Adventures In Eating

I have never been a picky, finicky or timid eater. The only food I did not like growing up, the only food my mother and I ever got into a “food battle’ over---was the then dreaded beet. I thought they tasted like dirt—probably because all I’d ever had were gross canned beets. She made me hold a mouthful until I choked down one bite—tears streaming down my face—and I vowed never to eat them again. I was eight. I did not eat beets again until I was in law school and the “gorgeous Fletcher” (lol—ladies THAT is a story for another day) ordered a veggie plate for us at A La Lucie. Not wanting to be silly I took a deep breath and tasted the baby beets—thinly sliced and sautéed in butter—they were heavenly!


I will almost always choose the unusual on a menu. Now don’t get me wrong—I love pretty much everything and down home cooking gets me every time. But I like adventure too. As a cook I like to see what others are doing combining flavors, textures and techniques. Ordering this way can sometimes be wonderful, mediocre or awful but it is never boring.


For me, especially when I need to take off the pounds, the food has to be worth the calories. It’s not that I won’t eat ‘junk food’ lol—it just has to be GOOD junk ---like a Rally’s ‘Big Buford’ –a double cheeseburger to die for. YUM

My most memorable adventurous eating experience taught me a lesson but it won’t stop me from being adventurous---it’s just that I won’t ever eat Triggerfish or its relatives (Mahi Mahi is one) ever again.

The Ex and I had a good recommendation for a lovely restaurant called Marley’s on Hilton Head. This was the fall of 2006. The atmosphere was very cool Caribbean. I saw that the special was ‘pan seared local triggerfish’. Anytime I can get local seafood I will have it. I’d already had fantastic local shrimp. The fish was napped in a butter sauce with Mandarin orange sections and macadamia nuts. It was SO GOOD!! However—I soon was not.


I had already been feeling odd---for some reason I had been having abdominal cramps—I thought it was just gas. LOL So we left the restaurant with half of my meal in the box. (My Ex had the mussels al mojo de ajo (garlic/winebutter---oh my---should have had those too it turns out) Back at the hotel room I continued suffering some cramps but no nausea. Tried to just chill for a little while with a heating pad. At about 11 p.m. I became violently ill and began to sweat and the cramps became unbearable and suddenly I could not breathe. So it’s out to the car with me hyperventilating and unable to breathe and us careening in the dark trying to find the hospital. (Hilton Head does not have streetlights) As an aside—if you do not know where you are going fast surging of auto does not really help!

Despite everything I spot the hospital and ER signs and we go flying up. I can barely walk and am still hyperventilating and about to pass out from it. I keep saying ‘Please help me” and nurse Ratchet walks up and gives me a verbal slap--"we will but you have to slow your breathing" (32 respirations a minute is quite a lot apparently) They get enough history out of me and Ex to figure out the triggerfish thing and I get IV benadryl. I have to say my male nurse was so good I never had the slightest bruise from my IV. IV benadryl will float your boat—or would have if I was not having severe abdominal cramps still. Doc finally realizes other half of the story and does x-rays and CT scan of my abdomen. When I went to x-ray I was shaking so bad I could not stand up. The x-ray tech was SO SWEET and good to me. When x rays did not show enough to Doc he sends me back for the CT—of course you have to drink the barium and wait an hour. Got to CT at about 2:30 a.m. CT shows some fluid that doc thinks is from ruptured ovarian cyst---just a happy coincidence that these happened at the same time LOL. Got IV Toradol (similar to motrin) . Released about 4:30 a.m. with minimal pain and Benadryl kicking my ass but doing it’s job. We get back to the villa to see two extremely happy pugs who cannot understand why we want to sleep instead of play with them.


Three and one half hours later I am up and at it walking on the beach. I am nothing if not resilient. And stubborn.


So my lesson in adventurous eating had a very good side benefit --- I know that I am one of the folks who can have this reaction and I know I’ll never eat Triggerfish or Mahi-Mahi again.

But there is still a whole world of unexplored food out there and I am still just as ready to be adventurous as I ever was---especially if it is napped in butter with macadamia nuts.