Adventures in Eating

Alright, so I guess I had a few people worried with my previous post....  Seriously guys, I'm OK.  No need to have some sort of intervention, where you fly over here and forcefully remove me from Asia (mom and dad, I know you were considering it).


I may have been a little bit dramatic.


I actually managed to make some fun friends (yay!) who I will write about more in a future post, cuz I just don't have the time right now (I have plans to go hang out with said friends).  But I did want to share a classic 'Julia Moment' from yesterday.  


So, myself and three other white people were hanging out in Seoul yesterday, in a neighborhood called Insadong.  Insadong is a huge market area with ceramics, paintings, jewelry, and food.  Lots and LOTS of food.  Street carts selling all kinds of fried pastries and meat stews  and all kinds of unidentifiable stuff.  If you've ever travelled with me (or probably, if you've ever spent any amount of time with me) you know how much I LOVE eating.  Luckily, my new friends share my enthusiasm for food!  So, we spent some time perusing the snack selection on the streets, and after getting our fill of that, decided that 'Yep!  We still have room for a full meal!"


So, we find a restaurant and order some sort of beef thing, which was awesome. It came with a million little side dishes (spicy seaweed, kimchi, pickled yellow radish, 'coleslaw', fish cakes, etc).  It also came with some full, raw peppers.  I thought they looked pretty spicy, so of course dared Stephen to try one.  He said, 'No way, but I double dog dare YOU to try one."  Which, of course, I couldn't refuse.  So the next time the waiter came over, I asked him if either of the two peppers (one red, one green) was spicy, and he told me that "no, actually sweet peppers. very delicious!"  


He walks away, and I proceed to take a huge bit out of the green one.  No more then five seconds later the waiter comes running back through the restaurant "Noooo!  I ask chef!  He say 'very hot! VERY HOT!' I soooo sorry!"  Yes. It is very, very hot.  In fact, my whole face and mouth and throat are a burning inferno of hot. The poor waiter felt so bad.  


Next time, I'll get a second opinion.