The truth about those carrot things...

A few days ago I found myself having an in-depth conversation about fish eggs, while wearing a shower cap.

Yes, I was in public. And yes, there was wine involved.

You see, I used to be a bit of a hair whore. If I needed to get my hair done, I'd let anyone have at it. My stylist list includes many friends, mothers of friends, my friend's friend who would come to my house for hair parties, myself (never turned out well), a guy in Amsterdam, some Irish chick, a lady I found in England when I was visiting my friend, cosmetology students (my mom always said it was such a good deal), my sisters, college roomates, hairdressers in my hometown and college town, and on and on. However, my hair promiscuity ended about a year ago.

Last October I found and fell in love with an adorable place on Church Street in West Chester called Mia Bella. The number (listed on the awning) was easy to remember, 610-696-HAIR. I dialed as I drove and had an appointment with Aubrey an hour later. Aubrey was super sweet and had amazing hair (always a good sign.) The quaint interior was warm and inviting and my cut was as fantastic as the price. Ever since I went to Mia Bella I've been in a monogamous hair relationship.

So about these fish eggs... well our company holiday party was approaching, so it was time for a hair touch up. A co-worker also needed a trim, so a dual appointment was made.

Armed with a bottle of blush wine from my Skittles road trip (as far as I'm concerned anywhere that doesn't serve alcohol is a BYOB) my co-worker and I sat, sipped, chatted and sipped. I, in my shower cap getting a toner, she with foil in her hair. Eventually, (big shocker) we were discussing food. In particular, Sushi.

This conversation included everyone in the salon. Both stylists and customers. It was determined that they all preferred the California roll to anything raw or "gross," like eel or say...fish eggs.

I hated to break the bad news to them. Here's how it went down...

Me: "You know how California rolls have that orange stuff on it?"

Stylist #1: "Yeah, isn't that paprika?"

Stylist #2: "Those are carrots right?"

Co-worker: "Yeah, they are little carrot shavings."

Me: Silently drinking my wine

Stylist #1: "The sushi in Guinardi's is definitely made with carrots."

Co-worker: "Yeah, my friend said it's carrots at Guinardi's"

Other customer: "Why, what do you think they are?"

Me: One more gulp of wine. "Fish eggs."

Stylist #1: "No way. Ewww gross."

Stylist #2: "I know they are carrots."

Other customer: "It's not a spice?"

Me: "I'm serious."

Co-worker: "Are you gonna blog about this?"

Me: "Yes, of course. If you all don't know what it is we have to help spread the word."

We wouldn't want people going around innocently eating "gross" stuff now would we. So here's the deal with those little orange fish eggs (aka Tobiko) on your sushi.

Tobiko (とびこ, in Japanese) is the Japanese word for the flying fish roe used to create certain types of sushi. One of the usual ingredients of California rolls is tobiko. The eggs are very small, orange to red in colour and have a mild salty taste. Sometimes, it is flavoured with wasabi, giving it a spicy flavour and a bright green colour.

The final dish: Food should only be classified as "gross" if it tastes bad or if it has expired.