Mom, Dad, Meet Sushi
My mother and father are what you might call "rustic". Born poor farmers Dad didn't have electricity and running water until he moved to Wilmington to seak his fortune. Mom says that because of me they have learned to try new exotic foods. Exotic like pizza, subs, and Chinese take out.
This weekend was another first for them. After a busy morning heading shrimp caught the night before, we wanted lunch. Dad mentioned that one of his favorite buffet places had closed and been replaced with a Chinese Buffet that he had heard from friends was good. So I suggested we go and check it out. It had not occured to me that they had never eaten at a Chinese buffet before.
I served as translator from english with an NC accent, to english with an Asian accent. I also served as international ambassador for Chinese cuisine for my parents. Mom had no idea what anything was and asked that I not let her eat anything "gross" or "raw". I made the crack that the most unusual thing I had ever seen on any Chinese buffet was chicken feet and I would steer them clear of that. Dad's response was "I used to eat chicken feet all the time as a boy." Ok, so everything was going to be easy.
I had not counted on a sushi bar complete with sushi chef keeping careful watch over his sushi buffet table. All rolls very carefuly prepared by someone who obviously knew his way around sushi. So for my first plate I made a very attractive ring of sushi around my plate. My parents followed suit (but to a lesser degree). My mom's mantra was "I don't want to eat anything raw". So being a good son I pointed out the sushi with the tuna and the salmon. Mom, managed to pick one of each of those anyway.
Eating her sushi and repeating her mantra of "I don't want to eat anything raw." she ate all of her sushi even as I had to tell her, "That's raw" (she would eat it anyway) with each raw piece. Dad proclaimed that never had he seen any food so pretty to look at. Mom agreed. Both thought that though tasty, it was't something they would crave. After a morning of heading live shrimp, maybe I could sympathize with them. I enjoyed mine at least.
Over all they approved of Chinese buffet, and were even more greatful that it was less expencive than Golden Coral, which is their usual first choice in Fine Dinning. Again they credited me with allowing them to explore new and "exotic" foods. It will be easy to use this power for evil, so I must be ever vigilant. That and hope that the Crystal Coast never gets anything more exotic than the Hooters which just opened.
Comments
Your parents and my father must never meet. The 'rustic' forces would converge and take over the world. My dad, while not a stranger to the Chinese buffet, after much coaxing in my teenage years, is vehement against anything that is even slightly fancy (places like Carrabas and Outback are about even with fine dining- I think it's the cloth napkins. I think he'd have a heart attack if I tried to take him someplace that actually supplied you with more than one plate and set of utensils). I think he thinks it might 'ruin' him. This is the same man that believes that McDonalds is a Communist conspiracy to take over the world, and firmly believes that all words should have every single letter pronounced... hence the phonetic pronunciation of words like knot (k- not), and knob (k- nob) and knoll (you get the picture). His reasoning? If they take the trouble to put the letter in the word, by god, you should take the trouble to pronounce it. Sound logic, I'd say, but let me te! ll you, it earned me some trouble in school and it was years before I understood that the "Red Shoe Diaries" were not the rantings of a coked up, has-been clown.
Posted by: Brandi | July 13, 2005 8:55 AM