Foodie Adventure

I definitely don't consider myself a "foodie" (definition: a person with a particular interest in food) but when you are living in a foreign country you've got to get used to eating weird stuff.

Here are some of our experiences so far...

This is a typical Korean meal.  We ordered the large dishes, ramyon and bibimbap and yaki mandu, and all the smaller dishes come with the meal.  These small dishes, called banchan, usually consists of kimchi and other items.  Kimchi is usually made of cabbage but can also be made of other fermented vegetables like radish and cucumber.  It is pretty good.  But if you don't like spicy stuff then watch out!  This kimchi will make your scalp start sweating.

But wait a second.... that is that silvery thing in the middle??

Yikes!!!  Miniature fish!!
The Korean lady sitting next to me says, "It is anchovies.  It is good for health."
Blah!  Thanks, but no thanks.





Another fun story....


When Aaron and I eat out we look for restaurants with pictures on the menu so all we have to do it point and grunt and the waitress gets what we ask for.  On this trip to Pyeongtaek we found a restaurant with pictures on the windows outside the restaurant but unfortunately there were only a few pictures on the extensive menu.  When the waitress arrived, Aaron pointed at the only picture that looked like edible food.  The waitress didn't speak any English, which is expected, but she did give a good pantomime of 'spicy' as she stuck out her tough and fanned it with her hand.  We gave the thumbs-up sign indicating that is what we wanted.

Several minutes went by the waitress brought two small plates and a pair of gloves.  Gloves?  What are those for?  Another few minutes went by and the banchan was delivered followed by a plate of chicken wings covered in spices.  One lick of the spicy covered wings made my tongue and mouth start watering.  It was so firey hot that I couldn't even take a bite.  So that is what the gloves are for!  They are for protection against the hottest wings of all time.  If you aren't armed correctly these wings will knock you right out of your seat!

Aaron was up for the challenge.  He slipped on his gloves, filled his glass with water and went to battle.  He would eat, eat, eat.  As the coach I fed him water, wiped away the spice from his burning lips and mouth, gave him some advise before the break was over.  Then he would eat, eat, eat.  Just like a boxing match.

Though Aaron was only an amateur in the spicy-wings arena, he put up a very good fight and finished every bite. 


Aaron says, "It was painful going in.  And it was painful coming out."  What a pooper trooper!