touaregsand

The mime incident was the only time I experienced anything like that in France. I find it amusing actually. It's something out of an American comedy skit (we like to make fun of French mimes). Back to Picnics in France. It never occured to us to plan a picnic in Paris, maybe we missed out on some nicer places to do it. If we found a pleasant area to eat outdoors we would just buy some food in the neighborhood for a casual picnic. Bastille Day is coming up. What are the popular spots in Paris for picnics on this day?

Thank you for the complement. I think the trick to good kimbap is the texture of the rice and I also think it should be seasoned. I find that adding a bit of sesame oil keeps the grains from getting mushy. A short cut at home is the make the rice yourself and buy packaged bibimbap vegetables. I remember sometimes hating to wake up early to all that work before a picnic!

My one and only encounter with a mime in Paris was on my first trip. He approached me while making martial arts gestures and pulled his eyes back tight. I gave him the finger.

Kimbap is typical picnic, day trip, hiking fare. When I was growing up we always woke up early on the day of an outing to make it together as a family. The components are cooked and seasoned individually as for bibimbap. I season freshly cooked rice with a little sesame oil, salt and toasted sesame seeds The spinach is prepared naemul style. Quickly blanched with the moisture squeezed out then seasoned with salt, sesame oil and garlic. Julienne carrots on a mandoline, saute in a little oil and garlic, season with salt. The carrots should have a bit of a crunch to them. I prepare the eggs like a paper thin omelette and cut into long thin slices I cut takuan into long thin strips I usually add bulgogi, my mother prefers ono kamaboko. Roll it all together. I'm writing this off the top of my head. If there something I left out I'll add it later. (the log description did make me smile)

Is 'slicing, not cooking' related to 'shopping, not cooking'? This is the reason we don't eat out alot at the better places in LA, espcially on a teacher's budget.

now there's an idea for a new thread: a competition for the town with the worst restaurants what is your town, do you mind sharing? and another thing, i am sure this has been posted before in many places, but probably bears repetition. what IS with the whole "chai tea" misunderstanding? chai merely means tea, in hindi and most indian languages, as also in chinese (cha), japanese, etc etc. so phrases like "XXX with chai spices" makes no sense at all: what, do they sprinkle tea leaves in it? people are mixing up the idea of "chai" which is merely regular tea, with "masala chai" which is the (now getting more popular) spiced tea as perfected in the roadside tea stalls of india: hot tea, with milk, sugar, and spices e.g. ginger, cardamom, black pepper, maybe cinnamon, etc. saying "chai tea" is like saying "tea tea". if you ask for "chai" in an indian restaurant, you'll get just regular tea, unless the waiter is aware of the confusion and may clarify: do you want "masala chai"; and if you say yes, then you will get the spiced tea.... why is that so hard for all the corporate types to remember when they are doing their manufacturing, packaging, etc.... grrrr milagai ← Masala has too many syllables? Thanks.

Apparently French dip sandwiches are an LA invention. I don't recall if it was Phillipe's or Cole's. Cole's Phillipes

Melonpan is officially more Korean than I am. She has a Korean keyboard and fonts installed. Nah, it's not like I go around with arguing with people about it. The woman approached me and initiated the conversation. (Btw, I can cook alot of French and Algerian food exactly like my husband. At least in a home environment. I have some funny stories about how people, not just Koreans, react to food when they think a fancy pants French chef made it)

Yeah, this is what they tell you when you go on tour of Changdok Palace, IIRC. Or was it at Biwon? Crap I forget. Anyway, they tell you the whole spiel about how the silver chopsticks turned black if there was poison in the food, which is why the king and his buddies used them. Honestly I find the whole "not korean enough" thing weird since everyone I know is sending their kids to America for a year or more to learn English. Smells like butter, hehe whatever. But I know what you guys are saying. Luckily I'm so American, nobody really says anything about my accent. If there's any doubt, i tell them I'm American and apologize for no reason, then I can get my business done without further incident. So far, i don't actually know anyone who is teaching their kids Chinese though I read about it somewhere, and this would make more sense than learning English. ← The ability to read Chinese and write Chinese caligraphy with a brush and black ink was a mark of an educated Korean at least up untill my grandparents time. My paternal grandmother was an accomplished caligrapher. My dad and many of my elder relatives can read and write Chinese 'characters' or 'ideographs.' An uncle of mine wrote a book in Chinese and another in old Korean. Another uncle of mine was recently given a gov't grant to study Chinese in Beijing for 2 years.

if you know this, you should try to be more understanding of the people who say these things.focus on feeling satisfaction with the fact that people always devour all your platters. authentic or not, at the end of the day, a finished platter is a finished platter. those unfinshed are what they are. ← I think that I do understand why. At the risk of going off topic on a food only site it has alot to do with the turmoil Korea and Koreans endured during the last century, Japanese annexation, the Korean war and rapid industrialization. My uncle was a congressman during President Park's reign. "Daehan minguk manse" I really think it's time that there is some internal questioning of what we are as a people. We have a deep sense of kinship with eachother. I've been going back to Korea since I was 7 or 8. After all these years it's just so tiring to be sized up all the time on a shallow measure of what a Korean is supposed to be. Alot of this has to do with politics, which we cannot discuss here.

