Speaking Spanish
Well, this last weekend Alex and I went to a Mexican restaurant to eat. When I ordered, I pronounced things correctly, trilled R's and all. It all goes back to what I stated before: even though I never learned Spanish in the house because mom decided not to teach us, and even though she wouldn't let me study it in high school and made me study Latin instead, I've still been exposed to how it sounds a LOT. My mom was oftentimes singing Spanish songs around the house which I can phonetically reproduce, even though I have no idea what I'm saying. Also, I was raised in Florida, so I heard Spanish a lot from other sources. I can hear the differences in tone and emphasis in words, and I probably could learn Spanish easier than any other foreign language if I sat down to try. Too bad Alex isn't Spanish rather than French! Just kidding there, actually. I find spoken French to be ultimately sexy, so I'd rather him speak French!
Ok, so there I am ordering and the waiter fellow who takes the order also happens to be a manager or owner (I'm guessing due to his clothes and his age). He gets excited when I order and decides that if I can say Spanish words that fast with the right inflections, I must speak Spanish. ACK! So periodically he tries to say things to me in Spanish that, of course, I have no clue how to answer because I don't know what the hell he's saying. Weeeee! It's both flattering and nervewracking. Maybe I should learn Spanish...
****
I think I bought too much food. I don't know if any of you have ever done this, but I think that when I bought and made food recently, I overdid it. I was staring at the refrigerator today and realizing I need to finish off a pasta sauce before it goes bad, eat a hunk of brie and havarti before it goes bad, finish off the hummus before it goes bad, consume the rest of the hard boiled easter eggs before they go bad, eat up the rest of the cream cheese that's been opened before it goes bad, finish off the salad in a bag before it goes bad, etc. If I eat it all before it goes bad, I'll weigh 300 lbs. I believe this situation is what we call "poor planning." Either that or, wow I'm hungry so I'll go to the grocery store and see what happens.
I hate wasting food, so I really DO feel an obligation to eat it all. It comes from the days as a starving student...I learned to value food because it wasn't always there. I even ran out of money to buy anything including food one week. I didn't tell my parents (stubborn pride) or they'd have sent me some money, so all I could do was ration out the remaining ramen noodles and tuna that were on my shelves. In graduate school, I fed Rob and myself off of $35 a week. I used to hit three grocery stores that sat practically in a row, not too far from us. I would go into each store and buy what is quaintly called "the loss leaders." Those items are the ones they publish on the first page of the circulars--the food or non-food products the store sells for less than they bought it for, just to attract you into the store to buy OTHER things too. I had a chart that mapped out which store had which price for basic staples like milk, cheese, eggs, and bread. Therefore, when I was in each store I also bought whichever staple the store had cheaper than the others. A grocery trip experience took close to three hours a week, but I enjoyed it as it was the only time we really could buy things. Anyway, the whole experience of "doing without" made me just cringe and feel awful whenever I have to throw out that banana that went way past its edible date, or toss that dish of leftovers at the back of the fridge that nobody ever found and consumed in quick enough time. I can't stand to waste food.
Because I cut back on food for years and years, I find that now--even broke as I am--I tend to splurge too much on food when I go to the grocery store. It's like I feel as if I held back and was a Good Girl and budgeted the stuff for so long that, no matter how little money I have, I have the right to purchase whatever the hell I want. Therefore, a person who comes to my house and wants to cook or eat would be in heaven. I usually have about 8 varieties of cheese or more on hand, a pile of fresh veggies and fruit, plenty of wine, and plenty of more unique cooking ingredients like sun dried tomatoes and white truffle oil. I have cardamon seeds and vanilla beans and cinnamon sticks. Aw, hell, I have over 40 different kinds of spices, plus several spice mixes. No, that's not an exaggeration. I had a friend over at my house once whose father works professionally as a chef, and he stared at my spices in awe: "My god, Kira, you have more than my dad does!" I found out for me that after being so paranoid about having enough food for...let me think now, let's count it from the beginning of going off to school until I felt out of the woods for a chance of starvation....8 years, that I just feel WAY more secure with a ton of food around me.
