(Submitted by reader Jeanette)
This week I received a beautiful invitation to a celebration of a baby boy born to some friends. The mom is Chinese, and her parents are hosting the party at an upscale Chinese Restaurant. The party is slated to be a “red egg and ginger” party.
What seemed funny to me is that I had just happened to eat red egg and ginger that very week which is extremely unusual for me. I had never eaten a red egg before, but recently my mother-in-law left me a few pickled eggs when she came to visit for Easter – they had been pickled in beet juice and were very pretty. Then randomly I had added ginger to a meal I prepared for my family the next night, not a usual part of the recipe.
And then the invitation came. Cool.
[EDITOR: This seems loosely related to the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon which deals with people learning new information, and then almost immediately thereafter hearing about it again, frequently, or having a direct need to apply the new knowledge. I know I’ve experienced it a lot myself and it’s often startling and amusing. I’ve frequently appeared shockingly knowledgeable about a wide range of topics due to pure timing: I was asked about a subject shortly after first learning about it, leaving it fresh in my mind. In this case, it was an experience, though, and not a new piece of information, but the principle’s similar. I can’t say the dish sounds appetizing to my palette, though. – Jarrett]
