jiminy crickets

here's one from the "it had to happen to me file". At work the other day, i noticed a pamphlet on the board and took it for a bit of a read.

i eat a meat free diet for many reasons - and no, fish and chicken are NOT vegetables believe it or not.
so this brochure was about factory farming and cruelty to animals and again reinforces the choice i make of what i consume.
well, imagine my surprise the other night when i start to cook up our dinner. the dinner of choice was indian and off i went about my cooking business.

as i am doing my thing, dave called me to come look at something on the tele and on my way back to the kitchen, i saw something jumping around and noticed a black cricket thing treating my kitchen like a jumping castle.  i notice it bounce over to where i am and my first thought, is.....hope that thing doesn't jump into my pan........
i didn't notice it again until i looked into my pan and there it was frying along with the capsicum and onion.  oh fuck it was about to explode, so i called dave and we removed it and a leg and wiped away the area where it had been. dilemma - do i go on cooking or start again.  i'll brave it i thought, we'd thoroughly cleaned the area and as i have eaten the odd weavel in my time, figured it would be okay, until i stirred the dish and saw this. and there was only one way out of it - ditch the lot, wash the pan and start again.

the end result was a fabbo tasty paneer dish, but what about that cricket - was it lured there by the delicious smell of the cooking, was it perhaps a vegetarian looking for a gourmet feast, was it just looking to give the vegetarian cook some shock value, not thinking about it's demise, or perhaps it was just another darwin award contender.  who knows but rest in peace or should that be pieces, cricket.