I went to lunch with Tarita today at our new favorite "American" spot, Krayzee burger. This is the 4th time in 2 months, but this burger might just be the best Ive had, period. It has: Bacon. Cheese. Angus beef. Cream cheese sauce. Honey barbecue sauce. Lettuce. Tomato. An Onion ring. And a WHEAT bun (its amazing how you miss the simple things the most, like wheat bread)! But in short, its fantabulistic. Its like 9 dollars a burger, with no sides, but its worth it. After that, we went to Emart just to grab some things. Well, I only grabbed food samples and also quickly learned to be grateful that the 2 major stores by my house (Home Plus and E-Mart) dont have nearly as many items and cooked food selections as the ones nearer to Tarita. That would NOT be good for my weight loss efforts (im down about 30lbs since I arrived here).
So Tarita and I go our separate ways, she was taking the bus to her side of town, I was taking the subway to mine. I stopped at the corner store near my house to buy a bag of clementines, my new favorite snack, and I ran into my landlords son. "We are having, um, a barbecue celebration, you will come." Not a question. A statement. So I'm like, "Ok..." and was then forced to drop off my bag of oranges and walk across the hall to my landlords.
Now, I did this for Chusok, the last major holiday in Korea (I got suckered into that too lol, it was still a nice gesture) but this time the WHOLE family was there. I'm talkin aunts, uncles, cousins, grandpa, grand babies, the whole nine. Sitting on the floor. Around spread newspaper. And personal electric grills. With a ton of meat that looks like bacon. But tastes like salt pork. And there is kimchee. And rice. And other sides. And 20 bottles of soju. And chopsticks. And my black behind. Cross-legged. At the end of the newspaper "table" [that was used to catch flying baconish-meat-grease-spatter]. Being stared at. And spoken to. In Korean.
So as soon as I take my uncomfortable seat, Im being force-fed food...like meat was being piled into my bowl. I was being poured soju shots by my landlady, as her son said "it is a way to get to be friendly with each other." I bet, lets all get drunk and frolic and play. Uncle at the end was already beet red when I got there, but here he goes offering up another toast, and here I go, not trying to break custom or tradition and downing my 5th. So now I'm 5 pork rolls (you take a piece of the pork, wrap it in a nappa cabbage leaf, add a spiced green onion string slaw and a sweet and spicy sauce, roll it up and cram it in your mouth) in, and already full as, well, a pot bellied pig because I had just DEMOLISHED a K. Onion burger and a half order of chili-cheese fries from Krayzee burger. And I'm forced to keep eating.
"Oh, eat this, it is good for your health" says my landlady's son, and"Oh, eat that, it is made to help blah blah blah" and I eat all the stuff. "Oh eat this raw pepper because BLAH", is coming from my left. And on my right "sgjretlkgnerglknbklnglkeg skdngerlgn lkgjekjkg wngggb ," is coming from my landlady on the right. And what do I do? Smile, nod, and stuff more food in my face. But they are really nice, and I do enjoy the fact that they want to share their culture, family, and food with me. I just hope that next time, they ask me if I have eaten before they fatten me up and get me drunk. But hey, its one experience I can pretty much bet no one I know has had. Happy holidays! =)
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