Tortillas

With the day of the Melaque party fast approaching, Rosalie had trouble finding suitable tortillas. She searched high and low…she said! Seeing as how it is my Taqueria I decided that we should make our own. Oh boy!

There were lots of recipes and we tried several. Rosalie took on the flour ones and I the maize. We mixed the dough as per instructions cut it into small pieces and put it in the tortilla press, yes, I have one of those. The dough made beautiful little tortillas, perfect for tacos…and then they started to shrink and grow thick. I don’t know why this occurs but the same thing happens when I’m making perogies. I even tried refrigerating them before pressing them but that didn’t work either.

The corn ones didn’t shrink. So, I rushed them to the griddle and cooked one up. It was okay but it broke apart really easily as corn tortillas tend to do. So we abandoned the homemade idea and went on a tortilla hunt.

We drove to several grocery stores in Parksville before we found what we were looking for at Thrifty’s. I grabbed an arm full and after picking up a new propane tank at Canadian Tire to cook them with, we flew home feeling relieved that we had something to feed our guests.

The weather doesn’t look too bad for the day but the days before are nasty so it’s holding up preparations. The food can mostly be done ahead of time but the setup will have to be done on Friday and Saturday morning.

The setup involves me sneaking around to the neighbours and stealing borrowing chairs, tables, umbrellas and anything else I can lay my hands on that will be useful. Then I have to arrange all the said tables and chairs several times until Rosalie is satisfied. I’m sure that in the last two years they ended up exactly where I had them the first time. Ah, but it just wouldn’t be the same without the wife supervising and making things ‘better’.

I don’t know why I put us through it. We end up with a bit of a hangover, a yard full of discarded cans and bottles, and a whole lot of chairs and tables that have to be snuck back to the neighbours before they find out they’re missing and report me to the authorities. And of course, there is always that one guy who sneaks into the garden to steal carrots and passes out in the beet patch. Oh, wait, that was me.

It’s all worth it though just to see all our friends and have some fun. Last year we had the die-hards who sat around with us drinking tequila until goodness knows when. It’s the fun times like these that keep us going.