Kimchi

~Highlight of the Day: Finally catching up with my best friend of 12 years (not that it's been twelve years since we've caught up. . . :) ~

I remember my first experience with kimchi. My siblings and I were watching my uncle with a mixture of awe and disgust (he was known to eat odd and dangerous things, like whole dried fish ) as he took out a jar of brightly colored something, loaded up a bowl of it, and started digging in. He listed off the ingredients (a bunch of which I didn't recognize at all, or didn't sound safe) and offered the jar up for our curious noses. It definitely did not pass the nose test, so I didn't venture to put any in my mouth (this was my uncle we were talking about after all. . . )

Fast forward maybe six or seven years and I'm in my dining room, eating a fabulous South Korean dinner made by my fabulous South Korean roommate. I forget what she called it, but it included ground beef, green onions, and sweet potato noodles, and it was delicious. But then she disappeared into the kitchen for a minute or two, and came out with a small bowl of kimchi for all of us to try. I immediately got nervous. I'd heard of the stuff once or twice since watching my uncle eat it, and I'd seen my roommate eat it several times in the last two months living together. . . but it still wasn't passing the nose test, and looks were still not helping. But I took a deep breath, told myself there was a glass of water less than 6 inches from me, and, after a substantial amount of hesitation, ate it.

It wasn't horrible. It was mostly like a spicy, strong sauerkraut. Apparently they use the same preservation technique - some sort of fermentation? I think it was a bit on the spicy side for me, and quite strong in flavor, but I definitely could learn to love it if I ever live in South Korea :)

the kimchi resides in the fridge, right next to my gallon of milk. . .
doesn't that look intimidating?
I think it does.