Kimchi Fun

We all met up at HanKook Market on El Camino Real in Sunnyvale.

Sowen spent two hours teaching us how to select products. The type of napa cabbage for kimchi are the big green ones. The other ones you see at other markets are great for soups not kimchi. How to pick out radish, firm, shinny ones are freshest.

How to select red chilli powder, the ones that are bright shinny red and made in Korea. Make sure to peak in the window of the bag to ensure freshness.

How to pick out soy sauce. Pick one with no wheat in the ingredient list, so that it is pure soy sauce to maximize the flavor. How to tell if it is good soy sauce, just shake it and the top should foam and bubble up.


How to pick out white sesame seeds, pick the ones that are toasted to avoid the bitter taste of raw sesame seeds. This one says no salt added in Korean.


Dried whole chilli is also another ingredient you add to make kimchi paste.







How to pick out chilli paste to make your favorite Korean dishes, pick the ones that don't have corn syrup and the least amount of items in the ingredient list. Malt syrup is the one to pick in the chilli paste ingredient listing.



This mung bean or green bean starch powder is great for making your own Cheng Po Muk or mung bean noodles a.k.a. liang pi. Mix 16 oz powder to 9 cups of water, set aside for an hour. Pour out debrie that has floated to the top and replace the mixture with same amount of liquid that was poured out. Stir and mix well over medium heat until bubbles start to burst from the mixture in the pot, turn to low heat and stir for another 5 to 7 minutes. To check if it is done, use spatula and lift some of the mixture 5 inches above the pot and it should run like thick silk. If it is still lumpy or too thick to run smooth like silk, add more water. Turn off the heat and cover with lid for 10 minutes, then pour the mixture out into a mold, let it set over night in room temperature, cut and serve. If there are left overs then put the green bean mold in water like fresh tofu to avoid edges drying out and hardening.



Coarse malt powder is for making Shike. It is the sweet malt drink that is often served at the end of a spicy Korean meal. To make 3/4 of a gallon of Shike use 1/2 pound of coarse malt powder. First soak the powder in water for 4 hours to a day in room temperature. Pour out top debrie and then use your hands to rub the powder for a minute in the water. Then pour the liquid through a filter into your cooking pot and filter out all coarse malt particles. In the pot add 1/4 cup of cooked rice and cook until desired sweetness. Optional, you can also add 2 cups of kabocha squash for flavoring. This can be served hot or chilled.

While we waited for Rinaldi and Yvonne to arrive, we had some Tie Guan Yin tea served by Victor's mom. I brought Indian samosa that I bought at the store. Megan and Franklyn brought vegan taquitos.











For lunch we had Bi Bim Ba. It is a traditional hot clay pot rice dish. For simplicity we had it without the hot clay pot. What is used for toppings are up to people. It usually consist of a min. of 5 different colors of pickles or preserved, marinated vegetables and sliced fresh herbs. Today we had a seaweed salad, mung bean sprouts, daikon, two other dishes I forgot to ask the name for, they were delicious. The red one is used in Chinese Medicine and tasted like radish kimchi. The brown one is a vegetable found in northern China and Korea in the fern family. For fresh herbs we had Japanese shiso, and daikon sprouts. The sauce that you mix the rice with is important and everyone makes it their own variation. This afternoon we had one that was mixed with the following: red chilli paste, pure sesame oil-preferably Korean or Japanese, sesame seeds toasted. Purple and white rice was served today.

This is what a green napa cabbage should look like on the inside very different fron the white napa cabbage. This is tight, firm, and shinny. To split the cabbage, make a 1/2 inch to 1 inch part at the head, then use your hands and part the cabbage into two. Parting the cabbage this way is a critical part in kimchi making sucess. Cutting the entire cabbage with a blade will change the flavor and the kimchi making process.


Then rub coarse sea salt into the leaves of the cabbage while keeping the halves intacked. Put the two halves back together and let it sweat for at least 5 hours and turn sides so the top half is on the bottom half way through to get even sweating. Then rinse the salt off the cabbage leaves and set side and drain off the water in natural drip speed on a rack.


Here is a shot of the entire ingredients for kimchi paste.


