막걸리빵: Makkoli Bread

Makkoli is a milky colored Korean rice wine, usually with an alcohol content around 6-8%. It's often drunk in combinations with 파전 (scallion pancake) or in Jeonju with exotic side dishes. It's also great for making bread.

Wait, what? You can make bread with makkoli? How on earth is that possible? Don't bother googling it in English, I tried. There is not one single web page in English that has the exact phrase "makkoli bread" (and I tried other spelling variations as well, nothing comes up). Don't worry, I'll explain.

The first thing you need to do is mix makkoli with flour and make dough. Makkoli is made with a yeast called 누룩 or nuruk. This yeast also makes dough rise. And you get something that looks like this:

After this, all you need to do is bake it until it is golden brown, like this!

As many folks in Korea don't have ovens, it's hard to say how long you have to bake it for. In my toaster oven, I'd put it in for about 15 minutes with only the bottom heat on, and then put the top heat on for the last 5 minutes to keep it from burning.

The other dilemma I found with baking this was that I didn't have a proper bread pan (and if I had, it wouldn't have fit in my toaster oven). I found that a 뚝배기 (clay pot for soup) was perfect. Make sure it's well greased though! And then you can enjoy it with butter, cheese or whatever you like! Fortunately, the FTA with the EU has made better cheese much more affordable for us!

How does it taste? Kind of like sourdough a little bit. But verrrrry yummy!!!

Recipe
(I don't do exact measurements, sorry)
밀가루 Flour (as much as you want)
생 막걸리 Fresh makkoli (must be refrigerated with a short expiration date. It must have live yeast or this will not work. Look for the "생" or "生"mark on it. If the expiration date is longer than 2 weeks from the bottling date, don't use it.)

Slowly pour makkoli into the flour and mix. Once you have a thick dough like substance, knead for a few minutes. If you added too much makkoli, add some extra flour to balance the mixture. Let rise for 6-12 hours. Grease your cookware of choice. I use a 뚝배기, but be creative. Bake until golden brown on top. I do about 15 minutes in my toaster oven on bottom heat and 5 more minutes on top and bottom heat combined to prevent burning. Sorry, I don't have a good temperature to tell you for your oven, but I'm sure it would be similar to baking any other bread, so I suggest looking at temperatures on other bread recipes for reference. My toaster oven doesn't have any temperature setting! When finished, remove from oven and garnish however you like! And please write about it and link to it here!!

Outtakes: 

This was our first "dough". Clearly too much makkoli here (we didn't realize this at the time), but we still made some edible creations with this.

 

We used it to try to make some flat bread. This would have worked better if I had remembered to grease the tinfoil before cooking. But, once all the tinfoil was peeled off, it didn't taste so bad! 

Here is the first loaf I made with the thin dough. Tasted fine, but see those little dots on the top, those are from bubbles from the makkoli. Way too much makkoli used here. If this happens with your makkoli bread, just add more flour before you bake!

I hope my cooking fans in Korea get to try this "recipe". And feel free to get creative! I'm sure the good cooks out there will be able to do much more than I with this recipe. And for those who want to attempt this outside of Korea. Any makkoli imported from Korea will probably not be fresh "생" makkoli. If it is homemade or made locally, find out if it contains live cultures before wasting your precious makkoli on bread that won't rise!

Other sources of info (sorry there's nothing in English out there!):
http://azummacook.tistory.com/87- This author uses salt, sugar and eggs to make it. I'm sure it woudn't hurt, but I thought mine was tasty without.
http://www.norankong.com/tag/%EB%A7%89%EA%B1%B8%EB%A6%AC%EB%B9%B5 - This person fried thiers. Looks a little dry, but not far off from something else we tried with the watery dough... I'm sure it tastes good!
http://blog.daum.net/_blog/BlogTypeView.do?blogid=03ZIW&articleno=15819415&articleno=15819415&categoryId=754678&regdt=20100727152621#ajax_history_home - This one, if I'm reading correctly looks steamed, but also very yummy!

Aftermath of Irene in My Neigborhood

Here in Boston, we did not get struck with the devastating rain that many parts of New York and Vermont did, but we did get tropical storm force winds which did enough damage on their own and still, now 3 days after the storm on Wednesday there are still people without power in many towns. To folks (like my boyfriend) who say, why are you so worried about a tropical storm? This is my answer. These were taken on Monday after the storm had passed and the skies were blue. Again, not nearly as serious as what's still going on in Vermont, but nothing to be taken lightly either.

All these photos were taken while just walking from my house to the trolley station.

This is my  neighbor's fence (photo above and below), and that is my father's car. Now, if that branch had just been  a few feet to the right, it would have been our cars, not the neighbor's fence under a branch.

