Now I suspect a whole bunch of people will hit on this subject line,  but move along.  Problem with my Blog it is in the internet whelm.  So if you are not part of the family… nothing to see here.

Anyway the purpose for this blog.

Many, many years ago I learned to use chopsticks properly.

1977 and I had been temporarily transferred by GE for a position in Peterborough while we were still living in Markham.  Pat had a good job and we had a house and the kids were in school.  The position in Peterborough did not have the promise that would justify selling the house and moving.

I had just obtained an MBA and General Motors of Canada did not know what to do with me.  So they sent me to experience a position in Purchasing at the plant, which at that time, had 10,000 workers.   Not a great decision on the part of the company.

I realized this was not a great opportunity.  For the next 3 months , I slept during the week at a motel (think of a Bates motel) on the outskirts.  During the week I had to find my own dinner at cheap dining spots (the GE company only gave me a minuscule reimbursement for my meals).  (By the way when I eventually moved to Gulf Oil… what a difference)

I was having meals by myself and heading back to my motel room to watch the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs.  As I was dining alone I was wolfing down the meal so quick it was a non event.

Up the road from the motel was a Chinese restaurant.  I decided to try and learn to eat with chopsticks only to extend the time I spent over the meal.   I became very good at it.

This turned out to be a great skill, as I traveled to Japan and China and Korea and did not have to look like a tourist at dining.  I could pick up a single grain of rice while holding my chopsticks at the top end.  Pretty good…

However… Over the years I have tried again and again to show Pat how to properly hold chopsticks. She holds them about an inch above the food.  The same as she holds a pen.

Tonight.  I prepared a stir fry using the ingredients left over from my failure the other night.  Great success.  Good dinner

We were using long chopsticks and at the end of the meal I tried again to show Pat how to hold them properly.  Well you should not try to train someone after she has spent 30 years of holding the sticks at a tiny angle and particularly after she has had two glasses of wine.

Pick up a grain of rice I would challenge her.  Fine, she would eventually say, and picked it up with her fingers.  Apparently adding another glass of white wine did not help her dexterity.

Still I love her for trying.  And she only yelled at me a little bit.