While we waited for the cabbages to sweat, Victor had a long line of friends ready to have their pulses read and new prescription written. Yvonne and Rinaldi arrived with very delicious papayas and pineapples. They baked brazil nuts at 425 degrees for at least 10 minutes in its shell and it was delicious hot.

Sowen realized she forgot a few items for the kimchi paste so we headed out for the store again. Here is Yonne picking up a bag of brown rice and coarse sea salt.















Sowen also made Duk Buki and Tofu soup. The soft, soft tofu is the kind that comes in a tube not a box. The extra silky ones in a box is still not the right ones to use.



And the kimchi paste making process began. Everyone got involved.





















So what is in the big pot of kimchi paste? Well, first of all it was meant for whole 12 to 14 six inch diameter napa cabbages. The following gets blended in a blender into a paste: 6 cups of fresh ginger, 2 bundes of fresh cilantro, 5 cups of seeded fresh red chilli, 3-4 cups of dried whole red chilli. This then gets mixed with the following, 1.6 litre of good grade soy sauce, 3 pounds of Korean red chilli powder, 5 tbp of sugar, 2 gallons of shredded daikon, 1/2 gallon of shredded carrots. Adding walnut and pinuts are optional. This last part is critical in the kimchi process, it replaces the raw oyster and shrimp paste. Use 3/4 cup of raw soy bean powder and mix with 1 gallon of water over low heat for about 10 minutes or until bubbles start to pop. To check to see if it is done run a spatuala a few inches above the pot and the mixture should run smooth and continus silky creamy. Set aside to cool. Use 3/4 cup sweet potato flour and mix with 1/2 to 3/4 gallon of water in low heat for also about 10 minutes or until bubbles start to pop. To check, use previous method. Mix these two chilled mixtures into the big pot of red paste.

How to stuff the paste in the cabbage? It is done leaf by leaf and then pick the whole thing up and round off the end draining off excess paste, set aside into an air tight glass or clay pickling container. Place in cool dry cellar or cold garage for at least 1 week but best to wait for a month before poping the lid and serving. The longer and slower it takes to marinate in cool temperature, the better it tastes.







It is highly advisable to wear gloves in the paste and stuffing process.

Today was a totally fun day. Jokes were like none stop. That's gotta burn of some caleries consumed today right?

Victor has his medical doctor exam to take in March 16, I think he will do well on his exam and he will be officially Dr. Victor Cheng!

Dreams, Kishimoto Style

My dreams this morning was all in Kishimoto Manga Style. Kishimoto is the creator of Uzumaki Naruto. All the main characters were in my dreams. All in black ink and Copic Marker tones. I don't recall what the storyline was. I love Naruto series. Kishimoto is also the same age as I am. Naruto has been going on for a least a decade. It is coming to a completion, it will have an end and I will be sad about that. But like Calvin and Hobbs, I could read it over and over again because the lines, the shading, the styles of expression are worth looking at over and over again.

My First Herbal Prescription From Victor

So happy to see Victor's return as Doctor, finally, he had been gone a long time. Since he left I moved 3 times in the past 6 years. He read my pulse and prescribed these herbs for me to drink. I was very excited to drink them with anticipation. His wife whom he met in Shanghai at school is from Korea, her name is Sowen Kim, they recently got married and will both officially move back to US in 2011 to start a practice here.

Victor reconmended an herbal shop in San Jose off McLaughlin and Story in the same plaza as Grand Century Saigon Mall. This shop called Vinh Quang is pretty well stocked with goodies. The doctor behind the counter whose name was Kuo filled my prescription. All the workers there looked really healthy had bright faces and clear complexion. I also bought myself a pack of Pho Soup seasoning pack, I plan to try it out next week, hope it's a good seasoning combination.

Family, Forgive and Patience

Tonight's talk at Teance was about Siblings. Rev. Heng Sure brought his new additions, Hand Puppets to portray Buddhist stories. These puppets were really well made. There was a crowd of 33 people tonight. We all managed to fit comfortably. The tiger is also part of the puppet addition, I can't wait for her to make an appearance, her name is Ginger.

