Happy New Year 2011 (Year of the Rabbit)

To ring in the New Year, I had a dinner with a student, a fine meal of fermented (see: rotten!) skate. It's an amphibious creature that resembles a cross between a stingray and a squid. They let the flesh rot for a certain amount of time, (obviously the longer the rotting period, the more pungent the smell and taste.) and then viola, a plate of rotten fish meat. Delicious!

To be honest, I waved my white tissue of surrender only half jokingly after about 7 slices of it. The smell is like ammonia, and the taste is like, well..there is nothing quite like that...I could easily see why some people would gag, retch, or even throw up trying to eat it. So chewy it takes forever and a day to swallow it, and it has very soft 'cartilige'-like bones that you can chew and swallow. All in all...not high on my list for next year....

And as an added bonus...after eating that, Jihye had warned me I would stink and she wouldn't kiss me. Turns out both could be true..although she is a trooper about the smooching. (I did have to shower, brush, and gargle before she would kiss me without flinching though) I met Jihye at about 10:30pm and gave her my surprise for us. A special bottle of O-meh-rak. A fairly new traditional brandy flavored with roasted plums. At 40%, it packs quite an alcoholic kick. But the COOL thing about this drink is the packaging. It comes in an earthenware pot that we must crack with a hammer in order to get at the actual bottle of liquor. I will post a few photos showing the fun we had...

Funny also to note that Jihye tap-tap-tapped around the top while Captain America here was smash-smash-smashing all about the sides and trying to destroy the earthenware vessel. Funny cultural note that she was so precise while I thought Hulk would have been a good philosophy on how to open things....

Anyways...Happy New Years to all who may read this post, and may you and yours find simple bliss along your days....

Love you guys,

M