If you know Rain, BoA (shown left), and Sistar, then you already know K-Pop, Korea’s contemporary pop music and its artists.

K-Pop music is one of the fastest growing music genres in the world, and along with Korea’s popular TV drama serials, films and comic books are a growing source of export revenue for Korea.  

The growing global fan base of Korea's entertainment and cultural offerings, known as "Hallyu" or the "Korean Wave" feels more like a tidal wave in some countries. In France, for example, fans mostly in their youth sold out a concert in Paris reportedly in fifteen minutes. Several hundred fans who missed out on tickets held a rally and danced to K-Pop music in front of the Louvre Museum campaigning for a second concert. They got their wish for a second concert which also sold out in minutes. Aflash mob as witnessed by this YouTube video shows hundreds of fans from all ethnicities crowding the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris last June, 2011 to welcome their favorite K-Pop artists. (image right)

On December 31, 2011 Korea's Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Choe Kwang-shik announced a 2012 policy to expand support of Hallyu, to help keep the wave of Korean pop culture surging across its borders. The Korean government also hopes to attract more Hallyu fans into the areas of food, tourism, fashion and other cultural and entertainment offerings.

Leaders from Hollywood and S. Korea’s entertainment industry and academia convened in...

THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON

begins January 23, 2012 with observances that continue 15 days.

The Dragon is considered by many to be the most auspicous year
in the twelve year cycle of the Chinese zodiac.

Go out and bring in the new year!

Read author and Feng Shui expert Angi Ma Wong's predictions here. 

Here are just a sample of the many events celebrating the Year of the Dragon around the country, from the San Francisco Bay Area to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Monterey Park, CA, New York City, Flushing, Queens, Vancouver, Portland, Oregon, Richmond, British Columbia, Toronto, Washington DC, Milpitas, Fremont, Palo Alto, Campbell, San Jose, Foster City, Redwood City, Saratoga, Cupertino, Newark, CA, San Bruno, and beyond! 

(Compiled from news sources around the country. Please confirm all dates, times and locations independently if you plan to attend any of these events.
Dragon photo by Lia Chang.)

SAN FRANCISCO:

Jan 14-15: San Francisco Flower Market Fair and Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony 

The Chinese New Year Flower Fair is held on the weekend before Chinese New Year Day. The Flower Fair is the place to come to purchase fresh flowers, fruits, candy and other new supplies for the home to begin the new year. At the main stage on Washington Street below Grant, the Mayor will join honored guests in officially opening the Festival with a ribbon cutting ceremony. (Estimated time for ribbon cutting ceremony 10:45 a.m.)  

Jan. 29: Free...

From April 1 to 29, Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) celebrates Hanami, the Japanese cultural tradition of experiencing each moment of the cherry blossom season, from the first buds to the full canopy to the multitudes of falling blossoms blanketing the ground.

Cherry Blossoms at Brooklyn Botanic Garden (Photo by Lia Chang)

In Japan, long-established customs associated with Hanami include strolling among the trees and capturing falling cherry petals in open palms. Brooklyn Botanic Garden is the United States’ finest site to experience Hanami, with more Japanese flowering cherries in one place, and a more diverse collection of cherry cultivars, than anywhere in the world outside Japan.

Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden: weeping Higan cherry, Prunus subhirtella ‘Pendula’. (Photo by Lia Chang)

During the Hanami season, visitors to BBG can enjoy several highlights inspired by its collection of over 220 flowering cherry trees:

Free Hanami tours (Saturdays and Sundays at 3 p.m.) focusing on BBG’s Japanese plant collections and specialty gardens, including the cherries, the C.V. Starr Bonsai Museum, and the Tree Peony Collection.
• Meet the Curator session with Chris Roddick, senior arborist
• Selection of special Japanese menu items at BBG’s Zagat-rated Terrace Café
• The Hanami Collection at BBG’s Gift Shop (both on-site and online atshop.bbg.org), featuring handpicked items inspired by the Garden’s blossoms and Japanese aesthetics

Cherry Esplanade (Photo by...

September 21, 2012

Los Angeles

In life, its sometimes having the luck of perfect timing that counts!

Mike Kai was on a flight today to LAX when the captain of his aircraft announces he is diverting his plane to make way for Endeavour's historic arrival.

Mike could see Endeavour on the back of a Boeing 747 right outside his plane window. 

As soon as Mike lands, he runs and jumps into a cab and asks the driver to take him to the South runway to watch Endeavour arrive.

Mike shoots this 32 second video just in time as Endeavour lands! 

October, 2012

This month food blogger and recent law school grad Sarah Woo shares the many tastes and sights as she travels through Spain. Here are her photos of some of her most memorable meals so far.

For her full story on her food adventures in Spain go to her delicious food blog at www.winnercelebrationparty.com 

Excerpts from Sarah's blog: "I watched carefully as Oscar, the owner and my waiter, held a kettle of mint tea high in the air, pouring the tea into a glass, pouring the tea back into the kettle,

and repeating the process several times. Para mezclar, he said."

"I dropped into a chair in a nondescript place where a few Spanish men were chatting with the female owner behind the bar. She walked me over to the bar and showed me some of the hot tapas available: Albondigas, mushrooms, pork in tomato sauce. I got it all, with some cheap white wine. It was a perfect meal-the closest I’ve felt to “homemade” since coming to Spain."

 The best albondigas dish Sarah had ever tasted was at this Tapas bar in Spain. A perfect meal on a rainy day.

 For more of Sarah's travels in Spain go to her official website: www.winnercelebrationparty.com
 Sarah also is a contributing food writer for www.seriouseats.com

Hot Mint Tea with Fresh Mint in Arcos, Spain  Photo by Sarah Woo 

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