Minyoung Lee is a writer based in San Francisco, CA. Born in Seoul, South Korea, Minyoung also lived in New Zealand, Israel, and six different US States. She shares her home with Matisse, an elderly calico cat from Texas. Her website is https://myleeis.com/.
When the San Francisco Bay Area shelter-in-place order was announced to limit the spread of COVID-19, I decided to make dakjuk. Despite the grocery store already emptying out from panic buying, I was able to buy the last available whole chicken, the main ingredient for this Korean chicken rice porridge. For several hours, I boiled the precious chicken with leeks, onions and a few heads of garlic until the chicken fell apart. The broth creamy white, the kitchen fragrant with cooked garlic, I took the chicken out of the pot. The bones, or what was left of them, went into my compost bin.