Monkey Meat Dinner

This is one of those blogs where you might get the story and find it mildly amusing or you might just assume that I have gone completely nuts and you will probably be closer to right if you fall within the later group.

Lets start off the short story by explaining that I, just like everyone else in the world, I have a person who is the proverbial monkey on my back. It kind of helps to understand that they act a bit like a wild beast and even their own kids claim they look like a monkey. (Please note, this is NOT some kind of slight racist inside joke).

This last Tuesday Ari had her birthday party.... ok Parties, they just kept coming in waves that day. We went to the Cheese Cake Factory with a few friends and a ton of family. I set between two of my favorite people. On my left sat the most beautiful woman in the world, the love of my life, Judy and on the other side sat a great friend who is in his mid 70's.

It is a well known fact that Judy has a problem with choosing something on a menu that has more then 2 dishes listed. This little quirk really is not a problem to me but it did cause some interesting conversation because of her trying to figure out what to order. Judy was dutifully perusing the menu for a good 15 minutes when she jabbed me in the side and said that "they have monkey steak". Now anybody that knows me or Judy will fully understand that she is capable of reading and that was not what caused the comment. I had to see what she was talking about and she pointed to a steak named with the same name as the monkey on my back.

Her comment was mildly amusing but the gentleman next to me only got the part about a "monkey steak" He immediately wanted to know where the steak was listed, he thought he might actually try it. I am looking at him with my mouth open realizing that I would probably have done the same thing if I thought there was a monkey steak available but he is an absolute gentleman. He kept prodding me about where it was listed and I kept him guessing till not one but TWO ladies at the table both announced that they have consumed monkey in the past.

This just floored me because both ladies are exactly that... LADIES. The strange part is that they told how, when and where and the stories where both true. So I am sitting there looking around the table and it hit me, 2 true ladies had eaten monkey meat and a man I highly admired wanted to give it a shot.

Then it hit me big time...... I finally understood....... I really do fit in with New England Yankees..... they will try anything at least once.