Text 6961, 70 rader
Skriven 2013-11-22 16:44:02 av Nancy Backus (1:261/1381.0)
   Kommentar till text 6890 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Re: traveling 482
=========================
-=> Quoting MICHAEL LOO to NANCY BACKUS on 18 Nov 13  23:40:00 <=-

 ML> I found a strange consistency among the cabbage kimchis
 ML> here, much more than one would find in, say, dill pickles.
 ML> This from a variety of places of a variety of pretentions,

Maybe there is no variation in the cabbage itself... and the prep is so
standard that it always comes out the same...?  I'm sure that it isn't
due to it all coming out of the same jar...  (G)

 ML> The noncabbage kimchis varied quite a lot.

That's where creativity is allowed, perhaps...?  Plus there are so many
other possibilities anyway...
 
 NB>> The tourists, being presumably Korea-stupid, not going to expect
 NB>> anything but the "traditionally" known cabbage kimchi, after all...
 NB>> And of course, one has to have that one on any buffet...  ;)
 ML> Actually, many of the tourists wondered what it was at all,
 ML> one or two telling the others, you have to try this stuff
 ML> once in your life, it's what Korea is all about. Which is
 ML> probably true, as one smells it everywhere, in the air, on
 ML> people's breath, et cetera et cetera et cetera.
 
Perhaps I should have added, if they were expecting any kimchi at all,
above...  It being the basic version, yes, it probably does somewhat
define Korea... at least at some level.  :)

 ML>> Walked past a blood and viscera restaurant yesterday, in
 ML>> deference to Lilli's tastes and to a traditional place
 NB>> Sigh... there was the opportunity... but, true... not a good idea
 NB>> to push Lilli too far...  ;)
 ML> Other things I passed up were silkworms, sold on many
 ML> street corners, and big footlong octopus tentacles, which,

Another trip, maybe...

 ML> truth be told, I wondered how to eat - they were also sold
 ML> in sidewalk stalls along with snacky things - but I didn't
 ML> see anybody walking along munching on one. Although that
 ML> would have been cool, sort of like the turkey drumsticks
 ML> at a renaissance faire.

Yes, that would have been an interesting sight...  :)  I can imagine it,
anyway... ;)  Perhaps that's something that the buyer would take to some
quiet spot to sit down and enjoy...?
 
 ML> Seoul is so far north that the northern gate of the city
 ML> can be visited only with the permission of the military;
 ML> you have to bring your pasport and all, lest you be mistaken
 ML> for the vanguard of a North Korean invasion.

I should have remembered that... We've had missionaries there for most
of my life...

 ML> Look up North
 ML> Korean infiltration tunnels sometime, and you will be
 ML> astounded by how vulnerable Seoul itself is - one day's march
 ML> from the North. If only they'd made the treaty boundary based
 ML> on the 39th parallel rather than the 38th, it would have been
 ML> Pyongyang's problem rather than Seoul's.

Or even halfway between, although that might have been a bit harder to
define or maintain... 

ttyl      neb

... I can handle reality in small doses.
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