Museums & Galleries: Displaying Korea’s Past and Future(Seoul Selection)Art galleries and museums in Korea are relatively little known to the outside world ― at least when compared to the explosive popularity of K-pop. Yet many would be surprised to discover that the history of Korean museums dates back more than 100 years, and Korea now has 11 national museums nationwide ― unified by Seoul’s iconic National Museum of Korea completed in 2005.Korea Foundation and Seoul Selection’s newly released

Somewhere out there, there’s a version of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” where clerk Bob Cratchit takes an axe to his employer, Scrooge, steals his cashbox and escapes to the Bahamas without his family. The story has been reinterpreted time and time again in stage, screen, animation, book and probably ancient Greek.Now Batman (aka the Dark Knight) meets Charles Dickens in “Batman: Noel” a graphic novel by artist Lee Bermejo. (For those who read comics only irregularly, a graphic novel is a

Few writers are known for combining dark humor and environmentalism in their fiction; in fact, Lydia Millet may be the only member of that club. For her efforts, in the short story collection “Love in Infant Monkeys,” she was named a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize. “Ghost Lights,” her first book since then, is the middle novel of a trilogy that began with 2008’s “How the Dead Dream.”Literary trilogies may be hard to enter midstream, but Millet has made it easy for those not familiar with t

Haemul-kalguksu is a soup made with hand-style noodles and seafood. “Kalguksu” refers to noodles that are kneaded by hand then shredded with a knife. The broth for kalguksu varies according to the ingredients. Anchovy broth, chicken broth and beef broth are commonly used. Ingredients ● 2 cups wheat flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 egg, 1/4 cups water ● 2 tbsp wheat flour (additional flour) ● hand rolled noodles soup: 11 cups water, 50g radish, 30g anchovies, 10g dried shrimp, 20g kelps, 1/2 tsp clear soy sa

The Colli Orientali (eastern hills) of Friuli look right down into Slovenia. The vineyards there are some of the most prized in the region. You can see why when you taste this Sauvignon Blanc from producer Paolo Meroi, who cultivates his 34-acre vineyard organically. It’s rich, racy and pure. The 2009 has a bracing minerality, bright citrus flavors and a touch of lemon grass.Splurge on a bottle to drink with lobster or Dungeness crab. It’s a great match with smoked salmon or trout too, or gravla

LOS ANGELES ― The women ― in twos and threes and sixes _ are on a mission. Spot Michael Voltaggio, the famously tattooed winner of Season 6 of Bravo’s “Top Chef.” They linger at the door, waiting, hoping for a seat or a table.Sigh of relief. There he is, in the open kitchen of his new ― and long delayed ― restaurant Ink. No other restaurant in recent memory has set the blogosphere roiling in anticipation as much as this one. Voltaggio has some 126,000 followers on Twitter as of this writing and,

PARIS (AFP) ― A heroic draw against Udinese in Italy was not enough for Celtic to qualify for the Europa League knockout stages on Thursday while Birmingham City joined Tottenham Hotspur in going out despite winning their final group game.Despite having won just once on their travels in Europe in more than eight years, Celtic needed to beat the Serie A high-fliers in north-eastern Italy to go through from Group I at their hosts’ expense.It looked like they might just achieve a memorable result a

To her nine U.S. and five world championships, Michelle Kwan can now add the title of Hall of Famer.The most decorated figure skater in American history, Kwan was elected to the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame on Thursday, the only selection for the class of 2012. That seems fitting considering how Kwan soared above the competition during her career.“It seems like I have come full circle,” Kwan said. “From my first nationals to now being elected to the Hall of Fame, it has been amazing.”Kwan ha

Merger with progressive groups ends three-year history of main oppositionThe main opposition Democratic Party was officially reborn as the new Democratic Unified Party in an attempt to prosper in next year’s general and presidential elections.The joint merger committee resolved Friday to start the new party, which will embrace the DP, the Citizen Integration Party and the Korean Federation of Trade Unions.The consolidation of the DP and the CIP, which mostly consists of those loyal to the late P