without each other. Now, we're torn as to which actually worked better. Don't get me wrong, we're still crazy about each other! And we're bound to have our own offspring sooner the better, I hope.

Again, pardon my 9-11, pre-chuseok musings. Not much to stir my husband's ancestors in high heavens! This is one difficult year, undoubtedly. But I'm still hopeful and thankful for the adequate 'harvest' and wishing for all my ajumma friends likewise.

Adventureland

The 80's wasn't really my coming-of-age decade, but I have undying fascination of the youth culture that sprung out of the era. Blame it on my fanatic observations of my elder cousins, our underaged helpers, John Hughes' teen flicks, and mostly from the pop/punk/new wave music that defined the decade.

A recent discovery is the film Adventureland (2009). Set in 1987, about a group of teenagers on summer jobs at a local amusement park. Typical 80's teen movie elements aren't missed--the nerd virgins, the troubled pretty girl, the obnoxious hunk, the pot heads, the popular slut etc. But everything wasn't too typical at all! In fact, I enjoyed the gloomy suburban feel to it. And really, what could go wrong when Kristen Stewart is one of the leads?

A real treat is the awesome soundtrack. Here's a playlist of the songs I enjoyed in the film. Hope you'll love them as much as I did!



1. Satellite of Love - Lou Reed
2. I'm in Love with a Girl - Big Star
3. Just like Heaven - The Cure
4. Don't Dream it's Over - Crowded House
5. Rock Me Amadeus - Falco
6. Pale Blue Eyes - Velvet Underground

p.s. Lou Reed/Velvet Underground and Big Star were icons of the 60's and 70's respectively. Songs and artists featured in the movie OST were not necessarily part of the 80's music genre.