Grilled Dinner

Finally, here are some pictures from the dinner I had last Friday.

We went to a restaurant I'd been to once before. The middle of the place has regular western chairs and tables with grills built in and big smoke sucker chimneys hanging down over each grill. There are individual rooms all around the edges of the restaurant and down one hallway as well, where you take of your shoes as you step up into the room, and then sit on cushions at a traditional low table. My boss looked over the menu and ordered some stuff. It's always a surprise to find out what I'm going to be eating, which is kind of fun - but can backfire if the waitress comes back with a heaping plate of chicken feet. Not this time, though.

Beef was on tap.

Here it is grilling up nice with some giant mushrooms and garlic. Both my boss and I agreed that the "samgyepsal" at this restaurant (pork) is more delicious, so after we gobbled up this meat, we ordered pork.


This is the first time I've eaten steak tartar in Korea. It was so attractively presented, and then it was all mixed together. Yummy! I especially loved the pine nuts, but didn't like how the sweet pickle and "lakyo" (shallot?) juices were running down into the center of the plate and messing with the taste of the dish.


Seasoned spinach and bean sprouts. Nice panchan.


Some more stuff, sesame oil and salt, and bean paste to dip the meat in, along with rice and a bowl of denjang jjighae which was brought out at the end of the meal. I was given the choice of this salty fermented bean paste stew or mool neng myun - chewy buckwheat noodles in a sour/hot/sweet cold broth. As it was, I was too full and could only manage a spoonful or two of rice and soup.

The aftermath.



Bear with me, folks. I'm trying to kick my butt into gear. I've been seriously unmotivated and uninspired these days. My two suitcases are still mocking me, lying exactly where I dropped them, and still half unpacked. I'm trying to pretend that I'm not experiencing some kind of burn-out, but I think I am. Ah well, the weather's cooling off which pleases me to no end, and I think maybe my mood will lighten with the sweeter temperatures. My friend told me tonight it's frickin hot in Tokyo, which I don't understand- as we're quite a bit further south! Today was gorgeous and tonight is downright chilly. I love that I have to go put on a pair of socks now.

So I have to go.
Put on socks.
Now.
Bye!