Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Umeboshi...umm...there are no words!

Well, in the title I said there are no words, but I am going to try and explain to you my umeboshi experience.

Let me first start off by saying, this is a true story, and there WAS a human injured during the making of this story! The human was me!!!! Maybe injured isn`t the right word, but for theatrics we will go with it!

Allow me to set the mood, its a nice chilly day at School (Mito Lily). We (secretaries, some teachers and me) are in the teachers room around lunch time. One of the bus drivers brought a special carrier of rice for everyone today. This was being handed out as a gift so I happily obliged. Along side it was what looked like funky looking prunes. Thanks to my Grandma, I can eat prunes. I was thinking to myself, `Whew! I am in the clear.` There is always this fear that you are not going to like something, but have to gag it down anyway for niceness sake. So far this fear has not come to fruition. Sure, there are the things that you don`t prefer, but you can get down that time and will avoid next time. However, my streak came to an end today! The lady asked if I would like one of these (what I thought were prunes), I asked what it was. She said, `umeboshi.` She offered so I said ok. I didn`t even get it up to my mouth before I knew that this was going to be a bad bad experience! So picture this, I am in the middle of the teachers room, with everyone watching for my reaction. I hesitate at the smell, but I couldn`t NOT eat it now!!! So I put the whole thing in my mouth. What was my reaction you might ask?? Well let me just tell you. My eyes start watering, I can`t even swallow! I start coughing, and they all start laughing at me!!! This is something that the Japanese eat OFTEN...they actually like this stuff! I am doing my best to get this down, however my saving grace was the pit. I went to spit out the pit, so I spit out the rest to. I know I am a terrible person, but seriously. So, this was so horrific (not an exaggeration), that it actually made me throw up. Sorry if that is too gross, but its true! I have NEVER thrown up or gotten sick over a food just because of the taste before. I might not like the taste, but I can choke it down. Well not this!!! Oyy!!

So the moral of the story:

Look in the dictionary to see what you are eating BEFORE you eat it!!!

What did I eat you ask?? It was pickled plum. I know it sounds weak, but it was horrible!!!!

Ok that is my story..I just had to share! Avoid all umeboshi!!

Sayonara for now!
Elaina

1 comment:

Aunt Lori said...

Howdy!

Bless your sweet heart!! I can understand enjoying prunes, but it would totally depend on how, and with what ingredients they pickled the plums. I'm sorry you had to go through that. Thankfully, I've never gotten sick like that. Hang-in-there!!!

Love and Hugs,