Get ready for a Chuseok feast
Posted Sep. 17, 2010
Holidays to commemorate harvests are always richly meaningful and full of feasting. Korea’s Full Moon Harvest Festival, called “Chuseok” or “Hangawi,” is the perfect time to sample the best of traditional Korean food. Only the freshest ingredients of the early harvest are used for the celebration, which includes ancestral rites, as well as a feast for the living. Check out some of the best known Korean dishes during this three day holiday, from Sept. 21 to 23.
Rice cakes
No Chuseok celebration is complete without songpyeon, the traditional half-moon shaped rice cakes. Songpyeon is made of newly harvested rice that has been ground into a paste and mixed with water. Different regions of Korea sometimes use potatoes, sweet potatoes or acorns instead of rice, resulting in a diverse range of flavors.
The stuffing inside also varies by family and region, but mung bean, chestnut, red bean, jujube and sesame paste are the most common. The songpyeon are steamed over a bed of pine needles for a lovely fragrance, and then given a light coating of sesame oil for a hint of savory flavor.
Because they’re so difficult to prepare, many people nowadays buy them from specialty stores. Still, cozy scenes of families gathered together to make songpyeon continue to be an important symbol of the family spirit of Chuseok.
Main dishes
Nurumi are skewered meat and vegetables, and are essential foods for ancestral rites. It is important to create beautiful color combinations and patterns, but the exact ingredients vary by region. The ingredients are dredged in egg and flour before pan frying, and in Seoul they’re called “jin-nurumi” and include meat, bellflower root, and green onions.
Meanwhile, in Gangwon Province they’re called “neurimi” and made of bellflower root, green onion, beef, Chinese cabbage, kelp, and fern fronds. After they’re fried, the skewers are briefly boiled in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, green onion, garlic, and water to give them an extra layer of seasoning.
Gourds are another important symbolic part of Chuseok. Although they usually aren’t ripe by the time the holiday rolls around, in the old days Koreans would pick, peel, and halve gourds. The insides were hollowed out and sliced up for frying with a bit of beef. Add just a few drops of soy sauce and sesame oil, and you’ve got the holiday favorite of “bak namul.” Other ways of cooking them include blanching the peeled and hollowed out gourd in salt water, then squeezing out the moisture before mixing it with soy sauce, minced garlic, and sesame salt.
Songi mushrooms (pine mushroom) are another essential component of a Chuseok meal. They can be sliced and seasoned with sesame oil and salt, or served with a mustard and hot pepper dipping sauce. Pine mushrooms also go well with beef for a dish called “songi sanjeok,” and turn into a delightfully light soup if boiled with a little soy sauce.
One of the more unique dishes is taro, or “toran,” soup. These “eggs from the earth” are very nutritious, and at their flavor peak in autumn. The root is peeled and washed in salt or starched water, and then boiled with marinated meat, radish and dashima (sea tangle) to become “toran-guk” or “toran-tang.” Because this soup is good for the digestion, it is usually paired with heavy meat dishes like galbijim (steamed ribs) or sanjeok (marinated beef) to ease the pains of overeating.
Because of the aesthetic beauty of their colors, green spinach, white bellflower root, and brown fern fronds are known as “samsaek-namul,” or “three colored herbs,” and are treasured for being rich in protein. These are essential not only for a healthy diet, but also as part of the table setting for ancestral rites.
Other dishes expected to appear at Chuseok celebrations are dakjjim (steamed chicken), galbijjim (steamed ribs), sanjeok (marinated beef) and bindae-ddeok (mung bean pancake). While not exclusive to the Chuseok table, they’re among its most welcome additions.
Sweets
For a creative yet traditional take on fruit, try baesook, a pear punch. Start by peeling a pear, quartering it, and embedding a couple of black peppercorns into the surface.
Boil the pear with ginger and sugar until they turn transparent, and then add a few pine nuts. The result is a sweet, spicy, and rich tasting drink that is unusually refreshing.
