Our Alex talks about his Spoon book again :) and from the sound of it, he seems very well pleased of the outcome. Bravo!

Singer Alex and his published “Alex’s Spoon” personalized book

We asked him about his book and his feeling about it, now that the book – or should I say, a collection of his essays – is published, his answer was, “I’m satisfied. Quite satisfying. Honestly I think it came out better than I originally thought it would be.”

During the interview, his smile was there while talking about this personalized book of memories, one that sometimes still haunts him until today. Memories of his childhood, of his mom’s cooking, the bitterness after his girlfriend (possibly his first love) broke up with him, and how he was in tears after that. Drown in sorrow, while gulping bottles of beers… memories of him eating spicy octopus, complete with runny nose from the spicy taste, and how he remembers the best Tonkatsu he has ever eaten with his older brother. Each and every special memories that he shared are in this special book.

Clazziquai main-front singer, Alex (real name: Chu Heon Gon, age: 30) has been officially transformed into a writer. In “Alex’s Book”, his memories of the past 30 years have been recorded in this book, to show the real side of him, before becoming a singer, or an MC, a host, and a public-eye.

“After 2 years, I think I’m ready for this. In agreement, after I finished my contract with MBC ‘We Got Married’, after my solo album, after being a radio DJ, the time to publish my book has finally came about.”

Alex and his family moved to Canada, and he continued his education there starting from junior high school. According to him, good writings can’t be learned only from school, but also self-study and how to impact people from writings can be challenging. His book had to undergo 4-5 editing times before it went into the finalizing period.

“The hardest part was to find the right representative words in Korean. Some words just don’t conjure up the way I meant them to be. And to right a book can be as quite challenging especially when I need to be able to write a short passage followed by a lengthy article… it was quite a learning experience for me.”

When picking out about what to write, some people suggested him to write about maybe a cookbook, since he loves to cook. He often cooked on TV, while showing his charming smile and to show off some sushi-making tricks. Thus, “Alex’s Spoon” won’t be just about cooking, or memories, but also some traveler’s ideas along with pictures, kind advices about relationships and other ‘life’ variety stuffs are included.

“I have stood on my left and right side, and also did a lot of panicking situation at some points of my life. I wish I could write a story about how this man who has turned 30 years ago, about his biography of life… with the same feeling that was there along the way… not only putting upfront all the ’side dishes’ as the focus of my intention. It was hard to keep focus on what’s more important with a proper way to say it in writings.”

“Alex’s Spoon” is indeed a gorgeous title for a book with such great personalized stories, as Alex’s stories slowly gain sympathy from his readers.

An interesting write-up about our Alex and his new book, “Alex’s Spoon” came up a few days ago. 

Though the writer didn’t dig deeper, but I think he covered pretty much the basic idea of what we can expect from Alex’s new smashing (I-hope-to-be-best-seller!) book . Nonetheless, this article definitely deserves a blog post ;)

(many thanks teddydoobie for the link ♥)

Pop singer Alex recently published his book, “Alex’s Spoon,” which includes his own experiences and memories associated with food.

October 15, 2009

A lifetime of memories, recalled through food

By Choi Seung-shik

Whenever Chu Heon-gon, a member of the Korean pop group Clazziquai who goes by the name Alex, hears the word “nakji-bokeum”, it reminds him of the time he broke up with his girlfriend.

The 31-year-old can still vividly recall the tears streaming down his face while he finished the spicy dish of pan-broiled octopus and red pepper. However, the word “castella”, a type of sponge cake, will always remind him of his mother, as he often ate the sweet and moist cake as a child while waiting for her to come home from work.

The singer details these and other past experiences and memories associated with food in his recently published book, “Alex’s Spoon.” While he’s usually known for crooning to his fans on the stage, he’s no stranger to the kitchen. Fans had a chance to see a new side of Alex when he cooked on the celebrity reality show “We Got Married.”

His relationship with food and cooking started much earlier on, though. After his family emigrated from Korea to Canada, he trained part-time as a chef at a Japanese restaurant, marking the start of his love affair with food.

“I had cuts on the top of my hand after I tried learning how to slice tuna fish properly, but I also got to learn how to run a restaurant,” Alex said. “At the time, I had plans to marry my girlfriend, so I worked even harder.”

His efforts paid off when a food critic from a Canadian newspaper focused more on Alex’s very own misoshiru (a variation on miso soup) than the restaurant’s sushi and other main dishes.

But he soon decided to move in a different direction, though his work ethic remained. Alex parted ways with his girlfriend and was then encouraged by his sister, who was an original member of Clazziquai, to join the group. So he returned to Korea in 2001 and did just that.

Clazziquai has released numerous albums in Korea and Japan and went from being an underground musical gem to super stardom after their hit single “She Is,” which was featured on the popular Korean TV series “My Lovely Sam-soon.”

Alex said one of his concerns is that some people judge him solely by his appearance without realizing that he actually worked numerous part-time jobs in the past and had to put in a significant amount of effort to get where he is today. These people are quick to peg him as a “rich boy who has always led an easy life,” he said. Writing the book is one of the ways he chose to help shed that image.

“I’m the type of person who prefers blood-sausage soup and rice and pork broth rather than wine and pasta,” Alex said. “I wanted to show who I really am by writing this book.”

His book includes original photographs, secret recipes and information on some of his favorite restaurants.

“Eating a meal with someone is so important and meaningful,” he said. “You can easily bond by eating food with complete strangers and become good friends. Food brings people closer together, so I hope my book will help people enjoy their lives and what they eat.”

(Reference)

Wow, this is another nice surprise! Dude, what can’t this man do? He seems to grab it all from singing, cooking, hosting… and now he writes too! ♥ and who would’ve thought that he’d ventured in as a food writer, or as writer in general? Though he is indeed a romantic guy in some way or another, but to let his fans know more about his personality through a book is brilliant! Who wouldn’t want to get a dip on his personal life through his writings? I know I am! ^_^ Wooot wooot~~

Alex’s new book “Alex’s Spoon” will be published on Wednesday

In his newly published book, “Alex’s Spoon”, Alex talks about his mom, older sister and his ‘hyung’ (older brother – Alex is the baby), including some childhood memories, stories he never talked about on television/radio before, his passion about music and of course, his love for cooking and foods. As well-known as the “Romantic Guy” in Korea, this book will speak his romantic stories and secret ‘ingredients’ from the romantic guy himself, something that we’ve never get a dip on it before. This is the book to learn more about Alex, in all of his dimensions – as an artist, a cook, a (romantic) guy, a son, a friend.

In addition to all those exciting stuffs, the book will also include his photo essays that usually published through his Naver blog. These photos are Alex’s creations, something that came from his artistic view as the photographer.

Some of us know from reading the news and/or watching him on TV, that Alex is passionate about his music, as well as his family. Through “Alex’s Sppon”, Alex will give out his secret ingredients for the recipe he loves, as well as restaurant recommendation, cooking tips and other interesting scoops from Alex’s experience. The book is scheduled to be released for public on Sept 23. (Meaning: book promo is on its way, woot!! ^_^) Congrats Alex! ♥♥♥