Photo from www.humanheartnature.com

This wasn’t on the list I made of things to buy at the Human Nature store today, but after seeing the “Introductory Price” mark (P99 for a 50ml tube), I figured there’s no harm in putting another product in my shopping basket.

Aside from the price, another reason why I decided to give Human Nature’s newest facial scrub a try was the sweet strawberry scent. This supposedly has real strawberry seeds and fine bamboo granules for gentle exfoliation, resulting in smooth, supple and oil-free skin. I hope it delivers on its promise. Well, the reviews on the HN website look promising so I’m optimistic about this.

Another reason why I’m giving this scrub a go is because I want to see if it will make a good alternative to my weekly facial mask routine, in which I use The Face Shop’s various masks (my favorite is the Pearl mask). I like Face Shop masks. However, the routine is getting to be expensive (P65 per mask vs. P99 facial scrub which can last for several applications), and since I’ve booked several trips for this year, I need to cut down on some expenses to give myself several decent vacations.

Besides, I’m the type who likes to simplify processes, so if I can improve my cash flow, keep the amount of lovely goop I put on my face low, and keep my skin smooth and supple all in one go, then I must be doing something right, yo! =)

Shin Kyung-sook becomes first Korean to shortlisted

for Man Asian book prize

Wanting to put variety into my enjoyment of Korean entertainment, I’ve been looking for a Korean author to jumpstart my K-literature experience.

And this news seemed to be IT.

After some more Google searches, I was convinced to dip my toes in K-literature with Shin Kyung-sook for the following reasons:

The plot and the premise. The novel is described as a “deeply moving story of a family’s search for their mother, who goes missing one afternoon amid the crowds of the Seoul Station subway.” The description goes on to declare the book “an authentic picture of contemporary life in Korea and a universal story of family love. (Amazon.com)”

What piqued my interest further was the conflict, which the Man Asian Literary Prize website described as “a disquieting portrait of what can happen when ancient rituals and tradition are ignored in favor of modernity.” Knowing Korea’s breakneck economic growth, this type of conflict isn’t too far-fetched as a literary piece.  

Photo from www.gadling.com

Pico Iyer’s glowing review of the book in Wall Street Journal. Iyer is a writer I respect, so when he says Please Look After Mom is “the most moving and accomplished, and often startling, novel in translation I’ve read in many seasons,” I believe him.

I liked his balanced assessment of the book, which took into account varying audience receptions based on their different cultural backgrounds: “Some American readers may open up Kyung-Sook Shin’s novel and marvel that moving away from a parent can be seen as a source of anguish and a kind of heresy. Others will read it and recognize how much is at stake when we create our own lives and step away from our pasts. The largest split across the globe today is not between Islam and the West, or between China and the United States, but between cultures of the future and those of the past, often within the same country (even within the same family). “

Photo from theconstantcrafter.blogspot.com

A peek into Korean women’s lives. I must confess that I tend to be partial to women writers and women’s literature, and that I’m fascinated with traditional and modern women’s lives. So what sealed the deal, so to speak, in my grabbing a copy of this book at my local library as soon as I finished reading the Korea Herald article was Iyer’s insightful take on what the book is all about:

“Please Look After Mom” is full of quiet anger about a time when women had to give up everything to protect their families, and to walk behind their husbands. But it’s also clear-eyed about a modern age in which some women don’t know how to do anything for their families—or even have families to do anything for. It would be easy to say that Ms. Shin has given us an unforgettable East Asian mother out of Amy Tan in a globalized world we recognize from Jhumpa Lahiri. But the author’s first novel to appear in English does something more than that. It tells an almost unbearably affecting story of remorse and belated wisdom that reminds us how globalism—at the human level—can tear souls apart and leave them uncertain of where to turn.”

Photo from http://www.manasianliteraryprize.org

It is also worth noting that Shin Kyung-sook is the first Korean novelist to be included in the prize’s shortlist. This is surely a proud moment not only for Korea but for “womanity” as well. =)

That the book has sold 1.5 million copies (and counting) in Korea and that the book has been published in more than 20 countries is a very pretty icing on the cake.

Congratulations for being shortlisted in this prestigious award Ms. Shin Kyung-sook! I’m quite excited for this book to take me along what I imagine to be an emotional Seoul subway ride for the soul. I hope March 15 (the day of the winner’s announcement…and the month designated as Women’s Month all over the world) will bring you and Korea very good news!