For another fall favorite, peel and boil chestnuts, and then mix them into a paste with honey and cinnamon powder. Koreans use special decorative presses to make “bam dashik” or mold them by hand into chestnut-shaped sweets called “yulan.”
If you boil the chestnut paste in sugar water and then fry it with honey, you’ll have “bam cho,” a sweet and rich dessert to suit the season.
By Kim Hee-sung
Korea.net Staff Writer
Rice cakes
(Songpyeon, the half-moon shaped rice cake)
The stuffing inside also varies by family and region, but mung bean, chestnut, red bean, jujube and sesame paste are the most common. The songpyeon are steamed over a bed of pine needles for a lovely fragrance, and then given a light coating of sesame oil for a hint of savory flavor.
Because they’re so difficult to prepare, many people nowadays buy them from specialty stores. Still, cozy scenes of families gathered together to make songpyeon continue to be an important symbol of the family spirit of Chuseok.
Main dishes
Nurumi are skewered meat and vegetables, and are essential foods for ancestral rites. It is important to create beautiful color combinations and patterns, but the exact ingredients vary by region. The ingredients are dredged in egg and flour before pan frying, and in Seoul they’re called “jin-nurumi” and include meat, bellflower root, and green onions.
Meanwhile, in Gangwon Province they’re called “neurimi” and made of bellflower root, green onion, beef, Chinese cabbage, kelp, and fern fronds. After they’re fried, the skewers are briefly boiled in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, green onion, garlic, and water to give them an extra layer of seasoning.
 |
| Starting from left: Nurumi, Bak-namul and Song-i Mushroom (Mushroon photo: Yonhap News) |
Songi mushrooms (pine mushroom) are another essential component of a Chuseok meal. They can be sliced and seasoned with sesame oil and salt, or served with a mustard and hot pepper dipping sauce. Pine mushrooms also go well with beef for a dish called “songi sanjeok,” and turn into a delightfully light soup if boiled with a little soy sauce.
One of the more unique dishes is taro, or “toran,” soup. These “eggs from the earth” are very nutritious, and at their flavor peak in autumn. The root is peeled and washed in salt or starched water, and then boiled with marinated meat, radish and dashima (sea tangle) to become “toran-guk” or “toran-tang.” Because this soup is good for the digestion, it is usually paired with heavy meat dishes like galbijim (steamed ribs) or sanjeok (marinated beef) to ease the pains of overeating.
 |
| Starting from left: Toran Soup, Sanjeok Beef and Samsaek Namul (Samsaek Namul photo from Yonhap News) |
Other dishes expected to appear at Chuseok celebrations are dakjjim (steamed chicken), galbijjim (steamed ribs), sanjeok (marinated beef) and bindae-ddeok (mung bean pancake). While not exclusive to the Chuseok table, they’re among its most welcome additions.
Sweets
Baesook, a pear punch
Boil the pear with ginger and sugar until they turn transparent, and then add a few pine nuts. The result is a sweet, spicy, and rich tasting drink that is unusually refreshing.
For another fall favorite, peel and boil chestnuts, and then mix them into a paste with honey and cinnamon powder. Koreans use special decorative presses to make “bam dashik” or mold them by hand into chestnut-shaped sweets called “yulan.”
If you boil the chestnut paste in sugar water and then fry it with honey, you’ll have “bam cho,” a sweet and rich dessert to suit the season.
By Kim Hee-sung
Korea.net Staff Writer
The new Korean wave
Travellers are heading east for high-quality medical service, including cosmetic procedures
By Eva Lam | June 22, 2010
As a Chinese tourist in Seoul, Zhang took full advantage of her week-long Korean adventure. She caught a breathtaking view of the city from the 63 Building — a gleaming, 249-metre-high architectural marvel on Yeouido island — and took in a performance of Nanta, the longest-running show in Korean history.
But Zhang was in Seoul for reasons beyond sightseeing. During those seven days, she also underwent a facial bone contouring procedure for what she describes as her “square face,” which she believed made her look older than her age. Zhang was, as the popular term goes, a “medical tourist.”
