It's not my favourite thing (maybe not a post for squeamish people)

I mean eating cow's stomach.

As you probably all know by now, I'm a sort of, "When in Rome..." sort of guy. Generally, I'll try out anything once and try to be as open-minded as possible, particularly when it comes to culinary adventures in a new place/city/country. I've tried 100 year old eggs, chicken feet, duck heads, baby octopus, frog, chicken neck, organ soup, pig face, silk worms, a million different types of unidentifiable fish and a host of other strange and exotic delicacies. Some things I couldn't identify and to this day I'm not upset about the lack of knowledge. 

Last night, though, I went out with the friends who own "The Shop" I mentioned in my lost wallet adventure. I buy a lot of my sundries there and will periodically just stop down for a soda and a chat while they're hanging out. But I thought it would be good to hit up some dinner as a group, so after they raved about a local Chinese place that served beef ribs and some other awesome dishes, we made a plan and went last night.

The restaurant was nice, the pijiu was cheap, and they were excellent hosts and company. Since they had been there before and since Sunshine is Chinese (The other half of the shop team, Andris, is a big white guy from Nebraska who teaches ESL at the local Korean school), I let them do the ordering and agreed to try a very Chinese dish: Spicy cow stomach with mushrooms and veggies.

Now, I've eaten a number of dishes featuring organs, and I know that there is a lot of mysterious stuff that goes into the sausages I've eaten in my past. And even though the flavour of the oily broth was good, the texture of the stomach was pretty hard to enjoy. It is, admittedly, a bit rubbery and has a bumpy side to it, like microscopic versions of an octopus' suction cup. I needed a lot of rice to help make the passage pleasant. But as with all new, strange and sometimes unknown dishes, I came, I ate, I succeeded. And I now know another dish on my, "No, thanks. I've tried that one already" list. What fun would life be without some adventure???

And regardless, the company and conversation was great and because I was a sport, they took care of the bill at the end of the night. Another successful eating adventure, all things considered. But the next time I'm offered the stomach dish, I'll politely respond, "Bou yao, xie xie".

On a completely unrelated note, I still owe shout-outs to those who've helped out with Movember donations. Some of you may have been mentioned before, but thanks to Verna, Catherine, Celia, Steve, Sean and Katie for donating so far. Because of you all, I'm at over $140 for my EduMoCators team! Awesome! There's still some time, so for the rest of you, stop by my OFFICIAL MOVEMBER WEBSITE to donate!

Much China love, all.

T