Food!

I just swam and am therefore very hungry. I should probably be reading papers about E. coli, but instead, I want to tell you about five of my favorite food experiences! In no particular order:

1. The dumpling bar in Seoul S. Korea: After much walking up and down of the busy "food street" as my dad and I called it (my dad didn't trust any place that wasn't packed, so me made me go peep in the windows and report back on the number and general distribution of the patrons inside) we settled at the dumpling bar. We quickly found out the the adorable tea pots on the table were in fact broth pots! Getting salty soup stock when you expect tea is unsettling to say the least. Since I have a very limited Korean vocabulary and my dad could order beer successfully one in three times, we pointed to pictures on the menu and hoped for the best. It was awesome! Some many different HUGE dumplings, all equally delicious, with the convenience of broth in an adorable pot, right at the table!

2.Pytt i panna Goteborg: I was lucky enough to live in Sweden for a year in the third or fourth grade. We were just outside of downtown Gothenburg in a great neighborhood with lots of kids my age. Granted, I did not speak Swedish when we got there and they did not speak English, but that did not stop us from being the best of friends. I eventually learned Swedish and now they probably all speak better English than I do. Behind our duplex was a park that was mostly wild forest, but also had a botanical garden. In the garden was a great little cafe where I was introduced to the Swedish version of corn beef hash: pytt i panna. YUM! Potatoes and meat all chopped up with beats on the side. I've tried to recreate it home but it's never the same as sitting in the sun next to a pond listening to the musical chattering of the locals

3. Making dinner with Jayanthi and her mother: I love Indian food, especially the wonderfully spicy dishes of Southern India, where my college friend Jayanthi and her family are from. Myself and some of my roommates were all invited over to prepare and of course eat dinner on night. I'm not even sure what we made but it involved a whole chicken, about 2 lbs of fresh garlic, and spices I've still never found in stores. Forks and spoons were not allowed. Even soup was eaten with fingers. The whole thing was fantastic, good company, good food, and eating with your hands!

4. Back alley noodle shop in Beijing China: While in China, my dad and I extremely lucky to be in the company of two people who had lived in the area and spoke the language. We did a LOT of walking on the trip (I'll shamelessly mention Chacos here... best shoes ever!) and at one point we were wandering seemingly aimlessly through back alley markets that my dad and I never would have been brave enough to explore on our own. When we decided it was lunch, we simply stopped walking, and entered the nearest shack. Turns out it's a noodle shop! It was probably only 6 ft x 6 ft max, with two tiny low tables and upside down buckets for stools. The bowls of noodles however were about the size of my head, Massive! Also since the water is not safe to drink, everyone either has hot tea or beer; enter a couple massive beers as well. It was an amazing lunch and even though we apparently got cheated because we were white (as our hosts told us later) it was still only about $0.50 a person.

5. Room service in Lisbon Portugal: Really the food here wasn't the great, but everything was brought in a silver dish. Tiny silver boats for ketchup and mustard, a tiny silver domed dish of butter. Who doesn't want to have a meal completely on/in silver?!

More on food and clothes later... :)