Lakwatsera Fridays: The Best Bulgogi I Ever Tasted

One of the things I miss from my "past life" is traveling. Majority of it was done for business, but what I enjoyed was experiencing different cultures and meeting people from other nationalities. I told myself that someday I'd write about it. Well, that time has come and I promised my doctors I'll write everyday so I can keep my brain well oiled. 

Back in 2019, I found myself in Yeosu, South Korea. It's not a common place for tourists, but I immediately fell in love with it. It's a port/fishing town in the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula. I took a bus from Incheon International Airport to Gimpo International Airport and stayed at the hotel across the airport. I took a short domestic flight the next day and checked in The MVL which had a great view of the bay. 

In the evening, the community brought me to have a walk-around in the city. We ended up in this quaint place that served bulgogi. I left the ordering to them and they got this huge pot of bulgogi. I told them it was so huge we might not finish it. They just laughed at me and said not to worry. True enough, the two pots they ordered was gone in a jiffy. It's the most delicious bulgogi I've tasted in my entire life! Like wowwwww. It was really far from the ones I've tried and cooked at home. Ganun pala ang original. I told myself I'll look for the original recipe and make some at home (note to self!). 

After a hefty dinner, we walked to Yi Sun-Sin Square. I enjoyed seeing the monument of Admiral Yi Sun-Sin, the greatest military general known for his victories against the Japanese navy. I was among teachers so they made sure I understood that part of their history. I loved walking around the square, but soon enough they sent me back to the hotel because they were going drinking. I capped the evening by getting coffee at the hotel cafe.  

Someday I hope I'd be able to visit Yeosu again. Something about being in a fishing town always makes me happy. :)

More about my trip to Yeosu on this blog post: http://aileenapolo.blogspot.com/2020/01/that-time-i-went-to-yeosu.html 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Brain, Scorpion, Octopus

Thought I'd take a break from my morose posts about my health. I don't know what came over me, but I just suddenly remembered about the weird things I've tried eating in my past travels. 

I was in grade school when I got to try frog legs! Tita Rose and Tito Henry invited us to eat out with them at a Chinese restaurant in Makati. At the beginning of the meal they told us they were going to order frog legs so I could try it. I was so mortified! After much cajoling and reassurances by Tita Rose I finally tried it. As she promised it tasted like chicken! 

That was my baptism of fire on weird food. Before that my ultimate weird food was century egg! I was much younger when I tried it and I actually believed Tito Ben when he told me the egg was 100 years old haha. Good thing I liked it. So since that time I tried century egg and frog legs I've always been game in trying unusual food. 

One of the strangest dishes I've tried is goat brain. Yup. BRAIN. I was in Pakistan for a few days and our host brought us to a well-known restaurant that served goats brain. I considered Badar as my scout-brother because we've been teammates since 2006, so I felt I needed to try everything he wanted us to experience. So I tried it. I'm not sure if it was cooked or raw (let's just think it was cooked). It was pretty gooey and had a different texture. Let's just say that would probably be the first and last time I'd try it. 

The night before trying goat brain we had gone to a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Badshahi Mosque. There was no electricity, but we got a spot at the rooftop. We were served the main ingredient of soup number 5 -- grilled. I was the only one who tried it. It was basically grilled meat, but it was tough. I chased it down with soda hehe. 

Fast forward to a year later, we were in Vietnam for a series of events. One night we ended up at a grill and they ordered scorpion. Since that was just a few months after my heart surgery I just tried a small piece. They warned that if scorpion isn't cooked right it can potentially poison you. I remember I felt really warm after eating the small bite and it lasted for a few hours. I just drank a lot of water to wash down the weird feeling. 

Most recent strange dish I tried was raw octopous. Luckily the octopus was cut up already, but it was still moving when I put it in my mouth. I dropped it in soy sauce so it was quite salty. I swallowed it whole haha, so it was just like your regular sushi to me. After that I gobbled up the rest of the sushi they served. Video of that experience is here.

So my mantra is to just try food even though it's unusual for me. I do tend to stick to favorites whenever we try a new restaurant, but if I'm traveling and I'm offered to try anything I'd try it. What about you? Would you try strange food?

#CB//217 #StuckAtHomeDay/247 #WFH146 #StayHome #BeKind