Posted by Smarty on 11/25/07 14:12

Your Yunnan fungus reference reminds me of a story which only an intrepid
Asian traveler like yourself might enjoy. My son, as the recommendation of
another (IP) attorney, made a side trip to the island of Macau when he was
in Hong Kong, getting there by ferry, seeking out the Chinese delicacy known
as "monkey brains" in English. It was his assumption that this was the
memorable food eaten by Indiana Jones in one of the Raiders of the Lost Ark
films, in the movie served directly in the skull of the monkey as I recall.

After much probing and questioning with the locals on the island, he
eventually reached the supposed source, and proceeded to order, with his
companion looking on with a combination of disgust and bewilderment.

The food eventually arrived. Apparently the true Chinese equivalent is not
actually the brain of a monkey at all. Rather, it is a large mushroom /
fungus whose convolutions and appearance and color closely imitate the
brain, served in a clay pot with some type of sauce.

Whenever the subject of Chinese esoteric vegetables come up in our family,
this "brain" is always noted........

So....the Yunnan fungus is served with chili peppers!!! As a huge fan of
really hot and spicy foods from China, Thailand, and especially Korea, I am
intrigued...........

Also wanted to reply that the Brobeck debacle was quite amazing. There were
a lot of very unhappy people in Irvine when they pulled the plug.

Hope the trip is going well and best regards,

Smarty


"PTravel" <ptravel@travelersvideo.com> wrote in message
news:5qqbngFvccdkU1@mid.individual.net...
>
> "Smarty" <nobody@nobody.com> wrote in message
> news:cHO1j.22103$Xg.19962@trnddc06...
>> Thanks Paul for the holiday greeting! Actually a bit lonely around here
>> with both kids way way way out of town.
>>
>> My son, a former Intellectual Property Attorney at Brobeck, Phleger &
>> Harrison in Orange County, spent Thanksgiving with his wife in Bangkok,
>> and my daughter lives in Rio de Janiero so my wife and I had far too few
>> people here to share the turkey with. I thought you would find the
>> reference to my son interesting since I have seen your reference to your
>> own career, to say nothing of the Asian travel, my son's number 1
>> passion.
>>
>> Have a great trip! Wish I was there!!!!
>>
>> Smarty
>
> Sorry you're suffering empty nest syndrome at Thanksgiving. At least
> you've got on-line companionship. Please join me and Mrs. PTravel in a
> virtual bowl of Yunnan fungus and chili peppers (it's much, much better
> than it sounds), which was our Thanksgiving dinner. Bangkok is an
> interesting choice for the holiday.
>
> Very interesting that your son is a former IP attorney at Brobeck's OC
> office. I used to work for Dorsey & Whitney in OC. I left when Brobeck
> went under and we acquired a bunch of former partners (your son wasn't one
> of them, however). We even had taken over Brobeck's old digs.
>
> Small world!
>
>>
>>
>>
>> "PTravel" <ptravel@travelersvideo.com> wrote in message
>> news:5qo9hmF10ti79U1@mid.individual.net...
>>>> Have a safe and enjoyable trip.
>>>>
>>>> Smarty
>>>
>>> Thanks, Smarty!
>>>
>>> I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving.
>>>
>>>>
>>
>>
>

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