Recently, Roger and I succumbed to peer pressure and decided to try sushi (or as I previously and shall forever after refer to it - BAIT).
I have always been suspicious about the whole "raw fish" trend. I've accidentally eaten raw seafood before and that experience left me thinking it was definitely not something I wanted to do again. Turns out, I was right.
My oldest son, Alex, has always been a big sushi fan. But, you really can't depend on Alex's recommendations when it comes to food. One of Alex's favorite past-times is to wander into a hole-in-the wall where he's the only person who speaks English. He'll proceed to peruse a menu that he can't understand and make a selection by pointing to something that looks interesting. Then, in a surprising show of faith and courage, when the mystery food is served, HE ACTUALLY EATS IT.
See, I blame his dad. Roger has always been an adventurous eater. You know the type, someone who will actually eat things from the Roach Coach. A person who sees nothing wrong with eating a sandwich from a gas station. That's not to say Roger doesn't have his limits. For some reason he draws the line at anything white. Yep a tamale out of the trunk of someone's car? You betcha! Just keep your mayo, cream cheese and sour cream to yourself.
Like I said, Alex was always a big sushi fan, and we never pay attention to Alex's food recommendations. But, then we got some surprising news from our youngest son, Joseph, (who is a really picky eater) and his girlfriend Audrey, (who manages to live on a diet consisting of all things potato). Both of them jumped in the sushi fish tank and LOVED it!
Okay, that's it! Roger and I were tired of being the old fogey, sticks in the mud. Let me just step in here and say that maybe the REASON old fogeys live long enough to actually become old fogeys is that they know better than to eat things that are routinely put out on a trot line. I'm just sayin'.
We went to a sushi restaurant Alex recommended (mistake number 1) and ordered the items that Alex suggested (mistake number 2).
We were nervous, sure, but it all started out pretty well. The edamame was a little salty, but you could brush the excess salt off, right? Miso soup came next and I tried really hard to distract Roger from the little cubes of tofu floating around on the top...SUCCESS! We both ate the soup and it wasn't too bad.
On to the entrees! We had ordered the California Roll and the Alexander Roll. Both came beautifully plated and we eagerly (I was eager, Roger was scared), took a bite.
The minute I got that first bite of California roll in my mouth I knew we were in trouble. From what I've been told, the California roll is actually COOKED. It has no raw fish in it. So, maybe someone can explain to me why my California roll tasted like I'd just reached into the koi pond and popped Goldie into my mouth.
I looked at the expression on Roger's face and at the pain in his eyes and I knew drastic measures were called for.
I hopped up and went looking for our waiter. I told him we'd had an emergency phone call, and had to leave and we needed two to-go boxes. (What, we'd spent $30.00 on this stuff, you think I'm leaving without it?)
We packed up, swung by Alex's house to drop off the "offal", and high-tailed it to our favorite rib joint, where food servings are huge and fixed the way God and Nature intended - cooked over an open flame and served with two of your favorite side dishes.
Oh, and just so you know, I asked Alex the next day how he liked his surprise sushi meal. Turns out he only got a couple of bites. He claims while he was eating it straight from the to go box, the box flipped over and all of the sushi fell onto the floor.
Uh huh...I think it says a lot that even his DOGS didn't try to snatch it up.
