Jajangmyeon (noodles in black bean sauce) is a huge part of Korean food culture. Everyone loves it. Deeply embedded in the childhood memories of most Koreans, it is a well-loved dish that parents often treat their children to on special occasions, such as graduation, exam days and birthdays. If you have the Korean black bean paste called chunjang, this dish is very easy to make at home. The black bean paste is first fried in oil. This process helps remove the bitter taste of the bean paste. The

FoodApril 11, 2014

Over five years ago, a family-run cupcake shop opened in Seoul’s Cheongdam-dong. Everything, from the dusky pink and ebony decor to the impeccably frosted, toothsome cupcakes, was spot-on. Even the name, Royal Cupcake, was catchy.Word-of-mouth spread. Royal Cupcake drew an ever-growing crowd of loyal regulars. Then, in late 2012 it closed. For around 10 months, Royal Cupcake’s popular sweets were unavailable. That is until last November, when owner Kum Ki-young and his wife decided to quietly re

FoodApril 11, 2014

Estuary oyster specials at The PlazaThe Plaza’s Japanese restaurant Murasaki is offering a special menu featuring estuary oysters, a delicacy in Korea during the spring, until April 30. The estuary oyster is an oyster native to Korea that is caught near the mouth of the Seomjin River in North Jeolla Province. The oyster is also known as the “cherry blossom oyster,” because it grows to its fullest size and tastes the best during the spring season. The special menu includes butter-roasted estuary

TravelApril 11, 2014

K-pop boy group EXO’s comeback single has been leaked online, days before its official release, and the group’s agency is threatening legal action against those responsible. An audio file of “Overdose,” the title track of the group’s upcoming new album, and a video showing the members practicing the choreography to the song were uploaded on YouTube Thursday, then quickly spread through social media. SM has attempted to retreive all of the videos but has been largely unsuccessful.In a press state

April 11, 2014

An American independent film about three teenage friends who build a home in the woods will open this year’s Green Film Festival in Seoul, organizers said Monday.The debut feature by director Jordan Vogt-Roberts, titled “The Kings of Summer,” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last year. The director is to attend the festival’s opening ceremony in Seoul.Celebrating its 11th edition this year, GFFIS is the nation’s first international film festival to highlight environmental issues. It will

FilmApril 10, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) ― A young Korean-American poet has received a $5,000 award for first-time writers that also ensures the publication and thousands of sales of her debut collection. Hannah Sanghee Park has won the Walt Whitman Award, the Academy of American Poets announced Wednesday. Her book, “The Same-Different,” will be released next year by Louisiana State University. The poetry academy will purchase thousands of copies and distribute them to its members. Pulitzer Prize winner Rae Armantrout cho

CultureApril 10, 2014

In this wired society, checking Facebook news feeds and Twitter updates is an hourly routine. Swipe the screen of your smartphone and you will instantly be immersed in a sea of information. Social networking services have become so addictive that the first thing many people do after waking up is fiddle with their smartphone to check for updates that arrived while they were asleep. This modern-day obsession with staying updated is critically observed by London-based art trio Troika in its latest

PerformanceApril 10, 2014

Big Bang member T.O.P will hold an exhibition next month to celebrate the release of his first photography collection.The “From TOP Exhibition,” will display photos from the collection “1st Pictorial Records From TOP” released Wednesday and unpublished photos personally picked by the K-pop star.The photography collection is a result of a collaboration between T.O.P, also known as Choi Seung-hyun, and photographer Hong Jang-hyun. The two visited New York in December 2013 to capture moments from t

April 10, 2014

South Korean pop superstar BoA’s English-language debut film has been exported to 54 countries around the world, the film’s local production company said Thursday.Directed by Duane Adler, best known for his dance-centric, youth-driven screenplays for “Save the Last Dance” and the “Step Up” films, “Make Your Move” is a South Korea-U.S. co-production about a man and a woman from different backgrounds who come to understand each other and fall in love through dance. “The movie was sold to 54 countr