“I’d heard that recently the trend in Korea is V-line surgery, and the Korean surgeons have good technique and [a lot of] experience, so I went to Korea to have this surgery,” says Zhang. “I know in China we also have this kind of surgery, but I think Korea is the best in the world.”
She isn’t alone in her sentiments. In the last decade, Korea has emerged as a popular destination for travellers seeking state-of-the-art medical treatment in a vibrant vacation spot. In between experiencing Korea’s rich cultural heritage, sampling its world-famous cuisine and exploring its hi-tech cities, tourists are undergoing a range of services: cancer treatment, organ transplantation, dental and ophthalmological care, health screening, infertility treatment and cosmetic surgery, just to name a few.
There are several reasons for this growing trend, says Dr. Kwon Joo of the JK Plastic Surgery Center in Seoul, where Zhang underwent her procedure. “Development of Korea’s economy and improvement in medical quality,” he says, “has led to a five- to tenfold increase over the last decade — differences depending on medical fields — in the number of international patients seeking cutting-edge medical services provided at inexpensive prices.”
This movement has been termed “Medical Hallyu,” a spin-off of Hallyu, or Korean wave. The word Hallyu was coined around the year 2000, when Korean culture began to rise in popularity, first throughout Asia and then around the world. Following this boom for Korean TV dramas, movies, popular music, food and language, Korea’s medical expertise is now also receiving increased international attention — and Joo says this may only be just the beginning. “This trend is expected to accelerate as the Korean government has officially began to support medical tourism since 2009, and numerous medical institutions have started to join the flow.”
Aesthetics Hub
When it comes to cosmetic surgery, Joo believes Korean doctors have a distinct advantage. “Koreans are very skilled in their hands; we use chopsticks quite freely since childhood,” says the doctor of about 20 years. “Koreans also have skin characteristics that differ from Caucasians. Scars form more easily, and are more difficult to revise. Korean surgeons are used to delicate procedures performed on such Asian skin, which is an advantage when handling the fair skin of Caucasians.”
Demand has also driven developments in surgical techniques and technology, says Joo. “Korean women have a high level of interest in aesthetics, consequently creating an extensive domestic plastic surgery market compared to the nation’s population. This economical background allows clinics to make bold investments in their facilities.”
But Zhang was in Seoul for reasons beyond sightseeing. During those seven days, she also underwent a facial bone contouring procedure for what she describes as her “square face,” which she believed made her look older than her age. Zhang was, as the popular term goes, a “medical tourist.”
“I’d heard that recently the trend in Korea is V-line surgery, and the Korean surgeons have good technique and [a lot of] experience, so I went to Korea to have this surgery,” says Zhang. “I know in China we also have this kind of surgery, but I think Korea is the best in the world.”
She isn’t alone in her sentiments. In the last decade, Korea has emerged as a popular destination for travellers seeking state-of-the-art medical treatment in a vibrant vacation spot. In between experiencing Korea’s rich cultural heritage, sampling its world-famous cuisine and exploring its hi-tech cities, tourists are undergoing a range of services: cancer treatment, organ transplantation, dental and ophthalmological care, health screening, infertility treatment and cosmetic surgery, just to name a few.
There are several reasons for this growing trend, says Dr. Kwon Joo of the JK Plastic Surgery Center in Seoul, where Zhang underwent her procedure. “Development of Korea’s economy and improvement in medical quality,” he says, “has led to a five- to tenfold increase over the last decade — differences depending on medical fields — in the number of international patients seeking cutting-edge medical services provided at inexpensive prices.”
This movement has been termed “Medical Hallyu,” a spin-off of Hallyu, or Korean wave. The word Hallyu was coined around the year 2000, when Korean culture began to rise in popularity, first throughout Asia and then around the world. Following this boom for Korean TV dramas, movies, popular music, food and language, Korea’s medical expertise is now also receiving increased international attention — and Joo says this may only be just the beginning. “This trend is expected to accelerate as the Korean government has officially began to support medical tourism since 2009, and numerous medical institutions have started to join the flow.”
