C'mon, Try It...Mikey Likes It!

When traveling, I'm of the "when in Rome..." mentality concerning food. I generally try to avoid bugs and eyeballs, but I'm pretty open to asking a waiter to recommend something local and then going along with the suggestion. And yes, occasionally I get surprised due to a "lost in translation" moment.

For example, our Cuban waiter recommended an appetizer of six fish medallions with scallions and tomatoes on a bed of lettuce. Sounds delightful, right? Well, I'm thinking he may have used an incorrect translation for "medallions" and he actually meant "bodies." However, we picked the meat off the bones and, when I closed my eyes, it tasted pretty good. I just had to cover up the carcasses when I was finished.

Next up...seafood soup with octopus. I'm thinking calamari because squid-octopus, same thing, right? Kinda like the fried rings you get as an appetizer at Gordon Biersch happy hour. Wrong again. These were the scary Jules Verne octopus tentacles with suction cups. (I have a lingering childhood fear of suction-cup-tentacles-of-death because of that movie.) So, while I was eating one, I was picturing the other.

But, once again, closed my eyes, and it was great. So apparently, if I don't have to see it, I'm good with it. I guess this is similar to my mom's theory that if she didn't tell me what was in it, I would like it without question. Although, I'm pretty sure I would've figured it out at some point. I'm also pretty sure it won't stop me from trying more weird stuff in future adventures.