Bugs, wiggly squid, and hookah :-)

Thursday night, after work, Albert and I met up with Ted, his lovely girlfriend, and his friend Harry to hang out for a little while.  The schedules changed at our schools because it's a new semester now and things are absolutely crazy for all of us, so we needed a night to just relax a little while.  I got out at 9 and we all met up and headed into our little town.

Ted had a plan.

We met at this pretty little log cabin-y restaurant to have some rice wine and a leek/chive Korean style pizza.  There was, however, a surprising side dish:

Bugs. . .

 ..

. . .or more accurately, caterpillar pupa. . . .

 Are we actually supposed to eat that?  Ted, Harry, and even Ted's adorable, tiny little girlfriend were chop sticking them right into their mouths.  Lindie had told me that she tried one her first day.  I don't know if she actually knew what she was trying, but after some persuading-and of course not wanting to be outdone-we, very reluctantly, tried it.  Here's the video (not for the faint of heart. . .)

Tastes like a bug.  I'm so sorry, Adam and Noah, for making you eat these when we were kids!!

Here's Albert's quite braver attempt:

Thank goodness for rice wine :-)  They all had a good laugh about it though, so that was good.

The pizza that was being delivered there in the background of the video was really nice :-)  And it's fun because everyone just goes at it and tears it apart with chop sticks.  Eating is fun in this country :-)

Bugs, fresh veggies, and bean sprout salad :-)

Ted and his girlfriend (who we were actually beginning to believe didn't exist)  Aren't they cute?!  She really was brave, I think, to come out, since she didn't speak any English.  Good times :-)

 While we were there, and feeling a little adventurous after the bug-eating, we decided that it was just the right night for getting VERY fresh octopus and squid.  So fresh that it was still wiggling.  Delicious.

There was a very lovely surprise side dish at this place, though.  Duck.  Duck!  Awesome.

Squid salad, duck, and tofu.  There's a soup in the middle and two fresh salads on the other side.  We were waiting for the crazy main course. . .

Tofu.  Really nice :-)

 And then came the moment of truth.  I was actually really excited about trying it, Albert was a little more. . .hesitant.  Here's the preview, pre-eating. . .

Since I was so excited I decided to go first.  Here goes:

Awesome.  Now, here's brave Albert:

Very nice.  It doesn't taste like much at all.  Of course it's slimy and wiggly.  It sucks on to the plate, which makes it really hard to pick up, then squirms around on the chop sticks, and then swims a bit in the salt and sesame oil, and then sucks on to your tongue, cheeks, rook of your mouth, whatever.  Very interesting.  They told us that we have to just hold it in our mouths for a moment before chewing it so that it has a chance to stick to something :-)  Very cool.

We ate all of it.  Yum.

The hookah place that we went to the previous weekend (when it was out of hookah) texted Ted and told him that they just got some in.  Hookah is supposed to settle your stomach, and we figured since we had still squirming bits in our stomachs that was the thing we needed to do :-)

Ted, looking like quite the sage.

Harry.  It very soon became a competition between the boys who could make the best circles or get the most out of the nose, etc.  Boys.  :-)

This place is beautiful and has the best little chai teas and lassi drinks, and I just love it there.  We've been there three times this week :-)  No one is ever there, so we're trying to enjoy it as much as we can before it disappears.

Exactly what we needed after a crazy day at school.  Very relaxing.  Then it was time to get ready for Korean lessons in the morning and our very, very long Fridays :-)

Couple glasses!

 And that was our Thursday :-)