Do I look pale?

I thought I was a bit adventurous when it came to food. I mean, I'd like to think I'll try everything once as long as it's proven that it's edible, and other people are eating it. So far this week I've ventured into many new territories, most of them sea-creatures. I've had Sea Urchin, Sea Cucumber, Sting Ray, and Octopus (not new to me, but challenging in it's own right). So today, on a 2 hour road trip down the coast of Korea, we ventured to a small sea-side town that served traditional style Korean seafood. That translates essentially to fresh and, in most cases, raw. And not necessarily the type of raw you might have experienced. Raw in most cases to me means not cooked. Raw in this incident could have been an acronym for Recently Alive and Wriggling. Still raw, but a different level of raw.

In any event, after a bowl of squirming and kicking prawns was delivered to our table, along with a few other rather shocking side dishes, we began to nibble on some raw scallops, and other sea cuisine (I kept mainly to the mussels/clams). Then the prawns were cooked on our table, and we'd slowly pick them apart and eat them (de-pooping was a task in itself). Well as I was being offered some shrimp heads, which I actually managed to eat one of, but only one just to say I did, I couldn't keep my eyes off the appetizer plate that had arrived nearly a half hour earlier. So tact aside, I decided to finally give in and shoot a quick video of our appetizers. Now keep in mind these guys had been sitting here for 30 minutes at the least, and had died down quite a bit. But their "activity" had not subsided. What I'm talking about is what you see in the picture above (and more importantly in the video when you click on the picture above). These sliced tube-like pieces were continuously wriggling and flexing with the dexterity of a very determined, albeit severed, tongue. I was fascinated as much as I was unable to look at them in order to maintain my appetite. So join in my fascination and watch the video. You'll thank me.

By the way, I spent the whole time glancing at these things, trying to convince myself that I should eat one just to say I did. But in all honesty, what the hell would I brag about that I had eaten? A wriggling sausage skin from the sea? I think the video is bragging rights enough - that I sat with these guys dancing next to me and never involuntarily returned my lunch to the table.