Kimchi, Soba, BK be Two of our colleagues wrote of a subject close to ourpalate. I am only three hours from theYalu River. Chao Tian and Hanggul(NoKor and SoKor) are my neighbors, and the old Gogoryeo (from where the wordKorea comes from) kingdom included half of Manchuria of old; the YanbianAutonomous Region in Jilin (aka, Korea-in-China)Province has ample supply of la ba cai thelocal spiced cabbage, a mainstay in my fridge. I spent two months in Suwon outside of Seoul in '72 andthough familiar with spiced cabbage called kimchiamong Korean fellow students in the United States, it was not until I ate withthe locals that I got "addicted" to the taste. It was, perhaps, helpful that there was a Ms.Moon that mooned me with the recipe but that was icing on the cake, or, spiceon the cabbage, if you will, rather than the main course itself. Each time I go to the street market in Shenyang and see kimchi on display, I try my Yo bo sa-i-yo, ann-yang ha ship-ni-ka, andsee if I get a bite from the vendor. Sure enough, a seller has yet to be anyone other than a Hanggul Saram (Korean), and ze makes sure that I get amplesupply of the spiced sauce to go with my veggie! My romance with udon(noodles) goes back to '65 when the ship I sailed on for San Francisco dockedin Yokohama. A bunch of students fromSoutheast Asia decided to explore together Ginza in Tokyo. At a back alley hole-on-the-wall, the spreadof Japanese noodles from the thin ramen,shirataki, soba, somen, hiyamugi, to the thick noodle, the udon, was ours for the tasting. A Malaysian lady passenger older by half myage, took innocently cute me under her wings, and she smiled away most of mycost share, for the udon was notcheap. It's my turn to relate my food story but not along thedelightful side of the cabbage and the noodle. What I got recently in my neighborhood is a prominently located cornerfast food service branch of Burger King. For the three years at the University, each time someone suggested McDo,I'd steer the conversation away (my aversion to the Donald goes back all theway to Chicago, so Joe Ayuyu of Saipan should not take offense) and as a coupd'grace, I'd say, "Besides, I am partial to Burger King!" which wasnowhere available than 4 hrs. away by the bullet train! This week, one of my former colleagues rang me up and said,"Guess what? I just saw that BurgerKing at the corner of Shen Bei Lu andDaoyinan Da Jie across from theschool entrance on the same side of the boulevard," (lu = street, da jie =big street, i.e., Blvd or Ave). Theinvite to check it out came automatically. Happily, the construction is not finished yet, and Isuspect, they are probably eyeing a Halloween opening, but I am at aquandary. I no longer likeburgers. In fact, with my friends, I callit Bugger King; less polite, it is Booger King! In any case, struggling with girth size, I probably could get away withjust telling everyone the truth and confess that I have become almost avegetarian! Well, almost. I stilleat seafood, fowl and fish; if prepared carefully, I also nibble on theoxen/cattle from the grasslands of Nei Menggu. The Yokohama beef of old was more my taste. They massaged them individually beforeapplying the blade. Now I get drawn tothe Muslim (Hui) shops that servelamb ribs and goat kid b-b-q. But for now, it is getting around Burger King. It must be the function of age, having satthrough too many meetings with not much bending of the waist and knee, and apropensity to frequent buffets and all-you-can-eat places that the rotund shapehad come to be. It does not help thatmiddle-aged Chinese ladies think it is cute to look elegantly prosperous to bea robustly apple shaped lao ye. The xanthelesmata,the blotch of yellow skin on the eyelid, is a very telling sign that I carrytoo much cholesterol in my blood stream, an indicator of a disease that TonyStearns commented the last time I stopped by his clinic. Since I am in the last phase of my livingdesignated as the gracious exit of my dying, the remaining time to my existenceis of no consequence. It is the qualityof the expenditure of life that is of utmost importance. So, to bugger, or to booger, that is the question. Burger King sits resplendent in our prominentcorner with its whopper grilled, a plus in its favor. The double whopper brimming with the Swisscheese, lettuce and tomato still makes the heart go fonder! My taste buds yearns for the radiant Frenchfries, I thirst for a glass of root beer, and I do not shy away from asucculent chicken tenders. I flounder inmy age-old habit of blunders! Burger King accelerated market presence in the last twoyears. Earlier acquired by 3G Capital ofBrazil, it merged with the coffee and doughnut chain of Tim Horton of Canadawith backing from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. It started calling its signature product theBK whopper. I am inside the whopping beltway of itstemptation. To be, or, to BK be. j'aime la vie pinoypanda2031@aol.com yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!