Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Boy of Will

I had to get my car serviced today and afterwards I decided Will and I should get some lunch. Knowing he likes Chinese food and that there was a nice Chinese restaurant nearby, I decided it would be a good place to go.

The restaurant is located in a downtown location and, as fate would have it, a parking spot opened up directly in front of where we needed to go. We have a Chinese restaurant in Eliot, but it's on the "lower end" of Chinese restaurants (CRs) - it's more take out really. The place we went today was definitely in the middle range of CRs.

I ordered Will some chicken fingers and pork fried rice, knowing those were his favorites. My meal (chicken with cashews) came with miso soup and for some reason they gave Will some as well. I always try to impress upon him the importance of at least trying new foods. So as I started to eat my soup, I said, "This soup is really good, you should try it." I think I also told him that Joelle and Mina love it - that sort of stuff helps. So try it he did. Now those of you familiar with miso soup know it usually includes seaweed, tofu and sometimes scallions (ours included all three). As Will swirled his spoon around in it, he asked me what the "green stuff" was (meaning the seaweed). Thinking quickly, I said "lettuce." I know for a fact if I had said "seaweed" he would of made a face similar to this:


I also decided to tell him (before he asked) that the tofu was "cheese" (it's the same thing we told the girls years ago when they first started eating it - they just LOVED the cheese!) and the green onions were "scallions" (much better than saying onions).

So, while he told me he didn't want to eat the "green stuff", he eagerly ate his miso soup.

The pork fried rice was also different than what he is used to. This one had carrots, peas, bean sprouts and scrambled eggs in it (among the pork). I was nervous that he was going to abandoned it, possibly throw his fists wildly into the air, screaming, "THIS AIN'T NO PORK FRIED RICE!!" Luckily for me and my blood pressure, it didn't happen. He accepted it like a champ.

He also was given chopsticks to use. The waitress gave him some that were outfitted especially for kids - with some paper stuffed at the end held together with rubber bands. It worked great, and he enjoyed eating with them.

All in all it was a fun experience. Or as Borat would say:

"VERY NICE!"