I have made a lot of Kimchi over the last decade. Often over five pounds at a time, like a person with a healthy Korean diet would. But I have not made it a regular part of my diet and I have to say, I do not know why. The brunch (sorry Tony Bourdain- he hated that word and the idea of it) that I made earlier had such great promise of what was to come. It was time to decide what was for dinner.
It is like this in the food problem-solving department. It can be so easy, or it can be inexpensive. Rarely is it both, unless I can invest just a little bit more time. For a 46-mile round trip drive, I can buy thinly sliced pork belly, ready to use, that cost 12 times more than my other option. 
Instead, I utilize an 8-pound brick of pork that when frozen could be launched by an ancient catapult and would put a hole through the side of a wooden ship back in the day. Needless to say, there is some finesse needed before we can start cooking.
Instead, I utilize an 8-pound brick of pork that when frozen could be launched by an ancient catapult and would put a hole through the side of a wooden ship back in the day. Needless to say, there is some finesse needed before we can start cooking.
I don't mind knife work, there is something therapeutic about it. I need accessories though. I need to be in the zone. I touch up the edge of the knife, don my wife-canceling (Donna's term for them) headphones, and pick what album will carry me through to the other side of Mise en place. Squeeze just finished Another Nail in My Heart when the mise was done.
As I made this pretty spicy meal, I thought about Robin. I thought about the aroma of 3 meals all wafting through her childhood home in Seoul South Korea as she slept in her growing years. I thought about the tastes of her meals as she moved through her days. That direct connection she had with all the work her mom put into her daily sustenance and yet an absolute line of division in which she was not involved in making it, I suddenly thought, I know what this is like.
In 1988, I started painting houses inside and out for a local landlord. As the months passed, the need for me to do more than painting became evident. I had a connection to propane gas because as a kid we moved a lot, we always lived in old houses that had natural gas space heaters and gas-and-gas stoves. It became 2nd nature to understand their inner workings.
When a two-man team that had been laying floors for my employer got done, I stepped up. My father had professionally laid carpet and linoleum back in the mid-70s. Other than seeing him and his partner install my grandfather's wall-to-wall, I was not there to be taught by him. But there is something to this parental connection that I think is the fortitude to stay the course as you learn a task. I started installing floors and I did it in one house after the other. All along, the experience of my father working as a custom support to my own learning. It was as if he was next to me, guiding me.
I have now seen my own sons do this and it is always something that they were busy doing something else when I could have been teaching them. Robin states, "I never developed an interest in cooking because it seemed like something I would never be able to do. Besides, I had other things on my mind, like reading and drawing comics." What is beautiful is that Robin was close enough to her mom and her food, that years later it made an impression. Moving to a place where food choices were mediocre and a few simple recipes from her mom, she forged ahead with that support system, just as I had in the late 80s.
Robin invented a cartoon character named Dengki. Dengki would be the cooking teacher, and Robin the illustrator, it was a perfect match. So tonight, thanks to Dengki, my household enjoys this beautiful Jayuk Dubap, Spicy Pork over Rice. Of course, my cold crunchy kimchi on the side, oh man!
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