I'm Not Afraid of Kim Chee...

...anymore. Who would have thought that it would take a trip to Japan to take a liking to Korean kim chee? Not I. It used to scare me. I neglect to eat anything with cabbage, especially fermented cabbage. At home, I wouldn't eat the salads made of cabbage or (even worse) iceberg lettuce that came with many of my favorite entrées at Japanese restaurants. My fear has ceased to exist in Japan.

One of my favorite lunches is rice with an umeboshi (pickled plum) and kim chee and a fried egg each on separate plates. Everything comes on or in its own dish in Japan, so I'll plate everything separately when I cook to be consistent. Umeboshi is good for the liver and kim chee is good for the digestive tract.

I'm still afraid of sauerkraut though.