birthday dinner!

It’s a beautiful sunny morning here today. I slept so well last night that I’m still ready to sleep some more! I had a big day yesterday. It was my birthday and I was surprised to get a ton of birthday wishes from FaceBook and Care2. I can honestly say that was the most Happy Birthdays I've ever had.

For my birthday and Notah and Kerra took me to dinner! Before Kerra left in the morning she said to be thinking of where I wanted to have my birthday treat. I had some good choices. My first one was Sopa's, a local mexican restaurant, but do you know how high in carbs a Mexican mean is!!! Instead I chose a Chinese buffet. It wasn’t pinyon roasted ribs, but it was good. They had a big variety of dishes offered. And I had a bit of everything it seemed. Not really but I went to the cold serves first and had some peel and eat shrimp and some fantastic crab salad.

On the other side of the service table I found-are you ready for this—baby octopus! They were grilled and presented on a platter! Mercy. Keva had assured me over and over that they were good. Hmmm. I already had a plate full of salad and shrimp and some puffy things that I thought were mashed potato-like things and a little pastry shell full of cream cheese. So I bravely put one single baby octopus on top of the crab salad.

Seth carried that plate to the table for me and I went ahead to get some orange pork and chicken with broccoli. They also had a vegetable dish with bok choy, celery, and peanuts in it and an offering of fried zucchini squash cubes.

The regular Chinese dishes were great. I think I tasted everything before I got to that little bitty octopus. I didn’t want to wait till last to taste it just in case it was so horrible that I needed some other good things to drive the taste-memory away. But it took a bit to get up my nerve.

Keva said to just eat the whole thing, but it looked like a pretty big mouthful to me. I ended up cutting off four legs and eating them. And, surprise for me, they were good! Seth was sitting across from me begging for the head which was just as well, because I just don’t think I could have brought myself to eat that ‘head.’ The legs I did like. They had the texture and tasted like the bit of cartilage on end on a chicken breast. Probably the ‘head’ would have tasted the same.

It was definitely a psychological issue with me that I didn't want to eat it and if I ever have baby octopus presented to me again, I’m going to pull up my big girl pants and try it! As it was, Seth only wanted to examine the ‘head’ not to eat it. But it gave me a good opportunity to be 'generous' and avoid eating something that I really couldn't quite make myself put in my mouth.

“Baby” octopus are not really babies I found out today. I suspected it last night but online I just discovered they are actually a very small adult species. And they are cute. I kind of felt guilty eating them. I wanted to take them home to Rachael’s fish tank and keep them. Well, except for the fact that they were dead. And fried…

There are several species of octopus that are edible and they are enjoyed in a number of different dishes from Greece to Korea and Japan. In looking at the website I found four listed as most commonly used for gastronomic purposes. From the website I think we were eating Madako or the 'true octopus.' There are pages and pages of recipes on the internet for preparing them. Although this one was good and only the head was a little off-putting for me, I would probably have them again if I find them in an oriental restaurant. As far as preparing them at home... I don't think so.

And oh yeah, before I go. Those little puffy things I thought were like mashed potatoes--they weren't. They were actually like a macaroon made with coconut and something else. I left it there on my plate. Nasty! The pastry shell filled with cream cheese? That fooled me too. It was really a pastry shell full of vanilla/banana flavored whipped pudding. Mmmm. Carbs to die for! I ate it anyway. that was the only high carb thing I had.