The convenience of a wine and fish allergy

Let me start off by stating allergies suck. Allergies can be deadly. I carry an epi-pen just in case my throat swells up and I can’t breath. I carry an epi-pen with the hope someone would use if needed.  That is a big chance I am taking. Going out for dinner means I may be putting my life in other people’s hands.   I try to be careful and let every wait staff know about my shellfish allergy. Sometimes, though, a chef here or there sprinkles some fish paste, sauce or flakes.  It happened to me in New Orleans. I still love that city.  I suppose I am a bit of a masochist.

Now there are many reasons to be down about allergies.  I want to be on a path of upliftment. Wait, is that even a word. Oh Mimi. Now that I am done making up words life every other millennial (I kid…shake my head, lol) let me get to the positive aspects of having an allergy.

First off, I far prefer cocktails to wine. I far prefer white wine to red wine.  Sometimes I find myself in company that believe that cocktails are a sign of bad taste or heading towards alcoholism.  Their upturned noses just means they are party poopers. Sadly, I must at times be with such individuals. Luckily for me, I have developed in the past three or four years, an allergy to red wine.  It is as if I rubbed some genie’s belly or something (perhaps lamp?).  I drink red wine and the next day I have a sinus infection. Voila! Thus, I now happily tell those at the lunch meeting “sorry, for health reasons I need to drink a cocktail.”  They wince. I joke. I actually do refrain from red wine and note that I must have a different type of alcoholic beverage. It works out beautifully in that at times I have a white wine bottle all to my self or I get to enjoy a refreshing daiquiri or two.

Second, well, the shell fish allergy is actually a real pain. In particular, it haunts me on my travels.  So many places use shrimp paste or crab flakes in their dishes. Even smelling shrimp sets me off. I once had a spoonful of someone’s corn soup and started to swell up because they wee also eating shrimp. Yikes. Anyway, there is one positive to my allergy. See, I am very greedy. I love food. I work out like a maniac so that I can eat what I want (barring allergies, of course).  Because of my allergy two things tend to happen at restaurant tables: (1) I get to eat a lot of the plates by myself without having to share; and (2) when we do share we get to order all my favorite stuff. Win/win my friends. Win/win.

Got to maintain a positive outlook on life!

Although,  admittedly I still keep an eye on my epi-pen.

Cheers