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« Helpful Hint #457 | Main | Nosy Nancy » Strange Beginnings
April 02, 2005
Growing up, I wasn't exposed to a broad range of mushrooms. The white Buttom Mushroom was pretty status quo for most dinner tables back then and I usually picked them out of whatever dish The Mother found the need to put them in. Except I did like them sauteed in butter and garlic with a dash or three of Worcheshire (please don't ask me to spell that) sauce and served over a nice juicy steak. Mmmmmm....
The white linens and our casual dress should have been our first red flag but we were greeted with open arms and led to a beautiful table right by the front window. Upon opening the menu I realized that this wasn't the traditional Cantonese style I was used to where you could order "B for 4" and be pretty assured that you would be gettting the bbq pork and egg flower soup. This menu was a la carte with no prices. (Red Flag) The waiter spoke about 3 words of English and we spoke no words of Chinese so communication was done with a lot of arm waiving and pointing. We finally ended up coming to an agreement that when he said, "I pick", we simply smiled, nodded and said, "Thank You." (Red Flag) I am pretty sure he went to the kitchen and said, "We've got four American suckers at table 5 - let's bring out the big guns!" The first course was brought out on silver platters and four waiters attentively served up our plates, filled our wine glasses, brought out fresh water glasses, and put warm napkins on our laps. (Red Flag) We were all giddy with the service and spent a good part of that time laughing at our good fortune. We were also really giddy about being served without being carded as the drinking age was 19. By the time that was done, out came the soup course in large silver toureens (red flag) and again the 4 waiters came out to ladel our bowls full. And again the new water glass and again with the fresh warm napkin. And then out came the main course. There were 5 large silver platters teeming with fabulous food; Peking duck, shrimp in a spicy chile sauce, moo goo gai pan, a beef and vegetable number, and delicious fried rice. And again the 4 waiters served up each of our plates with the fresh water glass and fresh warm napkin. And every time we would so much as take a bite, there was one of our personal waiters waiting to add more food to our plate. We were having the time of our lives. But then I was looking at my mound of beef and vegetable dish when I We all agreed we had never seen one before and we all agreed we didn't know what the heck it was. The only thing I could think of that was remotely like it was those "poofy" mushroom things I used to find in my yard. You know, the things you would step on and that little cloud of smoke would poof out the top. And I was convinced that's what it was and was freaked out that the chef would try to poison us in that way. (I was 18, remember. Not the brightest bulb in the pack) So I pushed it aside and all of my friends frantically did the same on their own plates. And then we dug through the platter on the table fishing out any others we may find. One of the waiters came over and saw what we were doing and was quite concerned. "You no like?" "No. We no like", I said. And I had that look on my face as if to say, 'We know what you're up to, buddy. And we're not eating these things'. We were all convinced that they were, in fact, "pooofy" mushroom things and even though we were young, we weren't stupid.
Posted by Foodwhore at April 2, 2005 11:03 PM 
I haven't seen a poofy mushroom thing in years. We had them in Alabama when I was growing up and we'd love to poof them. They would start out off-white and then when they were brown it was time to poof them. Glad to know you have them in the Northwest. Posted by: sandy at April 4, 2005 01:16 PM EEK Kris, that's the best story ever. Posted by: roy at April 4, 2005 07:12 PM You know, you can eat puffball mushrooms, too. They are great sauteed in butter with shallots and a slosh of sherry. But then again, what isn't great sauteed in butter with shallotsand a slosh of sherry? Posted by: Barbara at April 4, 2005 09:21 PM Cute story! I grew up fearing chinese food ingredients, Now I can eat cloud ears in Hot & Sour soup like there's no tomorrow. It makes me laugh that now I purchase -and use- something that comes in a package that is printed with a million little chinese characters, and no other English, except for the words "BLACK FUNGUS". Mmmm yeah, gimme some of that Black Fungus. Kind of relates to the entry on my blog a couple of days ago, where I wrote about "contradictions" in eating habits. Posted by: MisChef at April 4, 2005 11:40 PM I just don't get what all the fuss is about morels. I live in Wisconsin where fanatics don their Wellies and troop through the damp forests in the spring in search of the wrinkly little buggers. They sell for about $5 for four ounces at the Madison Farmer's Market and they are snapped up as if they were free. I've tried them. I've used a brush to clean out all the little hidey-holes. I've sauteed them in butter and served them with pasta, a little garlic and fresh asparagus. And all I can say is Meh! Is there something wrong with me? Posted by: Annie at April 5, 2005 06:55 AM I don't know that I would be inclined to eat anything that Ina Garten equates with "dirty gym socks" in terms of their smell... Posted by: HomefrontSix at April 5, 2005 08:22 PM I remember being at my cousin's house once and my uncle had cooked a bunch of morells. We were each 'allowed' to have ONE mushroom, and only one mushroom. I was just a kid and thought it was real strange that he was rationing mushrooms like that. I hope you never allowed Susie to read the menu again. Posted by: Barb at April 6, 2005 12:06 PM  |
