Saturday, March 17, 2007
Susan Speaks: The Soy Sauce Story
I got home from another great Penguins game last night to find this message in my inbox: Tell the Soy Sauce Story. The reminder came from The Bluest Butterfly and thank goodness, because I'd completely forgotten I'd left a comment on someone's blog that said, "Remind me to tell the Soy Sauce Story."
Now, to fully appreciate the Soy Sauce Story, you've got to understand that I'm a bit geeky. I think some of it is from birth, but the majority of it has rubbed off from the Tour Manager. Fortunately for him, he's indispensible to me, so I'll gladly take a bit of geekiness on his end. And maybe mine, too.
One of our favorite shows is Alton Brown's Good Eats. (I won't link to the show because last time I did, it fought with my XM radio and took down my entire computer. I'm talking Blue Screen of Death takedown. And even though XM just made me choose between Metallica and Iron Maiden, I won't torture it again with the Good Eats link. You, I'm sure, know how to Google.)
One Saturday night, before our local indie station started running Farscape, we were watching Alton teach us about soy sauce. Alton pointed out that in the case of soy sauce (unlike crystal meth), better living does NOT come from chemistry. Soy sauce should be made up of soy beans and water, nothing else.
This probably wouldn't have stayed with me, but the next day, the Tour Manager and I were in the local grocery. Soy sauce was on our shopping list. The Tour Manager looked at me with that glint in his eye, the one that says he's about to unleash the Inner Geek. And then he set about reading the ingredient list on the bottle of soy sauce that we had a coupon for.
It was perfect: Soy beans and water. Into our shopping cart it went.
Of course, the Inner Geek wasn't done yet. The Tour Manager's Inner Geek is never satisfied that easily, not when there's geekiness to be wreaked. And so, in short order, the Tour Manager was off, reading the ingredient list of each and every brand of soy sauce and reporting his discoveries.
Now, this is merely a story of a geeky tour manager and his writer wife, who is standing there, slightly embarrassed, slightly intrigued, and definitely pleased that the Tour Manager's having so much fun. What makes this story such a good one is the man who was also shopping for soy sauce at the same time.
The man who reached into his cart and began reading the ingredient list on the back of the soy sauce he'd chosen.
The man who put that bottle of soy sauce back. Who looked none-too-casually into our shopping cart. And who picked up the same brand of soy sauce inside our cart. The one made of soy beans and water, and nothing else.
Okay, maybe you're not roaring with laughter the way The Tour Manager and I were as we walked away. Maybe you're only smiling as you're picturing this. Maybe it's a "you should have been there" type of story. I don't know. You tell me.
Now, to fully appreciate the Soy Sauce Story, you've got to understand that I'm a bit geeky. I think some of it is from birth, but the majority of it has rubbed off from the Tour Manager. Fortunately for him, he's indispensible to me, so I'll gladly take a bit of geekiness on his end. And maybe mine, too.
One of our favorite shows is Alton Brown's Good Eats. (I won't link to the show because last time I did, it fought with my XM radio and took down my entire computer. I'm talking Blue Screen of Death takedown. And even though XM just made me choose between Metallica and Iron Maiden, I won't torture it again with the Good Eats link. You, I'm sure, know how to Google.)
One Saturday night, before our local indie station started running Farscape, we were watching Alton teach us about soy sauce. Alton pointed out that in the case of soy sauce (unlike crystal meth), better living does NOT come from chemistry. Soy sauce should be made up of soy beans and water, nothing else.
This probably wouldn't have stayed with me, but the next day, the Tour Manager and I were in the local grocery. Soy sauce was on our shopping list. The Tour Manager looked at me with that glint in his eye, the one that says he's about to unleash the Inner Geek. And then he set about reading the ingredient list on the bottle of soy sauce that we had a coupon for.
It was perfect: Soy beans and water. Into our shopping cart it went.
Of course, the Inner Geek wasn't done yet. The Tour Manager's Inner Geek is never satisfied that easily, not when there's geekiness to be wreaked. And so, in short order, the Tour Manager was off, reading the ingredient list of each and every brand of soy sauce and reporting his discoveries.
Now, this is merely a story of a geeky tour manager and his writer wife, who is standing there, slightly embarrassed, slightly intrigued, and definitely pleased that the Tour Manager's having so much fun. What makes this story such a good one is the man who was also shopping for soy sauce at the same time.
The man who reached into his cart and began reading the ingredient list on the back of the soy sauce he'd chosen.
The man who put that bottle of soy sauce back. Who looked none-too-casually into our shopping cart. And who picked up the same brand of soy sauce inside our cart. The one made of soy beans and water, and nothing else.
Okay, maybe you're not roaring with laughter the way The Tour Manager and I were as we walked away. Maybe you're only smiling as you're picturing this. Maybe it's a "you should have been there" type of story. I don't know. You tell me.
Labels: geekiness, Soy Sauce Story, The Inner Geek
