Returning To The "Source" Of The Crime...

 Tonight I had food from a restaurant I haven't visited for almost a year and a half.

It's really not the restaurant's fault...

I blame my genetics.

We used to eat at Costa Vida all the time, maybe a couple of times a month. Even after we moved and the restaurant was no longer a mile away, we still found ourselves ordering their food regularly. That all changed when, after one autumn night we picked up dinner and brought it home, I ended up in the emergency room because a black bean was lodged in my throat.

Yes, a tiny black bean.

Unbelievable.

It's true, though. All my life I've had trouble swallowing. I didn't realize I had a physical condition until about twenty-five years ago when taking some tests, it was discovered my throat had an abnormality. I had a procedure done twice to expand my throat, and that was that.

Turns out, however, the procedure does not permanently "fix" the problem. Slowly, over the years, the condition returned until the fateful tiny black bean from Costa Vida became stuck. A trip to the E.R. later and it was no longer stuck. Crazy. A few weeks later, I returned to have my throat expanded again.

Since that time, we haven't had their food. Tonight, the family gathered for an Easter/April Birthday celebration and we catered from Costa Vida.

Like I said, the restaurant wasn't really the source of the crime...more like a contributing factor. Now that we've been back, we'll have to eat there more often. I'll be ordering the refried beans, of course.