Aesthetics Hub
When it comes to cosmetic surgery, Joo believes Korean doctors have a distinct advantage. “Koreans are very skilled in their hands; we use chopsticks quite freely since childhood,” says the doctor of about 20 years. “Koreans also have skin characteristics that differ from Caucasians. Scars form more easily, and are more difficult to revise. Korean surgeons are used to delicate procedures performed on such Asian skin, which is an advantage when handling the fair skin of Caucasians.”
Demand has also driven developments in surgical techniques and technology, says Joo. “Korean women have a high level of interest in aesthetics, consequently creating an extensive domestic plastic surgery market compared to the nation’s population. This economical background allows clinics to make bold investments in their facilities.”
One-Stop Support
Don’t know where to begin? The Korea Tourism Organization’s (KTO) medical tourism one-stop service centres are here for you. Experienced co-ordinators help tourists communicate and receive medical services efficiently, from visa processing to making appointments at the necessary clinic. Service is provided in various languages including English, Japanese and Chinese.
Tourists can find support at two different locations. The Medical Tourism Information Center is located at Incheon International Airport and serves as a meeting point for travellers. Here, they can access medical tourism information as well as general tourism-related information.
The Medical Tourism Promotion Center is located in the Tourist Information Center (TIC) of the Korea Tourism Organization (40 Cheonggyecheonno, Jung-gu, Seoul). Visitors here will find information as well as medical equipment for checking their health, including a BMI (body mass index) machine, a stress measurement device, a blood pressure meter and a machine to detect skin aging.
Online, a comprehensive “Medical Tourism” guide is available through the KTO’s Visit Korea website (visitkorea.or.kr). Among its features is an advanced search system to help travellers find the medical institution that is right for them.
Don’t know where to begin? The Korea Tourism Organization’s (KTO) medical tourism one-stop service centres are here for you. Experienced co-ordinators help tourists communicate and receive medical services efficiently, from visa processing to making appointments at the necessary clinic. Service is provided in various languages including English, Japanese and Chinese.
Tourists can find support at two different locations. The Medical Tourism Information Center is located at Incheon International Airport and serves as a meeting point for travellers. Here, they can access medical tourism information as well as general tourism-related information.
The Medical Tourism Promotion Center is located in the Tourist Information Center (TIC) of the Korea Tourism Organization (40 Cheonggyecheonno, Jung-gu, Seoul). Visitors here will find information as well as medical equipment for checking their health, including a BMI (body mass index) machine, a stress measurement device, a blood pressure meter and a machine to detect skin aging.
Online, a comprehensive “Medical Tourism” guide is available through the KTO’s Visit Korea website (visitkorea.or.kr). Among its features is an advanced search system to help travellers find the medical institution that is right for them.
The JK Plastic Surgery Center in Seoul is one of the largest plastic surgery centres in Korea, both in scale and the number of clinical cases. Since it was established in 1998, JK has performed more than 40,000 cases of plastic surgery. Its board-certified surgeons are skilled in many types of plastic surgery, though facial bone contouring is an especially strong area of specialization.
JK also holds the distinction of being the first clinic accredited by the Korean government as a medical institution for international patients. “Currently, around 20% of our patients are from overseas, but we expect this proportion to exceed 50% in two years,” says Joo. “In the early stages, most patients were from neighbouring China or Japan, but now people come from all over the world: the United States, Canada, Australia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Russia.” To keep up with the increasingly international origins of their patients, JK offers multilingual consultation in English, Chinese and Japanese.
A major factor drawing in tourists is the competitive prices. For example, the cost of double-eyelid formation and rhinoplasty in Korea is one-third of that in Japan, according to the Korean Tourism Organization. The comparative cost of wrinkle removal or breast implants can also be found on the same level. More recently, Joo says, positive word-of-mouth is having a strong influence. “Patients that return home after receiving surgery in Korea have spread the word on Korea’s state-of–the-art medical services, and their advocacy has become a major catalyst in medical tourism.”
