Prioritization is something you learn throughout life and often it’s from on-the-job experience. You have a whole checklist of things that need to be done. You assess which items are the most important things to do while also determining which items can wait for a few hours or days.
I think I’m pretty good at prioritizing stuff. If what I need to do affects clients, then I need to get on top of that as soon as possible. If it is something that doesn’t impact clients, I can move it down my list. But what I come across on a daily basis is a serious problem – it’s the chicken-without-a-head urgency that some people put on work items that in my view doesn’t merit all the commotion that they are creating.
A few days ago this guys called me at work and sounded like he was hyperventilating about completing something. This ‘thing’ didn’t impact clients and it certainly wasn’t super important in the scheme of things. But boy did it sound like an aneurysm was about to happen while he was talking on the phone with me.
I finally told him he needed to calm down because it would all be worked through and completed. It momentarily quieted his ticker but I’m sure after he hung up, he must have croaked.
I’m not a doctor and I sure as hell don’t play one on tv. What I can’t seem to understand is why so many people in the business world think that everything is a matter of life and death. I must have missed a memo! I don’t see the point to all the fire drills and all the dog-chasing-its-tail madness. I guess that could explain why I don’t feel like I’m going anywhere while others move up the ladder.
All I have to say is that it’s nice when some people who are ‘saving lives’ at work aren’t at work. I feel like I never have to scrub in and resuscitate anyone. All of this mad scrambling certainly makes me appreciate those emergency room doctors and nurses a lot more though.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Don't Be So Corny
You can’t drive anywhere in Mexico without being greeted by their dependency on corn. It’s a part of the culture and the food in so many ways. Where other countries make and consume bread, Mexicans eat tortillas which are usually made out of corn. Mexicans break off pieces of the hot thin corncakes and use them to mop up whatever food is left on their plate. Or they use the tortillas to make tacos out of whatever is for breakfast, lunch or dinner. To not have tortillas at a meal is a sin.
Corn is a fantastic vegetable. I don’t think I’ve ever met a person who hated corn. It’s warm and sweet and welcoming like many Mexicans. I’ve had my share of tortillas and although I like them, I prefer flour tortillas ( I commit a crime every time I ask for them, I know). But tortillas aren’t the only place to taste corn.
Corn is dried and ground up to make masa, which is used to make tortillas. Masa is also used to make tamales. Tamales are usually the masa with some local produce or meat that is wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed. It’s so luscious and flavorful no matter what the interior combination is. I do love tamales with cheese or huitlacoche ( a corn fungus – I told you they love their corn) or salsa verde. But let me go back to the corn for a moment.
Corn in Mexico is different than corn found in the USA. It’s not as sweet. The kernels are much bigger and have more of a gritty taste to them. They sometimes use the kernels to make pozole, which is another fabulous concoction with corn. But honestly the best way to have corn in Mexico is two ways:
1) On the cob – called elote
2) Or in a soup – called esquite
You find street vendors all over Mexico selling boiled corn on a cob. You can garnish this cob with any number of things. Sometimes nothing more than butter. Other times, you use mayonnaise. Some people put chili pepper and lime juice on the corn while others coat it in cheese. It’s quite a rich meal no matter how you prepare it. I had always heard about elote from my husband but I never tasted it until this visit. I had mine with mayonnaise that had a touch of lime juice and some chile pepper. I felt like I was eating the most fantastic 5 star appetizer in my life. The heat off the chili was accompanied by the cooling component of the mayonnaise. Yummy doesn’t even come close to describing the happiness is my mouth and my tummy while I was consuming it.
The second dish – esquite - is just as fabulous. It’s nothing more than boiling corn in some water and using some fresh herbs to bring out the inherent complexity of this Mexican corn. Of course like more dishes in Mexico people adorn the soup with lime juice, chili, tortilla chips. I like mine with a little lime. It is as comforting as a hot bowl of chicken soup on a cold day. This is all Mexican comfort food and if you ever get the chance, I highly recommend you try it.
