I ate a really gross creature today

I didn't venture out too far from the office today. The Shanghai Restaurant is downstairs in the lobby of our office building. Much like the Super Star Seafood Restaurant, this one was a giant banquet hall and you could tell either there was just a wedding there or one is going to happen this weekend. There was only two of us so we opted not to have Dim Sum. We started with some jasmine tea then I ordered the braised abalone with sea cucumber. I figured abalone was like eating a giant clam, but I had no idea what sea cucumber was. It's considered in most Asian countries as a delicacy. If I had known what a sea cucumber was before I ordered it, I probably would've avoided it. I googled it when I returned and was so grossed out I closed the browser immediately. Look at that thing!!! So gross.

My dish was served in a brown gravy with broccoli. The abalone were disk shaped and tasted just like I expected - chewy like clam meat, but it was still tender. The sea cucumber looked like brown jello-o. It was so slippery I couldn't even use my chopsticks to pick it up. I don't know how Chinese people do it! I had to use my spoon. It was pretty creepy looking, actually it looked like fat and cartilage and...it tasted like it too! No surprises there! it wasn't really an 'eww disgusting I can't eat this' experience, because I certainly ate it. However, I won't be ordering sea cucumber again anytime soon!