Sunday, December 22, 2013

Selfish Piggies

One of the Seven Deadly Sins
 
 
I'm usually never a pig in public when it comes to free food. Unless I'm hungry then my concern about maintaining a perception of me, that's kind and normal, goes out the window. I was at an event, the ubiquitous Christmas party, when I scanned the buffet table and saw a fat bowl full of marinated mushrooms.
 
I used to hate many foods as a kid, mushrooms being in the top five. I didn't want to eat anything that is the Zombie of the plant world. I knew mushrooms lived off of other dead things and I thought that disgusting. I had good reason to steer clear of them. Until I had marinated mushrooms when I was 18.
 
At a local restaurant and out of curiosity, I popped one of those things into my mouth, knowing I could spit the vile thing out if wanted to. My mouth exploded with about nine different flavors when I bit into one. “My GOD...This is crack cocaine!” might have been a close reaction I had.
 
So at Q's last night, there they were, a nice bowl of them on the buffet table. The problem was how could I abscond with about 1/3 of the bowl without seeming like a glutton. It's simple really. I went up and got a large plate, put one of each item on the plate, then maneuvered in front of the mushroom bowl and used the serving spoon to gather up a heaping pile of them onto my plate. My eyes then shot a quick, left-right look around and I did it again, adding to the pile I had already. Later in the corner, while I ignored everyone around me, I had my own little Heaven as I munched the mushrooms.
 
I'm reminded of a Simpsons episode where they live in Paris for a bit. Homer opines:
 
“In America, everyone said I was a fat, gorging pig. But in France...I'm called a gourmand!”
 
Once I was done with that, I had to get more but I wasn't about to fill 1/3 of my plate with other useless foods. I again go back, take a few shrimp, then get in front of those mushrooms again and scoop up more. It was then I saw I had lowered the level down to the last third of the bowl.
 
“Oink! Oink!”

 


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