How to make Kimbap (Gimbap) aka Korean Sushi

My dear, Korean friend, Yoona, called me this afternoon and asked if I was available this evening. She had gone to the store and bought all the ingredients necessary to make kimbap. I had asked her to teach me how to make it about 3 weeks ago and we just hadn't had the opportunity to get together yet to do it. I had dinner thought out... sorta, but this would be much better. What a nice surprise! She told me to go ahead and make up the rice (lightly salted) and she would be over in about an hour. I made 4 servings of rice and threw a little salt in... I wasn't sure how much to add, so I guessed. When she got here she pulled out a package of dried seaweed (sometimes called laver) which is roasted, but not seasoned, a package of imitation crab, and a cucumber. She cut up the cucumber into little sticks. Then she diced the crab and mixed it with a bit of mayo.

She laid a sheet of the seaweed down (with the prettier side facing the counter)

and covered most of the surface of the seaweed with a thin layer of warm rice. Too much rice and the whole thing will just taste like rice. If you think the rice needs more salt, I suppose you could throw a little on in this step.

Then she laid the cucumber sticks and the crab on top of the rice. I cheated and used a big cucumber stick and a long slice of crab (with a little mayo spread on it) on the rice.

Tightly roll the seaweed like a jelly roll.

Lay the roll seam-side down and let it rest and "glue" itself together.

Cut into coins. Eat right away, or wrap in tinfoil and refrigerate. It will keep for a day or two before the rice dries out too much to be enjoyable. You can also use cheese, eggs (hard-boiled or fried), ham, tuna, avocado, carrots, pickled radish or whatever suits your fancy.

Home Plus

My friend, Yoona, called me up today and asked if I had time to run to Home Plus. It is a shopping center something like WalMart. So the Nature Girl and I took the subway with Yoona to Uijeongbu, and then took a bus to Home Plus. The area around there is filled with familiar names and many places to shop. Home Plus was pretty cool. The grocery floor had people in several different departments giving samples of the food and drink products. The Nature Girl was able to try some fried squid and she liked it! Many of the stores like this also have a child care area where you can pay to leave your child there so they can play and you can shop in peace. It was a neat place to check out.


Check out the Dunkin Dounts on the bottom left corner.


Home Plus center


Check out the Swiss Miss, Hersheys, Quick, and other familiar US product names in Korean stores


The Nature Girl enjoying her fried squid!


Buildings filled with stores just across the street

Dongdaemun Shopping

Vikki and Melina

I went with my next-door neighbor a few weeks ago to Dongdeamun, but the fabric shops were all closed. We wandered around the shopping areas, but we had both been hoping to get into the fabric market. So I was wanting to go back when the stores were open. I met an army wife online named Melina a while back. She just got to Korea 2 weeks ago and she wanted to go and see the sites. I decided to take her to Dongdaemun on Saturday so I could look for some thread and get a better look at the fabric market and to show her the shopping center(s) there. I knew she would love it! I also invited my Korean friend, Yoona to go with us. We got down there and headed straight to the fabric market. It is a seamstress' heaven! Floor after floor filled with everything you could ever need to sew with and a bunch of cool things you didn't even know you could get. There is a floor dedicated to thread, yarn and string, one for knits, one for notions, one for basic cottons, and so on. If you like to sew, you need to come to Korea! I was able to buy the threads I was looking for and then some (9 spools of serger threads for just under $12) and bought 4 yards of 1" elastic for about $4.50. From there, we walked over to the Doosan Tower and Migliore Mall. The malls hold several stories of fashion shopping and food. We grabbed lunch and continued shopping. Yoona and I headed to the stationary and toy store streets and Melina stayed by the malls. Yoona and I browsed for a bit and then called to see if Melina was ready to head home... she was having so much fun, she wanted to stay til nightfall to see the area all lit up. So Yoona and I headed back home. It was a great day... now, I still need to find a day when I can go back alone to browse at my leisure all the great fabrics! I think I only have one friend who could tolerate a whole day surrounded by fabrics, and unfortunately she doesn't live here. Come on over, Colleen!


This whole building houses the fabric market and it continues underground, too


Just one shop of many selling thread


Fabric swatches showing just one vendor's merchandise


Buttons, snaps, buckles and more... a whole floor of it!


