Adventures in Eating, Part II
September 22nd, 2007 by Buffalohair admin
Adventures In Eating, part 2
My Bread
My staples were squash, beans, corn and flour products for the most part. Sometimes we had meat but not in great quantities. There were some variations, but these were the basics. The flour would glean quite a variety of helpful and tasteful foods, I loved them all, and not only for their flavors, but for the aroma they would produce.
Fry bread was a fine food fore it would not only fill the home with anticipation, its incense was so endearing, but if there was nothing else for supper, it could also fill the void. It was a favorite for the hard times because I would cut it up into several pieces and pretend each piece was a different addition to my plate.
I would do this so as not to cause my mom ma sorrow when she would glance at me staring at my foreshortened plate. I would feel her sadness and would smile hard with delight, and eat the different portions of my supper as if it was a meal fit for kings. She must have known what I was up to, because my actions would always summon a tear from her sad eyes.
The tortilla was a handsome food fore it had many uses. Its aroma was equally as pleasing as fry bread, quite a delight to consume as well. But the most important thing about this wondrous offspring of wheat was it’s ability to form around the foods you would want to consume. It truly was the bean’s companion, surely they must have drank from the same stream, the tortilla and the bean. They fit so well together, and the marriage of their flavors was a celebration unto itself. My ma of Apache and Tarahumara lineage definitely did the Southwest thing as well. Funny how flavor would conquer quantity back then.
With a tortilla in hand, I would not need utensils because the tortilla was so universal and I could pinch a mouthful of any food and clean my plate well also. There was no other champion that made eating more of a joy than the sopapilla though. It was basically the same mend as the a fore mentioned products; it was quick fried and would expand and swell to gigantic proportions. Also, it would garner the flavors of the grease one would use and in turn enhance its wonderful taste.
I would open one side of this food, exposing the hollow insides. The steam would rush to my face as if to greet my excited taste buds. The aroma would be that of pork, or beef and I would pretend that this food was as it smelled. The sopapilla was a great tool because you could fill it up with foods and consume them together in a pouch the sopapilla provided when opened at one end. It was a friend of the bean, but hot meat with salt was my favorite when we had the chance. Like the fry bread, my ma would pour honey or simply sprinkle sugar on it as a desert, yum.
These foods were my companion when it was time to eat. They would keep me happy and my mind filled with imagination. It was good this way since I did not want to feel my mothers sorrow or grief. My mom could feel my thoughts, when I imagined I was eating fancy meat I saw in a book or a picture; my mom would just shake her head. But I still saw the sadness in her eyes.
Buffalohair
Posted in BUFFALOhair – Somewhere between sanity and dementia, Featured Articles |Hmmmm Someone took over the link Name of old site! NativeVue That retired! Wow!
Hey ! It was an old link from some stories you wrote at the Blog there, at the bottom of each story:) Crazy, why did I leave it on at the time, it was still up and running? But glad I did! Who took over Native Vue and is still writing there in 2015 with no name? They have a new header but same name! I put our old header , then their Native Maiden below:)
Carole:
No, that isn't my site anymore. I paid for the URL until 2012. I suppose they're entitled to buy the name, but it is a bit misleading. What I don't like, however, is that they're not saying WHO they are!
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