So today I made dinner for my floor-mates. It was rather interesting feeding Tex Mex to none Americans.
I have four legit floor-mates. And by legit, I mean they commune with the rest of us and aren't snobbish staying in their rooms the entire time. There is a couple who stays catty-corner to me and all that happens is I hear them, I never see them. So they exist...I think. Anyways, I have four legit roommates and none of them are American. Three English and one Australian. I decided that I hadn't really cooked enough for the floor so I was going to give them a taste of home.
Now, I love Tex Mex like crazy. I grew up on this kind of food and will always feel the slight need for refried beans, fried rice, and fajitas/quesadillas/enchiladas/chimichanga or anything of the sort. I decided I'd do the easiest of the four above that would be the most filling, in my own opinion: enchiladas. And not just any enchiladas, but chicken enchiladas!
I decided to cook today because most everyone is in on Wednesday nights. No one really goes out until Thursday and everyone is in doing homework or visiting with friends. Also, I don't have Uni on Wednesdays so I can afford to go shopping way before dinnertime so I'm not rushing myself. I hate being rushed, I think it makes the quality of the food go down.
I headed over to my favorite street and did some shopping. Lower Marsh has got to be one of the neatest little roads in London. I know there are a ton like it but this is my street in London. It's full of instrument shops, second hand stores, caffe's, restaurants, pubs, bookstores, a library, and food shops. Today I headed over to Iceland, where everything is basically a pound, and got the basics: chicken, tomatoes, onions, cheese, and tortillas. After that, I headed towards the local butcher's which sells a more varied selection of natural foods and picked up the not so common ingredients: green peppers, limes, tortilla chips, and sour cream.
Of course I needed help looking for some of the items. I turned to a store clerk and thus the conversation unfolded:
Me: "Excuse me, where are the limes?"
SC: "Down on the left."
Me: "Oh, thank you! And limes?"
SC: "Here, over on the right."
Me: "Fantastic, and finally, do y'all sell tortilla chips."
SC: "Straight down and on the right over there...what are you making?"
A very strange face the Store Clerk gave me. I just smiled and said, "Enchiladas and salsa!" And he just blinked at me and checked out my items. I took them happily and headed home. Not a moment too soon either because when I was loading things into the fridge and cabinets, the sky broke and rain began to beat down on London as if it would never stop. It had to be one of the most ugly weather days in a while. I shrugged and happily went on my way, eager to start dinner at 4.
So you want to know why Hispanics and Mexicans have large families? Why any other decent nationality has large families: to do all the chores so dinner gets finished in a proper manner and on time. It took me two hours to make dinner. I'm not complaining, I loved talking to people and listening to Juanes while I chopped vegetables but it irritated me that I told people dinner would be ready around five and I was definitely not ready until six. Everyone was very understanding about it but still... irritates the perfectionist in me.
When it was all said and done though, my floor-mates loved the food. Nekol even ate an enchilada and she dislikes Tex Mex strongly. We all enjoyed the food, I figured out ways I could improve upon the recipe, and we laughed and enjoyed each other's company. I got some interesting questions too...
"So what's this?"
"Enchiladas."
"Different than fajitas?"
"Much..."
"So you call this Tex Mex?"
"Yeah."
"Is it different than Mexican food?"
"Most definitely."
"How so?"
"Well...it just is."
But I'm glad I could share a bit of my culture with my floor-mates. I think it brought us closer together.
<3,
Dre
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