House in Limbo City, Limbo City, Friday

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With her mom's kimchi recipe now in her possession, Kathy figured she should try to make some. Without a proper kimchi fridge, she couldn't make much, but she figured she could probably get away with one or two jars in the back of the fridge. With her mom's recipe in hand, her children behind her and the gijesa of her whole family on Monday (though her parents got short shrift compared to Sarah), family was kind of on her mind a lot.

Her usual strawberry Yakult had been swapped for banana milk and she had a bowl of injulmi rice balls to snack on when her hands weren't covered with red pepper flakes or salt. She sang as she worked, TARA and BTS and Super Junior blaring from her phone, dancing around the kitchen chopping vegetables, salting water, simmering the glutinous rice powder.

For the first time since she moved in, the house - or, at least, the kitchen - really smelled like home.

[Open for visitors or phone calls or them guys what live here!]

Comments

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"I'm not sure I should tell you!" Kathy laughed. "You're so picky about stuff! But napa cabbage," she pointed with her chin to the head of cabbage still draining in the sink. "I've got a Korean radish in here and some scallions and mom's secret ingredient, a bit of Korean pear to kind of lighten the flavors a bit. And I'm mixing it with glutinous rice powder, gochugaru, and then a bunch of seasonings."

Which included shrimp and fidh sauce and kelp, but again with Dante being weird about food.

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"Doesn't sound too bad," Dante said, leaning back against the counter.

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"I'm pleased it passes muster," Kathy teased. "I told you vegetables could be delicious."

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"Hey, hey, hey, I haven't tasted them yet," Dante pointed out.

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She held out a pear matchstick, slathered in a bright red paste. "Wanna try it?" she asked. "It'll be hot though. Possibly hotter than you're used to."

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"Okay," Dante said, tentatively reaching for the pear-stick.

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It was salty and spicy, with a hint of the pear's sweetness coming through. There was also a deeper, richer umami flavor, giving the stick a complexity not easily defined - at least once the first slap of salty and spicy had passed.

"You good?" she asked. "Or should I get the milk?"

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Dante took a bite. Chewed. Swallowed. Frowned.

"... I so don't know."

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Kathy's brow furrowed. "Are we about to throw down over the honor of my mother's kimchi?"

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Dante held up a placating hand. "It's good!" he said quickly.

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Kathy laughed. "I was teasing, dork," she said. "It's okay if it tastes weird now. That's a pear chunk in red pepper flakes and a bunch of other stuff."

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"You know it's suspicious when you call it 'other stuff', right?"

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"There's just a lot of stuff in it that's dumb to list separately," Kathy said innocently. "Ginger. Garlic. Minced saeujeot." Smart Kathy. "Glutinous rice powder. Broth. That kinda stuff."

ALL TOTALLY NORMAL AND NOT WORTH FUSSING OVER, WHITE BOY.

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"I'm just saying, 'glutinous' sounds weird and like there's some kinda fat blimp involved," Dante said, squinting.

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"It just means it comes from sweet rice," Kathy said, patting his arm. "Sweet rice gets sticky when it's cooked. That's all."

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"I never had rice that tasted sweet," Dante mused.

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"Not sweet like sugar," Kathy snickered. "Just sweeter in comparison to other kinds of rice. One day I'll make a bunch of different kinds and show you the differences."

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"Aw, rice taste test, nice," Dante said, grinning. "If we follow it up with pizza."

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"For a minute you almost gave me hope," Kathy said, heaving a gigantic sigh. "...I could be down for pizza after a rice taste test."

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"See? Compromise," Dante said, his grin going up a notch.