Danmuji
The recipe calls for water, rice vinegar, sugar, turmeric, and, of course, sliced daikon – a hybrid of a carrot and a rolling pin. The turmeric was unexpected, but will give the danmuji its signature neon yellow color and allow “quick pickling.” Okay. I boil the mixture and feel like a fraud in my concrete kitchen in a Lego-house condo in an East Austin development that has its own logo and economics-themed street names. I peek through mini blinds at a smug corgi mix trotting up Stock Avenue on a cheetah-print retractable leash. I am not a streetside eatery with white tiles, orange tabletops, little blue stools. I do not have a giant rice cooker or plastic-wrapped counter dedicated to kimbap construction. My streets are wide and my sidewalk is even. But the pickling juice is boiling, ready. I pour it over the radish slices in an open Tupperware. It sloshes and settles. The steam makes the container feel just a little too malleable. It’s fine. I place it in the fridge next to the pasta sauce and leave a dusting of turmeric on the cutting board, a trail exposing my attempt, and sit, mouth half watering, half waiting to get caught. Jenna Jaco is a 2015-2016 ETA at Changpyeong High School in Jeollanam-do.