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# Geonbae!
- URL: https://dianaludwick.com/geonbae/
- Published: 2026-09-04T11:41:05.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-04T11:41:05.000Z
- Description: "Geonbae!” a celebration of semi-forgotten anniversaries, steak, and family, written Friday, September 04, 2026 poem 247 in a series of 365 poems written by Diana Ludwick in 2026. Photo: "The Butcher's Feas, a KBBQ Date Night," by Diana Ludwick © 2026.
- Author: Diana Ludwick
- Tags: 2026 Poetry Challenge, Culinary, Eating and Drinking, Food Tourism, Nostalgia, Of Place, Poems, Recipes for Life, travel, A5 Wagyu, Anniversary, Cheers, Family Reunion, Feast, Happy Anniversary!, KBBQ, Late Summer, Lychee, Martini, Omakase, September, Soju, Steak, Steakhouse, Summer, What's the Occasion?, #Migrated-1792872215677, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-10-24 20:03

“And what’s the occasion?”  
Our hostess queries.  
Her polished city hair   
gleams under blue lights;  
her head cocks to the side,   
trying to discern what four women   
and a man are doing out for an epic meal.  
  
I shrug: “Just a family reunion!”  
My husband gulps.   
"Oh, and my cousin's early birthday celebration."  
He stares, wordless.  
*What did I say wrong?*   
I wonder.  
  
“Yes! Thanks for bringing us to Cote!”  
My cousin gushes.   
“Right!" Says her partner.  
"Lou didn’t tell me we were going   
to a Michelin starred restaurant tonight!   
She just said “steakhouse."  
What *gives*?!”   
  
He breaks his silence:   
“Well…so yes, birthday, and...   
"it’s Di’s and my anniversary...  
"*So* —.”  
  
My face becomes   
**Awkward Teeth** emoji.  
*“Omigod-Babe-I’m-So-Sorry!”*  
I screech.  
  
He gives me that straight smile —   
the one that simultaneously conveys   
“It’s Okay; I Take No offense, *really*”   
but also indicates:  
“You’re ridiculous! And further, you will always be...  
...incurably, authentically *You*.”  
  
I scoot into the horseshoe leather banquet.  
Soon we’re distracted   
by the first course of our omakase feast:  
a tiny ceramic plate nestles a sole kkaennip leaf  
itself cradling a geometrically perfect cube   
of translucent toro, which our menu calls:   
“the A5 Wagyu of the sea.”  
  
Sprinkled atop with pyramidal sea salt,   
The tuna, jewel-like, a glowing dice,  
arrives with a dab of wasabi janagachi.  
I roll the leaf and pop the gift in my mouth.  
The deity-grade tuna has the softness of guava.  
The herby leaf and polygon detonate   
an unctuous umami tsunami   
that storms across my awaiting tongue.  
  
We then wash down our presents with   
American Prime bone consommé,  
gently held to lips from a wee glazed cup.  
  
As we acclimate to the royal treatment,  
we take in the living walls of tropical greenery   
and the dark gloss mirrors and burbling water features.  
Our vision draws back table-side at the coming   
of a wooden presentation board on stilt-like peg legs,  
which brims with gemlike cuts of ruby beef.  
  
Lychee martinis clinks against lemonade glass.  
We toast to our luck:  
Of being together,   
Of finding love,  
Of having health,  
Of being here,   
eating our way through the heart   
of the world’s Doenjang jjigae pot.  
  
Course after course hits the table   
until no surface remains visible   
under the battalions of platters,   
stew pots, omelette crocks, and ban chan.   
  
Our stomachs grow tight;  
our smiles grow loose.  
Dates and faulty memories thereof   
are forgiven.  
Who can think even conjure the past   
when the present is all around us?  
  
We raise, again,   
our miniature crystal Soju glasses:   
Geonbae!  
  
\====  
Happy anniversary, my love.   
I will remember you always  
(if not our milestone calendar dates)!