by Lisa Atkinson

I love learning from my new island home and my new friends. This week, I learned about the Korean cucumber. I had stopped by my favorite neighborhood fruit and vegetable stand (Josie’s on 24th in HPP) to look for persimmons (none that day, but she did get a box of beauties in a few days later). I bought some avocados, some beautiful lacinato kale, wing beans, and an end-of-season mango. Josie, who is always generous, gifted me a Korean cucumber. I hadn’t realized that there was such a thing, being more familiar with English, Japanese, and my mom’s favorite “Burp-less.”

Josie said local people use the Korean cucumber to make kimchi (or kimchee, or kim chee, I’m never certain which is correct). So I went home, gathered my favorite kimchi ingredients (including both shrimp paste AND ebi powder) and made cuke and daikon kimchi. Which I ate for breakfast today, because it is that good. Mahalo to Josie for introducing me to a new favorite vegetable!

Visit http://paradisehandpies.com/ to find out more about Lisa and all her delicious creations!