With love and spice, from Korea

A food story from my sister, who is teaching English in Korea this year. While reading this, you'll feel your tastebuds burning with heat. And you will laugh, too.

Dear Christine,

When we went to Gyeongju, on holiday, we ate at a restaurant that was something of a shack. The woman that owned it was rambunctious; she ordered us all in (we might have been one of her only customers for the night). We sat down, we tried to order, but she told us what she was making. She told us it would be hot, and she wasn't exaggerating on that one: IT WAS THE HOTTEST FOOD THAT I'VE EVER EATEN!

It was a red noodle dish. The sides were interesting: slightly pickled cabbage and sausage, and old, old kimchi - which can be normal - the older the kimchi, some believe, the better. We drank makgeli, a fermented rice wine, which is normally good, but this might have been old; we felt ourselves grow increasingly drunk on both the spice and the wine. My mouth was on fire, Kristin looked like she might pass out, Anthony was trying to play tough guy, and somehow Todd and John ate the whole bowl of unidentifiable hot stuff.

The owner kept coming over to us and laughing that we thought it was too hot. She told me to eat faster, to eat it all. We kept asking for water, and she kept laughing, but obliging our wishes. She asked us if we minded the television, we said "no." John asked if she had music since there was a boom box on the table behind us. She turned on Trott Music, Korean music with incredible precision, and she danced. We all danced and clapped our hands. I danced with her, she laughed her laugh.

When we were leaving I told her it was very good, but too spicy, and she told me if I thought that it was good that I would have eaten it. (Anthony translated for me). The next morning I felt terrible.

That was the most severe and strange of our eating experiences.

Love from Korea,
Teresa

Letter from Roma!

This was the best letter I've received in a long time...You don't even
need pictures to visually taste this scene. If after reading it
you don't want to immediately fly to Italy, there is something horribly
wrong...

Dear Christine,

Yesterday I went to the most incredible Sunday Italian lunch in
Frascati, a beautiful little town right outside of Rome up on a hill
with great views of the city. The house was amazing with a huge yard
full of lemon trees, orange trees, olive trees, a tomato garden and an
apricot tree. There were about 30 people invited and a long table was
set up outside for the lunch. Luckily, it was a beautiful sunny,
spring day.. perfect for lunch outside.

The guests arrived around 1pm and the lunch began with an
assortment of antipasti- sausages, olives, a spinach quiche and a
chicory quiche, a ham brioche, and grilled vegetables. We drank a
punch made with fanta and prosecco...it was all delicious. After awhile,
we all sat down and the main course began. For the primi piatti we were
served lasagna alla bolognesa and rigatoni with carciofi (artichokes)
which was actually cooked in their brick oven outside -
it was all too good for words!

For the secondo piatto, we had small sausages with a sweet potato dish
that is kind of hard to describe but absolutely delicious. Just picture a ton of
people all sitting together eating and talking away with wine glasses
being constantly refilled and bread being passed around. After the
secondo piatto, came the beginning of the desserts: a macedonia, a
fruit salad, with all the fruit of the season and whipped cream on top,
of course.

Next came all the other deserts and the prosecco.
Everyone finally got up from the table for these and ate standing in
the yard or sitting on the little benches by the vegetable garden and
under the apricot tree. The desserts were brought by the guests, who
were from all over the world. There was a tiramisu, bread pudding,
chocolate chip cookies, an apricot cake, nutella crepes, and many more
that I can't even remember (I was super full by this point and didn't
have enough room to try all the desserts!).

By this time, the sun was beginning to set and it was getting a little cooler.
We all went inside were we had espresso and the guys fought over whether
to watch rugby or soccer on tv. There were two amazing pianists in the group
who took turns playing on the piano. Later, we all went outside again
to watch the sun setting over Rome and when it was finally time to
leave we all crowded into a couple of cars to be dropped off at the
Metro station (the last stop on the A) to get back to Rome. As a new
friend of mine from the US said, it could easily have been a scene
from an Italian movie. An absolutely perfect Italian Sunday!

Love, E