My husband was treated like a minor celebrity when we were living in Seoul. He was on an SK Telecom commercial. Even here in LA he's been featured in Korean newspapers, magazines and TV. He says a few words in Korean and they giggle in delight. My Korean has degenerated these days, but when we were living there I had total native fluency, no accent at all. Untill people found out I was a gyopo. Then all of a sudden I had an accent and there was something to laugh at in every other sentence I uttered. The same people would effusively complement my husband's broken Korean. I suspect alot of it has to do with insecurity. It usually applies more to women. Korean-American men are fawned over, especially if they have a degree from a better University. My grandmother is an awful cook. My mother sometimes makes kimchi herself and gives it to my husband telling him halmuni made it. This always convinces him it must be better.

Her students are mostly Korean. All of this reminds me of the time I made kimbap for a potluck graduation buffet at my daughter's Korean preschool. Two other women made kimbap as well. My platter was devoured right away, the other platters were left largely unfinished. When they found out who was the culprit behind the delicious kimbap comments like "I was wondering why it was a little different and not quite authentic" immediately followed. These cultural attitudes are so deep that people just say stuff without even thinking about it. There was nothing in it that is not a traditional ingredient and the presentation was traditional as well.

Yes, it is very Korean. Except for the Koreans here who are not really Korean.

My palate for Korean food is not at all Americanized. I'm certain I've eaten more regional Korean food than this woman. I'm sure Soup and a few others here know what I'm talking about when I say sometimes the accusation of 'too Americanized' is a groundless dismissal. Big ole Nationalistic chip on the shoulder. I've seen it time and time again, a fantasy appraisal of something as authentic based on who made it. I can cook Korean exactly the way my mother does. But because of prejudiced, closed mindedness from the source culture my food will almost automatically be dismissed as not authentic or lacking that certain something. It's ridiculous at times, "Ooh, delicious" they say while gobbling it all up and asking for seconds, "but I'll go back to true Korean food." If they think my mother made the same dish "please share the secret techniques and ingredients!"

She started the whole discussion. Her responses were dismissive initially. Basically she is an "authentic true Korean" and I am too "Americanized" to understand "authentic". She tried to get away with it untill I pointed out some glaring facts and where my point of view comes from. I have a copy of the curriculum from the school she teaches at. I'm tempted to insert a slew of emoticons here. Depressing that someone like her has the money to operate a cooking school where she is free to perpetuate shoddy cultural and culinary information. I tasted her kimchi and bulgogi. Sure it's authentic if one defines authentic as the type of food you would fine in a basement restaurant in an apartment building in Seoul. She has no sense of terroir or history. She knows all simply because she is soooooo Korean.

Yes. Confirmed. I also had a dissappointing little discussion regarding 'authentic' recipes and flavors with a woman from a Korean cooking school.

I recall that the Aristocracy and landed gentry used silver chopsticks partly for fear of poisoning. There were bitter feuds over titles and land, even amongst siblings. They were also made with brass, I think I saw some made from copper in a few museums but my memory is a bit fuzzy on that. I'm no expert, I know enough to ask or do further research when I am unsure of something or a piece of information doesn't sound correct. My husband will be meeting with some real experts at the Korean Cultural Center tomorrow and will have a definitive answer. My parents and other older relatives back up the poison theory and overall they have proven to be very reliable sources of tradtitions and customs. EDIT: I can't spell

Let it breath. The traditional ceramic vessels for making tongchimi aren't airtight.

Putting the soup into the rice is practical esp if you are sharing a tureen of soup. But when I have my own bowl of say soft tofu stew, I seem to enjoy it better when I spoon a bit of rice and soak it in the chigae then eat. Sort of reverse of the way it's normally done. I've never seen anyone else do this but was wondering if anyone had tried it. ← But we're talking about the same thing: spooning some rice from your own bowl and soaking the spoonful of rice with soup from your own soup bowl just before eating it. Among Koreans it doesn't seem to be "the reverse of the way it's normally done," since it's commonly done. Am I just misunderstanding your meaning? ← I'm confused too. A bit of rice on a spoon soaked with a mild broth is the way to feed babies/toddlers as well.

i've read that there has never been a famine in a democracy. anyone know if this is true? ← If famine is defined as a drastic, wide-reaching food shortage doesn't depression era America fit this description?

The Koreans aren't exactly disagreeing. So I'm not sure what you mean by that. I do agree with you that someone from the source culture is not necessarily an expert on his/her own culture. I wouldn't ask my grandmother about Korean culture/cuisine at all. I ask my parents about those things. But on the other hand, I would avoid discussing Korean history with my dad. Not that he has his facts off, just a bit too Koreancentric for my tastes.

Soon dubu jigae is really easy to make. I posted a basic recipe this thread. Btw, I think your mom is faking it to get your dad to make the rice.

Well it was about 25 years ago and a job requirement for me to attend. It was clear that it was designed to improve the typical students' (all young females) marriage prospects by giving them the skills and knowledge to marry and move up in a very class conscious society. ← Oh, apologies. I didn't mean to imply that you were a newly middle class Korean. I'm aware of you having lived there from your other posts.

Just to clarify. It was never considered rude to eat rice with chopsticks. My parents are extremely old fashioned in regards to this, as are my other relatives in Korea. The whole spoon method for eating rice is about ergonomics. The whole idea of a finishing school for Korean manners in Korea is for the relatively new middle class. I don't mean to sound at all arrogant when I say this.

Oftentimes bibimbap is served with a dollop of gochujang in it. You can always add more to suit your tastes. Some people mix the bap more gracefully then others, others just dig in. Just don't use shoveling motions, more like raking with a spoon.