South Korea is (probably) going to scrap it's archaic age system (one that even China doesn't cling to):
"Thus, depending on the individual's birthday, one can have three different ages. For example, an individual born in May 2020 will be considered three in Korean age, one under the standard international age and two under the year scheme.
People Power Party (PPP) Rep. Lee Yong-ho, head of the judicial subcommittee, said the transition team is pushing to merge the three age systems and recognize only the international age."
Losing unique cultural aspects is a downer, but I'm happy to hear that apparently even most Koreans got fed up with their age system, and how is clashes with globally accepted "international age."
Diamond Jim's Grill, 2400 Meridian St #1, Bellingham, WA
Let's head back to Bellingham, shall we? We'll drive south and just before getting into downtown proper, in the lovely Fountain District, we'll visit Diamond Jim's. Is it a diner or bar? The answer is yes!
Let's head north out of Bellingham on Guide Meridian -- "the Guide" -- that takes you straight north towards the wilds of Canada. And let's visit a place that's easy to miss, frankly speaking, but well worth your time -- Our Diner!
Shari's Cafe and Pies, 3904 Meridian St, Bellingham, WA
We've seen the blandly corporate, and we've seen the weirdly local. Coming back into Bellingham proper is Shari's, which splits the difference (in a good way!) between what lots of people seem to want, and what people actually deserve -- food made with care and attention.
North of Bellingham is the fair city of Lynden, the second largest in the county behind Bellingham. This is the kind of place I'm really interested in -- not a chain, and the sort of place locals know about and would likely send you to if you asked for a good breakfast. We have arrived!
IHOP Restaurant (International House of Pancakes), 420 W Bakerview Road, Bellingham, WA
Starting at an IHOP? Are you serious? Well, the idea was that, like a great cinemaphotographer color correcting his camera with a white sheet of paper, I'd start somewhere obvious. And frankly, who's to say what constitutes quality when it comes to a diner? This place is near the airport at least, and deserves a look.
Tom Waits, "Eggs and Sausage (In a Cadillac with Susan Michelson)"
When I lived in Korea I didn't miss breakfast foods that much -- like a lot of Asia, Koreans will basically heat up leftovers from the night before and that's what you eat before starting the day. "Breakfast food" -- scrambled eggs, sugary french toast or pancakes -- is more of a Western thing.
However, I really missed diners. Because diners aren't just a breakfast menu, but even more importantly a space -- preferably an all-night one, but I'll get to that. While the quality of the food and coffee is important, so is the 30 minutes or so of peace and relative quiet that any diner should afford to anybody in need of such things.
Weirdly enough, during my time in South Korea there was a minor craze for precisely the type of syrupy-sugary breakfast foods that so many ex-pats seem to crave -- waffles in particular. But those places were breakfast food restaurants, explicitly not diners.
Brunch is not breakfast. I am willing to die on that stack of pancakes.
Anyhow, now I find myself living near the lovely town of Bellingham, Washington, just south of Canada. And one thing I've noticed is that there are a ton of diners here, ranging from the corporate joints just going through the motions to the real spots -- the unique breakfast palaces -- that dot most of the county.
I plan on having at least one meal in all of them. As far as I can, I'll order coffee and a plate of Eggs Benedict. If that isn't available, then some combination of toast and at least one egg, sunny side up, will do. I will try to be flexible above all else.
Each spot will receive between zero and five Nighthawks at the Diner for their trouble, based on the following criteria:
Vibe
Song heard
Coffee
Did the yolk pop like it should?
Can I sit and read a while?
Price: EB, coffee, tip
By my own count, I've got 18 places to visit. Of course, with COVID and my own limited geographical experience, places might drop out or be added as needed. For example, one local place is only doing take-out service for now -- nope, not a diner.
I should also mention -- shockingly -- that Bellingham does not have any all-night diners. Honestly, this makes me sadder than it should but hey, I can't change the world.
Also, many years ago I came across this brilliant blog (remember those?) -- eggbaconchipsandbeans. Feel free to think of this as my humble, American attempt at homage.
Thank you for joining me on this exciting, high-cholesterol journey!
"Now, dear Reader, to say that two events occur at the same time is no simple matter. In the Newtonian universe, there is an absolute gridwork of space and time, within which the material phenomena of existence fluctuate; and measuring against that gridwork one can of course say that any two given events are occurring at the same absolute time. In the curved continuum of the Einsteinian universe, however, there is nothing but the material phenomena of existence; there is no underlying gridwork to measure against, and so you cannot say two events separated by space occur at he same time, because there is no clock that can encompass both of them -- their time is inextricably bound up with the other three dimensions that locate them. This idea was expressed long before Einstein, by Heraclitus: 'You cannot step in the same river twice.'"
