Serendipity

According to Webster's Online Dictionary, serendipity is finding something unexpected and useful while searching for something else entirely.

Let me tell you a story of my serendipitous meal a couple weeks ago.

My buddy, Chance, and I (yes, that's his real name) went to Seoul. We caught one of the National Palaces and the National Folk Museum. Very nice places. Very cool. Spending most of the day walking around Seoul, we got a little hungry and started looking around for a place to eat. I love hanging out in Korea with Chance. Apart from being a good kid, firmly planted in his twenties with that natural exuberance, he is a pretty good Korean linguist. He has learned to slur and "aaaa" the way the locals actually speak rather than in the more crisp, enunciated way he was taught. So, when we grab a place to eat, it's usually a local joint, rather than some "Americanized" establishment. This time was no different.

We grabbed a small table and received a menu for English speakers. This menu had their foods listed down the page in Korean, and some of them had translations in a right-hand column. I really like to try out new foods, so I scrolled quickly down the menu and found "rice dish in pot." This was like a perfect entry for me: vague enough that I would be surprised by it, but specific enough that I was pretty sure I'd like it.

A few minutes later, the waiter brings my food, and Chance says "Bi bim bap? I didn't order that. Did you?" Of course, I have no idea what I ordered, but I've been meaning to try bi bim bap for pretty much the entire time I've been here. (My Sweetie's a huge fan.) Regardless, I'm willing to eat it. Chance, of course, wants to make sure we're getting the right stuff, so the guy brings the menu back around, and sure enough "rice dish in pot" is bi bim bap. That's the actual translation.

Serendipity: Accidentally ordering a dish you've been meaning to order for the past 10 months...

And it's yummy.