Overcoming fears culinary style.
I have this irrational fear of sharks, and the ocean. Okay, it isn't that irrational unless you consider the fact that I live pretty far inland...and my imagination can get the better of me while in a chlorinated pool.
I am taking steps to overcome my fear...baby steps.
And while I am not at the point where I can boldly [insanely] pronounce that I will spend $5000 in order to put myself in a flimsy metal cage and dunk myself into salt water to wait for a Great White to swim by...I CAN now go to a marina and see the shark tank and my stomach just might growl.
Last night we went out on a date. I picked out the entertainment, stand up comedy at the Comedy Showcase to see Alonzo Bodden [Winner of Last Comic Standing 3].
And he picked out where we were going for dinner, The Real Seafood Company [a high end seafood restaurant].
It was a special thing, because we had reservations for BOTH. I felt so grown up and blah blah blah-di blah.
We hadn't been to The Real Seafood Company in quite a while, in fact a friends birthday party marks the only time we went, and even then we shared a dinner because it was THAT expensive. However, tonight Caleb informed me that I could pick whatever I wanted in celebration of his new job.
The menu wasn't like going to Red Lobster [gag] where everything is pretty status quo...there wasn't the usual fried shrimp or baked cod. I was pretty unsure of what I was going to get, because I didn't recognize any of the dishes.
Then I took a gander up at Friday night's specials...and I see "MAKO SHARK, charbroiled, blackened, or grilled"...oooh...
I am the sort of person who would try just about anything [food wise] once as long as it is prepared well--I lived in Japan, I am no stranger to weird food and eating what I cannot pronounce. So, I threw caution to the wind and ordered the shark.
While we waited for our dinners, we dove into some really good mussels and clams steamed in white wine. All the while I was a bit worried that I wouldn't like the shark. I am kind of picky about seafood...I don't like fish with red meat...it tastes too fishy. And shark is considered a 'red meat'.
Caleb ordered swordfish, and when our dinners arrived I was presented with a nice big piece of grilled shark, and it wasn't red as I had feared it would be. Apparently 'red meat' has nothing to do with the color.
It was an interesting dinner. As I ate the shark I started to think about my fear of sharks...while not completely unfounded, may be a bit on the extreme.
With eat declious bite I took [because shark meat literally melts in your mouth] I was reminded that sharks, while great hunters in the oceans, are not at the top of the food chain. I mean, I don't see any sharks coming up on land to hunt humans, [Thank God...no I mean that THANK GOD].
So, really...as long as I am staying out of their territory, I can be relatively assured that no shark is going to come get me...in fact, I would have to venture to say that more sharks are eaten by humans than vice versa. So...MAYBE a shark has more to fear of me, than the other way around.
Aside from all that...sharks from what I understand don't actually hunt humans. They attack because they are hungry, or mistake us for their own natural prey.
However, here I am eating a shark quite literally on purpose because it is on a menu. And it's good.
So take that you sharks...I'm on land, and YOU are quite tasty with butter and lemon...let's see you step foot in MY area of effect.
posted by Kassi Gilbert @ 12:07 PM
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