The Taste of Love in a Time of Cyber Romance
We met on OK Cupid. I was in Mexico, he in Missouri, 1600 miles away. What we feasted on in those first stages when nine hours was too short a conversation was words. Thanks to Skype, these words could be either written or spoken and could be accompanied by sight of each other. The rigors of wearing makeup 24 hours a day were nothing compared to the agony of not talking for from 4 to 9 hours a day. He later admitted he couldn’t tell the difference between me in makeup and me without, but I had to admit this made little difference, for it is a peculiarity of Skype that the other person can’t see you unless you are seeing yourself, and to see myself in the pure unadulterated natural cramped my style. How could I be a vixen when I didn’t look like one? He granted the point. Why shouldn’t he, if he couldn’t tell the difference, anyway?
This point taken care of, we passed on to the next stage of computer dating: our first dinner date. He watched on his desktop computer as I prepared a salad. This was a long and lengthy process followed as closely as was possible using the camera from my laptop. He had not yet purchased a laptop, so when he repaired to the kitchen to prepare his meal, I heard sound effects but little else. When he returned to his desk in the living room, he laid his meal in front of his computer. I had yet to see it as I, in turn, placed my salad in front of me and proceeded to take my first bite, watching closely my technique according to my Skype image. I chewed politely and then smiled, revealing the lack of lettuce shards on my front teeth. I looked up. He was watching me as lovingly as usual. Now, it was his turn.
“What are you eating?” I asked. “Ham,” he said. This said, he lifted a huge hunk of ham on his fork, taking a dainty bite and chewing happily.
“What else?” I asked.
“Just ham,” he answered. And so he demolished the entire pound of thick ham steak, now and then washing it down with a healthy swig of rum and coke.
Rum and coke. It had been one of our bonding experiences to find that the drink of choice of each was not only Rum and Coke, but Bacardi Rum with Caffeine-Free Diet Coke. How could this not be a romance made in heaven?
But as for our culinary compatibility? From 1,600 miles away it seemed to be less of a problem than it was three months later, when we first made physical contact.
Well, there was a resolution. He started munching on carrots. We both found a like mania for potato chips, but true romance bloomed when I found the full bar of Hershey’s Chocolate atop his refrigerator. Who says we need to concentrate on our differences? Hershey’s Chocolate? Yes. Our first true taste of love.
For fandangos-provocative-question-60: How did you meet your mate or current love interest?

Delightful!
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Rum and Coke — I knew I liked you both!
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Rum and Coke and Hershey’s chocolate. The ties that bind! 😉
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Lovely story.
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Rum and diet coke – that’s me!
Very romantic (fiction, isn’t it?), but Judy,please, what’s on that plate, besides arroz con frijoles negros and veggies?
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Dolly, not fiction. Every word is true. (Yes, I’m that guy 1600 miles away in Missouri.) I’ve no idea what was on that plate. At Judy’s request I just replaced that photo with one of my own.
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He just happened to be eating this ham when he opened the poem for the first time and skyped me a photo of it. Fortunate coincidence and certainly proves the truth of that poem. Do you see any veggies on that plate????
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You guys are even funkier than my husband and I! We would drink virtual coffee, and for our first “real” (non-virtual) date he took me to the Met for “The Queen of Spades” with all Russian all-star cast.
I’ll go see the photo.
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It was taken at a Mexican restaurant but I can’t remember what it was. Mole, I think.
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Dear Judy, mole is a sauce, but what’s under the goop? Don’t never mind, I already saw Fogottenman’s ham steak. You guys are fantastic – love you!
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I think it was chicken mole. The person next to me was eating it as I’m not very fond of mole. Was it rolled up in tortillas? When Fman replaced the photo, it vanished and is not in my media file so I must have used a past photo and it has gone back to the 100,000 plus..kinda like my closet, Dolly.
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LOL Your closet sounds like my husband’s desk, Judy.
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Oh you are not telling the whole story, that photo must be Hasenpfeffer, wild ‘Hare’ stew, in the United States, only found in Missouri. Bet your love song is: “Making our Dreams Come true”. It was not that super Hershey Bar that got your attention. Taking a peek at a persons “cookies” is not nice anyway~! 😉
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Who in the world would peek at cookies without tasting them???
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https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=song+making+our+dreams+come+true
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Last week at the market I grabbed a ham steak and tossed it in my cart. It had been months since I’d had one. After reading and reliving Judy’s post, I figured today is as good as any to cook up that ham. I snapped the photo above just before devouring. (Well, I left enough on the plate for a big snack later.) When I sent the photo to Judy on Skype, she pleaded with me to post it here in place of the earlier one. As you wish, Dear.
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