Watching the Travel Channel/Food Network


For some strange reason, I love watching those travel shows where the host eats his/her way through a vacation (for want of a better description) spot. (Because, to be real,not many people would want to vacation in some of the locations that the hosts visit, let alone eat some of the things they eat.)
Last night it was Anthony Bourdain, the culinary world's bad-boy. He was chowing down across Texas, with a few swings into Mexico. Some of the street food there had my mouth watering--real tacos with lots of beef and cilantro in handmade corn tortillas, to name just one example.
The most intriguing part of the episode was his visit to a Sushi restaurant in Laredo. Now, I abhor raw fish (ick--the texture makes me gag,) so the beautifully presented sushi wasn't the thing that intrigued me. The fact that it was run by a Chinese woman and the chefs were Mexican, that was it. I find poetry in irony.
Like the time we were living in Korea...
We had just picked up the new Spanish teacher, from Australia, at Kimpo airport. Since we were all feeling a bit peckish, we decided to grab some dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant--a placed named Athenian Gardens (or something like that--very Greek sounding.) So, we wove our way through the snarling Seoul streets and arrived at Samsung Plaza. We ordered various pasta and meat dishes, which arrived quickly, accompanied by the customary (at least in Seoul, it is) sweet pickles. The dinner music was supplied by a Korean duo, wearing huge sombreros and playing numbers like "Vaya con Dios" and "La Bamba".
Truly poetic!

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