Sometimes you CAN believe what you read!

Erika recently bought Tom a nice litttle book called Behave Yourself! the Essential Guide to International Ettiquette.

We were reading the section on Croatia, and noted this passage- "Croatian hospitality is considerable, and you will therefore be offered plate after plate of food and lots to drink."

Although we have not yet been to Croatia, we do have a boat neighbor who is Croatian, and he has brought this hospitality trait with him to the States. Yesterday evening, for example, it wasn't quite dinnertime, and Tom & I were sitting by the lake reading. We looked up, and here came Milan carrying two glasses of white wine. "You must come eat with us," he said, "I have cooked too much just for Victoria & me. I have some nice fish. You come now and eat."

I'm not a fan of fish, but Milan insisted, so over we went. The "nice fish" turned out to be a stew of sorts with mussels and sausage in a tomatoey wine sauce. I have never eaten a mussel in my life, and I was positive I could not eat any (they were still in the shell, for heaven's sake)- BUT I tried one, loved it, and the rest was history. But the "nice fish" didn't end there, Milan had also cooked salmon, lobster cakes and crab cakes! Our wine glasses didn't go empty either, and needless to say, we did not go to bed hungry!