It was great to see Jamal, Brendhoan, Chris and their sisters. They dashed over after their band practice. Emily and Jonas was there too and they are getting married in May. I hope to catch up with them soon, the last time we got together was in October.

Siblings, I am the youngest of four kids in the family. When we were little we had an understanding that the power needs to be even. So when we fought, it really didn't matter what side or issue you were on, the balance of 2 against 2 was enforced silently. It was a way of sibling support. Fights were never about physically harming another, but throwing and breaking things were okay. There were holes in walls and doors. When all was done 30 minutes to 2 or 3 hours of heated fights, done is done, move on, still lingering, well, fight's over missed your chance. We were pretty good sport about this and when eruptions were over we were all cool. Such fights were in the teenage years, it must come with the teens. When any one of us was attacked by a parent, we would unit and stand by each other, it would be four on one. The funny thing was, it was like that, out parents can do that but when someone else on the outside was to do that we stood as a family. As adults, we don't fight, somehow it hurts. Somehow it becomes complicated. It doesn't end like it used to, cleanly and it just isn't over. So we don't fight, because it hurts. The function of releasing steam seems to burn each other, this tool is no longer useful as adults.

On my brother as a sibling, he used his first pay check, after working in an arcade for a month with minimum wage $3-4, can't remember, he cashed the whole thing to buy me birthday present. It was his first pay check ever. I woke up middle of the night to pee and saw two medium sized Gund Teddy Bears from Macy's sitting in front of my door step, pink and cream. They were cute, soft, fluffy, cuddly. Honestly, I really wanted them. In those days, you give people you care about Gund Teddy Bears, a pair. They were $60 each, totally over priced, over rated and this was in the 80's. It's still a lot of money for Teddy Bears at today price too. I hugged them all night and made a strong case to why I can't keep those bears that I had been window shopping at, of which he knew I really wanted. It was his entire first pay check that he worked everyday after school for. I couldn't let him not have any of it. So I persuaded him that I had too many stuffed animals and I didn't need two more and that I wasn't too crazy about them anyways and I insist he returns them. He tried to convince me to keep one. I braved and had him return both. The thought and the surprised was priceless and more precious and dear to my heart than the actual Teddy Bears themselves. A few years later when he was in college and had a better job, he got me a credit card to use in high school and all the way to college. He didn't judge me on what I spent my money on. As long as it wasn't over $300. a month he wouldn't meet with me on it. Even when it did, he politely questioned whether it was necessary and let me know that was a bit over the top in spending for a high schooler in the 90's. When I took many years off from wedding photography and running my own business, he tried to encourage me to return to my passionate photography work by wanting to buy me a Canon Mark II 5D. The body is like three grand alone. Business is really slow these days economy is not on the up and I couldn't let him fork out that kind of money. Still the heart and thought was radiating with warmth.

On sisters for siblings. I have two sisters, Helen and Grace. Grace is the oldest and we are seven years apart. She was like my personal angel. She never yelled at me or scolded me or put me down. When she went out on dates she took me with her. Her boyfriend would buy me presents too. I was not the third wheel. I did not asked to be tagged along, I was always naturally included. Where ever she was she would send me gift wrapped presents from college or Japan. She is a great shopper and some how always find beautiful quality things that I would like for me. I'm not a great shopper.

Helen is my other sister who is number 3 in line. When I was little she was my hair stylist every day. She did pretty things with my hair and took really good care of me. I was her personal pet and doll. As adults we enjoy discovering new places to eat, jogging, crafts, and outdoors together.

My siblings have been impressed by how I treat, take care, nurture and love their children, my 3 nieces and 3 nephew, 6 in all. What they may not recall is everything they've shown me, given me, I return to their children because I learned it from them.

I guess I can't leave out my parents, there is a lot to say but for now, just this, my parents have a strong sense of family. In fact they have not much of religious practice. Family is their religion. This is what they have taught me. Anybody you consider as family, you don't resent, you forgive because they are family. People go through dark moments in life, it is a part of life, see the sunshine in them, never forget and be patient and wait for the clouds and storm to blow over, the sun is still beautifully there and worth the patience of waiting and time.

I have wonderful siblings and parents.