I’ve been extra busy these days because I’m preparing for an upcoming event in Chicago called Eat for North Korea. It’s hosted by Crossing Borders, an organization that provides aid to North Korean refugees who have escaped into China and are being hunted down, arrested, trafficked, and sent back to North Korea to inevitably be held in prison camps and executed. I have the privilege to help in some small way just by cooking!
The event will be held on July 16th 2015 from 7-10pm at Kitchen Chicago 324 N. Leavitt Chicago, IL 60612 and the cost is $35 per guest. All you have to do is come and eat Korean-inspired food from a few Chicago based chefs, including yours truly. Space is limited and you must pre-order your tickets to enter. The best part is that 100% of the proceeds from ticket sales will go directly to helping the North Korean refugees! You can get your tickets HERE.
Donny Ju from Dak restaurant will be there with three dishes off of his menu. And my friend Chef James Park and I have developed a menu of 3 different dishes together. We call it New American-Korean Cuisine. We will also be receiving assistance from Chef Dan Song on the day of the event. I’m excited to cook amongst other chefs again and it’s been really fun collaborating and brainstorming together.
So over 4th of July weekend, James and I got together in my little kitchen and tested all our recipes. A few weeks back, we sat at Barnes & Noble to bounce off ideas and scribble possible plating options on a scrap of paper. We then walked through the Korean market to glean more inspiration from the ingredients there. Before last weekend, all our ideas and flavor pairings were just theories. But after we tested and tasted everything, I couldn’t be more proud!
We also discussed at length what exact plates and vessels we wanted to use for each dish, and we made sure to order them ourselves. They’re sitting in my living room in boxes taking up way too much space as I write this. We all had a good laugh about how tiny one of the dishes looked, but don’t worry because the plates get bigger, and I assure you that you will leave full!
We cooked through the night and early the next morning. And with the help of Joe keeping things real and saying things like, “you need to add more meat,” or “that looks too skimpy,” we got it all done! Everything went pretty smoothly until James banged his head against an open cabinet door and I dropped my expensive pepper mill in oil and thought it broke forever! But James and Joe took turns taking it apart and trying to fix it and it eventually got restored! Oh and James is okay too.
I think the best part of our recipe testing bonanza was the fact that we worked well as a team and every single plate was a true collaboration. Because I’m a YouTube chef, I’m always cooking alone. And sometimes it’s refreshing to get back into the kitchen and cook for “real people” again.
We even shot a vlog of our process and we’ll share that with you after the event. I don’t want to give away too much right now because I want to save some of the surprises for the people attending the event. So if you’re in the Chicago area, consider coming out to Eat for North Korea. All you have to do is EAT to make a difference!
I’ve known one of the Co-founders of Crossing Borders for some time now…ever since we lived in New York, and I was so honored he thought of me and asked me to participate. I’m nervous, excited, exhausted, and exhilarated. I can’t wait to see some of you there, and I’m looking forward to you tasting our food. Okay… in the meantime, back to shooting more videos!
For more information on the event go here: Eat for North Korea Chicago