For Lisa from Canada, both of these factored into her decision to travel to Korea for a fat transfer from her stomach to her depressed forehead. “I heard Korea has expertise in surgery, especially for Asian clients,” she says. “Another reason to undergo my procedure in Korea is because surgery in Asia costs less than Canada.”
On the recommendation of a family friend, Lisa visited the ArumdaunNara Dermatology & Plastic Surgery (ANACLI) clinic, which has hospitals in seven different locations in and around Seoul. Her friend had received treatment from Dr. Jin Young Kim, a specialist in autologous fat injection, double eyelid and nose operations, and liposuction.
The process from start-to-finish went smoothly, says Lisa, who appreciated the guidance she received from ANACLI’s English-speaking staff. She began at home by communicating with Kim via email, sending pictures and explaining exactly what results she was looking for. The doctor then replied with quotes and available operation dates.
The day of the procedure, Lisa and Kim had a final consultation before she was prepped for surgery. She returned to the clinic the day after the procedure to have the affected areas dressed, and returned again on the seventh day to get her stitches removed.
Between her visits to the clinic, Lisa spent the majority of her 12-day stay in Korea much like any other tourist would, shopping and enjoying the local culture and cuisine. She credits the staff at ANACLI for helping to make her trip a medical “vacation:” “Not only did they take care of my medical procedures but they also made lots of recommendations as to where to go and what to do during my stay in Korea, making this trip a wonderful experience,” she says. “I got to experience a little bit of the Korean lifestyle.” •
Photos courtesy of Korea Tourism Organization
http://www.koreaherald.com/entertainment/SectionMain.jsp - Seoul Design Fair 2010, one of Seouls major Design Seoul projects, kicks off its 21-day run today at Jamsil Sports Complex in eastern Seoul and four Design Clusters Dongdaemun History Culture Park, area around Hongik University in Mapo-gu, Guro Digital Complex in central Seoul, and the Sinsa-dong areas in southern Seoul. The fair presents a wide array of fashion design, industrial design, public design, graphic design and more by many designers and companie
The art she breathes it
 Kim Young-hee in front of her painting, A Demonstration with Peace, at Chosun Ilbo Gallery in Seoul, where she held a solo exhibition in August |
If you only judge Kim Young-hee by her diminutive stature and her age, then prepare to have your expectations dashed. Though well into her 60s, she doesn’t mind working 10-hour days. She adores her family, but is almost equally passionate about flowers.When asked what words would best describe her, this artist, best-selling writer, and mother of five says simply, “Kim Younghee is Kim Young-hee.”
Kim Young-hee is a Korean artist living in Germany. She moved there in 1981, when she was 37, meaning she has spent nearly half her life in this far-off land. Kim’s distinctly Korean works, including traditional papers called hanji and dakjongi, have made her well-known as an “Asian” artist to European audiences. To date, she has held 70 exhibitions in Germany, France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
Kim’s love for her homeland informs everything she does as an artist. She made her artistic debut in Korea in 1978 with dakjongi works that made such an impression, her name become synonymous with the form. Painting has been Kim’s forte of late, but for a solo exhibit she held in Korea from July to August this year, she included many works made of dakjongi, much to the delight of the spectators. Even with her regular paintings, she insists to use hanji as her canvas.
Kim Young-hee besides her sculpture Ballet, which was also on display at her Seoul show
In making dakjongi dolls, one of Kim’s most common pieces, she builds frames with hardwood and then wraps wires around them. She wraps dozens of sheets of paper around them to create the shape of the doll, which she then colors and paints. Every step requires countless little touches, and every doll is rich in Kim’s own emotion. Imbued with the kind of memories of home that only a long-time expat knows, Kim’s dakjongi pieces that she makes in Germany embody elements of Korea that are actually now quite hard to find there. Just how do such peculiarly Korean works of art go down with European audiences?
