today i went to a mongolian hot pot place with pauly bear.
he wanted to go to a supermarket in china town after class and i was super hungry so we decided to have dinner on the way.
i’d never tried mongolian hot pot and it was really fun. except i’m an idiot and i don’t ask for instructions before i ingest things, which i apparently need to do from now on.
the waitress brought us six raw oysters and upon their arrival pauly bear told me that people eat them raw, but ours looked way too big and kind of weird.
i was like ‘whatever’ and ate two of them, but pauly bear was only able to try half of one before spitting it out.
then he waved a waitress over and asked if we were supposed to eat them raw, and she looked extremely alarmed and said ‘NOOOOOOOOO.’
let’s just say i did not take this well.
i told her i ate two of them and i started panicking and i asked her if i was going to get really sick/die and she seemed so amazed that i was even able to successfully eat the offending oysters that she wasn’t even able to process what was happening at first. damn my stomach of steel and ability to eat anything.
the waitress started laughing and assured me multiple times that i would be fine before walking away.
but she was not a doctor and i was not assured.
i googled ‘will i die if i eat raw oysters that are supposed to be cooked?’ and found this:
“You can get seriously ill and even die from eating raw oysters contaminated with Vibrio vulnificus – a bacterium commonly found in waters where oysters are cultivated such as the Gulf of Mexico. Vibrio vulnificus is found in higher concentrations during the summer months as water becomes warmer.”
so i thought, ‘okay good, it’s january. that’s not a summer month at all. i’m fine.’
but then the article went on to say:
“People who drink alcoholic beverages regularly may be at risk for liver disease, and, as a result, are at risk for serious illness or death from consuming raw oysters contaminated by the bacteria.”
so i’m probably gonna die.
i said a little prayer and told myself ‘well, what’s done is done i guess.’
i told pauly bear that i was feeling faint and nauseous and he told me to stop psyching myself out.
i told him that this might be the last time he’d see me and asked him what his last words to me would be.
he said, “you’re beautiful.”
that made me feel a little bit better. so did the waitress laughing and once again telling me i’d be fine on our way out.
and now it’s just a waiting game. i’m feeling fine right now but the damn oysters are going to be floating around in the back of my mind for the next 48 hours.
i hope i don’t start feeling sick before tomorrow’s dinner. i’m going to isakaya with a bunch of friends and everything there looks delicious on their website. and then i want to go to gerts.
i’ve been looking forward to this since last week!
on the bright side, pauly bear said ours was the most fun and hilarious dinner he’s had in a while.
what i learned today: always assume that everything presented to you at mongolian hot pot is supposed to be boiled.
stay tune to find out if i triumph over the oysters in this epic fight for survival.