So now you must understand why I'll be eating my way through the refrigerator for the next couple of days. I can't waste that food! I just can't do it!
Ok, so there I am ordering and the waiter fellow who takes the order also happens to be a manager or owner (I'm guessing due to his clothes and his age). He gets excited when I order and decides that if I can say Spanish words that fast with the right inflections, I must speak Spanish. ACK! So periodically he tries to say things to me in Spanish that, of course, I have no clue how to answer because I don't know what the hell he's saying. Weeeee! It's both flattering and nervewracking. Maybe I should learn Spanish...
****
I think I bought too much food. I don't know if any of you have ever done this, but I think that when I bought and made food recently, I overdid it. I was staring at the refrigerator today and realizing I need to finish off a pasta sauce before it goes bad, eat a hunk of brie and havarti before it goes bad, finish off the hummus before it goes bad, consume the rest of the hard boiled easter eggs before they go bad, eat up the rest of the cream cheese that's been opened before it goes bad, finish off the salad in a bag before it goes bad, etc. If I eat it all before it goes bad, I'll weigh 300 lbs. I believe this situation is what we call "poor planning." Either that or, wow I'm hungry so I'll go to the grocery store and see what happens.
I hate wasting food, so I really DO feel an obligation to eat it all. It comes from the days as a starving student...I learned to value food because it wasn't always there. I even ran out of money to buy anything including food one week. I didn't tell my parents (stubborn pride) or they'd have sent me some money, so all I could do was ration out the remaining ramen noodles and tuna that were on my shelves. In graduate school, I fed Rob and myself off of $35 a week. I used to hit three grocery stores that sat practically in a row, not too far from us. I would go into each store and buy what is quaintly called "the loss leaders." Those items are the ones they publish on the first page of the circulars--the food or non-food products the store sells for less than they bought it for, just to attract you into the store to buy OTHER things too. I had a chart that mapped out which store had which price for basic staples like milk, cheese, eggs, and bread. Therefore, when I was in each store I also bought whichever staple the store had cheaper than the others. A grocery trip experience took close to three hours a week, but I enjoyed it as it was the only time we really could buy things. Anyway, the whole experience of "doing without" made me just cringe and feel awful whenever I have to throw out that banana that went way past its edible date, or toss that dish of leftovers at the back of the fridge that nobody ever found and consumed in quick enough time. I can't stand to waste food.
Because I cut back on food for years and years, I find that now--even broke as I am--I tend to splurge too much on food when I go to the grocery store. It's like I feel as if I held back and was a Good Girl and budgeted the stuff for so long that, no matter how little money I have, I have the right to purchase whatever the hell I want. Therefore, a person who comes to my house and wants to cook or eat would be in heaven. I usually have about 8 varieties of cheese or more on hand, a pile of fresh veggies and fruit, plenty of wine, and plenty of more unique cooking ingredients like sun dried tomatoes and white truffle oil. I have cardamon seeds and vanilla beans and cinnamon sticks. Aw, hell, I have over 40 different kinds of spices, plus several spice mixes. No, that's not an exaggeration. I had a friend over at my house once whose father works professionally as a chef, and he stared at my spices in awe: "My god, Kira, you have more than my dad does!" I found out for me that after being so paranoid about having enough food for...let me think now, let's count it from the beginning of going off to school until I felt out of the woods for a chance of starvation....8 years, that I just feel WAY more secure with a ton of food around me.
So now you must understand why I'll be eating my way through the refrigerator for the next couple of days. I can't waste that food! I just can't do it!
posted by Kira | 4:11 AM
1 Comments:
I'm a lot like you in the food department.
I love buying loads of fresh ingredients and good quality produce - and I have exactly the same problems where I don't want to waste it but I'd be the size of a baby elephant if I ate it all!
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