Dress forms for sale


Yoona and I


The Doosan Tower and Migliore Mall


These building are filled with more fashion shopping!

Who said washing dishes isn't fun?

The Nature Girl has been especially sweet and affectionate lately and it is just so sweet. She has been coming up to me, out of the blue, and saying,"I love you, mommy". It just melts your heart. Tonight my husband was washing dishes (which he usually does after dinner... bless him!) and the Nature Girl came running up and said,"May I help you daddy?" He said sure and she grabbed her stool and climbed up next to him. She asked him for some soap to start washing a ladle. The next thing I heard was her sweet little voice asking him, "Daddy, will you please share the sink?" He was crowding her and she wanted a spot to work, too. How cute is that?

Then the Artist came up and wanted to help, too. They started arguing!!! Arguing about who GOT to wash dishes! I wonder how long that will be a problem in our house! LOL! I love my girls!

A Tough Goodbye

Today was the last day of summer camp. The parents were invited to come and watch the kids sing songs, perform skits and have lunch with the campers. The kids put on a really cute show. There were still several hours left after they finished, so the Nature Girl and I headed home. We hung out at home until we got a call from my husband telling me he was done working for the day and was hoping for a ride home. Since I had heard that the counselors would be leaving the area at 8:00pm that day, I wanted to grab something for dinner for them. The Nature Girl and I grabbed Korean pizza, ran over to get my husband and then headed over to pick up the Artist. I was about 10 minutes late and I was feeling badly thinking that the counselors were stuck there having to watch my daughter when they needed to get packed up and on a bus in just a few hours. I was not prepared for the scene I walked into... Kids were trickling out of the building crying. One of them stopped to tell me that my daughter was in there crying and so was everyone else. The campers and counselors were having a tough time saying goodbye. The Artist was sobbing standing next to Miss Rainbow and she was crying, too. Kids everywhere had tissues. The counselors were signing shirts and arms and bracelets and passing out their email addresses. Everyone was lingering, unwilling to have the camp come to an end. Ms. Rainbow came up and thanked me for my help over the past 2 months and I almost started crying! When we were heading out to the car, the Artist said, " This is my first 'Last day of camp'. I have only had a first day of camp." She was so upset. Poor thing.
Thank you Mr. Monsoon and Ms Rainbow! You two have really touched our family's life and we wish you both the best. Thanks for letting the Nature Girl and I join you for swimming and field trips. We had a blast!


The Artist and Miss Rainbow


Mommy and the Nature Girl grabbing lunch


The Artist grabbing lunch


The Artist and Zay with Mr. Monsoon and Miss Rainbow


Camp Casey Camp Adventure


Campers with Miss Rainbow


Campers with Mr. Monsoon

Little Pink Skirts

When I was a little girl, I had a nightgown that had a big pink ruffle at the bottom. For some reason, that nightgown was still with me when I got to Korea. I decided to put this relic to use and make some skirts for the girls out of it. I had to do some piecing to make the skirts long enough, but I found I could make 3 skirts out of the material I had. So I made a skirt for each of my girls and one for Hiyoung (a little Korean girl who is friends with my girls). The girls loved them and they looked adorable, but I only got pictures of the Nature Girl in her skirt.

COEX Aquarium

I was excited when the Artist's summer camp changed plans for their weekly field trip from The Children's Museum to the COEX Aquarium. Not sure why, they both sound like great field trips, but I had heard about the aquarium and I wanted to see it. We were bused down to Seoul, stopped at a Buddhist temple (they said to kill time), grabbed lunch and then went into the mall where the aquarium is housed. It was so cool! They had some really great displays. It was very well done and many of the names were in English, though the descriptions usually were not. My girls have made some great friends at camp, so they spent most of the trip hanging out with them. I actually had trouble catching them for pictures. There were a lot of people at the aquarium that day, so I would love to go back again another time that may not be so busy. Besides, I didn't get to check out the mall while we were there and I glimpsed a few stores that I wanted to get a better look at. Aug 5, 2009



Camp Adventure Kids









The Artist


The Nature Girl


Mr. Monsoon (one of our counselors)



Leafy Sea Dragon