About Katherine and Pan de Seoul:

I’m just another expat who likes to cook, bake and eat.  My husband Alex and I moved from Boston to Seoul in July 2012, and we’ve been having a blast ever since.  We’ve committed to learning and speaking Korean (with the usual hilarious 외국 gaffes), immersing ourselves in the culture and regularly eat 김밥 for breakfast. As beer and bread snobs, we have also committed to making our own artisan breads and craft brews and have ventured into making fresh yogurt (so.insanely.easy) and cheese as well.

After a few months in Korea, I’ve learned that unfettered curiousity and creativity can create truly awesome dishes.  As Andrew Zimmern says “If it looks good, eat it.”  Pick up that (American) football shaped zucchini-looking thing and do something with it, like make a beautiful ratatouille!  There are tons of possibilities in your little corner grocery!

It’s all about familiarizing yourself with the local ingredients, their seasonality, understanding their flavor profiles and textures and how you can combine them into simple deliciousness.  And reduce your carbon footprint to some extent (but that is not what this blog is about).  If you choose to do most of your shopping in Itaewon or a big box import retailer, that absolutely works too (if anything, you have even more possibilities)!

In this space, I hope to offer share my culinary experiences in Korea and have others offer their comments, advice, and ideas about cooking, baking, brewing, anything in the DIY or Seoul-centered gastronomic realm.

Why Pan de Seoul: I am of Filipino-American heritage, born and raised in Los Angeles. I grew up eating Pan de Sal, which is a soft, enriched roll, usually eaten for breakfast or as a snack.  To link my Filipino heritage with my new experiences in Seoul (and to take shameless advantage of the English pronunciation of Seoul), the hubby and I conjured up the triple entendre “Pan de Seoul.”

너무 감사합니다!

-Katherine

Cross-section of challah. Long stringy crumb. Not quite like Semifreddi’s, but oh-so-close!