Thursday, September 4, 2008

Capers

Random thought... Ben's mother and her husband took us out to the Macaroni Grill for his birthday a few weeks ago. It had been a long time since I'd been there and I was feeling adventurous. When I go to a resturaunt, I inevitably chose a meal that looks as "safe" as possible. I always think I'll try something new but I never do.. Well! Not this time!

I chose the Chicken Scaloppine (partly because it didn't look too scary). I was thinking.. Chicken, Prosciutto, Lemon Butter Sauce.. YUM.. as an added bonus, I was feeling brave for trying something with Artichoke in it. When everything came, I happily dug in. I remember thinking.. "Hmm.. what funny looking peas.. sortof shrivled." Then I ate one.. EWWWW! PICKLES! WHAT THE HECK?!?


Then I remembered... the discription of the meal said that there were capers in it. I didn't know what capers were so I figured they couldn't be too scary.. I mean their name suggests a sort of free light-hearted joy.. ahhh the caper.. they caper onto your plate and into your mouth and then caper around in there until they reach your stomach where they caper some more.. ahhhh.. capers.. WHY DID THEY PUT MINIATURE, ROUND PICKLES IN MY PASTA?!?


I casually asked my mother-in-law what capers are.. she said, "Oh, they're berries that are sort of pickled." "Ah." Well, I guess that explains it... About half-way through my meal, I decided that the pickled nature of my little green berries wasn't tooooooo bad and was rather mild in flavor, so I finished the (free) food without heaving.

I still wonder, however, why anyone would pickle a berry... aren't they just fine the way they are? They're berries for heaven's sake... sweet, yummy berries that go in jams and sauces and fruit salads.. not turned into a sickly green pea-like thing with shrivled skin and set free to slither around in pasta.

If I were to go to Macaroni Grill again.. would I order the Chicken Scaloppine again??

In a heartbeat.
(Better the devil you know than the devil you don't....)

4 comments:

Trillium said...

I have at least one recipe that calls for capers. Have you ever tried to find capers on the grocery store shelf? I have. So, are they in the canned fruits and vegetables aisle? Or are they in the salad dressing and pickles aisle? Apparently the store clerks don't know what they are either, because they aren't on either of those two aisles. "qsrkz"

Anonymous said...

That was the BEST BLOG EVER! It made me laugh so hard...heheheh! LOL! I always thought capers were something like calamari, or escargot, or some other vulgar and mucusy creature. A pickled berry isn't so bad, I suppose. Nasty, but in a pinch, if given the option of capers vs. calamari or escargot, I would go with the shriveled berries everytime.

Chris said...

Aren't there capers in salsa?

Zaphod said...

Capers: a plant of the genus Caparis, especially a low prickly shrub (Capparis spinosa) of the Mediterranean region cultivated in Europe for its buds, which buds and berries pickled and used as a condiment in sauces and dressings. The word derives from Greek (kapparis) through Latin (capparis).

The "prance, cavort, frisk, and gambol" word of the same spelling derives from "capriole".

"Capercaille" has nothing to do with either of these meanings but is the name of a "horse of the wood" in Scots Gaelic.

The first time "capers" were ever mentioned in music was in the 17-minute version of "Inna Da Gadda Da Vida" recorded in 1968 by Iron Butterfly

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