Only I could commit an egregious social faux pas in Key West, a town so laid back that it’s acceptable to ask where the ‘pisser’ is.
I was in one of the many blindingly green and yellow Key Lime Pie specialty shops on Duval Street, packed with tipsy tourists and their whiny children pawing at the assortment of key lime-flavored confectionary. If shrimp is considered Key West’s ‘pink gold,’ then surely the namesake Key lime is its ‘green gold.’
But hey, wait a second – “I thought Key Lime Pie is supposed to be green,” I said to the acned teenaged employee after he plopped a slice of yellow pie in front of me and demanded 4 dollars.
He sighed, aggrieved. “Juice from Key limes isn’t green. The pie is yellow from the eggs. If it’s green, it’s fake Key Lime pie,” he spat.
It took me a second to decide how to parry his contempt. “Wow, I’ve been eating fake green pie my whole life,” I said with exaggerated wonder. He ripped the money from my hand and answered my sarcasm with the classic ‘whatever’ eye roll.
So pictured on the right is authentic yellow Key Lime Pie. More pictures to come… I’m still getting my land legs back after five days of living on a sail boat. Suddenly my apartment seems like a mansion and my flushing ‘pisser’ seems like the greatest invention ever.
