Taco Pork Chops — One Last Meal Before the Boxes Close

Moving week. Not yet — the actual move is January 18, three days after Hana's birthday. But the packing has begun. Nine years in the Capitol Hill condo. Nine years of takeout menus and then recipes and then Jisoo's letters and then baby monitors. Nine years of becoming. The condo is where I became a person who cooks. The condo is where I met James and married James and made Hana. The condo is where Dr. Yoon's sentences live on my desk. The condo is the before-place, and the before-place is sacred even as I leave it.

I packed the kitchen last — because the kitchen is always last, because the kitchen is the hardest room to pack, because packing the kitchen means the cooking stops and when the cooking stops I lose my anchor. I packed the onggi pots in bubble wrap. I packed the cookbook shelf, book by book. I packed Jisoo's photo — the one of her hands making mandu. I packed Karen's cast iron skillet, which Karen gave me last year. I packed the Le Creuset Dutch oven, the first real piece of cookware I ever bought, the celebration piece from my Amazon promotion to SDE II in 2017, seven years and a lifetime ago.

James packed everything else with his usual efficiency. He labeled every box. He created a spreadsheet mapping boxes to rooms in the new house. He is a man who finds joy in logistics. I find joy in cooking. Together we are a person who can both organize and feed a household. This is why we work.

Hana does not understand moving. She walks through the condo pulling items out of boxes and examining them with her quality-control expression. She found a wooden spoon in the kitchen box and carried it around the apartment for three hours. The wooden spoon is now Hana's. She has claimed it. She walks with the spoon. She sleeps with the spoon. She has chosen her first tool and the tool is a kitchen tool and I am not going to read too much into this because she is eleven months old and wooden spoons are also excellent for banging on things, which is their primary function in Hana's world.

The recipe this week is the last meal in the Capitol Hill kitchen: kimchi jjigae, made with aged kimchi from the last batch I fermented here. The kimchi is ten weeks old — deeply sour, pungent, perfect for stew. I made the jjigae slowly, standing at the small electric stove for the last time, and I thought about the first time I made it here — years ago, alone, following a YouTube tutorial, burning the bottom of the pot. The jjigae is better now. I am better now. The condo made me better. The condo kitchen, small and imperfect and beloved, made me a cook. I owe it everything. I ate the jjigae at the counter. I washed the pot. I dried the pot. I packed the pot. I said goodbye.

The kimchi jjigae was the ceremonial goodbye — slow, intentional, earned. But the night before that, when half the spice rack was already in a box and Hana was banging her wooden spoon on the floor and James was labeling boxes in the living room, I needed something fast and punchy that didn’t require me to think too hard. Taco pork chops: one pan, bold seasoning, dinner in twenty minutes. Sometimes the meal that holds a memory isn’t the grand one — it’s the quiet Tuesday one, made in a kitchen that’s already halfway gone.

Taco Pork Chops

Prep Time: 5 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 20 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 4 bone-in or boneless pork chops (about 3/4 inch thick)
• 2 tablespoons taco seasoning (store-bought or homemade)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Optional toppings: sour cream, shredded cheddar, sliced jalapeños, salsa, fresh cilantro

Instructions

1. Season the chops. Pat pork chops dry with paper towels. In a small bowl, combine taco seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Rub the seasoning mixture evenly over both sides of each pork chop.
2. Heat the pan. Heat olive oil in a large cast iron or heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering, about 2 minutes.
3. Sear the chops. Add pork chops to the pan in a single layer. Sear undisturbed for 4–5 minutes until a deep golden crust forms. Flip and add butter to the pan.
4. Finish cooking. Cook the second side for 3–5 minutes, basting occasionally with the melted butter, until the internal temperature reaches 145°F. Adjust time slightly for thicker or thinner chops.
5. Rest and serve. Transfer chops to a plate and rest for 3 minutes before serving. Top with your choice of sour cream, shredded cheddar, salsa, jalapeños, or fresh cilantro.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 310 | Protein: 32g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 3g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 520mg