Kimchee, lesson 1

As you all remember from my last post, I'm making kimchee to help me experience other cultures since at this rate I won't be financially capable of walking down the street in the next 20 years. My Napa cabbage is resting in salted water, as instructed, for 48 hours. I also have some mangoes that I'm trying to ripen in a paper bag which produces a myriad of fruit flies and 4 unripened mangoes. My thought last night was that I should cover the bowl with a kitchen towel in case those pesky flies decided to take a dip. Well, I also have a cold so my brain isn't working at light speed. Twelve hours later I don't have any fruit flies in the bowl of cabbage, but about an inch of water wicked its way out of the bowl via the towel and spread all over my bills which had to be dried like delicate laundry next to my heater before I could mail them. Touche, Korea. Cleaning up was an adventure too, since I've lost my equilibrium and can barely stand up straight without feeling like I'm in the spin cycle of a washer. At least if my kimchee comes out horribly I won't be able to taste it because of my cold!