I learned a new Korean word recently: 시원하다. It is transliterated into English as siwon-hada. The version I’m more specifically interested in is: 시원한 맛 (siwonhan-mat). The literal translation is something like to be cool or, in the second configuration, to be cool-tasting. This can be applied literally as in: this watermelon is 시원한 맛 because it is literally cold and refreshing and it’s a hot summer day and it is providing a sense of relief and refuge. But 시원하다 has a broader meaning too.
It describes the taste of coolness that comes from not only having eaten something delicious, but being full and satiated, and also having eaten something well balanced and something that is digesting well. It is the taste of not only good food but of feeling good in your body after. Watermelon on a hot day is 시원하다, but so is a hot bubbling kimchi stew full of sweet slices of korean radish, tender slivers of squash, perfectly chewy rice cakes, and unctuous soft tofu. Eating it makes you feel alive and whole and better, and after, you are full but not uncomfortably so, and your body is humming at a peak capacity to turn calories into energy and fuel. Doing the work of becoming more of yourself.
시원하다. To taste cool. To taste refreshing. To taste… right.
DongWon Song has written an incredible essay on 시원하다 - transliterated as siwon-hada, or the taste of coolness. Their reflections on language, balance, and cooking to find 시원하다 in their own life make for a truly amazing read.
This essay is accompanied by DongWon's recipe for jjigae, a flexible Korean stew base that will help you find your way to 시원하다.
투수진이... 야수들도... 순위가 많이 밑에 있지만 한단계씩 올라... 이정후 코치... 허갱^^ 말 다 필요없잖아 그냥 다들 절실함이 오늘 처럼 이루어진다. 5연패가 얼마나 많은 내적갈능을 느꼈고 아픔이 더 많았을텐데 전원 한팀이 잘해야 이길수있는 야구. ❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥 10명이 뛰지만 뒤에 대기선수들 코치들 관계자들 2군선수와육성선수까지 왜 갑자기 이강철 코치때가 생각이 나네 ㅎㅎ지금은 몸 좀 제발 챙겨라! 그래서 김태형감독이 대단한거야^^ 다들 인정받고 있다. ㅎㅎ 내일도 열심히 해요 ㅎㅎ 파이팅입니다유~~~ 두산베어스♡ 오늘경기 감동이 야! #허경민 #만루홈런 #시원하다 #키움히어로즈 #5연패탈출 #허갱인생경기다. #7회말역전회 #이정후가없다 #두산베어스골수퀙퀙 (옥정 Gs제이드웰에서) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfrfaFjBsF6/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=