Me and my silly fear of trying new food

You may recall that I recently posted that I wanted to try out some new foods. Well, I tried something new last night! Yep, we went to Perkins last night and I was in the mood to try something new…I looked at the salmon and I just wasn’t brave enough to order that quite yet, so I opted for the Grilled Tilapia w/ lemon pepper seasoning. I was so nervous too, my girls were making fun of me. “Mom, it’s just food” heh. Easy for them to say! I just kept having flashbacks from the last time I tried a seafood that I had never eaten before…

It was 1998, I was on my first date with my boyfriend (whom I later married), Darren. He took me to a seafood restaurant called “Schooner or Later”. It was a neat restaurant located in Goldsboro, NC that was literally shaped like a boat. When you walked in, you really thought you were on a boat. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s there anymore. I wish I had gotten a picture.

I wanted to try something ‘new’ so I ordered the Cajun Crawfish. I figured, “hey, I like shrimp, SURELY I would like crawfish!” UM. NO. I about fell out when our server brought my dish and there were creatures on my plate. Blech! I couldn’t get over how they looked (nevermind the process you have to go through to get the meat out of them) to enjoy them. I felt extremely bad for Darren. Here it was our first date and I about threw up right there in the middle of the restaurant. He urged me to order something different (how sweet) so I ordered shrimp and all was good. We boxed the vile creatures up and took them back to our boss who ate the hell out of them, so at least they didn’t go to waste. (For the record, I’m not a vegetarian by any means so I have no problem eating meat or seafood, but it just can’t LOOK like a creature when it comes to me. I have never eaten lobster for this very reason. Yes, I’m weird.)

So yeah, that’s all I kept thinking about last night after I ordered the Tilapia was “Dear God don’t let it look anything like the crawfish did”….Well, it didn’t…it actually looked pretty darned good! So, I pushed through my silly fear and just took a bite. Scrumptious! It was really good. I’m learning that I really like that lemon pepper seasoning too. (Note to self: start using that at home)

So yeah, I tried something new that was low calorie and tasted awesome…can’t get any better than that. Maybe next time I’ll be brave enough to try the salmon.

Or, maybe not.

In other news, I went to the gym this morning while my family slept and got a great workout in. I’ve logged just over 8 miles for the week which means I’m close to making my 12 mile goal. We’re going to a haunted walk tonight, so hopefully between that and whatever I walk tomorrow I’ll reach my goal. OH!!! Speaking of goals, I posted this on my fitness log, but I don’t think I told you yet! I’ve gotten up to FOUR MINUTES on the Spawn of Satan! (er…Elliptical). FOUR WHOLE MINUTES without having to stop. I know that seems like nothing to a lot of you, but when I first got on that thing I could barely do a minute. My Hot 100 goal for this week was to hit 3 minutes, so I’ve reached that. Maybe I’ll up it next week to five. So, I’m doing good on the goals this week, although I still need to cook a meal. Maybe tonight.

Hope you’re all having a great Saturday!

UPDATE:

Thanks to Google Maps Street View, I found that the restaurant, Schooner or Later IS still there. Here’s a screenshot of what it looks like, mast and all. Blurry, but hopefully you get the idea.