Bad Romance…with Mushrooms
Being in Greece, I have experienced many new tastes. Each day brings new surp
rises and many new adventures for my stomach. We left the picturesque Rhodes and returned to our home away from home, Athens. It was hard to say goodbye to the attachments made on the island, but it feels nice to be back in the city I so adore. After arriving in the hotel and gawking over the amazing view Camille and I have from our balcony, we made our way to dinner. Returning to the night life in Athens is always exciting. Walking to dinner there is a taxi cab on the sidewalk backing around the corner, and the mopeds slide in-between lanes. Our hotel administration gave good reviews to a restaurant down the street called Smile. I ordered carbonara for dinner, which is pasta made with a cream sauce, ham and mushrooms. This is a bit of a surprise for people who know my eating habits, because I am not the biggest fan of ham and I do not like mushrooms. I hadn’t tried carbonara until coming to Greece, but found that I really do enjoy the flavor even if I only like two-thirds of the ingre
dients. The owner of Smiles was a typical Greek woman. Her brown hair was larger than life and she was friendly the second our large, loud group entered. She talked to us about our recent adventures in Rhodes and asked about our subject of study. My pasta came and I enjoyed it all…except the mushrooms and some of the ham. Katie still didn’t have her food, so I passed my plate down to her so she could enjoy some of the unwanted mushrooms. The owner comes over and sees that Katie has a plate in front of her, and that was not the dish that she had ordered. Looking around the table, she wants to know who didn’t finish their plate. Hoping I am not in trouble, I raise my hand and tell her that I don’t like mushrooms. “You don’t like our wonderful Greek mushrooms?” I continue to tell her that I don’t like American mushrooms either. Before I know it, she has the plate in her hand and she sits it down right in front of me. I have a feeling this is going to end poorly. This crazy haired woman picks up my fork and stabs four huge mushrooms. She looks at me and tells me that I will eat these. I can’t tell thi
s strong Greek woman no, so with my look of disgust, I open my mouth and she hand feeds me this fungus I can’t stand. After I have the mushrooms in my mouth, she tells me I can spit them out, but I didn’t feel as if that would be proper restaurant etiquette. I manage to swallow the mushrooms and follow it with a glass of water. The Greek owner had a good sense of humor and I appreciated her lightheartedness. This incident has not uncovered a long lost love for mushrooms, nor has it opened my eyes to how good mushrooms are. But now whenever I see mushrooms back home, it will remind me of tonight’s dinner and how I was spoon fed a fork full of mushrooms by a true Greek woman.
Being in Greece, I have experienced many new tastes. Each day brings new surp
rises and many new adventures for my stomach. We left the picturesque Rhodes and returned to our home away from home, Athens. It was hard to say goodbye to the attachments made on the island, but it feels nice to be back in the city I so adore. After arriving in the hotel and gawking over the amazing view Camille and I have from our balcony, we made our way to dinner. Returning to the night life in Athens is always exciting. Walking to dinner there is a taxi cab on the sidewalk backing around the corner, and the mopeds slide in-between lanes. Our hotel administration gave good reviews to a restaurant down the street called Smile. I ordered carbonara for dinner, which is pasta made with a cream sauce, ham and mushrooms. This is a bit of a surprise for people who know my eating habits, because I am not the biggest fan of ham and I do not like mushrooms. I hadn’t tried carbonara until coming to Greece, but found that I really do enjoy the flavor even if I only like two-thirds of the ingre
dients. The owner of Smiles was a typical Greek woman. Her brown hair was larger than life and she was friendly the second our large, loud group entered. She talked to us about our recent adventures in Rhodes and asked about our subject of study. My pasta came and I enjoyed it all…except the mushrooms and some of the ham. Katie still didn’t have her food, so I passed my plate down to her so she could enjoy some of the unwanted mushrooms. The owner comes over and sees that Katie has a plate in front of her, and that was not the dish that she had ordered. Looking around the table, she wants to know who didn’t finish their plate. Hoping I am not in trouble, I raise my hand and tell her that I don’t like mushrooms. “You don’t like our wonderful Greek mushrooms?” I continue to tell her that I don’t like American mushrooms either. Before I know it, she has the plate in her hand and she sits it down right in front of me. I have a feeling this is going to end poorly. This crazy haired woman picks up my fork and stabs four huge mushrooms. She looks at me and tells me that I will eat these. I can’t tell thi
s strong Greek woman no, so with my look of disgust, I open my mouth and she hand feeds me this fungus I can’t stand. After I have the mushrooms in my mouth, she tells me I can spit them out, but I didn’t feel as if that would be proper restaurant etiquette. I manage to swallow the mushrooms and follow it with a glass of water. The Greek owner had a good sense of humor and I appreciated her lightheartedness. This incident has not uncovered a long lost love for mushrooms, nor has it opened my eyes to how good mushrooms are. But now whenever I see mushrooms back home, it will remind me of tonight’s dinner and how I was spoon fed a fork full of mushrooms by a true Greek woman. 
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