Friday, December 11, 2009

A New Flavor for Date Night

Last night we went out on a date, leaving Sawyer behind in the capable hands of some dear friends. We decided to be adventurous for our taste buds, and went out for Chinese! Not that exciting you say? Well it is/was for us. We're not Asian food eaters. At least we never have been. I can count the number of times we have each eaten at a Chinese restaurant on one hand. And my previous experiences have consisted of heading straight for the peel-n-eat shrimp at a buffet and loading up on iodine, or maybe venturing out so far as, gasp, chicken fried rice!

But something's changed in us. I think one of the best things you can do for your taste-buds is travel internationally. It's not even necessary to go lots of places. Just one, that's really different than anything you've experienced before, and stay there awhile, eating what the locals eat. Before moving to Africa, we loved the full-board of American fare - southern, seafood, pizza, creole, chowda, burgers, sandwiches, wings, etc - and even some basic international favorites like Mexican, Irish and Italian that any American eats. But the whole Asian continent was never a draw for us (though we did learn to like Japanese hibachi grills). Then we moved to East Africa, where standard face was rice and beans, with the occasional tough goat or scrawny chicken. We'd go out to eat, and for a break from the rice and beans go to Indian restaurants. Oh Indian food, how I love thee! Then we made friends with the international community and were introduced to Korean food, Yemeni, Iranian, Ethiopian, South African, German - all wonderful!

Since being back in the States we've branched out to everything we can find, and now know that we love Vietnamese, Thai, Russian, Mediterranean, and I'm ready to say it... even Chinese.

What's next? Any suggestions for our next cultural taste to seek out?
I hear the French don't know anything about food... (that's sarcasm France, please don't hate us)

6 comments:

Paul said...

Antarctican. I hear smoked seal, deep fried penguin, and krill salad are a delight for the palate.

paul

Brady Peters said...

israeli?

Michael & Joe Joe said...

Manna, unleavened bread, and rocket-scorched everything? Ha. Good idea Brady. What makes up Israeli food? Anyone know of Israeli restaurants in Lexington?

Anonymous said...

Best israeli food in town....Corky's. Your Welcome.

Michael & Joe Joe said...

Anon - Sarcasm is always welcome on this site, so good comment. You're welcome.

Michael & Joe Joe said...

Turns out our pig-lovin' anonymous poster was Paul, that's not nearly as much fun as I'd hoped...