PARIS (AFP) - When Kris Van Assche was designing the new Dior menswear collection, he had a very specific person in mind, he told AFP Saturday as it debuted on the Paris catwalk.“It‘s a young Parisian who creates a skate park in the 800-square-meter apartment he lives in a (historic) Haussmannian building,” the Belgian designer said. Models wear creations as part of Dior men‘s Fall-Winter 2016-2017 fashion collection, presented in Paris, Saturday. (AP-Yonhap)　Mere mortals may wonder if such a pe

Savoring traditional Korean soju requires five steps, similar to wine tasting. You have to look at the color, smell the aroma, sip and hold it in the mouth for several seconds before letting it slide down the throat and enjoying the slowly spreading scent inside the nose and throat. “A good soju is soft and makes you smile,” said artisan Kim Taek-sang at his brewing studio at Samcheong-ro in Jongno, central Seoul. Kim, who was named Seoul Intangible Cultural Asset No. 8 in 1990, has carried on t

Drinking is almost a national sport in Korea, and soju takes a large chunk of the market.Soju is so popular that the fact that mineral water sales outpaced those of soju at one of Korea’s largest supermarket chains made headlines in 2015. Soju comes in many shapes and guises, ranging from the cheap but effective brands that cost about $1 a bottle at a supermarket to those produced using traditional methods with significantly higher price tags. Regardless of the quality of soju, “anju,” or food e

Christine Cho, a Korean-American expat in Seoul, has been eating and cooking her way around the world for 16 years as a private chef. -- Ed.The list is long as to what one should eat on Jejudo Island as a visitor, but it is a top culinary destination. Some of the most flavorful fruits and vegetables in the country grow on the island and it is prized for its Jeju black pigs and the abundance of seafood from the surrounding waters. Jeju black pig is a heritage breed indigenous to the island and pr

Non-profit publishing house Olje released the 17th set in its “Olje Classics” series Thursday, focusing on the art of writing.The four-book series includes “Classic of Poetry,” the oldest collection of Chinese poetry in existence, “The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons,” a treatise on Chinese literary aesthetics, Aristotle’s “Poetics,” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter.”According to Olje, these classic texts have been reinterpreted for the series. “Classic of Poetry” has been

‘Very Vary Berry’ at Banyan Banyan Tree Club & Spa Seoul is launching the “Very Vary Berry” dessert buffet at Chez Blanc, located on the lobby floor, until March 1. The buffet offers 19 different varieties of the hotel’s favorite sweets, Mont St. Clair’s desserts, with a seasonal strawberry flair. The list includes macarons with strawberry ganache, strawberry cream Mont Blancs, choux and éclairs filled with strawberry cream and cream cheese.The “Very Vary Berry” buffet is open Monday to Thursday

Dogye Station, a Steam LocomotiveKORAIL announced that the country’s sole switchback train will operate between Dogye Station in Samcheok, Gangwon Province, and High 1 Choochoo Park, the only mountain railway theme park in the country, from Jan. 9. A switchback refers to a zigzag railway in mountainous territory, which enables the train to run uphill. The train will depart Dogye Station twice a day, running for an hour toward its destination, High1 Choochoo Park located at the old Simpori Statio

Every Thursday evening, a group of 20 people gather at a hands-on food lab on the 10th floor of a quiet building in Jongno, central Seoul. The lab of Makgeolli School is clean, with five smooth countertops surrounded by barstools, and earthen pots and ingredients stacked against the walls. There are huge sinks for washing rice, pots for steaming it, huge earthen jars for fermentation, and smaller jars and bottles labeled with the names of herbs and medicinal ingredients for flavoring. Students h

Savoring traditional Korean soju requires five steps, similar to wine tasting. You have to look at the color, smell the aroma, sip and hold it in the mouth for several seconds before letting it slide down the throat and enjoying the slowly spreading scent inside the nose and throat. “A good soju is soft and makes you smile,” said artisan Kim Taek-sang at his brewing studio at Samcheong-ro in Jongno, central Seoul. Kim, who was named Seoul Intangible Cultural Asset No. 8 in 1990, has carried on t

Kwangjuyo CEO seeks to change paradigm, move the world with premium liquor

There’s an ancient folktale that tells the story of a monkey who blushed and smiled uncontrollably after gorging on a fermented apple he found on the ground. After a farmer noticed the monkey’s pleasant reaction to eating the old piece of fruit, he wondered if humans could enjoy the same blissful side effect, which led to the invention of alcohol. Visitors learn the history of traditional Korean liquor products at the Sansawon gallery in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province. (Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Heral

British author Val McDermid‘s thrilling novels about detective chief constable Carol Jordan and clinical psychologist Tony Hill continue to richly delve into the vagaries of modern crime and the psychological motives that propel people to do the unthinkable.　McDermid continues her high standards in her compelling ninth outing with Carol and Tony, whose personal and professional relationship take myriad detours. While “Splinter the Silence” excels as a gripping crime fiction, the novel also works

Late in ”A Hard and Heavy Thing,“ University of Wisconsin-Madison law student Matthew J. Hefti’s debut novel, Levi Hartwig is drinking with his dad in a bar, more than a year after returning from stints as a soldier in both Iraq and Afghanistan.　”We‘re all trying to boil down our meaningless experiences to fit this tiny little conventional, three-act, linear narrative,“ the disconsolate Levi says."A Hard and Heavy Thing" By Matthew J. Hefti (Tyrus Books)　Hefti -- who was raised in Wisconsin, ser

Aneurin Wright’s debut graphic novel, “Things to Do in a Retirement Home Trailer Park ... When You‘re 29 and Unemployed,” is a shape-shifting chimera stuffed between book covers; a comic that explains the nuances of emphysema and elder care, a meta-meditation on death, loss and coping mechanisms, a tale of father-and-son reconciliation in which the father is a curmudgeonly rhino and the son a headstrong -- and totally ripped -- spectacle-wearing Minotaur. It’s all at once heartbreakingly sad, vi