Sunday, October 17, 2010

I love my family, but...

I love my family, but sometimes I cannot believe what we eat. Lunchtime rolls around, about 2 pm, and we are having tacos and pancakes (like crepes here) which is one of my favorite meals.  I come to the kitchen and I see a lot of vegetables which makes me super excited. However, not all goes as planned.
Situation one: Rodrigo, one of my not-brother-but-housemates, is making what appears to be yogurt sin sabor (without flavoring).  Then, I see him pour in about an equivalent of two tablespoons of sugar from the sugar bowl. My plan: do not eat this.
Situation two: My mom tells me to mix this concoction with this bowl of cabbage on the table for the tacos. Now I think to myself, I cannot waste this lovely, healthy bowl of vegetables with sugar-yogurt mix. So, strategic as I am, I finish my cup of tea, take a handful of cabbage, put it in my cup, and then mix the rest of the cabbage with the sugar-yogurt. Tricky right? Not tricky enough.
Situation three: Every meal here as an essential ingredient: plata (avacado). My mom makes homemade guacamole with chopped up onions, tomatoes, and about 5 mashed up paltas. Now I was hoping she would keeps these seperate as I have way to much palta on a weekly basis for it to be healthy, but there is always some give and take. I'm looking at this mixture thinking that along with my cabbage and chicken, this is gonna be a good semi-healthy taco. Nevertheless, Rodrigo, who was mixing the ingredients, says "se falta sal" which basically means "this needs salt."  My mom comes over to the pantry, takes out the salt shaker, and opens it up. Now imagine me, standing at the table about 3 feet away from them, watching them with my mouth wide open in a slow-motion "noooooooooo" kind of face. My mom pours the salt in: she makes not one, but two slow-motions circles around the bowl and says "ahora, tiene sal" or "now there's salt!" I almost cried. I walk over to try the new mixture, and what do I taste? Salt.
So now it's time for lunch. We sit down, I make my taco with my stolen cup of cabbage, chicken, cucumbers, and a tid bit of the mixture to take some tomatoes. I also have half of a pancake with this spinach filling. Dessert was half a banana.
Overall? Not too bad, but when I get back to the states, I am never eating like I do here. I love my family, but not their food.

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