Curbside Cabbage

We met one of the Korean teachers behind the school this morning for some refreshing curbside cabbage washing. The plan...make a year's supply of kimchi for her family and for us. Her husband's uncle raises cabbage and so he supplied over 50 heads of cabbage that he quartered and soaked in brine.

Our job started by repeatedly rinsing the cabbages out on the streets of Gimpo. The most amazing part was that for all the people who stopped, no one seemed the least bit surprised that a bunch of Americans would be washing cabbages on the side of the street. We then crammed into a Korean friend's car and took all of the cabbages and onions to the Korean teacher's house.
The living room became our base of operation as we chopped radishes, onions, scallions, and some sort of leafy vegetable that is as of now still unidentified.

The ingredients were combined in a bathtub sized tupperware bin along with several pounds of dried, crushed red peppers, salt and pepper paste.

It had to be mixed, massaged, mixed, massaged, and mixed again. (It was very happy cabbage after the vigorous massages.) Then garlic, rice puree, and shrimp.

This concoction, we then rubbed on all of the cabbages, individually. We then placed the cabbages in clay pots and tupperware containers to marinate. Who knows how it turned out. But, come January we'll be able to taste the fruits of our labors.