Kimchi Mamas

3, 2, 1...Sae Hae Bok Mani Badusaeyo!

Happy New Year!

Sae hae bok mani badusaeyo!

I'm at my parents' house watching "Friends" reruns with my husband (Yubo) and waiting for the ball to drop (on repeat) in Times Square. Usually we don't even make it till midnight, but tonight I think I'll actually be getting kissed come midnight.

But while our New Year's Eves are rarely eventful, tomorrow will be filled with family, tradition and lots and lots of dduk guk.

We'll do seh bae to my halmoni and Yubo's relatives. Growing up, my family celebrated seollal sporadically, if at all, but since marrying Yubo, I have made a point of making it an important holiday for my family. This year I won't get a chance to make my own dduk guk (we'll be driving up and down Los Angeles all day visiting family), but my oldest son, C, has been practicing his bowing and I've got their hanboks ready. Yubo, C and I all dutifully wished my in-laws, who live in Korea, New Year blessings in Korean over the phone earlier this evening (accounting for the time difference, it was already January 1 in Korea.)

I may even track down my own wedding hanbok, which is hiding somewhere in this house.

Mine looks similar to this one via Rae's Creations, but with a darker green chogori. It was a gift from my mother-in-law.

My American self often chafes against the obligation and self-sacrifice that is part and parcel of being part of a Korean family, but I am also undeniably Korean in my views toward family and responsibility. The act of bowing to my elders, to pay respect and promise fidelity and wish blessings in the new year on my family, is ripe with meaning and the act each year means so much more than the little envelope of money given in reciprocity. It is a reminder and a promise.

And something I revel in passing down to my children, third-generation hapa Korean Americans who will grow up both more and less Korean than I ever was.

Sae hae bok mani badusaeyo! (Many blessings to you in the New Year!)

- Nina

Korean versus Western

It's crunch time here in Texas . . .

It's been a whirlwind courtship.  From a March meeting, to a May proposal and now an October wedding. But the rest of our lives . . .

(photos after the jump)

To Wear or Not to Wear

I was the only one in my family who didn't throw her shoes on the pile behind the front door. As soon as they entered, the other members of my family took their shoes off and chucked them where they landed. The left pair of my mom's florescent yellow plastic slipper often sat between my dad's brown strapped slippers that he had owned since Korea and his tennis shoes, whose back flaps had been permanently folded down. My sister's sandals from the past summer were piled up on top of the sandals from the years past. My mother's pumps gathered dust next to her various pairs of $8 black, thick-soled, orthopedic-like shoes that she picked up from a Chinese vendor under the bridge on Flushing's Main Street. My brother's assortment of sneakers -- all of which looked the same but served some mysteriously distinct functions -- provided additional heft to the pile.

Unlike them, I kept my shoes in my own closet. The ones out of season, like my winter boots, were in their original boxes stacked in the back row of my tiny closet. The ones in current use, like my sturdy pair of rubber-soled black leather shoes that I purchased in the Village, sat prominently in front row, along with my favorite summer sandals and running shoes.

"Thank You"

Dad (in Korean): I just got the fax. (Phex soo bat uh suh.)

Me (in Korean): OK. (Eung.)

Dad (in English): Thank you.

Have you ever noticed that your parents or other older Koreans prefer to say "thank you" in English rather than "go ma wau" in Korean?

I swear it's true.  

Why is that?

I mean, there must be a reason.  

Right?

My dad wants me to teach Korean to my children and he was rather disappointed that my husband doesn't speak Korean very well.  It's very clear that the Korean language is very important to him, especially since his grasp of the English language is minimal at best.  He hasn't really had to learn it since he lives in Southern California where there are Korean markets, banks, tailors, accountants, mortgage brokers, doctors, lawyers, shoemakers, mechanics... you get the picture.  

Happy New Year!!!

Today marks the beginning of the Lunar New Year . . . what are you doing/have done to celebrate?!

(Tonight the children and I will visit my parents and have some mandoo . .  what about you?)

-Angie in Texas

Compassion International

What does Compassion International have to do with Kimchi Mamas?  EVERYTHING!  =)

Compassion started in 1952 providing Korean War orphans with food, shelter, education and health care.  Reverend Everett Swanson was on a preaching tour in South Korea when he saw Korea's unwanted children. He knew he had to do something and thus, Compassion was born. 

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Compasion has sponsored more than 1 million children in 25 of the world's poorest countries.  Thankfully, they don't need to sponsor kids in South Korea anymore!  (And sadly, North Korea wouldn't allow sponsorship since Compassion is a faith-based organization.)  They are a high quality organization, taking stewardship of donors' money very seriously.  Compassion International recently won a four star rating from the nation's largest independent evaluator of charities for the seventh year in a row - one of only 45 chartities in the nation to do so.

100 Days

In a few days my youngest son will be 100 days old. We will celebrate with our immediate family, taking tons of pictures and enjoying the company. This being our third child, everything is old hat now and we realize it's not always necessary to have elaborate celebrations with tons of people and lavish surroundings. We appreciate family, our healthy children, our family. It will be a happy celebration.

Talkin' Turkey in Texas

Thanksgiving is almost here!

(I'm using the exclamation point to illustrate my happiness, as in "Yay!  My favorite holiday is here!" and also to express my "Holy-crap Thanksgiving is in a few days!" feelings, too.)

Seriously though, I LOVE Thanksgiving.  I mean what's not to love?   There's food.  It's the beginning of the holiday season.  And it's all about family and friends.  This year it's going to be a "small" affair at my home - we're only calculating 15 people total and several throughout the day for visitors-passing-by to wish good cheer and share a drink . . .

My family has lived in the US for almost 30 years now, so there's turkey (I won't forget to brine the turkey this year, I promise), cornbread stuffing (we're in the South, what can I say?) and homemade cranberry relish (a recipe I learned from my Nath-easteen friends in college - where are the "r"s?).  We're also Korean so there's going to be tons of chapchae, yaki-mandu (my opa would freak if there wasn't) and of course kimchi (lots and lots of kimchi).  And because our family is a hodge-podge of American, Korean AND Mexican, there will also be enchiladas and maybe some fried tacos this year . . .

And like every Thanksgiving, we'll all eat too much, Dad will wrap kimchi around sliced bits of turkey, Mom will wrinkle her nose at my gravy and "tsk, tsk" my country style mashed potatoes with the skin still on (but have 2 helpings) and later there will be lively games of American and Korean style cards (and yes, money will be involved). 

And because there are children/grandchildren running around having a bite of turkey here, a slice of kimchi there and skipping along with yaki-madu in hand, they will get to absorb all of this and for them a plate of turkey and kimchi with a side of enchiladas is and forever will be normal . . . What's not to love?

What's on your Thanksgiving plate?

-Angie in Texas plans to start brining the turkey Wednesday after work . . . and pickling herself later that night.  =)

Manseh!

I think it's a tradition to teach babies how to do the Manseh in Korea.  Well, at least that what I get from the Korean community I've been a part of.

What is the Manseh?  The action itself requires you to lift both arms, palm open straight up as you shout "Manseh!"  The word itself means "ten thousand years", but it can be best translated into meaning "hooray!".  Personally, I feel like the meaning goes deeper.  To me, it's more of a "Hooray for us, as Koreans for ten thousand years!"

Walking the Tight Rope

Did you know the art of tightrope walking has a long history in Korea? 

I didn't.