Issue 11: Kimchi for Everyone! with Marissa Ferola
We are as different as all kinds of kimchi!
Hi KP!
Please welcome Marissa, the owner of Nine Winters Bakery where she explores and expresses her Komerican identity through Korean flavors. Think shinramyun-spam hotteok, gochujang sticky bun, soju cake with raspberry jam, and A LOT MORE. (This was very hard for me to write because I kept drooling over the images of pastries Marissa offers.) Marissa starts a new chapter for Nine Winters Bakery this year, leaving Bow Market (Somerville, MA) where she thrived, because she knew it was time for a change. I can’t wait to visit Nine Winters Bakery’s new home and finally eat their special hotteok with kimchi and mozzarella cheese! Enjoy the story and follow along on her journey.
Flavor of the Week: KP Q&A with Marissa Ferola
Marissa Ferola is the Founder and Owner of Nine Winters Bakery, a Korean-American Komerican concept that highlights Korean flavors and ingredients in American style pastry. All of the recipes in the shop were created with her two young daughters, Janine and Winter, as an exploration of Marissa’s identity as an adoptee and their Komerican heritage. Marissa learned confectionery and bread baking throughout her career and adulthood at local businesses in Greater Boston. When not working, chasing her kids, or tending to her cats, Marissa can be found playing games she should have played a long time ago (currently Fallout 4), trying to find the least sweet mocktail around, or listening to a podcast. You can find Marissa at ninewinters.com and on Instagram @ninewintersMA. Also, read about all kinds of hotteok she makes here, including kimchi-mozzarella hotteok!
Introduce yourself more personally in 2-3 sentences.
Hi! I'm Marissa: I'm the owner of Nine Winters Bakery. I love approachable food that bolsters high-quality ingredients. Make food fun!
Where are you from?
I'm in Watertown, a suburb of Boston. It's not quite a cul-de-sac life, but pretty close to it. Surprised how much I love it.
No, where are you REALLY from? (Haha!)
Ha! I was born in Incheon but adopted pretty much immediately and have no memories of Korea. I've been in Massachusetts for pretty much my whole life.
I definitely feel like I'm walking the tightrope of Korean, American, Komerican, all the time. It's usually a good feeling.
What’s your sign?
I'm stubborn, sometimes reckless, and have a lot of love for the things I love! Very much an Aries.
How would you describe yourself in five words?
From the people that know me best:
Community-oriented, Ambitious, Honest to a fault, Innovative, Goofball.
What do you love about being Komerican?
I love the exploration of it all. Being adopted, I have no true familial traditions so I'm creating them with my children now: it's an immense source of love and pride to celebrate where we come from and feel the camaraderie with our peers.
And of course, what are your favorite Korean foods?
Jjajangmyeon. Someone, tell me where the best is in Boston! I've been looking for years.
What was your childhood like and what has it taught you?
My childhood was pretty whitewashed if we're being honest. It wasn't until adulthood that I was really comfortable and uncomfortable enough to venture into Korean identity and see where I fit in. I never felt like I fit in anywhere, and it left me feeling lonely and alienated often.
Now that I'm a mom, I know that I can't protect my children from that experience all the time, but I can give them some answers and make sure they know their community uplifts them.
Can you share something exciting that you’re working on now?
I'm working on a project to help uplift adoptees in a more connected and impactful way: it's a little ways from launching, but I feel really good about helping adoptees feel more represented and giving them a platform to redirect the overall myth of adoption is a gift. For many, there's pain to process and we deserve to give that attention to adoptees.
What do people underestimate about you?
If I put my mind to it, I will not stop. I refuse to let go and I will get to my goal, for better or for worse!
Share your proudest moment in the past year.
Sounds weird, but the decision to walk away from my tiny shop at Bow Market in search for something bigger and independent. Really having the clarity of where I want my shop to go and that having a larger space can really be a community engagement center is something I'm proud of! It's scary to walk-away from a stripped down takeout bakeshop and redirect your dream far beyond sharing culture on a plate.
What was your hardest moment in the past year?
The same answer as above. The decision of not trying to have two locations was really hard: choosing when to go was hard, even if it's the right thing for the folks I want to support.
We’ve all been hurt in some form or fashion. What are you healing from?
A lot. Hah. Covid took a lot from all of us, learning how to gather again (or for the young ones, for the first time!) is an uncomfortable learning process.
Also, not to dump on it, but coming to terms with my adoption is an ongoing pain that just kind of lives with me now. An extra heap of han for me!
How do you love yourself?
Easy answer? Boba.
The harder one: I challenge my thought process and interactions with my environment pretty regularly. I'll be growing up forever.
How do you love others?
Through food, quality time, and little things.
What five things can you not live without?
My kids, my cats, Kaju spicy soondubu with clam, banchan, and my wife is pretty great, too.
What’s your favorite dance song?
I don't dance!
What’s your favorite kind of pie?
Dutch crumb top apple, no competition!
H Mart Happiness: What’s your favorite product and why?
“Hmart has tons of instant cup noodles to choose from and Kimchi Ramen is my favorite. It is packed with delicious real kimchi and ramen is perfectly spicy. Small size cup noodles are great for traveling.” - Angela J.
What’s your favorite H Mart product? Leave a comment and share the love!
Crispy Crust: A Touch of Jeong - Uplifting illustrations that delight
What’s your favorite kimchi? Mine is muchae, made with crunchy Korean daikon, mu. My mom always makes a big jar of it on the day I come home and visit Korea. It’s perfectly crunchy, spicy, and a little bit sweet. So delicious!
Love, Aram
Korean School: 김장 Kimjang, a communal activity of kimchi making
Fun facts, idioms, translations and history
As everyone knows, kimchi is indispensable at any and every Korean table. Sometimes restaurants become famous only for their delicious kimchi that comes out for free as one of banchans, and they will start selling kimchi separately for customers who want to take the delicious kimchi home. There are more than 100 kinds of kimchi and there’s a museum dedicated to kimchi in Seoul.
Despite Koreans’ undying love and devotion for kimchi, the culture of kimjang, making kimchi together in huge batches, is slowly disappearing. Kimjang used to be a common tradition where neighbors and families pick a day to spend together, dividing the huge amount of work to make a year’s worth of kimchi. As society gets more modernized and individualized, kimjang has become just a family event, if it even exists. Disappearing kimjang also might be a reflection of modern-day convenience, where you can buy delicious kimchi more easily than ever.
Sweet & Salty: A list of the tastiest treats satisfying all the senses
I recently purchased fun and beautiful animal alphabet posters from Etti Kim Studio, one in Korean and one in English for my nephew’s birthday. They were printed beautifully on nice heavy-weight papers, with gorgeous colors. Etti Kim Studio offers so many great posters, banners, and also collective elements for weddings, dol, and baekil - all important life events. Check their studio out! You will have a hard time walking away.
The exhibition Korean Treasures at LACMA in Los Angeles features 35 works donated by Chang family, the largest gift of Korean art in the museum’s history. The works include mid-20th century oil paintings both from North and South Korea, ceramics from the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties, andmore. I am not sure what the exhibition will be like, but the representative image for the exhibit Portrait of the Artist’s Daughter, 1957, by Kim Kwan-ho, alone makes me think that it will be worth the trip.
So much to love in this issue!!
❤️❤️❤️!