Smoo follies

We celebrated Turkey Day in grand style at Smoo today: a 4PM "lupper" call (that's lunch + supper, in case you're wondering), and turkey prepared by the Seoul Intercontinental Hotel. Not bad: we got two fifteen- or sixteen-pounders, which yielded a hell of a lot of meat for the twenty of us. I was selected to carve one turkey, while my Aussie colleague was chosen to perform surgery on Bird Number 2. The stuffing was an interesting shade of pink, and we soon found out why: red wine. I'll have to remember that the next time I make stuffing.

The meal had most of the Turkey Day trappings: mashed potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots-- and even some Korean-style boiled chestnuts in a sweet soy sauce. One colleague was kind enough to bring cheesecakes.

A few things were missing though. A meal at the Hominid residence in the States would also have included peas; baked mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallow, walnut, and brown sugar crust; corn; cranberry sauce; ham; and of course, a whole slew of Korean dishes: bulgogi, kalbi, chap-ch'ae, kimchi, oi-kimchi, doraji-namul, rice, and so on.

The Koreans obviously thought something was missing as well. "We need kimchi," one of our number groaned. Another staffer popped out of her seat, left the room, and returned a few moments later with a pile of kimchi. Faces brightened noticeably. Quite a few of the Korean teachers knew about the Thanksgiving tradition in America; some of them joked that we needed to flip on the TV and catch a football game. I was the only Yank in the bunch, but it still felt good to sit down and eat with the faculty and staff. I'm not usually that sociable, but today was something of a special exception.

One of the Korean teachers is several months pregnant, and she's always eating for two these days. Another teacher pointed at my belly and joked, "Kevin's got to feed his baby, too!" Oh, ha ha ha. She's lucky I didn't beat her to death with my overlarge uterus.

Happy Turkey Day, all.


_