Corn is a fantastic vegetable. I don’t think I’ve ever met a person who hated corn. It’s warm and sweet and welcoming like many Mexicans. I’ve had my share of tortillas and although I like them, I prefer flour tortillas ( I commit a crime every time I ask for them, I know). But tortillas aren’t the only place to taste corn.
Corn is dried and ground up to make masa, which is used to make tortillas. Masa is also used to make tamales. Tamales are usually the masa with some local produce or meat that is wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed. It’s so luscious and flavorful no matter what the interior combination is. I do love tamales with cheese or huitlacoche ( a corn fungus – I told you they love their corn) or salsa verde. But let me go back to the corn for a moment.
Corn in Mexico is different than corn found in the USA. It’s not as sweet. The kernels are much bigger and have more of a gritty taste to them. They sometimes use the kernels to make pozole, which is another fabulous concoction with corn. But honestly the best way to have corn in Mexico is two ways:
1) On the cob – called elote
2) Or in a soup – called esquite
You find street vendors all over Mexico selling boiled corn on a cob. You can garnish this cob with any number of things. Sometimes nothing more than butter. Other times, you use mayonnaise. Some people put chili pepper and lime juice on the corn while others coat it in cheese. It’s quite a rich meal no matter how you prepare it. I had always heard about elote from my husband but I never tasted it until this visit. I had mine with mayonnaise that had a touch of lime juice and some chile pepper. I felt like I was eating the most fantastic 5 star appetizer in my life. The heat off the chili was accompanied by the cooling component of the mayonnaise. Yummy doesn’t even come close to describing the happiness is my mouth and my tummy while I was consuming it.
The second dish – esquite - is just as fabulous. It’s nothing more than boiling corn in some water and using some fresh herbs to bring out the inherent complexity of this Mexican corn. Of course like more dishes in Mexico people adorn the soup with lime juice, chili, tortilla chips. I like mine with a little lime. It is as comforting as a hot bowl of chicken soup on a cold day. This is all Mexican comfort food and if you ever get the chance, I highly recommend you try it.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Sweet and Spicy
Mexican food is so rich in flavors and textures. One of my favorite specialties is called Chiles en Nogada. It can only be found in Mexico and in Mexican restaurants around this time of the year. The reason that this meal is in hiding the rest of the year is due to its ingredients. They aren’t the most exotic ingredients but in keeping with seasonal produce, they only appear in and around September.
The first component is the walnut but it’s not any old walnut. It’s a special one that needs to be peeled to reveal only the pulp. The skin of this special walnut tends to be bitter and that would take away from the complexity of the chiles. This walnut is used with condensed milk or some other kind of cooling dairy agent (cream, sour cream etc) to create a sweet sauce to go over the chiles.
The main portion of the meal comes from the poblano pepper – itself a hearty smoked pepper with a slight bitterness – stuffed with various items. The stuffing can be made of ground beef or pork mixed with raisins and spices and nuts. Sometimes the walnut makes its appearance in the stuffing itself. Other times one finds almonds among the mix. The stuffing is often spicy with various other chilis adding their heat to the dish.
When you cut through the sauce and into the pepper and taste the entrée, your mouth feels first a cool sweetness accompanied by a spicy, crunchy, crumbly mixture. The sensation it leaves in your mouth is incredible. Varying from sweet to heat is intense enough on its own. Then to have the liquid sauce melt over the brittle members of the stuffing feels like a firework exploding in your mouth.
I love to eat. When a dish is full of complexity such as Chiles en Nogada, it makes me happy to be alive and to be able to keep tasting such true gastronomic miracles.
The first component is the walnut but it’s not any old walnut. It’s a special one that needs to be peeled to reveal only the pulp. The skin of this special walnut tends to be bitter and that would take away from the complexity of the chiles. This walnut is used with condensed milk or some other kind of cooling dairy agent (cream, sour cream etc) to create a sweet sauce to go over the chiles.
