Scary Restaurant Experience

From Brad.

The other day my friend/language tutor came over to my house after our session. He and the friend with him wanted to take my family out that evening to have hot pot, a certain type of dining experience I’ll describe later. We’re not the most spontaneous group, but we decided this would be a neat experience and agreed.

At 5pm, we started walking to the restaurant which was “just right around the corner”. In 95 degree heat and 20 minutes later, we arrived at our restaurant. When we sat down, my friend tried to give me the seat which faced the door (which is the seat of honor). I declined b/c he invited me and the other seat had the a/c unit blowing directly on it. Of course the first thing he did was face the a/c vents in the other direction b/c direct exposure to cool air isn’t healthy…uggg! Okay, then the fun starts. The table is a square with a hole in the middle which has about a 12” diameter. About 6” under the hole is an electric burner. When the server first greets you, he brings a large, two compartment bowl which fits nicely on the burner. One side is spicy and the other side is not. After the order is placed, he turns on the burner and the water is brought to a small boil. Then the food comes (my friend handled the ordering…which is customary here) with the dipping sauce. This was our first experience with ‘hot pot’ so we really did not know what to expect.

My friend takes the first dish (thinly sliced lamb) and places it in the simmering water. Our kids are starting to get a little restless and play with the items on the table. My friend determines that the lamb is ready to be eaten so he and I dig in with the chopsticks. He grabs a piece, dips it in the yellow-brownish semi-thick sauce and eats it. I do the same and realize this is a peanut sauce. My first reaction…I love peanut sauce. Amy’s first reaction…my kids won’t make it out of here alive (due to peanut allergies…at least Alex and Savannah). Oh, I’ve got to grow up soon. Anyway, Amy also realizes we forgot to bring the epipen (a shot to give our kids in case of an extreme allergic reaction), something we rarely leave behind. We begin to discuss what to do and tons of thoughts begin rushing through my head (I don’t want to offend my friend, he’s already ordered food for all of us, maybe there’s a way to feed my kids without putting them in danger, etc.).

My friend had a hard time understanding our dilemma b/c apparently food allergies are extremely rare here. Pollen allergies are understood and not dangerous, but food allergies are a foreign concept. As we were discussing this, Alex must have dipped his finger in the peanut sauce (ever so slightly) and subsequently rubbed his eye. Amy notices that his eye is turning red and starting to swell a bit. We quickly come to the conclusion that there is no way we can allow our kids (at least Alex and Savannah) to stay here. The process of grabbing food with chopsticks, dipping in the peanut sauce, and back to the grabbing of food (with peanut sauce covered chopsticks) is not a good scenario for our kiddos. So Amy takes Alex and Savannah home while Peter and I stay. On the way home, Alex’s eye swells up a ton and at home Amy washes it out and gives him medicine (no shot necessary). All ended well there, especially b/c nothing was ingested, but what a disaster this could have been. We have asked many people to remember the safety of our children and I am convinced that these requests were answered at that moment.

I stay behind with Peter to try to save as much face as possible. My friend appeared unbothered by everything and we finished our dinner and had a decent time. Although, I’ve got to share with you some of the things he ordered.
• Sliced lamb…not bad
• Ham…is what he called it. It was actually little blobs (size of a credit card, about ½ inch thick) of pure pig fat. It ended up on my plate, under my napkin…I just couldn’t do it.
• Shrimp. Typically eaten, head, shell, eyeballs, everything. The girl with us was peeling hers so I got off easy.
• Bricks of duck blood. About the same size of the ‘ham’. I asked my friend if he wanted me to try some. He said, ‘of course!’ Well, I’ve had worse, but I didn’t go back for seconds. What is funny, is Peter (the boy who likes nothing but sweets) requested this item. He actually had seconds. The ‘brick’ sort-of looked like a brownie, so I think that’s why he asked for it. 
• Potatoes (whew…something to fill up on), lettuce (a little strange boiled), and a few other mild veggies.

Each day has a new experience. Thanks for your thoughts.