The next photo was taken at the end of my street. That is an entire tree, and yes, it is resting on the power lines.

Here, below, you have a cracked telephone pole, this photo was taken about 100 feet down from the photo above. The house in between this pole and the tree above, as far as I know, still has power lines on the ground on their front lawn.

 

Though, most homes look like these, with moderate sized branches piled up out front for someone to take away, someday.

How did your home fare in the storm?

On Tipping and Reverse Culture Shock

The "reverse culture shock" of returning to America hasn't been so bad. A few things bug me, like the amount of trash that is produced for my family of three in America compared to the trash produced by me and the boyfriend in Korea. And we do recycle everything we can here, and yet, the huge trash can is full every few days where as the tiny trash bag in my house in Seoul would take a week to fill if there was nothing out of the ordinary going on.

The public transportation bugs me too. Inevitably, no matter what time or where I get on, somewhere on the way to my destination, the train will stop for a good 5 minutes for some reason or other. I like when they use the excuse of "there's traffic on the tracks" since the trains only come once every 5-10 minutes. Often, though, a train is dead on the tracks somewhere and we have to wait for them to clear the train corpse up so our train can get through.

But the thing that's really been getting me is the whole tipping thing. In Korea, you can't tip. For example, if you were to leave 1,000 won on the table, you'd be chased out of the restaurant with a "Oh, oh! Wait miss! You left this behind!!" Koreans are insulted that you would even think they needed a tip for doing their job. Other Asian countries are similar, though most places in China or Southeast Asia will certainly not refuse your tip if you're dumb culturally unaware enough to leave one.

And then we went to Spain, which was a whole other tipping phenomenon. Upon arrival, we knew that you didn't need to tip much, we assumed 10% or so. At the first restaurant we went to, we probably spent 7 or 8 Euro and we left a 1 Euro tip. Upon meeting our couchsurfer that evening, she was taken aback by our tipping. "Oh my god, I would never leave a Euro!... I mean, unless it's some super fancy restaurant! Who leaves a Euro as a tip?! Here, this will do for our 20 Euro meal!" As she slapped down a 20 cent coin. My American friend was clearly taken aback by this, and I think we wound up leaving 50 cents because we felt bad. And as we left, she pointed out "Well, you don't have to tip anyway... look at that table, they didn't tip! You only should tip if you like the service." And this kind of made sense to me. Just leave the change from the meal, and never more than a euro. I could deal with this kind of tipping.

But now, back in America, I've been having trouble with the tipping culture. My first meal out in the States was to a restaurant called Fire and Ice. Have you heard of it? It's popular in the Boston area, but I don't know if it's well known around the country or not. Anyway, it's a very do-it-yourself kind of restaurant. The waitress brings you your drink, rice and tortillas, and you do the rest. You get up, pick up your food, wait at the grill while it is cooked in front of you, bring it to the table and repeat. The waitress only takes care of drinks and deserts. My friend first left $1 tip at the grill, which was fine. But then when it came down to paying the tip, she still wanted to give a 20% tip. I was so confused "Wait, you already gave a dollar at the grill. What exactly did this waitress do to deserve $4??", I asked. But, that's just American mentality. You just leave a tip. And I understand why, because servers make practically slave labor wages without their tips. But, really, isn't tipping for showing appreciation for services rendered? What did she do? Remember that I wanted water not diet soda? Is that action really worth $4? Upon asking a friend who works as a waitress later, she recommends in that situation, asking the waitress what kind of tip is appropriate in that situation. It could be that she's paid more. Or it could be that she doesn't need to split her tips. You don't know until you ask. But, I'm much to shy to ask a question like that, personally.

Fast forward to a trip to the dim sum restaurant. You know, the ones where they bring the carts around and you pick what you want from your seat and they just place it on your table and mark your card? How the heck do you tip in this situation? There's no ONE waitress, but many. We left 20%, but we really wondered who was going to get those $3... doubtfully the people who actually gave us our food...

And then I've noticed that my parents and friends tend to over-tip. My first week home I was channel surfing and actually found a whole TV show which explained the etiquette of tipping. How much, when, where, etc. It was great. They explained that at an average restaurant, 15% should be the rule, 20% for extraordinary service. At a fancy restaurant, 20% is the rule. I'm fine with this rule, but as I count up what I see people leaving as tips, I notice that sometimes it's closer to 25-30% because either they're not doing the math properly or they don't have smaller bills so they just throw in more. I'm sure this used to happen all the time when I lived in the states, and I don't remember it bothering me, but now I look at that and get upset. "Why are you leaving so much!" and then, of course, I get looked at as a miserly scrooge as usual. Am I wrong for not wanting to pay more than I need to?

