Happy Chuseok! Here are 4 recipes for Korean Thanksgiving!

Hey Reader,

Happy Chuseok! What is Chuseok, you ask? It is often referred to as Korean Thanksgiving, but it is technically a three day harvest festival that occurs in the fall. It is one of the most important traditional holidays in Korea and, as I'm sure you figured out on your own (because you are a smart person!), folks celebrate it with foods from the fall!

The following are four (4) recipes that you can make to celebrate your own version of Chuseok!

Bindaetteok.

When I told my mother I wanted to make a bunch of recipes for Chuseok, the first thing she said was "make bindaetteok!" Bindaetteok, sometimes referred to as nokdu jeon, is a pancake made out of mung beans! It's gluten-free, full of fiber and protein, and tastes delicious!

Japchae.

This is definitely the PERFECT time to bust out that japchae! With all the vibrant colors from the bell peppers, spinach, and carrot, it's a beautiful way to celebrate the bounty of homemade food!

Korean BBQ Sauce.

No, I don't mean you should chug Korean BBQ sauce for Chuseok! I mean, grill something with it! We go all out for Chuseok, so now is NOT the time to be shy--be bold with your favorite BBQ Sauce!!

Zucchini Pancakes.

I know that zucchini is really more of a summer thing, but if you have any left over, zucchini pancakes would be a glorious addition to your Chuseok table!

Parting Thoughts.

This isn't so much a parting thought as it is an update on what's been going on in my life these days.

I started writing a memoir. Yup. I know, a cookbook, a novel, and now a memoir!? Well, the good news is that the cookbook is well in-hand. More than 50 of you are recipe testing the recipes and the book, itself, will go into production next month. WOW!

As to the novel, well, that's going to be a slow burn. I'm still working on the prologue! It's going to be a legal suspense thriller type thingy, because, you know, I'm a lawyer and all lawyers dream of writing a mystery novel that's not at all like all the other ones that have already been written. Yup. We'll see how that goes.

And, the memoir. I had some friends over for pre-Chuseok last night (did you really think I'd make a whole bunch of food for content and then eat it all by myself???) and actually read a portion of the draft out loud to them. I think this is the first time I've ever done that in my entire life. I mean, I've read things out loud to Anthony and I've read things out loud in my writing classes, but never to a group of friends over bindaetteok and japchae. In any event, I say this only to demonstrate how excited I am about this project. The memoir will consist of stories from my life, but also stories from my maternal grandmother and my mother.

It will attempt to answer the question: What does it mean to be a 'woman'?

Would you guys be interested in reading snippets as I write it?

I've been running a lot these days, as some of you have probably seen (on Instagram or in real life!). I've basically been running non-stop since February. This is the first time in recent memory that I've run this consistently without rolling on an acorn. Huzzah! I managed to bust out 16 miles last weekend and someone messaged me, "That's too much." I found this hilarious but also, maybe, correct? I'm not training for anything, but you know me. I like to do hard things. And 16 miles was hard, but it wasn't as hard as I was scared it might be. I imagine that has something to do with the extra food I've been eating these days, too. And that feels good.

Finally, tomorrow, I'm headed to Europe. I'll be visiting one of my closest friends in all my life in Belgium, followed by a quick visit to Venice, then a stop in the Dolomites (staying at an all vegan resort!!), and then to Rome. Our cousin is getting hitched and we thought it was as good an excuse as any to spend some time in the Eternal City. Hence, my scrawls in your inbox may grow a little scarce for the next couple of weeks, but I'll try to send you a couple missives while I'm on the road.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading this all the way to this point. <3

Wishing you all the best,