Which raises the question of why I never tried this at home. I had an oven in my Manhattan apartment. Okay, it was used for storage, but still. I could have cooked a fish in it. But it never occurred to me. Occasionally, when I felt like "cooking" I would buy a salmon filet and throw it on my non-stick grill pan, but most of the time I would go the typical single New Yorker route and pick up a prepared dinner at Fairway or Zabar's.
So what prompted me to do it here? Was it just that I was tired of my repertoire of pasta, grilled cheese, and omelettes? An example of necessity being the mother of invention? Was it because the fresh fish at the Friday market is so appetizing? Or was it the fact that when I'm in a different country I no longer feel the limitations I place on myself at home? Is this actually the same phenomenon, writ extremely small, as someone afraid of dogs who goes on a Safari, or someone afraid of heights who goes skydiving?
For whatever reason, it seems that being in a new place facilitates trying new things, even simple things that could have been tried at home.
What do you think? Does travel make you braver? Have you done things overseas you never thought you'd do?
