Friday, July 21, 2006

Why I eat sushi

So, there it was, New Year's Eve, 1999. This was a big deal (in case you don't remember). For me, in addition to being the end/start of a millenium, I was also going out to dinner with my four relatively new bosses. We were going to a really nice restaurant and I was desperate not to embarrass myself.

I was also feeling adventurous. So, when I looked at the menu, I saw something I didn't recognize, a type of fish. It was served on a portabello mushroom bed and I love portabello mushrooms so I thought I'd try it.

Now, you have to understand. Growing up, my father would eat tuna fish straight out of the can. The smell was repulsive. I would have to leave the room whenever he popped one open. To this date, I have never eaten canned tuna fish.

So, once the server walked away after taking all of our orders, I turned to the boss sitting next to me and proudly said, "I ordered the Ahi. I've never had Ahi before. I hope it's good." To my shock and dismay, she responded, "Well, have you ever had tuna before?"

TUNA?!?!? I hate tuna! Ohmigod, what have I done?

Panicked and clearly not thinking quickly, I stammered, "Uh, I don't know . . ."

"You don't know???"

So, now I'm thinking, what do I do? Do I call the waiter back and change my order? No, no, I'm not going to embarrass myself. I'm going to eat whatever it is that they put in front of me.

So I did. And it was awesome. I loved it. Ahi tuna is now one of my favorite things to order out. And, since I liked it seared rare so much, I tried tuna sushi. Yum! Since I liked tuna sushi so much, I went to sushi restaurants and tried other sushis. Yum! I've eaten sushi in Japan which would have been entirely out of the question previously. My favorite restaurant in Aspen is now Takah Sushi. It's my special Valentine's Day meal every year and, even when my husband suggests a change, nope, it's got to be Takah.

And all of this because Cache Cache didn't put the word "tuna" on its menu.

Hmmm. What else am I missing out on??

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tuna out of a can. Plain. I can see being repulsed, and growing up canned tuna was the only fish I'd eat. You might want to try tuna fish salad with some curry, the white Albacore is good, better than what was available when we were growing up. Interesting how a small incident or fancy language can lead to widening our horizons and self-discovery.

Writer Girl said...

Sushi! Yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy! I love Takah Sushi, the best is their Atomic Shrimp.

Darling Daughter