Eat, Drink and be Merry

First off, here's a random picture I took some random time in the past. It's taken from the north end of our campus, and about a fifteen minute walk down that road is the main gate of the university. Neither my house, nor my classrooms are anywhere near this vantage point.


Now then, getting back to food! Today was yet another culinary first! As some of you know, I've been teaching conversational English to a handful of professors for the better part of this year. About once a month we go out for coffee, lunch or dinner. Today it was for lunch, and the special dish was blowfish soup (복국). Yep, that's the fish that inflates into a spikey ball if it's disturbed, and the same fish that carries a pocket of deadly poison within its body (I know many of you have seen that Simpson's episode~!). Apparently those that prepare this fish require a special certification, which seems to make good sense.

So here's a picture of my current professor-students, from left: Professor Kim, Professor Park, Professor Kim and Professor Jung (Professor Kim couldn't make it today). You can see how the prevalence of certain last names in Korea can make things a little confusing at times.
You might also observe that we seem to be seated in a tiny room, at tables with tiny legs. These are two characteristics of Korean eating style. Often a restaurant (as in the case of the blowfish soup restaurant) is in fact a house, and divided into many smaller rooms. This gives a weird blend of intimacy and whatever the opposite of intimacy is. For example, if it's just you and your pals in a small room, it can create a great feeling of having a private party. However if your group is small, and another small group comes and sits very near you in a small room, it can feel a little strange at first. As far as the little tables go, much to the chagrin of chair-bound westerners, Koreans are a traditionally floor-sitting people. Nowadays of course there are equally as many restaurants with a chair area in addition to the floor area, or only chairs.


After lunch I headed over to the local Mega Mart to pick up a few things. As I passed by the liquor section (of course there's liqour in the grocery store, you stodgy Ontarians!) I was feeling adventurous and picked up a bottle of this stuff. Actually two bottles, as there was a two-for-one special today. If you look very closely it says 'WILD MOUNTAIN GINSENG WINE' at the upper left. Ginseng is a big thing over here, and though I don't regularly ingest the stuff, I find ginseng flavoured alcohols to be quite tasty. I liked the look of this bottle - a cross between medicinal and rustic peasant chique. Any guesses on the flavour? Well, distinctive ginseng notes with predominantly damp, musky forest overtones and a sweet aftertaste. Wow perhaps I should consider writing regular reviews of strange Korean liquors that come in small bottles - there certainly are plenty available!