December 2000

This day was the day that my mom and dad celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. Not just something, so we decided that we would take them to a Japanese restaurant to have dinner together. It was really nice, we gathered around the stove, where this Chinese guy (I know, it sounds a bit stupid to have a Chinese cook in a Japanese restaurant, but it was really so *g*) cooking for us while we were watching as he prepared it. Throwing around with knives, pepper and salt pots and ingredients, you've probably heard about the places where they do that.
Anyway... I forgot what exactly it was that we had during the different courses, but there's one thing that I will remember forever *laughs*
It was already in the beginning of the evening, with the aperitive. On the plate there was a little bit of this green stuff, of which I had NO idea what it was. So... Always eager to try new things I tasted a bit and straight after I put it in my mouth I felt it sting straight through to my nose. It was HOT! It was some kind of green pepper, a really strong one, which you're supposed to use in really small amounts only.
I'm not the kind of person who likes my (oriental) food really hot, usually when I order a dish I tell them to make it medium spicy. My brother-in-law however, likes things spicy. I wasn't sure if he knew what this stuff was, but I did know that it was really strong. So I I decided I would pull his leg.
I took the chance that he didn't know what it was. I know him well, so I knew how he would react to what I was going to say.
I turned towards him and said: "Wew! That green stuff is pretty spicy, you might wanna be careful when you take that."
And he replied jokingly: "Pfff... you're a sissy! You don't know what spicy is." And then he took his fork, shoveled all the green stuff on it and swallowed it down, the whole piece!
Exactly what I expected he would do ;o)
His face changed instantly in a surprised, wide-eyed one and he grabbed his nose with his fingers and started laughing, also probably realizing that I expected this to happen.
"Waaaaaahooooo! This is REALLY spicy! It's going up my nose!" he said with tears in his eyes and I also had tears in my eyes, but not because I took too much of the spicy stuff. I just couldn't stop laughing (don't judge me for being mean *grins* Him and me are on the exact same frequency when it comes to humor and jokes, so everything was just ok).
At that time I didn't know it was called Wasabi, but if I had, I'm sure I would've replied to his "Waaaaaaahoooo" with "No, it's Waaaaaaaaasabi!".
Very nice to make your acquaintance!