Last Sunday, to celebrate Thanksgiving, we had pumpkin duck for the THIRD time. I love this place. The restaurant is near Gyeongpo Beach, not too far from our house. The building is not like most you’d see around here…it actually kind of looks Mexican. The garden around it is lovely, even in the winter. One of my favorite photographs in the world hangs outside the door. Inside there are traditional masks and weird sculptures all over the place. The table is set with more side dishes than I’ve seen anywhere else (cucumbers and ginseng in orange sauce oh my GOD) and within a few moments the main dish is brought out in all its steaming glory. The basic idea is a delicious greasy duck cut up into cubes and cooked INSIDE a “pumpkin.” (Actually, it’s a squash, but in Korean they don’t differentiate between different kinds of squashes/gourds.) The squash makes the duck less greasy, and the duck makes the squash tender. They split the whole thing open so that it kind of blooms, and since you have to order it a few hours in advance, it’s ready when you are. They serve it with spicy bean paste, peppers, garlic, vinegar, lettuce, and sesame leaves (like sam gyap sal) so you can make little wraps, but it’s so good on its own that we usually don’t bother. I wish I had a picture of the carnage left on the table, and the empty shell of the squash to show you.
This one is blurry because I couldn't stop stuffing my face long enough to take the picture.
That's better. I must have been chewing.
One more plus: since we eat there so often (and really because Mihyun has been bringing foreigners to this place for years), we didn’t have to pay for beverages, and the owner himself drove us downtown for coffee so we wouldn’t have to take a cab. I love this city!
On a completely unrelated note, I thought I might try to get your take on exactly what this truck is for:
????
We’ve seen it around town and near our apartment complex. Is it some sort of magical moving truck? Or is it just a frog riding his friend the unicorn into infinity? Here, have a close up:
Even more inexplicable at close range.
Best explanation gets to request a photo post that I may or may not follow through on!
Now I’m off to eat more birthday cake. The adorable math teacher’s dad sent her the green-tea-with-chocolate-chunks kind. Why oh why do we not have chocolate green tea cake at home?
December 3rd, 2008 at 8:52 pm
CLEARLY it’s a service for moving gay amphibians across town. The truck is like a horse, you see.
Seriously, I’m cracking up at these pictures.
December 4th, 2008 at 12:02 am
HolyShitUnifrouse!
December 4th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I see it this way, the frog was dared to mount the horse, he is giving the thumbs-up sign saying, “Ha, I did it! Now bite me!” The horse is looking back saying, “Get the hell off me, you asshole!” This is CLEARLY the symbol of a cult, or it could be the symbol of a punk rock band. Those are your choices.
Any questions? -Dad.