Culinary (mis)adventures

So it was not until I went to the gym last night and sweated profusely that I think I finally rid my body of the remaining soju toxin. Man, that's evil stuff. I promise to be much more sensible when I have it again on Saturday night.

Following my workout, I went to get dinner. Because the restaurant I went to had burnders on the tables, I thought I was at one of the grill-your-own-meat places. Turns out I was wrong. After pointing to a few things listed in my Lonely Planet: Seoul and getting head shakes, I simply nodded when the waitress suggested something. I got a very spicy soup, with kimchee, green onions, sprouts and...weenies. Yep, little chopped up bits of hot dog, which had the consistency and taste of baloney, infiltrated my otherwise completely authentic Korean meal. I asked my fellow interns later what this was, but honestly I can't remember the name and even if I could, I certainly can't spell it. The moral of the story is that from now on I'm either ordering something I know the name of or at least can point to on a picture menu.

Today's meal was relatively mundane--we went to an Italian restaurant, and I had the linguini alfredo, which would have been great except I ordered spaghetti carbonara. But my expectations we're pretty low for Italian food in Seoul, so I wasn't too upset. Afterwards, the attorneys took us for potbingsu, which is sort of like frozen yogurt mixed with shaved ice and fruit and cornflakes. So if you had a very, very cold breakfast, this is what it would look like. It was actually quite tasty and very refreshing for a hot day.

That's about it for today. Happy it's Friday and the work week is over. This weekend will involve seeing some Buddhist temples and checking out a market or two, and possibly hanging out down by the river (I will see if I can find the requisite van--props to anyone who got that joke). There will be pictures as well.