Ajummas are commonly featured in Korean dramas as the beloved-but-annoying, loud, nagging mother or neighbor… sometimes as the point of comic relief and other times as the source of anxiety for the protagonists. But what exactly is an ajumma? Do you ever wonder if, now, at your age you’ve become an ajumma? Google translate will tell you an ajumma is…
If anyone can convince you to consider going vegan, it’s Joanne Lee Molinaro, aka The Korean Vegan. I told her I’ve been really thinking hard about going vegan for a while now, in large part because I’m so enthralled by her cooking videos with family stories woven in that pull at your heartstrings. We live…
Why Did I Veganize This Dish? I came up with this Spicy & Crunchy Garlic Tofu recipe because it needed to happen. Like, there was a gaping maw in the universe that could only be filled once this recipe was created. Ok, putting to one side my illusions of grandeur, let’s just say that this…
K-Drama is finally getting the recognition and audience it richly deserves. But sometimes too much choice is as challenging as too little. At the forefront of Korean entertainment in the US, Netflix hosts over 130 Korean titles at last count. On one hand, the abundance of options is amazing; on the other hand, so many…
Modern Grace is a monthly column for Best of Korea by Yoojin Grace Wuertz Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s in northern New Jersey, I was part of a large wave of Korean immigrants hitting the tri-state area. I remember when I first started American kindergarten in 1986, I noticed no other Asian faces…
Min-Jun Ford always felt out of place, but that changed with a late-night encounter at a crowded karaoke bar when he met Yu-jin, a smart, beautiful student who accepted him without question and made him feel seen for the first time. Yu-jin had her eyes trained on a high-profile career after graduation and she kept…
The bittersweet every day stories will warm your heart and have you dreaming of Jeju Island This year’s most anticipated K-Drama, “Our Blues” debuted on April 9th, 2022. There will be a total of 20 episodes and each episode will be uploaded every Saturday and Sunday on Netflix until June 12th. This charming drama about…
Sometime in the early 2000s when investment banking was still a mystery to most of the immigrant community, a young Korean American named Dow Kim found a way to navigate the cutthroat ranks of traders and bankers to become one of the highest ranking executives on Wall Street. An understated man of few words, Kim…
“The Partition” is a short story from acclaimed Korean American author Don Lee, recipient of the American Book Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, and the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction. Mainly, she wanted to be left alone. She didn’t want a husband or a wife or a partner or a lover, she…
Who is your bias for in BTS? If you’re scratching your head wondering what bias means, welcome; that was me two years ago. I got sucked into the universe of BTS when the pandemic first hit in 2020. With an active toddler alongside me, I needed something to keep me positive while the world was…