Falling China Star

Life is full of questions that don't have easy or concrete answers.

Why do bad things happen to good people? What's the square root of -1? Is this coffee regular or decaf? Do these jeans make me look fat?

But there are some questions to which the answer is indisputable, where all of the evidence points to a final undeniable truth. For example, when my Supermodel wife asked me last night if I thought our daughter had food poisoning, it didn't take a Magic 8 Ball to see that all signs pointed to yes.

What were the signs?

There was the large pool of puke that I had just finished cleaning up about 30-minutes before my Supermodel Wife returned from a well-deserved night out with the girls.

There was the three sets of vomit-stained sheets currently going through the laundry, along with Domino, the loyal stuffed lion who is king of the plush toys jungle that is our daughter's room.

Not to mention the shart-stained pants and continuing dry heaves that kept us up until 3:30 this morning.

The evening had started out so well. With mom out for the night, I offered to take the kid to her favorite restaurant, the China Star buffet at 95th and Metcalf. She was excited. She had her favorite foods, green and red jello, peaches, sweet and sour chicken with rice noodles, and of course soft serve ice cream to top it all off.

Who knows which food item held the poisonous bacterium that would cause havoc in her digestive system for the next eight hours. Hell, it could have been the plates or forks or spoons. It really makes no difference.

My Supermodel wife wanted me to call the restaurant (China Star buffet at 95th and Metcalf) to complain. But what's the point? I blame myself actually.

I mean let's face it, when you go to buffet like that you're consuming food that is sitting out in warm pans for who knows how long. Dozens if not scores of people are walking by the very morsels you'll put in your mouth, spreading their germs. Getting sick should pretty much be expected, even though China Star buffet at 95th and Metcalf seems like a fairly clean place by buffet standards.

Anyway, I'm not planning on suing or anything. I figure now that I know the dangers of eating at China Star buffet at 95th and Metcalf, I and my loved ones can avoid that particular establishment. We can choose a cleaner, more hygienic place to dine (like in the tepid water under the Broadway Bridge for example).

Suffice it to say that China Star buffet at 95th and Metcalf is now a former favorite restaurant.

tagged: food poisoning, Chinese food, China Star buffet, puke, vomit, Magic 8 Ball, sick