At least the good thing is, this time around visiting home, I'm not trying to "chogi-yo" the waiters like I was last time. Eye contact, eye contact... maybe it takes longer, but that's the norm here, I keep telling myself. What was your biggest reverse culture shock after returning to your home country?

Here are a list of rules from tip20.com:

Waiters/Waitresses:	15% – 20% for average – good service
Headwaiter/captain:	May get a cut of table server’s tip; so tip your server extra to reward captain, or tip captain separately.
Bartenders:	$1 – $2 a round -or- 15% to 20% of the tab, with a minimum of 50 cents per soft drink, $1 per alcoholic drink
Cocktail Waitresses:	$1 – $2 per drink
Sommelier or wine steward:	15% of cost of the bottle
Buffet Servers:	At least $1 per head if you get your own beverages. If you order beverages (or more) from the server, then you should tip 10-20% of the bill based on service quality.
Coatroom attendant:	$1 per coat
Room Service:	15% – 20%. You may want to see if gratuity has already been included in the tab.
Valet Attendant:	$2 – $5 average for each trip to the car, more may be appropriate given conditions. (Like weather or location)
Pool Attendant:	$1 – $2 for each service (providing towels or lounge chairs)
Showroom Maitre d’:	$1 – $2 for preassigned seats. For unassigned seating, you may tip according to where you want to sit (usually a tip over $50 will guarantee your seat)
Washroom attendant:	50 cents to $1
Taxi driver:	Varies depending on locality. Assume 15% will be enough; an extra $1 to $2 for help with bags.
Food delivery person:	The Greater of 15% of the bill or $3.00. Should tip 20% or more for a difficult delivery.
Grocery loader:	Check with store policy if tips are accepted. If so, $1 for bringing bags to car; $1.50 to $3 if you have more than 3 bags.
Barber:	15% to 20%, minimum $1, for a haircut. For other services (shampoo, shave or manicure) tip $1 to $2 to service provider.
Hairdresser:	15% to 20%. (It is acceptable to tip owner, unless he or she says otherwise.)
Shampoo person:	$2
Manicurist:	15%
Spa service:	15% to 20%. If service is provided by owner, no tip.
Coffee/food retailers w/ tip jars:	Tip is optional.
Handyman:	Tip is optional.
Gas attendant:	Tip is optional.
Skycap at airport:	$1 per bag if you check-in curbside; $2 per bag if skycap takes bags to check-in counter.
Hotel doorman:	$1 per bag for help with luggage; $1 per person for hailing a cab
Hotel bellhop:	$1 per bag for bringing luggage to your room (but a $2 minimum if you have just one bag)
Hotel housekeeper:	$2 to $5 per night
Hotel concierge:	$5 for getting you tickets or reservations ($10-plus if they’re hard to get). No tip required when you ask for directions.
Cruise:	Varies. Ask cruise line about customary gratuities.
Movers:	Tip is optional, but recommended.
Tattoo/Body Piercing:	20%. More for custom or difficult work. Tattoo touch-ups min. $10, Jewelry insertions min. $5.00.

Do you want to fly Air Koryo?

I want to know what my readers think of this: Air Koryo's Facebook Fan Page

Air Koryo is the National airline of North Korea. The author of this page (who I'm not 100% convinced actually represents Air Koryo) is quite honest, but also extremely civil and makes the trolling South Korean insulters look pretty bad. They claim that while they are funded by the DPRK, they function independently.  And their English is... well.... pretty much perfect....

Great conversations happen here like:

• Dongmin Kim Republic Of Korean's(south korea) people think the Democratic People's Republic of Korea(north korea) is equal to the air koryo. Think that part is able to understand.
  

  July 27 at 7:23am ·
  
  

  Air Koryo Korean Airways (조선민항 | Корё Ханггонг) Sorry, I can't exactly understand what you mean by that.
  

  July 27 at 7:25am ·
• Air Koryo Korean Airways (조선민항 | Корё Ханггонг) Were you trying to explain to us that Air Koryo is a part of the DPRK Government? If so bingo! You're the winner. But honestly what's the actual point behind saying that?
  

  July 27 at 7:27am · 
  
  

  Air Koryo Korean Airways (조선민항 | Корё Ханггонг) ROK and DPRK are 100% separate nations with two ways of thinking. One does not impact on the other that often as you may think. Air Koryo is independent in how it operates and why it operates. It’s merely financed by the Government, as the Government doesn't utilize Air Koryo aircraft. Rather Air Koryo operates separate VIP configured airliners for the Government from separate air fields. There is minimal over lap except for national issues such as soccer teams and other sporting teams traveling abroad who will use a chartered flight or existing scheduled service.

  
  

  And this:
  

  
  
  

  • Gregori Quiros Hello Air Koryo, Air koryo have a internet page to the internet chek in??
    

