Oh, the food

(Sorry, no photos as blogger is being uncooperative..)

Long days, meetings, meetings, parties, tired. Trust me when i say that "parties" are not generally as fun as they sound. Parties are just another just-as-tiring event where you meet and schmooze people and you know how exhausting that can be. Not to mention the fact that I've just about had enough of cold, crappy free party food too. Yuck. The upside is that I've been able to catch up and hang out with a few friends from LA whom I haven't seen in a while.

Now, the food... my food adventures in Korea continue. Last night a few of us ventured to a seafood restaurant by the beachfront (since Pusan is supposedly known for its seafood). We ordered raw fish, and bbq shellfish. Our mistake was sitting next to the tank. They pull out a poor fish into a bucket, as well as a squid. And you watch your dinner squirm, thrash and gasp its final breaths before being taken inside to be prepared for you to eat 10 minutes later. Did you know that squid wheeze really loudly when they are gasping for breath? Yes, it is just as grotesque as it sounds.

I also learned that raw squid, even after it's been chopped into little pieces, continues to MOVE for well over an hour. I couldn't stop staring at it after I found out. The pieces sort of contract and its surface moves continuously. I'm talking about a roughly one-inch CHOPPED UP piece of squid! I was told that raw octopus is worse and that its suction cups will actually fight you when you put it in your mouth. Ohhh.... I did not eat the raw squid. Not the part that moved anyway.

I found Korean seafood (raw and cooked) to be generally tougher and chewier than I am used to. Since I have no point of reference, I don't know if this is the way it usually is, or just the way this restaurant did it. I suspect the former, though.

Now, lunch today. Went out with friends Joan and Grace and Grace can speak Korean - yay! She brought us to a nice, authentic Korean bbq place where we took our shoes off, sat down and ate some great kalbi, bacon (which you wrap in vegetable leaves and eat) and spicy bacon kalbi (I think). Yum. Koreans sure do know how to bbq their meat!