Monday, April 5, 2010

A Fish by any other name

Yesterday at our Easter brunch, I overheard Dontae quietly questioning Naomi what everything was on the brunch table. All unfamiliar to him-quiche, bagels and..LOX. The pink flesh especially puzzled him. I told him that lox was one of Naomi's favorite foods until someone told her that it was actually fish.
Naomi's Logic:
I don't like fish.
Lox is a fish.
Therefore I don't like lox.
Even though I always liked it before.
Dontae asked if calamari were a fish because Naomi certainly eats that.
Actually it's a mollusk.
I have noticed that even non-Italian restaurants call squid 'calamari' now. I don't think I ever see the word squid anywhere. I guess it would not sell. I remember as a child going deep-sea fishing in Florida. Alot of the catch was this 5 lb flat, golden fish. I asked what it was.
Dolphin
Argh! It didn't look like Flipper.
Now it's been rechristened 'mahi-mahi'. Noone wants to eat something called dolphin.
In Italy, at the Amalfi Coast cuisine restaurant we ate at in Milan on the last day, they had a dish full of sea shells that I wished I had saved one of the shells as they were pretty. On a recent Anthony Bourdain show featuring Provence, he showed a plate of them and called them 'whelks'. Italian word: buccino. buccino sounds nicer than sea snails or whelks. And no, I didn't eat one.

Back to the lox. I suggested that Dontae try it to expand his horizons. Ha! Some of my readers are thinking-what a big fat, hypocrite you are!
He initially passed but somehow maybe to suck up to me, which he does try to do in hilarious ways, later he decided to try it eating it straight. Josh reminded him that he didn't need to do that, ignore what his mom said. But if he insisted on trying it, put it on a bagel with cream cheese.
He ate it straight and reported that it didn't taste fishy. He didn't ask for more. They then left for his mama's house probably so he could eat something not so weird.

At home, I saw a cute puppy bounding beside the Miracle Baby's motorized chair as they cruised the cul-de-sac. Twelve years ago, she was born at 26 weeks weighing 2 lbs, 14 inches long. She is very small for her age (normal to large parents) and has motor difficulties though she does not appear to have cerebal palsy. The puppy,Rosebud,is a 6 lb roly-poly ball of black fur born just 2 days after Dakota. She is mostly a miniature poodle but her very short legs suggest she has something else mixed in. I had friends with a yorkie-poo who looked very similar but had copper hair (and named "Copper"). At the Miracle Baby and her mom's suggestion, later I brought Dakota over for the two puppies to chase each other and roll together on the floor. Very, very cute! We all had fun watching their antics. Rosebud is a more suitable playmate than a 80 lb German Shepherd and a senile pug. Dakota, despite her size, insists on being the alphadog and occasionally was mean to Rosebud. Dakota's long nose and long tail suggests that something other than chihuahua and pug are in her background. Minipin? Italian Greyhound?Dachshund?

Studytime again as this afternoon will be too. I will be so glad when this semester is over.

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