I had so much fun tabling with Jannese and meeting zine readers and makers. There were over 80 writers, artists, and publishers exhibiting this year. I was happy to meet a friendly food zine writer of the Runcible Spoon and connected with quite a few Korean food lovers who took home my new recipe zine.

A mini poster zine I made for the Zine Fest.

Some outgoing mail!

As a show of thanks to you, I am sharing one of my favorite dishes that didn’t make it on the recipe zine this time: spicy Korean chicken stew. I love comforting one-pot meals, like a chicken casserole with a side of buttery mashed potatoes or a hearty soup served with some crusty bread. There are days I want cooking to be easy, with less dishes to wash.

Spicy Korean chicken stew is a traditional Korean dish with many regional variations, even non-spicy versions. Mine is mildly spicy. The trick is to boil the chicken first, which makes the chicken fall-off-the-bones tender. The fat is skimmed off while the chicken stock is saved for later. I like to add in cubed sweet potatoes or tomatoes in my stew, which adds in some natural sweetness. You can also even throw in some rice cake sticks, but remember to soak them in hot water first if they have been refrigerated!

Korean spicy chicken stew
(Dak-bokkeum Tang / Dak-dori Tang)
Serves 3-4

Ingredients:
5 cups water
3 cloves of garlic
4 pieces of bone-in chicken (legs and thighs)
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cups carrots, chopped
1 tablespoon scallions, chopped
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

**Optional: sweet potatoes, bell peppers, tomatoes, rice cake sticks, etc.

Sauce:
3 tablespoons soysauce
3 tablespoons gochujang
1 tablespoon gochugaru
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic

Directions:
1. In a wide pot, bring water to a boil. Add garlic cloves.
2. Rinse the chicken pieces in cold running water, drain, and put them in the boiling water.
3. Boil the chicken for about 30 minutes. Spoon off any grease or foam that rises to the top.
4. In a small bowl, make the sauce. Taste and adjust.
4. Once the chicken is cooked, take the pot off the heat. Save about 2 cups of broth and drain the chicken.
5. In the same pot, lightly sauté onion and carrots for 5 minutes.
6. Put the chicken back in with 1 cup of the saved broth and the sauce.
7. Stir as the sauce thickens and add the rest of the broth in accordingly. Put the lid on the pot and simmer on low-heat for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
8. Sprinkle some scallions and sesame seeds on top and serve with a bowl of rice!

“The Way Home” is a photo zine about a year-long journey (of arrivals and departures) featuring expired vintage film and digital photographs from New York and Vietnam. It’s a 22-page full-color zine, beautifully printed on 100lb silk-coated paper.

I have a soft-spot for “Playtime: Sewon’s Korean Kitchen” – a mini recipe zine of my favorite Korean food from childhood with my notes from the kitchen and lovingly photographed homecooked meals. It’s my first cooking zine featuring eight easy recipes I haven’t blogged about, including spicy Korean fried chicken and homemade pepero (Korean pocky).

**I will post more photos and details once the zines officially launch on Sunday. In case you are curious, I’ve put a few copies on my Mini Market as pre-launch specials. If you order before the launch, I’ll include some extra paper goodies!

I am so lucky to be sharing a table with the talented Jannese of Craftylove/UsagiPorMoi, who even sketched out decoration ideas. She has some beautiful new sewing zines as well as handmade photo zines, and we’ll also be hosting Debra’s extra-tiny books at the table. I think we might just have the cutest table at the Zine Fest.

We’ll be at Public Assembly in Williamsburg from 11AM to 6PM. If you are in the city this Sunday, please stop by our table and say hello!

March was an odd month because I was wallowing in deep winter hibernation mode. It was just one of those days when I received a phone call from Jannese about having dinner with a visitor from Japan. Over a hearty Meatball Shop meal, I met the talented and adorable Ros of Polkaros who came to the city from Tokyo on a short trip. Walking around familiar streets with a new set of eyes and good friends, I was reminded of just how much I do love where I am and how much this place has become a home.

It’s been over a year since I moved to New York. I remember the city was disorienting, far from the quiet mountains of Yunnan and Kunming, where it is always spring. It had snowed a foot when I woke up in Brooklyn, walking miles along almost deserted Bushwick lofts, hoping to walk into a warm place to call home. We walked into a restaurant, which turned out to be Roberta’s. And so it all worked out, as it always does.

“APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten,
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm’ aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were children, staying at the archduke’s,
My cousin’s, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.”
–From “The Waste Land” by T.S. Eliot