I have taken for granted, working for restaurants, how spoiled I was with good food. I used to have a menu to chose from, daily, anything from sushi to a 24 oz bone in rib eye, while working with Shaw’s, or Red Curry Chicken Pad Thai to Duck with hoisin sauce, while working at Vong’s Thai Kitchen. The main concern that I would have would be to not eat too much and obtain what people think of as Midwestern girth. I have been fortunate to be able to come home from time to time and calm my cravings, but I also think that this is making it harder to let go of what I am missing. I certainly do not have the choices that I once had, but I think this helps me to enjoy it when I can make something reminiscent of home.
The other day I got together with another volunteer and we made fajitas. This was no small task because to get those ingredients together was a challenge. First off the tortillas they sell here are corn and are more or less flavorless. As everyone knows the only tortilla worthy of fajita is flour. We were able to score these in the capital city, but it was only one piece of the puzzle. Another important aspect of fajita is the spices. When I was home last time I stocked up on spice packets of taco, fajita, fried rice, kung pao, sloppy joes, etc. I was literally like a kid in a candy store filling my shopping cart with these; I had a huge grin on my face the whole time. Between the two of us we were able to locate onions, tomatoes and bell peppers. Rice and beans were the easiest part, since that is all they eat here.
As we were at his house we were in such a good mood with the reward that was to come. We kept saying “I am so happy right now”. I have a shit eating grin on right now just writing about it. We made quite a bit of food and our theory was that we wanted to break this up into shifts. We had one fajita each at around 6, another at 8 and finished off the rest at 10. We wanted to delay the satisfaction as long as was possible.
Now I do realize that this whole experience would have been a lot better with a Jose Cuervo Margarita, but I will take what I can get. I fear that it is the little experiences like this that will stick out most vividly in my mind years from now. I also know that I will have a serious eating disorder when I come home for good. It is things like this that I plan and I look forward to the entire week, it is pretty pathetic.
