Heaven and Hell

For the past couple of days I have been participating in a "tasting" of the menu of the restaurant I will be working at starting next week. What's a tasting? Well, it is sort of my personal heaven and hell. Heaven because it's free food, everything I have had is amazing and I basically don't have to eat for the rest of the day. Hell because of a couple of reasons:

1. We all can agree that pancakes are awesome. (If you don't agree with this statement then you are either a communist or an idiot.) However, pancakes followed with a spicy tuna roll, followed by a turkey omelet and then followed by a burrito is not awesome. Actually, it's kind of making me sick thinking about it right now.

2. An enormous tasting is a horrible exercise for me to participate in because of my upbringing. Like many of you, I was raised by a mother, who I'm pretty sure was the actual Grand Master of the "clean plate club." Growing up it didn't matter if it was lima beans, jello chunks or a piece of gum you were saving for later - everything had to be gone before you could leave the table.

So, today, there I sat, surrounded by endless plates of untouched tacos, sushi and salads and all I could see was my mom's face telling me to keep eating. So, that's what I did. I ate sushi, a Caesar salad, tacos of every kind and an egg sandwich. However, I have to admit, that even when I gently undid the top button of my jeans to force one more taco down my throat, it still pained me to see food on the table. I swear I'm like Pavlov's Dog.

3. A tasting involves sharing a plate of food with three to four other people you don't really know. Consequently, you can't say, "Hey fatso, stop taking all the guacamole for your ONE taco," or "If you double dip that fork of yours one more time, I'm going to use my fork and stab you in the eye," or "Here's a fun game we are all going to play - STOP USING YOUR FINGERS AS A SPOON." No, a group tasting is a lot more delicate. Therefore, again, as fun as the free food is, it definitely comes with some awkward and difficult situations....but alas, I will endure. I mean, it's my job.