“I don’t stick just to Korean topics,” says Kim. “For instance, at first glance,my dolls seem to be dressed in hanbok (Korean traditional dress), but I actually try and take out the specific features so that they will be more culturally neutral, and so more natural and abstract.”
“My sculptures include children who are reading or drawing, or mothers who read to their kids. You can easily see what they are doing. I don’t think there’s much difference in how European audience interpret my work and how Koreans do. Art itself is more fundamental than that.”
By Oh Kyong-yon | photographs by Park Jeong-roh
Throughout her career, Kim has dabbled in many different genres, so just where does she get her inspiration? “All sources of inspiration and creativity come from within,” she says. Three decades into her career, that inspiration remains as strong as ever, pushing Kim to an output that is as prolific as it’s ever been.
“When I was younger, I had to raise my children and barely had time to do any creative work,” she says. “But my kids have all grown up now, meaning I have plenty of time to do creative work and prepare for exhibitions.”
Even now, Kim doesn’t have a studio of her own, preferring to work at home. She doesn’t really care for travel, feeling it interferes with her concentration. For Kim, to work is to play. She lists gardening as her only hobby. But even then, she says, “Beautiful flowers enrich my artistic sensibilities and so help my career.”
With each being so unique, she says, raising flowers is very similar to creating works of art.When she’s home, Kim checks on every one of her plants, making sure they’re wellwatered, and even conversing amiably with them. “I’ve planted about 200 of them in my garden and every season brings its own beautiful colors. People in the neighborhood see me as a gardener first, not an artist.”
Though she’s known more as an artist overseas, Kim takes on yet another title – that of “author”. Her first essay, The Woman Who Makes Babies Well, offered a candid account of her up-and-down personal history. It sold more than 2 million copies, turning Kim into an instant celebrity. She followed with an autobiographical novel and a picture book.
“For me, literature and art are complementary,” Kim says. “Writing is an act in the two dimensional world: writing words, black, on a sheet of paper, white. As an artist, I tried to give colors to these words. On the other hand, when I am trying to deal with all these brilliant colors in art, I apply the black-and-white motif from literature.”Over the years, this most versatile of writers has also authored a mystery novel and a love story. She said for her next work of fiction, she wants to write an autobiographical novel about something close to her heart: displaced people.
“When I was younger, I had to raise my children and barely had time to do any creative work,” she says. “But my kids have all grown up now, meaning I have plenty of time to do creative work and prepare for exhibitions.”
 Summertime in a Gallery, a painting on hanji with mized materials (l), Still Life, a painting on hanji with mized materials (r) |
Even now, Kim doesn’t have a studio of her own, preferring to work at home. She doesn’t really care for travel, feeling it interferes with her concentration. For Kim, to work is to play. She lists gardening as her only hobby. But even then, she says, “Beautiful flowers enrich my artistic sensibilities and so help my career.”
With each being so unique, she says, raising flowers is very similar to creating works of art.When she’s home, Kim checks on every one of her plants, making sure they’re wellwatered, and even conversing amiably with them. “I’ve planted about 200 of them in my garden and every season brings its own beautiful colors. People in the neighborhood see me as a gardener first, not an artist.”
Though she’s known more as an artist overseas, Kim takes on yet another title – that of “author”. Her first essay, The Woman Who Makes Babies Well, offered a candid account of her up-and-down personal history. It sold more than 2 million copies, turning Kim into an instant celebrity. She followed with an autobiographical novel and a picture book.
“For me, literature and art are complementary,” Kim says. “Writing is an act in the two dimensional world: writing words, black, on a sheet of paper, white. As an artist, I tried to give colors to these words. On the other hand, when I am trying to deal with all these brilliant colors in art, I apply the black-and-white motif from literature.”Over the years, this most versatile of writers has also authored a mystery novel and a love story. She said for her next work of fiction, she wants to write an autobiographical novel about something close to her heart: displaced people.
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