Yes, they actually eat the scorpians. I have yet to eat them. I saw them at the outdoor morning market and had to do a double take! I asked one of my students if they were selling them as pets. She started laughing and said people eat them for dinner. haha. Let's just say my eyes got really, really big. Are you kidding? So I asked James if they really do eat them and he showed me a photo of the dish and said yes. Oh my!! mmm...not sure if I'm going to try them...
For the next two pictures, I went out for BBQ (chinese BBQ that is) and one of the girls ordered octopus (just the legs, not the whole body). And in the words of the Chinese people, "Try it. Just try it." (that is one of the idioms they say to me all the time. haha). So I did. I ate the whole leg (I took a picture 'cause I knew some of you won't believe me)! I decided I'm not a big fan of it. But then again, Graeme (English speaking friend in Qingdao) told me it wasn't fresh. haha. Like that's going to make a difference to me. lol. It's not squid-on-a-stick, but I figure it's close enough.
Okay, so last night I was invited to a special dinner because the school had some Koreans visiting that day. I'm not Korean (in case you were wondering) but I am a foreigner and an American, so I was invited. Hey, who am I to turn down free food? :) The host sits at the head of the table (he happened to be the Chairman of the Communist Party for the school. I've discovered that anyone connected to the Communist Party is very important...so I had to use my best manners). The honored guest sits to the right of the host and the next honored guest sits on the left and so it goes around the table. No...I know what you are thinking and I was not the honored guest....I was only second best...I sat on the left. Talk about being nervous...especially when using chopsticks 'cause everyone is watching you....aahhh...but no worries, my chopstick skills are improving.
The honored guest almost always starts eating first (whew!). We started with some recognizable types of chinese food and then some really good seafood - which I hadn't had yet. It was really pretty good. There was some type of shrimp/crawfish/sea animal that I hadn't had before and was told by my host "try it. just try it". So I did. It wasn't bad. Kind of like shrimp. Then they brought out a dish that had red peppers, green onions, and some kind of black thing on it. I couldn't figure out what kind of meat the black stuff was...(it had to be a meat, 'cause it didn't look like any vegetable I'd seen). It was my turn to eat from the dish, so I just grabbed it and popped it in my mouth. It was a little crunchy (I thought I must have eaten a shell), not much flavor, overall not too bad. Then, as the plate moved around the table, I saw legs sticking out of the black things! Oh wow! It was a grasshopper! Or locust they called them. Yep! I just ate a grasshopper! That was a first for me! Everyone else around the table was loving it...so I ate another one. That was it. No more. But I took a picture to show you. One of me eating it and a closeup of the locust......Squid doesn't seem so bad anymore. lol
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