Had a busy day today getting to a coffee shop that had wifi (Starbucks, of course) so we could get online and make our final arrangements for Prague. We connected with a very nice woman who lives in Prague who has offered to put us up in her house for two nights, so we’ll stay with her Saturday and Sunday and then we found a studio apartment to rent in the old part of Prague for the next four nights. I made sure it had a washing machine, cuase by then, it’ll be time!!
We had made arrangements to take Sigrid and Alfred to dinner tonight in appreciation for hosting us. We did not get a chance to meet Alfred yesterday since he came home after us and went straight to bed. We let them decide where to go for dinner and they decided on a new restaurant in a nearby town called Sydney, which was designed around an Australian theme. Picture Outback Steakhouse and you’ll get the idea. The menu had all sorts of meats that you wouldn’t find in the States - or in the rest of Germany I would guess for that matter. Kangaroo filets were actually on the menu so I decided to be live on the edge and dine on the national mascot of Australia. That, though, was only the beginning our culinary adventure…..you see, Sigrid had mentioned when we were chatting yesterday about a salad they make which is sprinkled with - take a deep breath everyone - deep fried crickets. If I’m lyin, I’m dyin. Remember now, these are adventurous folks who have traveled all over the world and throughout much of Asia, so they’ve tried quite a number of highly unusual foods, at least by Western standards. So what does she order for the table? You guessed, it cricket surprise. Of course, she’s ordering in German, so I had no idea what was coming until the server put it on the table. Imagine just your ordinary, run of the mill green salad, with tomato, cucumber, lettuce, and oh, what’s that? A small pile of fried crickets in one corner of the bowl, about an inch long. Yeah. And before I could magically wish the bowl to dissolve into thin air, our very friendly hosts made sure to offer each of us one, insisting we just had to try them. Talk about being put on the spot!! As I tried to stammer through some sort of protest that wouldn’t offend them, I finally gave up and just put my hand out, as did Jim and before I could take any time to think about it or look too long at little Jiminy Cricket, I popped him in my mouth and crunched away. I don’t think we could accurately describe the taste except to say it wasn’t really bad, but just tasted like some sort of fried something. Of course, I didn’t let the little sit on my tongue for too long before swallowing right away and taking a big, long gulp of beer.
Two thoughts occurred to me during the rest of the evening. The first was I had noticed at one point a fly was buzzing around the table and I wondered - if it were to land on the cricket and take a bit, would that be like canibalism? The second was I remembered when I was a kid we would occasionally get a cricket in the house and my mother would never kill it, but gently cup it in her hands and release it outside and here I was eating one. What would Mom think?
So there you have it. We’re in Germany, at an Australian-themed restaurant and I’m eating kangaroo and crickets. I guess everyday is truly and adventure…….
No comments:
Post a Comment