kimchi...I'm thinking it's one of those things you either love..or hate.

This recipe looks good, too.
(This is not my photo)

My coworker made kimchi and brought some in to share with me. She made it with cucumbers as opposed to cabbage and it is g-o-o-o-d. She also makes it with cabbage and it is g-o-o-o-d, too.

Then later that day I was catching up on a favorite blog...and the blogger shared a link to a blog she'd recently come across...so I clicked over to the other blog...and he'd made kimchi. And it had been a long while since I visited this blog...and would you believe it, it's on the day that she makes kimchi? (Did you follow that?)

I've been wanting to make kimchi for a long time. It was on my summer to-do list...one of a list of things that did not get done, by the way. I took a fermentation class a few summer's ago and we made kombucha and kimchi. I was so excited to be taking the class and to be learning things I'd wanted to learn for so long. When the class was over I headed home with my baby skoby (for the kombucha) and a small jar of kimchi. We were instructed to let it sit on the counter for however many days and then it would be ready.

Unfortunately, over the course of a few days my kimchi turned a weird color...a sort of yellowy tan color, it looked somewhat jaundiced. I didn't feel good about it so I threw it away.

And that was the extent of my fermentation experience. I guess I got a little nervous about it...and probably discouraged. (And then I ended up getting a job so any fantasy of a simple, DIY life went down the drain.)

But anyway....I love kimchi. I have since I was a little girl. When I would stay with Noni and Papa for a week or two during the summer Noni would buy a jar of it and we'd sit and eat it together, the spicier the better. Mom would buy it now and again, too...I loved it.

I went to the Asian market a few weeks ago to buy a jar of gochujang. I had looked up a recipe for kimchi and this particular recipe called for it. But once I got to the store, and saw all of the different choices of kimchi paste and kimchi mix and gochujang, I got overwhelmed and instead, headed to the refrigerator section and bought a jar of prepared kimchi (the same brand Noni used to buy) and headed home. Done. No muss, no fuss.

Yes, while buying a jar of kimchi is much easier, I still can't help but want to make my own. There's just something about making it myself...I just gotta do it one of these days. Not to mention, not only does it taste good, but it is also good for you. Because it is fermented it has all sorts of health benefits.

How about you? Do you love kimchi? Or do you hate it?