Feeling: goofy
Listening to: Morrissey - Sing Your Life
Reading/Watching: Ghost in the Shell... to this I say 'hm.'

Yesterday, mon coeur was meeting Ray for lunch, and randomly asked if I'd like to join them.

I'd assumed they wanted time to talk about Boy Things, like video games, but I came along, and discovered that I was being introduced to their Favorite Restaurant in the World, this tiny Korean place near the air force base which they had been patronizing once or twice a week for upwards of four years (apparently living in the dorms made them allergic to packing a lunch, so they ate out daily).

While there, the owner came over: a short-haired Korean woman who was maybe four feet tall. She hugged the boys, and told me she was mon coeur's mom. She had been keeping him well-fed for four years, and she'd adopted both boys.

She was very cheerful and cute, looking me over with a wide grin, and then telling me, "You very lucky. He is good boy."

I laughed and agreed, and then she went on, "He like squid. You know how make-a squid? I show you, you come learn to make squid." I was still laughing, when she looked me in the eye and said, "When you have time? I teach you, and you wash-a dishes. When you free?"

And then I realized, she was dead serious. Luckily, she turned to Ray and started teasing him about how his wife needed to learn to make jaabche for him, and that Laura would have to visit, too, when she was in town, so I was off the hook.

But now I'm a bit intrigued... I know it's part of her culture, that the husband's mother teaches his new wife how to cook and keep house for him, and I was actually quite flattered that she took us that seriously. She may think his new wife is pretty, but I need to be able to keep him happy, and we all know a man cannot be happy unless his wife cooks a proper squid.

I'd actually like to go over there sometime, to learn how to make his favorite Korean dishes, because it would be fun to surprise him sometime (no matter how hard it may be to locate some of those groceries). But in a weird way, this tiny, outspoken, wide-shouldered Korean woman (whose head comes up somewhere halfway between my shoulder and my elbow) scares me a little. It's like having another mother-in-law, a bossy midget one. If I don't make him a good wife, she just might kick my ass.

But I'm not a big fan of squid, unless it's in fried calamari form. Maybe he'll settle for the cinnamon pancakes I made this morning, instead.

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