The few weeks before we left for Korea were pretty intense. Lots of driving, packing, and stress… Kate spent some time back in Virginia, then a week in Michigan with her family. I left Aspen on the 15th and drove to Michigan in two days – with a stop at both grandparents houses. We spent a day and a half with Kate’s family, and celebrated her Grandmother’s birthday. Kate repacked for the 3rd time and finally got down to just 4 bags – the max. Then we drove down to Kokomo so I could pack. While there (for 4 days) we went to Indy to see Christa and Michael. Below is a picture from our dinner in Broadripple. Michael was sharing his wisdom on Korean Cuisine and told us a story which inspired this blog… or at least its title. He and his friend went to a Korean restaurant for dinner one night and as is traditional in Korean meals, the main dish was accompanied by lots of small dishes which everyone shares. This can be anything from raw crab (in its shell) covered with hot spicy pepper sauce to slabs of tofu and radishes. Everyone reaches around the table with their chopsticks snatching up whatever they’d like to eat. At this particular restaurant there were this small chunks of something… (a usual sight at a korean meal and they tried it. It was very spicy and kind of fish-like. They liked it a lot and the next time they went out to a Korean restaurant they didn’t get the mystery food. This “Spicy Fish” was intriguing to them and they really wanted to be able to order it again so they asked the waitress if she knew what it was… describing it in as much detail as they could. She then replied… “Ohhh Spicy Fishy!!” and brought some out Michael and his friend. Hence the name… (It’s funnier when Michael tells the story – and I’m not sure if I got the story even right…) nonetheless – it’s a great title and we’re excited to keep posting about our adventures, both with cuisine, and this amazing country.
After we spent a few days in Indiana we went up to Chicago with my parents and stayed with Julie and Zane. We went out to a Thai restaurant with a bunch of friends and had a great last night in the US. The next day we drove out to Ohare and took off for the other side of the world… EEP!