    July 13 at 8:01am ·
    
    

    Air Koryo Korean Airways (조선민항 | Корё Ханггонг) You kidding right?
    

    July 13 at 8:27am
  • Gregori Quiros no !!!! its a good idea and a good solution to help the north korean tourism!
    

    July 13 at 12:03pm
    
    

    Air Koryo Korean Airways (조선민항 | Корё Ханггонг) There are many things to do before even looking at "Online check-in" such as actually creating a website. I think online check-in is just for the business traveler and the westerners which are a lower portion of the JS network.

So, do you want to fly Air Koryo now?

The Science Museum of Boston

One of my favorite places in Boston is the Science Museum. It's great for kids, but adults can have a blast here too. I went here last week with a friend of mine who fortunately had a membership and got us in for free. Otherwise the price is now a whopping $22 per person for admission. We also got tickets to the planetarium to see "Cosmic Collisions" where I learned how scientists now think the moon was formed and what will happen to our galaxy in billions of years. 

 Static Electricity 

My favorite part of the museum which I make a special point to see whenever I go, is the Lightning Show. I've seen it probably 10 times... at least in my life, probably more, but I never get tired of it. Who can resist seeing the worlds largest Van de Graff generator in action along with giant Tesla coils playing music?

I tried to get the lightning spark here, but this cage is being zapped by lighting from the Van de Graff generator behind it. And what is she doing? yes, she is touching the metal cage that is being struck by the lighting. Why isn't she being electrocuted? It's because the electricity only travels on the outside of the metal, making it perfectly safe to be touching the inside of the metal cage... or being inside of a metal frame car if you are struck by lightning. 

I took the above photo while this Tesla coil played a song for us from the buzz it makes each time the lightning is emited. Now, to the naked eye, there was actually only one spark being released at a time, but my camera which was probably on a shutter speed of 1/60 of a second (sorry, don't know exactly, could have been longer) picked up all of these sparks in that short frame of time. That gives you some idea of how frequently these sparks were being emitted. 

But that's not all the museum has to offer. Here below you see a working model of the Mars rover. 

A display of the birds in our neighborhood, including the pink plastic lawn flamingo. And if you checked the computer screen in front, you could get all sorts of data on any of these species and learn about the flight patterns and calls of the pink lawn flamingo (or the Canadian goose, raven, etc etc)

Here's a before and after for you. That egg above with the wing hanging out... that became the chick you see below and we were lucky enough to see it actually come out of the shell on it's own. 

This pendulum above is actually a clock. It keeps time because as the Earth spins the pendulum moves and knocks down a series of pins on the mosaic below which represent the hours of the day. 

And I couldn't help but photographing these adorable stuffed creatures from the gift shop. The big one is the cuddly common cold virus, and below, you have a cute little mono virus. Don't these make the perfect gifts???

The North End

The North End of Boston is famous for its Italian food. We took a trip in here last Friday night for a little treat for ourselves. 

Our first stop was at an eatery called L'Osteria which served up a decent chicken, broccoli and ziti. The prices were quite reasonable, I think.

 For desert, we couldn't not go to one of the North End's Italian bakeries. I picked up a canoli for me and my mom and my friend got some yummy Italian cookies.

I have no idea how you make these cookies, but they are quite different from the kind of cookies you buy in  the supermarket. They are not particularly sweet, and a bit drier than the standard supermarket cookies too, but for some reason, I love them because of this.

No trip to Boston is complete without a stop by here. Just a few minute walk from Faneuil Hall Marketplace, be sure to stop by here on your next trip! 

Sam Adams Brewery Tour

Nestled in a little residential neighborhood in Jamaica Plain, Boston, exists one of Boston's finest establishments. Yes, the  Samuel Adams Brewery. A few days after getting home from Spain, I was able to get a tour here and learn probably more than I ever wanted to know about the beer.

While we waited for the tour, we got to vote on the new beer for next winter's winter six pack. 

Then, on our tour, we got to taste and smell some of the hops they use to make their beers and see where they store the beer while it ferments and becomes what we drink.

But, of course, the part of the tour that everyone was looking forward too was the chance to sample beers on the last part of the tour. We got to try three beers, the Boston Lager, which is their most famous brew, the Octoberfest which is brewed with 5 different malts for a rich flavor, and Boston Brick Red which is only available on tap in and around Boston. We really liked the Boston Lager and the Octoberfest, but we were less impressed by the Boston Brick Red. But the one nice thing about the Brick Red is that Samuel Adams makes a donation to charities for every keg sold, so for this if nothing else, it may be worth a try if you see it next time you're out.

There are tours from Monday-Saturday and the cost is only a $2.00 suggested donation to local charities. Visit their website for more info!