Food Mis-fire.

I have learned an important lesson. If you are not a vegetarian and you go to dinner with a bunch of folks who are -- you are going to face many surprises and probably go home hungry.

The other night we were introduced to Korean food at a small restaurant. I seriously doubt I will ever find myself there again. My idea of a vegetarian meal is a baked potato.

When I was served thin pizza-like "pie" slices dotted with bits of squid, I took a teeny-tiny bite and then daintily pulled and tugged the crust with the square-tipped chop sticks. I ripped the slice into minute bits and busily pushed them around on the plate until someone quietly took it away. To me a squid is an enormous under-water beast that squeezes deep sea divers to death - not dinner.

One of the gourmet treats before the main course was a small dish of minute shrimp and anchovies that looked like they never had a chance to grow. Everything set before us was a mystery - and, even though I recognized the Sushi, I waved the attractively presented morsels right on by. My prefered RAW dish is a salad.

Because I love sweet and sour shrimp as prepared by the Chinese I thought ordering it was a sure thing. Well, I was wrong. Jim and I were sharing the dish. After I set my tongue on fire someone pointed out that the nine red peppers fanned out on the top should have been enough of a clue. HOT does not even come close. With beads of sweat standing on his brow, Jim cleaned his plate!
Thank goodness - we would have had to bring the left-over shrimp home.

For dessert I tried Green Tea Ice Cream. Go ahead, try it! Karen said the Red Bean Ice Cream was pretty good. Maybe next time.

Jim relished all the delights of the table. "Try everything." is his motto.

Driving home I was starving. I asked him to stop at McDonald's so I could get a vanilla milkshake.

"Didn't you eat anything?" At my "no" he asked,"why didn't you order a fried egg. I saw that all the"hot pots" were topped with a fried egg."


Now he tells me.

Another lesson -
keep your eyes open even if your mouth is closed - there may be something right under your nose you can eat.