Never underestimate the power of a fork

I am officially no longer a sushi virgin!!!! It seems quite impossible to think that I have been passing over these tiny nuggets of deliciousness for well over 22 years. The idea of raw fish kinda creeps me out, but in the end I found out there are plenty of sushi rolls that do not contain raw or other creepy types of fish. I went to a really nice sushi restaurant in downtown Gainesville called Dragonfly with one of my oldest friends, Steven. The food was fabulous! We had ginger salads (I would eat one everyday if I could find that salad dressing, the chunky yet creamy ginger kind. Does anyone have any suggestions?), cheese wontons with a peach sauce (my favorite part of the night), and then of course sushi rolls. I had the Mango Tango and he had the Krispy Krunch roll. Both were delicious, but here is the best part of the entire evening.

Our salads are delivered to the table and I unroll my silverware, but instead of a knife and fork I am greeted by chopsticks. I think it over and then decide I am going to try it but not by first letting my friend know I have never...ever used chopsticks.

Me: Steven...Do you know how to use chopsticks?

Steven: Yes?? Doesn't everyone?

Me: Apparantly I missed that training course. Is it hard?

Steven: No, it's really easy. Just break them apart and hold them like this.

Me: (Breaks them apart. Fumbles around trying to hold them.)

Steven: No, hold them like this. Kinda like a pencil.

Me: Oh right, I always use two pencils. (Still fumbling and failing, then miraculously getting them in the right position.)

Steven: Ok, now just use your index finger and you can pick up food. (He does this so gracefully.)

Me: 1...2....3...crap I dropped them. (I tried this repeatedly for 6 minutes before...)

Me: Do you think they have those chopsticks that are already put together that I used as a kid for fun?

Steven: No, I don't think they have training chopsticks...let's try this again. Hold this one here and the other one with this finger and blabbity blabbity blabbity.

Me: Yeah, this not eating my salad thing isn't working for me, Can I ask for a fork?

Steven: I'm sure you could ask for a fork, but I might have to move to another table.

Me: Are you embarrased to be with someone who eats with a fork?

Steven: Yeah, everyone here eats with chopsticks.

Me: But I don't know how...and for the record, I would totally not be embarrased if you pulled out chopsticks at a BBQ place.

(The waitress came, saw that my salad was not even touched and asked me if I needed a fork....apparantly I am not the only person who goes there and can't use chopsticks.)

I finished my salad, ate the wontons, and ate the sushi roll. I am not sure that Steven will ever ask me to eat sushi again because I did things a little outside of the box (how was I supposed to know you don't cut the sushi roll in half?), but it was fun.

Moral of the story: Try new foods, sometimes you'll like them and always carry a knife and fork in your purse!