Meat on a Stick

Across from our dorm is a row of restaurants. We are still trying to sort out the best ones, but they all serve very good food. A favorite so far is the Korean restaurant. Like most restaurants in China, the menus are in Chinese characters and the people speak no English. This poses unique problems for us abroaders who have an extremely limited Chinese vocabulary. However, the Korean restaurant came up with a novel way to show the menu. The menu is a plate with a different variety of meats on skewers, so we point and request a number of sticks.

One night it was a party of five, Nicole and Julian included. Julian, a meat connoisseur, led the ordering process. The group was feeling adventurous so we got a couple of sticks of everything however we were unaware of the surprises that lay ahead. The first few skewers were tasty. They included beef, mutton, and chicken breast. To Nicole’s dismay, out came the chicken livers and kidneys. While taking her first bite, her face showed utter disgust, and her first comment was "It tastes like blood." Julian devours his sticks, and kindly offers to eat Nicole's as well. The next skewer was something beyond any of our imaginations. We saw the skewers cooking a few tables away, and were hypothesizing as to what we were in for next. When it was served, Nicole’s jaw dropped and Julian laughed. On our plate was twelve skewers baby quails. We are not talking about chopped, sliced, or diced. These were whole eyes, heads, necks, legs, and all attached. It looked as if two miniature Thanksgiving turkeys were roasted over an open flame. At first we had no idea what it was, so we asked the waiter. The waiter chose to communicate with charades. He flapped his arms like a bird and pointed outside. A Japanese friend of ours informed us that it was a street bird. Then the man proceeded to charade a nest informing us of the infancy of our meal. After five minutes of laughter, disgust, and horror, we timidly dug in. Unsure of how to proceed, Julian decided to devour the entire bird bones and all. Nicole was hesitant. Julian coaxed her to try a bite; however, as she moved the bird to her mouth all she could picture was baby birds in the nest. Her bite was quickly spit onto the plate. Other members of the party had the little quail legs dancing around the table. The owners of the restaurant were quite entertained with their prank on the foreigners. It is definitely a meal none of us will forget.

Written by this weeks editors Nicole Jenkins and Julian Bradley