References:

http://www.koreaherald.com/lifestyle/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20120111000800

http://www.koreaherald.com/lifestyle/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20120111000920

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730804576319130980329832.html

http://www.ktlit.com/authors/shin-kyoung-sook

http://www.manasianliteraryprize.org/kyung-sook-shin/

http://www.amazon.com/Please-Look-After-Kyung-Sook-Shin/dp/0307593916

K-drama Hwang Jin Yi.

This scene (among many others) got me curious about how Korean women from the olden times prettified themselves. Charcoal? For the eyebrows? Really? But why?

Makeup according to class

A quick Google search got me some preliminary answers. Based from articles I read from the internet, I learned that makeup of upper class women and common people differed, so you can usually tell which class a woman belonged to based not only on the way they dressed but on the way they colored their faces as well.

An 18th century Korean beauty. Attributed to Kim Hong-Do (A.D. 1745- ?) © Seoul National University Museum.

Simple and light makeup was especially preferred by the upper class women and was seen by them as the ideal look of beauty, according to the Record of the Chinese Embassy to the Koryo Court, Xuanhe fengshi Gaoli tujing (1123) . Applying too much makeup was a no-no, so the only cosmetic they colored their faces with were powder without rouge. They also liked drawing eyebrows in the shape of a willow leaf.

During the Chosun period, aristocratic women began using a mixture of flower ashes, indigo plants and gold powder for the eyebrows. Makeup made of saffron flowers and cinnabar, meanwhile, were used for the cheeks and lips. A pale skin color was preferred, in accordance to the Confucian ideal of dignified and simple demeanor.  They avoided white powder for the face, since this was associated with the lowly kisaeng, or women entertainers who were trained in the art of music, dance and poetry. Instead, aristocratic women of the time used light-peach-colored makeup.  To make their hair shiny, upper class women applied peony flower oil.

The common people of Chosun were not to be left out. They also enhanced their features with color, but with less expensive cosmetics. To highlight their eyebrows, they used a piece of charcoal (which explains the charcoal-for-the-eyebrows scene in K-drama Hwang Jin-Yi). For the lips, they used dried red pepper.

Natural makeup, which didn’t contain preservatives, was made in small batches according to what women needed per makeup application. Makeup items were kept in small containers with narrow openings to prevent contamination and spoilage.

Kyuhapch’ongso: Aristocratic women’s guidebook  

More can be learned about how Korean women beautified themselves through the book Kyuhapch’ongso (1809), which contains a comprehensive guide for Chosun period’s upper class women on how to make cosmetic products and fragrances, perfumes, and oils for the hair. The book even has descriptions of shapes of eyebrows.

Gyuhap chongseo. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyuhap_chongseo.

Aside from beauty, majority of the book’s contents details other useful advice for women, such as cooking, cloth-making, gardening, and family life, among other things. It was written by Lady Bingheogak Yi.

I tried searching for more information on Google (in English) but didn’t find much. A trip to my local library didn’t yield many results either. I wish I can get a hold of this guidebook to learn more about women’s lives in ancient Korea, preferably a version that’s been translated to English. =) Sigh. I suppose that will be one of my projects for the year. So if anyone of my readers can point me to the right direction and resources, please do. Someone here really wants to try making her own natural and organic concoctions and potions the Korean way! =)

References:

http://www.asianartnewspaper.com/article/the-cosmetic-culture-of-ancient-korea

http://www.mimifroufrou.com/scentedsalamander/2008/04/beauty_perfume_in_traditional.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyuhap_chongseo

Kimchi, thank God, is not “homogeneous” food. It sure goes well with almost any Korean dish there is. But it does add an addictive spicy kick to Filipino foods as well. Off the top of my head, these are the Filipino foods that taste good on their own, and great when paired with Korean kimchi:

Pochero- This is something like beef stew. The beef is simmered in tomato sauce so the tomato taste really seeps in. It is cooked alongside veggies like cabbage, potatoes, white beans and string beans. Pochero also has one kind of fruit in it–bananas! Eaten with rice, this dish is a very complete meal already. But add kimchi and you not only up pochero’s nutritional ante but it’s taste, as well. Without kimchi, pochero is beefy and tomato-ey. With kimchi, pochero is beefy, tomato-ey AND deliciously spicy!

Pork barbecue - We Filipinos usually marinade our pork in soy sauce, Sprite and calamansi, among otherthings, so there’s that tangy taste to our favorite skewered meat. Kimchi add’s another dimension to this dish by adding (what else?) SPICE! Not to mention you get some veggies to go with your meat…

Lechon - Slow-cooked in fire for hours until tender and tasty,  lechon is Filipinos’ favorite fiesta (festival) fare. The skin is crispy, the meat is yummy, and the liver sauce tops off an already to-die-for (both literally and figuratively) dish. For spice lovers who need something healthy to go along the lovely lechon, there’s (yet again) kimchi. Just a little piece of leaf to go with your spoonful of rice and lechon goes a long way in giving your meal that much-desired kick.

