Ever have one of those experiences where a person switches to another language and you end up trying to parse their words as if they were in the language you were expecting instead of the one they really are? Usually, I'm on the giving end of this, since I know smatterings of so many and I'm usually not shy about using them. Today, I was on the receiving end.
The extra-special banchan at lunch (in addition to the marinated tofu and ubiquitous kimchee) was a small pinkish loaf cut into tiny segments. When I asked what it was, Jay told me, "폴락로". That wasn't something I'd heard of before, so I asked him to say it again. "포-락-로, like caviar." Suddenly it dawned on me that this wasn't the Korean name, it was only a Korean-accented pronunciation of "pollack roe". The actual Korean is 명란 /myenglan/, literally "bright eggs" (明卵).
(What was it like? Not as salty as beluga caviar, but with more of a fishy aftertaste. I didn't hate it, but I think I would prefer it in 계란찜 [a.k.a.
茶碗蒸し], a kind of savoury custard.)
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