The main portion of the meal comes from the poblano pepper – itself a hearty smoked pepper with a slight bitterness – stuffed with various items. The stuffing can be made of ground beef or pork mixed with raisins and spices and nuts. Sometimes the walnut makes its appearance in the stuffing itself. Other times one finds almonds among the mix. The stuffing is often spicy with various other chilis adding their heat to the dish.
When you cut through the sauce and into the pepper and taste the entrée, your mouth feels first a cool sweetness accompanied by a spicy, crunchy, crumbly mixture. The sensation it leaves in your mouth is incredible. Varying from sweet to heat is intense enough on its own. Then to have the liquid sauce melt over the brittle members of the stuffing feels like a firework exploding in your mouth.
I love to eat. When a dish is full of complexity such as Chiles en Nogada, it makes me happy to be alive and to be able to keep tasting such true gastronomic miracles.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Family Reunion
As you might know, I have issues with the institution known as the ‘family’. Based on my past and the past of my family, it has always manifested itself as pejorative instead of ameliorative. I have always tried to forge my own definition in opposition to what I grew up with and saw. I can’t say I have been entirely successful but I keep forging ahead.
My husband is very family-oriented which is tricky because his concept of family is very different than mine. For him, family can do no harm. They are your support system and who you turn to when you need help. In theory, I agree with this and accept it. It hasn’t completely been this way for me; I wish I had more experiences to foster that same understanding in myself. I often look for support outside my family. I’ve created an infrastructure of good friends and one or two family members to whom I turn when I need advice or have a problem.
Given this information family reunions are comparatively different for both of us. I barely have family reunions. I think I only see cousins when someone is in the hospital or when there is a funeral. On occasion I might catch up with people at weddings. With the exception of one cousin, I rarely see my paternal cousins. My maternal cousins are in Italy. And even there, I only communicate extensively with one of them. Although I do talk often to one of my aunts.
My husband on the other hand, talks to his cousins frequently via email or on Facebook. And whenever we return to Mexico, we see most of his maternal cousins. This time around I finally got to meet some of his paternal cousins. And it was bittersweet. It’s nice to see people so happy to see each other - for a big family to sit around a table and make fun of each other in a nostalgic way. The infecting sound of laughter after the retelling of stories and remembrances of common moments where everyone had fun. No moments of dejection where the maliciousness of mistakes are retold to feel superior to those around you. No jumping down each other’s throats when people disagree with opinions.
The warmth I felt in their midst is something that I never feel with my extended family. I can only replicate that warmth with my dogs, my sister and my friends. I suppose ‘family’ is what you make of it. I choose my family while my husband has one.
My husband is very family-oriented which is tricky because his concept of family is very different than mine. For him, family can do no harm. They are your support system and who you turn to when you need help. In theory, I agree with this and accept it. It hasn’t completely been this way for me; I wish I had more experiences to foster that same understanding in myself. I often look for support outside my family. I’ve created an infrastructure of good friends and one or two family members to whom I turn when I need advice or have a problem.
Given this information family reunions are comparatively different for both of us. I barely have family reunions. I think I only see cousins when someone is in the hospital or when there is a funeral. On occasion I might catch up with people at weddings. With the exception of one cousin, I rarely see my paternal cousins. My maternal cousins are in Italy. And even there, I only communicate extensively with one of them. Although I do talk often to one of my aunts.
My husband on the other hand, talks to his cousins frequently via email or on Facebook. And whenever we return to Mexico, we see most of his maternal cousins. This time around I finally got to meet some of his paternal cousins. And it was bittersweet. It’s nice to see people so happy to see each other - for a big family to sit around a table and make fun of each other in a nostalgic way. The infecting sound of laughter after the retelling of stories and remembrances of common moments where everyone had fun. No moments of dejection where the maliciousness of mistakes are retold to feel superior to those around you. No jumping down each other’s throats when people disagree with opinions.
The warmth I felt in their midst is something that I never feel with my extended family. I can only replicate that warmth with my dogs, my sister and my friends. I suppose ‘family’ is what you make of it. I choose my family while my husband has one.
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