Adobo - If you haven’t noticed yet, I like adding kimchi to my meats, and adding kimchi to adobo, a meat dish simmered in soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, basil leaves and black peppers,  is another case of this. I like my adobo garlicky, so it’s the dominant taste in my adobo when I cook (which is rarely, hehe!). I pair it with kimchi, though, when I want to have another type of taste to it, which is (you guessed it) spicy! 

Fish soup - I’ve seen Koreans add kimchi to soups in travel shows on TV so I figured there’s no harm in trying it with my own fish soup. And I’m happy to report that, yes, our fish soup tastes great with kimchi. =)

And here’s why I like pairing my native dishes with kimchi: Because Filipino foods tend to be fatty and oily (think lechon and bagnet—yummy but deadly, hehe!), kimchi seems to balance this out with its health benefits.

According to this website, kimchi “is loaded with vitamins A, B, and C, but its biggest benefit may be in its “healthy bacteria” called lactobacilli, found in fermented foods like kimchi and yogurt. This good bacteria helps with digestion, plus it seems to help stop and even prevent yeast infections, according to a recent study. And more good news: Some studies show fermented cabbage has compounds that may prevent the growth of cancer.”

At Bon Chon (which is not a Filipino restaurant, but hey, I like it anyway!), they have kimchi coleslaw which I’m soooo craving for right now……

How about you? What foods do you enjoy pairing with Korean kimchi? =)

Photo from http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/climate-change-is-not-child%E2%80%99s-play/

A special focus on children must be given when addressing the issue of climate change. According to this article in Our World, children in East Asia are more vulnerable to climate change than adults for the following reasons:

1) In terms of health, children are physically weaker because they have less developed bodies than adults

2) Psychologically, children are also easily affected because of their age and limited life experience

3) Social impacts of climate change also affect children especially in education, as children are usually forced by parents of families hit by natural disasters to quit schooling in order to help the family rebuild their lives.

The article gives a ray of hope, though, because it points out that children are optimistic about facing climate change and doing something about it. Some possess knowledge on how the physical impacts of climate change are related with institutional and social impacts.

Moreover, the article also reminds us that educating children early on about the environment develops their love and concern for it, which in turn, will motivate them to protect our world.

Image from: http://ecofuture.net/greenslogans/files/2011/03/a_million_ways_to_go_green_badge.jpg

This article from Channel News Asia says that preference for eco-friendly products is on the rise in Singapore. That’s good news!

The article cautions, though, that eco-friendly consciousness “will take a long time”.  Also, the preference for green products seems to be primary motivated by economic factors, such as saving energy. It’s good to note, though, that “eco-retail, fashion, food and beverage are also on the rise, even if slowly.”

Let’s also hope, too, that this won’t lead to the phenomenon known as greenwashing. Fingers crossed!

I’ve learned from previous trips that autumn doesn’t do any good for my lips, so I made sure to bring lip balm. But for some reason, it didn’t work. As a temporary relief, I swiped a few drops of the Sunflower Beauty Oil and (surprise, surprise!) it did the trick! It eliminated flaky lips, smoothed it out, and kept it hydrated. It’s a beautiful (and beautifying) accident!

This is one of the cute exhibits at the National Folk Museum of Korea. Here. you'll see how cooking (and consequently, eating) is part of Korea's delicious way of life.

The National Folk Museum of Korea is a tourist spot which me and my friend happily stumbled upon while walking around Gyongbokgong Palace. Here, we learned about how Korean people lived in the olden times, from how they dressed to what work they did, and of course, the variety of food they ate! Who knew that there are a gazillion types of kimchi (okay, I exaggerate) in every region in Korea?

I also enjoyed walking around the outdoor museum which gave me an almost true-to-life peek into Korean folk life. Sometimes, I felt like I was in a sageuk.

At any rate, our trip to the National Folk Museum of Korea was one of my favorites. It made me a lot more curious about Korea’s history and culture.

More of my pics are in this slideshow.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

This is a sweet ending to every Korean summer meal. Or as a snack. Or as a…whatever food whim one may have. It’s quite similar to my own culture’s “halo-halo”, actually, which is also a combination of preserved fruits plus shaved ice. I personally wanted to try this in Seoul after watching Siwon of Super Junior gush and get overly excited about it in one of his old shows. The trip was worth it. =)