MysteryMeeat 4: Craving Kimchi?

The fourth and final MysteryMEEat of 2009 -- has now come and gone.



The setting: The home of Sydney the dog. One long table, set in front of the Christmas / Kwanzaa / Festivus tree decorated in red and gold.



The food: Korean. The opening drink: a Korean cocktail featuring one part soju (a rice-based alcohol, someplace between sake and vodka), one part Sprite, and one part orange-flavored yogurt drink (야쿠르트). The appetizer: miso soup. The main courses: bulgogi (Korean barbecue beef); kim bop (Korean sushi); mari soba (buckwheat noodles with pine nut sauce); ho bak chou (pan-fried squash); doo bak chou (pan-fried tofu); gae ron (egg and broccoli roll); bin dae duk (soy bean pancakes). For dessert: mochi muffins (sweet rice with sweet red bean) and the ever popular Pocky sticks.

Like every Korean meal, this one also featured many side dishes: kimchi (spicy pickled cabbage); kong cho rim (black beans in soy sauce); mer chi (dried anchovies); oo nng cho rim (burdock root); and moo chim (seasoned radish).



Kim bop, who everyone knows and loves. In both "meat" and "vegetarian freak" versions.



Also featured: massive quantities of soju (described above); 1.8 liters of "Dragon-slayer" Japanese soju; and mak gul li, Korean "millet rice wine," a/k/a Korean hootch.



All shared by many friends old and new, looking happy with their yogurt drink, massive amounts of barbecue, and repeated commands to eat more.



After dinner, the MysteryMeeaters all retired to the proper way to finish off a big Korean dinner -- more drinking, followed by karaoke. No pictures of karaoke will be posted to protect the identities of MEEaters who belted out hits including "Man in a Box" by Alice in Chains.

MysteryMEEat will see you again next year! Hurry up and sign up for MysteryMEEat 5 . . . . We know we will! Space is limited.