Quince Tea (Part II)

So, when I went to Seoul National University to lecture for my dear friend Hilary, my lecture was in the same building as their traditional tea house (전통찻집). First of all, can I just express my jealousy and irritation that I live on a campus with
1) Caffe Bene (it's a cheap Korean franchise coffeeshop and the coffee isn't very good).
2) Cafe Nescafe (is this better? maybe, because it's nearer to my building, but seriously, Nescafe!!!! Are you f-ing kidding me?
And who would not want to live on a campus with a traditional tea house? So I went there, and it looked like this:

Yes, indeed. It was full of sun, and there was a seating area (near the register and the door) with regular Western tables, and then an inner seating area, where you could comfortably sit on cushions on the floor. I was in 3 inch heels and a tight skirt, so I stayed outside the floor seating.

This is my little brother Changyeol, enjoying his tea at the tea shop. We team taught Hilary's class. I LOVE team teaching with Changyeol. The students love him, too. 

Anyway, so I ordered the quince tea (usually I would order 오미자 omija but they didn't offer it), and then it occurred to me to ask the woman making the tea about my quince tea.

First of all, I think adding another 1/4 of a quince and more honey after I took the first photo was the wrong idea. It must have needed more air on top, because it has consistently pressed honey out of the container and onto the plate that I fortunately placed below. The honey, though, tastes like quince. The quince itself is obviously fermenting, and I also found some small white mold blossoms (of course I stirred it up, to get that part under the honey). So I asked the lady if something had gone wrong that my quince was molding a bit and she advised that I dump it all into a bowl, mix well, put it back into the container, add a layer of sugar to the top to block the air, and then close it again. So I did. Yay for people who know what they are doing.

As you can see, there are bubbles in the quince and honey on the plate underneath. 

All sugared-up

Making Kimchi for the Winter (Part 1)

I made kimchi in the late fall for several years, and then I moved to China, then the US, and I stopped. I wanted to, but I was just too busy. I made a few little batches of kimchi here and there, but no big ones.

Not so this year! Today I bought almost everything I need. I started with 3 heads of cabbage (otherwise known as 3 포기 because you use a special word for counting kimchi). I will have to buy more because I promised to teach some neighbors, but...

Tonight I cut and salted my 3 heads. The heads are quartered and the salt is big and coarse. The cabbage will wilt under the effect of the salt and once it's spongy enough, I'll move on to the next step.

As you can see, the cabbage is still fairly tight. 

Here's the salt

It should be inserted between each leaf. I couldn't show this process properly with salt in one hand and the camera in the other. Just imagine holding the leaves open with one hand as I spread the salt. 

Almost immediately you can see the salt start to draw the moisture out of the leaves.

And at the end my leaves are all spread apart from each other due to the salting process.