Thursday, December 16, 2010

The healthiest food in the world (or top 5 anyway)

For a Korean, "seeing red" is a good thing; in fact, it is perhaps one of the most satisfying sights in the world (as long as it's not their name written in red which forebodes disaster). And the most beautiful red object is a pot of freshly made kimchi. Actually, I take that back; a pot of six month properly-fermented kimchi is probably even more appealing. In any case, Joo has become the kimchi go to girl for the Koreans in Athens community as well as the chefs at her culinary school. Which means ever-increasing big batches of kimchi and even thoughts of opening a stand at the farmer's market at some point in the future.

She's even working on innovative new ways to use kimchi such as the kimchi sandwich shown below.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the U.S., her sister Jusu has done her share of making things this year too - namely TaeGeom (pictured below in his favorite sleeping position). He was born prematurely, but now has grown into a healthy, full-sized boy.
Some trailing pictures from Thanksgiving that didn't quite make the deadline for the last blog...

I was delighted to see the entire Longenecker family together in the same place for the first time since Chris and Alison's wedding five years ago. After enjoying hors d'oeuvres galore and sharing our favorite Youtube videos, we played a riveting game of Settlers of Catan and caught up a bit.
Joo and I rarely splurge on buying something new, with our philosophy being that only something crucial for health or relationships can take priority over budgeting. So, although we've talked about getting a desktop for over a year now, we didn't make the leap until a doctor inspected some numbness in my extremities and decided my hunched over posture on my laptop for several hours a day was causing it. So, now I'm not only more physically comfortable, but mentally too since it felt like a justifiable purchase :)
Joo's birthday was on the 16th and so Mom and Dad drove all the way down for the day and to give some wonderfully creative presents they had designed. Yes "they." Amazing, as Dad is very rarely inspired to give a custom-made gift, but apparently he hired someone to tailor a chef's apron. Mom made a fully-accessorized chef bear for Joo. It was a touching moment for both Joo and me to see manifestations of what thoughtful parents we have!

After doing a little celebrating at the house, we piled into the car and headed over to Eclipse - a new brunch store that opened up down the road a few weeks ago. They are participating in Athens' 30-mile club by pledging to get as many of their ingredients locally as possible. It was fun to hear the waitress say she could explain anything on the menu or tell us whose farms/gardens anything came from :) I think everything except the kalamata olives in my dish was within the 30-mile radius. Hmmm... I wonder how kimchi would taste in an omelette...

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