Eating With My Eyes

I love to eat and am not by nature a picky eater. I think it began in my childhood. While most of my friends' parents were serving pot roast and potatoes my mother was experimenting from the Joy of Cooking. She had a library of cookbooks and would pour over them in search of some new delicacy to try.  Her kitchen was her lab and we were happy guinea pigs. We ate everything from crepes to kugula and for the most part enjoyed it all.

Which explains why I will try almost anything with "almost" being the operative word here. The reality is I eat with my eyes. What I mean is that if something looks visually appealing I will try it. I've always been a visual person. In college being a visual learner meant that while my professors were expounding on some topic I was frantically taking notes. If I see it I will remember it. I can't just hear it. And somehow this does tend to apply to food also.

I have eaten ostrich, octopus, more kinds of fish than I can remember (you see I didn't write them down) and even lemon ants. At the time they all looked appealing. So as I have been experimenting here in Hong Kong it comes down to visuals. 

Lunch at the noodle bar was fine with a wide variety of noodles, unfamiliar leafy greens,  unusual looking mushrooms, but then the next stop - meat. I can't eat anything that looks like it should be in Gray's Anatomy (the book not the TV show). Now what? I'm in line and I have to choose. People are waiting. How about something that looks like fish even though I'm not sure what it really is? I'll try it.

Dinner can also be a unique experience. The Chinese are very helpful to westerners in that most menus have photos of each item. You just point and give the number desired. That works well unless the items have heads. I just can't eat anything that has a face I have to look at. The Peking Duck was smiling I swear, the Roasted Baby Pigeon had just learned to fly and don't get me started on the Suckling Piglet. How about crab and sweet corn soup? No heads. One please.

Now you would think Rusty would be an expert at chopsticks since he has spend a lot of time in Asia. Well that is not correct. He fumbles with them although he tries very hard and he does really want to learn. Last evening at a very trendy HK restaurant we were served a small bowl of peanuts. I suggested Rusty use the time to practice his chopstick usage. Why not pick up the peanuts one by one and eat them?  We both thought this was a great idea until the very first peanut was lifted with much concentration and then... BOING! Off it went heading straight for the young man seated across from us. We both held our breaths waiting for it strike the blackberry the man was so intensely reviewing. Thank goodness it banked right and disappeared behind the man's back. I'm still laughing thinking about this. I do believe you should practice chopstick usage in the privacy of your own home!

I'll keep tasting, but I must admit a brownie would look good right now.