Wine-pairing meal at Park Hyatt Seoul Park Hyatt Seoul will present a six-course Italian meal paired with Napa Valley Duckhorn wine on Jan. 24. The dinner will be prepared by three Italian chefs from Park Hyatt Seoul and other Hyatt-brand hotels. The set menu will start with Tongyang oyster seasoned with basil oil and Decoy Sonoma County Chardonnay (2012), and will continue with panzanella (a Tuscan salad of bread and tomatoes with olive oil) with big-eyed tuna carpaccio that will be served with

“Olje Classics,” a book series offering Asian and Western classics at an affordable price, recently printed its 13th installment. Published by local nonprofit organization Olje Foundation, the four-volume series includes two sacred texts of Taoism, “The Zhuangzi” and “The Liezi” ― which are titled after Chinese philosophers ― the Hindu scripture “The Bhagavad Gita” and the German classic novel “The Sorrow of Young Werther” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. “The Zhuangzi,” which dates back to the la

The First Bad Man By Miranda July (Scribner)The first sentence of Miranda July’s debut novel, “The First Bad Man,” suggests the almost surreal self-absorption of its problematic narrator: “I drove to the doctor’s office as if I was starring in a movie Phillip was watching.” Cheryl ― 43, single and childless ― has a crush on Phillip, a rich, aging hippie who sits on the board of the Los Angeles nonprofit where she works and lusts after a 16-year-old girl. She’s on her way to the doctor ― actually

The Unquiet Dead By Ausma Zehanat Khan (Minotaur Books) War atrocities reverberate for generations, affecting those who fought on the battlefield and the civilian victims who were collateral damage. Ausma Zehanat Khan’s gripping first novel tackles questions of identity, culture, revenge and war horrors in a strong police procedural. Using the massacre of Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995 during the Bosnian war as a backstory, Khan is careful not to overwhelm “The Unquiet Dead” with issues or politi

The Girl on the TrainBy Paula Hawkins(Riverhead Books)How many times have you been on a train and wondered about the people who live near the tracks and leave their curtains open so that passersby can watch them?That voyeuristic view of lives as seen from a distance echoes the themes of obsession, isolation and loneliness explored in “The Girl on the Train.” British journalist Paula Hawkins deftly imbues her debut psychological thriller with inventive twists and a shocking denouement.Rachel Wats

“Honeydew”By Edith Pearlman (Little, Brown and Co.)Edith Pearlman’s fiction is all about the ways we touch each other ― albeit not in the manner we expect. Sure, there are lovers in her stories: husbands and wives, young women and their feckless boyfriends, girls experiencing the first taste of something we might recognize as desire. The connection to which I’m referring, though, is different, involving a kind of witness, a space in which a secret is exposed.“The dialogue began in a confidential

In our image-bombarded world, one-of-a-kind creations are hard to find. Paintings and sculptures, maybe. But digital media ― smartphones, e-readers, tablets ― have made the world of words an infinitely expanding universe.Vashon Island bookmaker, artist and calligrapher Suzanne Moore has been swimming against this tide for most of her career. She makes manuscripts, lettering them by hand, illustrating them and then turning them over to her husband and an assistant to bind. Collectors buy them. So

‘Sense of community is secret behind CrossFit craze in Korea’

PARIS (AFP) ― Women want to settle down while men prefer to play the field, right? Not quite, said a study Wednesday that challenged long-held views of sexual selection.It turns out the dynamics of sex are partly driven by the law of supply and demand: a man’s fidelity depends to a large degree on the number of available women.“When women are rare, men respond by desiring long-term committed relationships with a single partner,” University of Utah anthropologist and study lead author Ryan Schach

Some like it hot, but when it comes to kitchen design, most of us don’t dare to boldly go where no one has gone before. A little edgy with backsplashes, maybe. A lime spatula or even a KitchenAid mixer in raspberry, why not? But an aqua fridge? Or a radiant orchid range? Seriously? Radiant Orchid may not suit your decor, but BlueStar ranges come in more than 750 color and finish choices. (BlueStar)Seriously. This is not for the design timid. This is about the anti-white kitchen, that classic tha

A group of expats and Koreans will look to involve more Koreans in expat drama with a community theater project in Gwangju.Unpuzzled Theatre Company, set up by British acting graduates Victoria Brown and Jamie Oliver-Jones, was set up in 2013 and has worked in Thailand and Korea, mostly on projects linked to English education. But they are looking to use their expertise for a final project in the wider community before leaving Korea in April.The organizers hope to create short 10-minute pieces a