spice girl

Back to that lebanese restaurant with the creamy hummus....
Erica, Jenny and I decided to split an entree and salad
between the three of us.
We had succulent beef kabobs with sauteed veggies and fatoosh,
a salad of cucumber, peppers, tomatoes in a vinaigrette,
dusted in cardamom....or maybe dunked in cardamom is more like it.
I have never tasted cardamom. It was different.
More like cinnamon or nutmeg than basil or oregano.
I kept trying the salad because I wanted to like it.
And Lord knows, I need the fiber.
But cardamom....not so much.
Jenny glanced over at me and said,
"Oh, you have something in your teeth."
I swiped at it with my tongue.
"Still there."
"Now?"
"Over to the left."
We went back and forth 4 or 5 times.
"What about now?"
"Okay."
We keep chatting.
10 minutes later Erica says,
"Oh, you've got something in your teeth."
"Again?"
"No," said Jenny,"It's the same spice from last time."
"I thought you said I got it."
"I felt bad for you so I told you you got it."
By now we are giggling a bit.
I am swirling water in my mouth and rubbing my teeth with a napkin.
30 minutes later we are wandering through World Market
redecorating our houses in our heads and Erica starts laughing,
guffawing even.
"What?" I say.
"You have a little stuck on your bottom teeth." Giggle.
"You've got to be kidding me."
More teeth swiping and rubbing.
I lower my bottom lip as far as I can.
"Now?"
Erica is hurled backward by the sheer force of how much cardamom
has apparently taken residence in my teeth.
"It's EVERYWHERE!" she gasps.
We are hysterical when we hear,
"Hey, Foth girls."
And turn to find some old friends from college walking up on us.
How random. How awkward. How like me.
I survived the conversation with closed mouth smiles.
Stupid cardamom.
Hummus - yes. Fatoosh - no.
Teeth and spice....
not so nice.