chris came home from work on monday and asked me to take a look at his back. "doesn't this look strange?" he asked.
no, honey, it doesn't look strange. you just must have had a fight with a panther
we immediately assumed it was some sort of strange allergic reaction -- even though it didn't at all look like a normal rash. we considered all the usual suspects: lotions, detergents, soaps, fights with panthers. nothing had changed in our normal routine, so we were a bit dumbfounded.
when it hadn't faded the next day, chris decided to consult Dr. Google, typing into the search bar something along the lines of "allergic reaction scratch-like marks". and immediately, scores of pictures looking exactly like his popped up. the culprit? shiitake mushrooms. undercooked shiitake mushrooms, to be precise (which made sense, as i've cooked quite a bit shiitake mushrooms in my time and he's never responded like this.) we thought back and sure enough, i had taken him out to dinner to celebrate his birthday -- almost a month late, because it took that long to get reservations at what was named the best new restaurant in raleigh. and we had ordered "foraged and 'fought-for' mushrooms, sherry, brown butter" (wording straight from their menu.) i guess they were so tired from fighting for these mushrooms that they ran out of energy to cook them properly.
the welts are supposed to fade within three weeks ... hopefully before we hit the beaches of costa rica. until then, i suppose i'll grin and bear my way through countless mushroom puns, courtesy of my welted, scratched-up husband. (he thought i should title this post "when the shiitake hits the fan". maybe i should have.)
