Makes the heart grow fonder

Any time American auxiliares here in Spain gather in groups of 3 or more, there are a few inevitable topics of conversation:

Cultural Ambassador: totally going on my resume.

•  The Spanish education system in general, more specifically, funny/ridiculous things that happened in their schools that week.

• Where to find cheap beers, mojitos, free tapas that come with beers, beers on discount on Wednesdays, beers that come with free shots, etc.

Never before have I cared so much about saving 10 cents on 20 cL of beer.

However, I would have to guess that the number one topic of conversation, at least in my "I should probably be tipping the scales at 200 pounds based on how much I eat" opinion, would be:

• Foods that we miss from home.

Our mom´s food, our grandmother´s special whatever dish that she makes on your birthday, Chipotle, ranch dressing, tacos, peanut butter, macaroni and cheese, breakfast burritos, pad thai, the option to add bacon to most items on the menu, cheddar cheese, barbecue ribs, etc. etc. etc.

They say that the last place to look for an immigrant´s assimilation into society is in the kitchen cupboard. Food from home is much more than just food, it´s a way to keep your family close at hand. Being gone makes the heart grow fonder of things from home, and I start to crave things that I never gave much thought to before. I figure that it´s not so much that I have an urgent need for ranch dressing, but rather a need for something familiar, something from the family, and cooking things from home




This week in particular has been dedicated to eating. There was Thanksgiving dinner, which like last year included me stuffing a turkey of this size...

Photo shamelessly stolen from friend Sarah´s incredible blog loveandpaella.com.

into an oven of this size...

That´s it on the right.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because it´s all about eating, friends, family, and falling asleep absolutely stuffed. Celebrating Thanksgiving out of the country seems even more special to me because it´s a chance to make and share what my family has for Thanksgiving. I love to cook Thanksgiving dinner because after 20 years of watching my mom make the dinner, including 20 years of instruction of how to make the gravy (seriously, it´s probably the easiest part of the dinner, no special instruction required mom), I can recreate it and share it with other people. Doing that makes me feel like I´m at home with my family, instead of far away, attempting to defy the laws of physics by cooking a 5-kilo bird in our glorified toaster. Thanksgiving is absolutely when I miss my family the most, but cooking dinner makes me feel like I´m at home.


Along similar lines, this week I went to a party thrown by wonderful friends Jiri and Katerina. They are from the Czech republic, and Kat made a dinner of smazeny syr, or fried cheese eaten with cranberry jam, and gulasch, a meat stew served over dumplings. It was incredible, and moved the Czech Republic up about 5 slots on my list of places to visit this year.


To round out this week of eating, last night I made New Mexican enchiladas. New Mexican enchiladas, which my dad has founded a religion upon, are made from red chile sauce

Made from NM red chile powder, mailed to me by my dad.

corn tortillas, and cheese. You put a corn tortilla, chile, cheese, corn tortilla, chile, cheese... until you have a stack, kind of like pancakes. True heroes then add a fried egg on top. The result is both delicious and exxxxxxtra spicy. Joseca, who dared to try it, was a champion and ate the entire enchilada, a feat rarely accomplished by non-New Mexicans. Impressive.

Thanksgiving, smazeny syr, NM enchiladas, this week was a week of food and, by extension, of family.