Bojagi - Youngmin Lee's Blog

Last week, Ann asked me to go to this talk in Berkeley center for Korean studies.

We had a quite fun day eating bibimbap together, going to the Botanical Garden in Berkeley and attending Hanji talk.

Bibimbap, well known Korean dish that comes in a huge bowl of rice, vegetables, meat and sunny side up fried egg.

It is a beautiful presentation but in order to enjoy all the ingredients, you have to mix everything up with gochujang (red pepper paste)!

I will post about bibimbap soon. I am going to teach Korean cooking class this Saturday.

After this yummy lunch, we went to the Botanical garden in Berkeley. Ann has a green thumb and her back yard is full of interesting plants, flowers and fruit trees. She explained about trees and plants and she even got me this cute Narcissus!

Ann is a Berkeley native and she showed one pond in the middle of the garden and told me that one very cold winter,  it was frozen so hard. Her dad was trying to break the ice but he couldn't. Ann never saw that pond frozen again until now. Stroll across the garden was soothing and I was thinking of my dad's garden in my childhood. I was growing in a small town in southern part of Korea. The weather was as mild as California so my dad's garden has banana trees (no fruit though), loquat trees and fig trees. Camilia was everywhere and people from Seoul admired this beautiful flowers.

After strolling in the garden, we went to the lecture room and met Aimee Lee, Hanji Artist.

She was born and educated in US but hanji made her to go to Korea and learn how to make traditional Korean paper, hanji.

Here's her website. http://aimeelee.net/ and you can learn more about her.

I've learned that a piece of paper is big enough to show artist's creative journey.

Jean is our apres-ride treat person. She volunteers to bake sweet and savory treats every week for our whole group.

Since we are so spoiled, we automatically head to the treat car when we finish our training ride. This year, Jean asked me to make something orange. I went to the fabric store and found a perfect match for her. Excited, I took that fabric and made a helmet bag and match-match munch box!

내친구 진은 자전거그룹의 스낵 담당입니다. 늘 자원해서 때로는 달콤한 때로는 고소한 아프레 라이드 스낵을 만들어 옵니다. 어느새 다들 버릇인양 자전거를 타고나면 스낵이 있는 자동차 트렁크로 모인답니다.  그런 진이 오렌지색을 원합니다. 옷감가게에 가서 안성마춤인 원단을 발견하고는 신나게 헬멧백과 먼치박스를  만들었지요!

You don't know what much box is?? Here's my original munch box that I made a few years ago. I attach this on my bike to carry small things like sunscreen, lip balm, Kleenex tissues and munches that I eat!

먼치박스가 뭐냐구요?? 하하 여기 자전거에 달려있는 걸 보세요. 몇년전에 만든 최초의 먼치박스입니다. 최근까지 제 자전거에 달려서 선스크린, 립밤, 휴지  그리고 제일 중요한 스낵을 보관했지요!

Jean and Carla did 5 century rides last year! They did 100mile event rides almost every month! That was Carla's special way to celebrate her special year and Jean was there to company her best friend. If you have a question about which organized ride is good in SF Bay Area, Jean and Carla are right people to ask about the detailed information.

Early this year, Jean bought a cute bike, Dot for tri only. Jean said that she is going to put more effort in Tri this year. Swim 1.5km(0.93 mile), ride 40km(25mile) and run 10km(6.2 mile).

I can ride and run but swimming 1.5km? No way for me....

I have another mission for Jean. I have to find a perfect match fabric for this cute bike.

진과 칼라는 작년에 100킬로미터짜리 라이드를 무려 5번이나 해냈답니다! 시즌동안 한달에 한번 꼴로 탄셈이지요. 칼라의 특별한 해에 나이만큼의 라이드를 하는 데 절친한 친구인 진이 함께하는 의리를 보여줬지요. 베이지역의 자전거타기 이벤트가 궁금하시면 진과 칼라에게 물으면 됩니다! 올해 초에 진은 또다른 계획을 세웠네요.이렇게 깜찍한 자전거를 사서 이번엔 트라이( 3종 경기) 에 도전한답니다. 1.5킬로미터의 수영, 40킬로미터 자전거 그리고 10킬로미터 달리기 입니다.

자전거타고 달리는 건 할 수 있지만 1.5킬로미터 수영이요? 자신없어요....

그런 진의 특별주문. 저 땡땡이( 자전거 이름입니다)에게 딱 어울리는 헬멧백을 만들 옷감을 찾아서 만드는 겁니다. 매치매치의 여왕, 진이거든요.

When Jean got her helmet bag, another friend's eyes were 'pop' opened! Peggy also loves orange :) So I made a bag for her and she sent me a picture. Emily, our newbie and Peggy took their bags to church!

진에게 가방을 만들어 전해줄때 또다른 친구의 눈이 번쩍 뜨이는게 보이네요! 페기도 오렌지색이라면 정말 못 말리거든요 :) 그래서 페기도 하나. 새로 자전거타기를 시작한 에밀리는 자전거가 옴팡 들어있는 원단으로 헬멧백! 그랬더니 교회가는 날 들고 나왔다고 사진을 보내주네요.

Oh! I can brag about my friends forever and ever! I love my Eden Road Diva friends!

친구들 자랑을 하자면 끝이 없겠어요! ㅎㅎ 오늘은 여기 까지~

When I went to the Oakland museum for Lunar New Year's day celebration, I met a family who were interested in wrapping a gift with bojagi.

The husband's mother is in England and they wanted to send a bojagi as a gift for her.

The family bought one of my gift wrap bojagi and I promised that I will post how to wrap a bojagi.

Here's how to wrap a gift with bojagi.

지난달 설날맞이 오클랜드 뮤지엄 행사에서 한가족을 만났어요. 선물보자기에 눈길이 가는지 계속 보다가 영국에 사는 어머니에게 선물로 보내고 싶다며 선물보를 샀습니다. 그 어머니를 위한 보자기 싸는법을 올려드립니다.