Emilie Kim

“As a five-year-old child, there was something so magical about my mom being in the kitchen. She’d go in there for an hour and suddenly, the dining table had a whole meal ready for my family. From the living room floor, I watched her move about in the kitchen, wondering how she was able to make food appear just by standing in front of pots and pans.

It was my last winter living in South Korea when my mom sat me and my brother down at our dining table with a bowl of homemade tteok (rice cake) and couple of trays. She was making patjuk (red bean porridge), my favorite dessert, and taught us how to roll little rice-cake balls for the dish. It was a simple task, but I felt so special being able to cast magic with my mom. It was the first dish I made with her.”