[CH] Re: OKRA IN SALAD? (was Tolerance)
green56 (green56@PioneerPlanet.infi.net)
Sat, 26 Feb 2000 08:10:22 -0600
Calvin, I have always loved okra and grew some decent okra (considering
this is MN, after all...) last year.
When hitting that particular restaurant in the Stockyards back in the early
80s, I'd never before seen fresh, sliced jalapenos and so, having grown up
with okra, "assumed" it was okra in my lettuce salad... Needless to say, it
didn't take too awfully long to figure out it wasn't okra in my salad! I
did my best to retain my composure, but I'm sure the waitstaff was having a
grand ol'time at my xpense!
Guess you could say I learned to love chiles (most o'them anyway...) thru
trial by fire! :)
Calvin Donaghey wrote:
> It's funny how different areas develop different tastes.
> I try to appreciate okra in all its various forms, especially in corn,
> rice & potato chip gumbo with vine-ripened chiles. It is pretty much a
> southern dish, though. However (since I'm comparing northern and
> southern cookin'), in grad school, I had an office - mate from
> Oshkosh-B'Gosh-Wisconsin. One evening the grad students all went out to
> a local eatery for a buffet. There in the serving tray was a large pot
> of black eyed peas w/ okra & jalapenos. The guy from Wisconsin nudged
> me and asked
> "Are those what I think they are?"
> "Look like peas 'N peppers, to me." says I.
> "Well, where I come from, that's just HOG FEED, and I'm not eating
> that." Says He.
> "Well, you eat Hogs, don't ya', so you get 'em one way or the other?"
> Says I.
> He declined to try it "because there were peppers in it".
> Then he got a REAL eye opener when he spent 3 months in Southern Mexico
> working on his thesis project. He informed the whole geology department
> that Peas 'N Peppers was a delicacy fit for the Queen Mother Herself.
> (No offense intended to you Wisconsin CHs-- it's just a story, not an
> indictment.)
> Calvin