Egg foo yung and other life lessons

Dear Squink,

There was a time when I was a friendly sort. So, when Nana and I were going to a conference (before she was even a nana) in Chicago I arranged to meet a friend there for lunch. They suggested a Chinese place and off we went.

The thing is, I wasn't sure what to order. Chinese was never a cuisine that I knew... in Ecuador the dishes are mainly variations of a rice dish we call chaulafan... so, on American menu's there were all these super fancy dishes that I was not familiar with.

So, I decided to order something I had heard of via classic black and white Hollywood movies (a Charlie Chan movie I believe)... something called egg foo young.

I thought it was terrible and hated it and felt some sense of culinary disappointment (that means I really was not happy that it was what I had ordered).

Before and up to the time you were born, your dad and I would go to a Chinese restaurant near where we lived and one night I saw this amazing dish pass me by. I asked what it was and when I was told it was egg foo yung, I was beside myself! What I had just witnessed was nothing like what I had tasted so many years before that was such a disappointment and I was so sad that my being bound to the idea that I did not like egg foo young had prevented me from trying it again... because,  I ordered it and it was the most divine Chinese omelette that I had ever tasted.

So, Squink... as you head off on the exciting new adventure please know that you are going to taste (and experience) things that you will initially dislike, But don't give up on things, because the next chance you have with it might be magical!

Love, 

Mama