April 10, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) ― Newcomers Lorde and Imagine Dragons are the top contenders at next month’s Billboard Music Awards. The breakthrough acts are finalists in 12 categories, thanks to Lorde’s Grammy-winning multiplatinum hit “Royals” and Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive,” also a multiplatinum Grammy winner. Those smashes are nominated for top Hot 100 song against Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” Katy Perry’s “Roar” and Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball.”Imagine Dragons is also up for top artist and will battle

PerformanceApril 10, 2014

Popular singer-songwriter IU will make a return next month with her first remake album and a series of concerts.The album will be her first remake since her debut in 2008. It will feature reinterpretations and rearrangements of past hits through IU’s signature vocals and musical sensibilities.The singer-songwriter will also stage a series of concerts, titled “Just one more step ... just that,” at Sogang University’s Mary Hall. Unlike IU’s previous concert last year, which was marked by a flashy

April 10, 2014

“I should write a book.” We’ve all heard that statement before from friends or family or co-workers. We might even have said it ourselves. We all have stories to tell, whether real or fictional.In the past, those who wrote a book faced a limited number of options: They shopped their manuscripts around to agents and editors at publishers, a process that could take years, if ever. Alternatively, they could contract with a vanity press for production that could cost them thousands of dollars. They

BooksApril 10, 2014

And the Dark Sacred NightBy Julia Glass (Pantheon)Julia Glass can really do geezers. Her sure hand with the voices and idiosyncrasies of older men is the strongest thing about “And the Dark Sacred Night,” the third in a trio of novels featuring gay Scottish bookseller Fenno McLeod. He debuted in Glass’ National Book Award-winning “Three Junes” (2002), then returned in “The Whole World Over” (2006), where he got a boyfriend, a bantering, nurturing Greenwich Village restaurant owner named Walter.N

BooksApril 10, 2014

The Age of Radiance: The Epic Rise and Dramatic Fall of the Atomic EraBy Craig Nelson (Scribner)There are few more mysterious and dangerous men in modern history than German nuclear scientist Werner Heisenberg, the man who could have given Adolf Hitler a nuclear bomb. That’s the joke behind the Heisenberg nickname for the mysterious science teacher/maniac meth cooker in “Breaking Bad.”The story that unfolds in Craig Nelson’s “The Age of Radiance” makes Walter White’s character seem laughably tam

BooksApril 10, 2014

Barbara Ehrenreich never meant to write a memoir.“It seems very self-involved,” she says by phone from her home in Arlington, Virginia. “I have anxiety about it.”That anxiety is heightened at the moment because her new book, “Living With a Wild God: A Nonbeliever‘s Search for the Truth About Everything” (Twelve, $26), is as personal a piece of writing as she has ever done, built around a journal from her teenage years that traces both a spiritual quest and a youthful mystical experience, each ha

BooksApril 10, 2014

After sweeping the North American box office with “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” Walt Disney Co. announced that “Captain America 3” would return on May 6, 2016, Reuters reported Monday. Numerous news reports focused mainly on the fact that “Captain America 3” was scheduled to be released on the same day as Warner Brothers’ sequel to “Man of Steel” -- a reworking of the Superman series.Based on DC Comics hero Superman, last year’s “Man of Steel”grossed $688 million. DC Comics seems to be

FilmApril 10, 2014

The year 2011 was a memorable period for Korea’s independent cinema. A number of films, such as Yoon Sung-hyun’s “Bleak Night,” Park Jung-bum’s “The Journals of Musan” and Min Yong-geun’s “Re-encounter,” enjoyed both critical and commercial success.The industry hopes to see such success repeated this year, as some of the most anticipated indie films are opening in theaters all at once this month. One of them is director Lee Su-jin’s local debut feature “Han Gong-ju,” which nabbed eight trophies

FilmApril 9, 2014

French sculptor Xavier Veilhan is holding his first exhibition in Korea, presenting life-size and miniature human figures along with architecture-inspired mobiles. His works have been exhibited in such prominent places as Versailles in 2009 and the Centre Georges Pompidou in 2004. His sculptures are displayed on the streets of New York, Lyon, Sweden and Seoul. One of his blue geometric human sculptures is on permanent display near the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His horse sculpture is part

PerformanceApril 9, 2014