The Journal, page 4
A place to learn about hanbok and Korean celebrations, at your own pace.
Page 4 of 9.
- Recipes
Pajeon on a Rainy Afternoon
What pajeon is Rain on the window is the cue. Youngsook pulls scallions from the fridge, whisks flour and cold water, gets the pan smoking with a wide pour of…
- Hanbok Guides
Chuseok, and What to Wear For It
The 추석 palette is the palette of the field in late September. Persimmon orange. Sage green. Dusty mustard. Ivory that catches the low autumn light. A silk…
- Korean Culture
How a Korean Wedding Really Goes
The shape of a modern Korean wedding A modern Korean wedding has two shapes stacked on top of each other. A Western ceremony with vows and a white dress, and a…
- Hanbok Guides
What the Colors Are Telling You
At a paebaek last fall, the bride wore green over red. Her mother-in-law wore navy over ivory. Both palettes were correct, and neither was accidental. In a…
- Recipes
The Rice Every Korean Mother Knows
Why Korean rice is different The water clouds white the first time. Youngsook drags her palm through the grains in slow circles, tips the bowl, refills. Three…
- Korean Culture
The First Birthday, and What the Baby Picks
Where dol came from A dol is not a birthday party with a Korean theme. It is the ceremony a Korean family holds when a child turns one, and it predates most of…
- Hanbok Guides
Measuring for Hanbok, Piece by Piece
Hanbok is meant to be fitted to the person wearing it. Off-the-rack hanbok looks costume-y precisely because it ignores fit. Start with the piece Measurement…
- Hanbok Guides
What Finishes the Hanbok
Accessories make the outfit, but restraint makes it good Mrs. Lee lays a full set out on the guest bed the night before a wedding. 저고리, 치마, 속치마 for volume, a…
- Recipes
How Many Banchan Is Enough?
What banchan is By the time the rice is dished, six small plates already sit around the table. 김치, seasoned spinach, braised burdock, pickled radish, blanched…
- Hanbok Guides
Two Garments, Two Different Purposes
Two hangers on the atelier rail, side by side. On the left, a full ceremonial 치마-저고리 in jade silk with hand-embroidered peony at the cuff. On the right, a…
- Hanbok Guides
Hanbok That Outlasts the Occasion
Know your fabric first A client in Menlo Park opened the tissue-wrapped box her grandmother had left her and found the 치마 still crisp, the silk still supple…
- Hanbok Guides
Her First Birthday, Her First Hanbok
The first hanbok is small enough to hold in one hand. Silk chima, a shorter jeogori, a set of dol ddi tied at the waist, a norigae the length of a thumb. It…
- Hanbok Guides
The First Time She Felt Korean
The mixed identity experience A woman in her early thirties stands in a Seoul boutique with her mother, who has flown in for the trip. Her mother straightens…
- Korean Culture
Seollal and the Sebae Bow
What Seollal is Tteokguk simmers on the stove on the first morning of the lunar year. In the next room, a grandchild in a coral chima kneels forehead to the…
- Hanbok Guides
Dressing for Both Rooms of a Korean Wedding
The invitation arrives and the reception is at five, with a small paebaek to follow. The first is a Western ceremony you already know how to dress for. The…
- Hanbok Guides
Modern or Traditional. Which Day Is It?
They are different garments, not different price tiers A bride sends two photos. One is her grandmother in a pale-green 치마 and a coral 저고리, Seoul, 1962. The…
- Recipes
Samgyeopsal at the Kitchen Table
What samgyeopsal is The lettuce goes on the table first. Perilla leaves stacked beside it, a bowl of ssamjang, sliced garlic, gochu, a small dish of coarse…
- Korean-American Life
Where Korean Culture Actually Begins
The Captivating Culture of Korea Korean culture is often discussed in two halves. The traditional half (Confucian family hierarchy, ancestral rites, hanbok…
- Korean-American Life
Where to Go in Korea First
Seoul at night from Namsan Tower looks like a circuit board someone lit on fire. Jeju in the spring smells like citrus rind and salt. Gyeongju is a city with…
- Hanbok Guides
Planning the First Birthday
What dol is The dol table is set the night before. A small hanbok laid across the chair, the 돌잡이 objects arranged in a shallow line, the rice cake on its…
- Korean-American Life
How Korea Became the Wave
February 9, 2020. Bong Joon-ho lifted the Best Picture Oscar for Parasite and thanked Martin Scorsese in Korean. The Dolby Theatre stood. Somewhere in Seoul it…
- Hanbok Guides
Wedding Hanbok, Start to Finish
Two ceremonies, two looks A wedding hanbok photograph outlives the cake, the seating chart, and eventually the venue itself. The paebaek runs fifteen minutes…
- Recipes
Tteokbokki and the Long Walk Home
What tteokbokki is A wide shallow pan sits on the burner, 고추장 and 고추가루 melting into anchovy stock until the sauce turns the color of a Seoul sunset in fall…
- Hanbok Guides
The Pieces That Finish the Hanbok
The Head to Toe Fit of the Hanbok Aesthetic Picture a lacquer box that holds a single 노리개, a set of 배씨 hair pins, and a pair of 꽃신…