Pictured above is my all-time favorite meal: a nigiri platter from my local sushi joint. This dish holds ten pieces of nigiri (two each of salmon, tuna and yellowtail, and one each of shrimp, red snapper, white tuna, and flounder), a California roll (yes, I know it’s an abomination unto the Sushi Gods, but I like it), and a special favorite of mine: tobi-tama. That particular delicacy, shown in the top left corner of the picture, is the yolk of a raw quail egg, sitting on a bed of flying fish roe, inside a little “boat” of rice and seaweed.

Ben, the itamae, knows I always like to finish a meal with one of those, and one day he decided to have a little fun at my expense. On that particular day I happened to be on a date with a very attractive young lady who had never eaten sushi before. After the main course, I told her what I was going to order for “dessert,” and that she was welcome (but not in any way obligated) to try it. She felt that a big raw egg on top of a pile of tiny raw eggs was just a little too strange, so I asked the waitress for one tobi-tama.

A few minutes later, she brought back a platter with FIVE tobi-tama. I looked over my date’s shoulder at Ben, who was (I am not making this up) laughing and doing the Chicken Dance behind the bar. I should explain at this point that it’s considered very rude to leave uneaten food on your plate in a sushi joint. It’s doubly rude to do so when the food in question is a special off-menu item. And it’s just unconscionably rude to do so when said off-menu item normally sells for $4 a pop but will conveniently be left off of the bill.

Said another way, I was going to have to eat five raw eggs, on top of an already-full stomach, during a first date (did I mention it was our first date?). This was Cool Hand Luke, Tokyo-style. And I had an audience; some of the guys seated at the bar had turned around to watch.

Now, as I said, I really like these things. In quantities of one or, at most, two. By the time I ate the third, the intense richness of the quail yolk and the sweetness of the fish roe started to get a little overwhelming. The fourth almost pushed me to nausea. With a Herculean effort, I managed to down Number Five and hold it in. Over my date’s shoulder, Ben gave me a thumbs-up and broke out into laughter again.To this day, I don’t know if she was impressed or disgusted. Probably a little of both.