Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Chicken Fried Romance

When the hostess at the hotel restaurant informed us that the "theme" of the evening's buffet was "Ozarkian", I admit that it didn't conjure up many delectable images, or even many edible ones.

"Would you like to see what we have?" she offered. Of course, I've gotta see this...

The first thing she unveiled was "chicken fried chicken." Those were her exact words.

Stop right there. Enough said. That's all this grease-averse vegetarian needed to hear. If someone has to qualify that fried chicken has been "chicken fried," that implies that there are going to be other similarly fried items down the line. Chicken fried steak. Chicken fried squirrel. Chicken fried possum tail. Chicken fried skunk fingers. Who knows? I wasn't the slightest bit curious to find out what "Ozarkian" fried things lurked behind doors #2 through 5.

I had the veggie pasta dish. Call me boring, but at least I knew what I was eating.

That was our brush with haute cuisine, as Jeni and I spent two informative days and a relaxing night at Tan-Tar-A Lodge at the Lake of the Ozarks in south-central Missouri. We were there for a gathering of the The Missouri Association of Elementary School Principals. The kids were at the grand in-laws, so we made it our "date weekend."

Nothing says "romantic dinner for two" like breaded and fried mystery substances.

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