We had a nice dinner last night. It wasn't fancy, and it wasn't really
great, but we had a good time.

We have a lot of Hispanic folks in the area. A real lot. They have
lots of kids. Lots and lots. Some of them go to the local elementary
school. One of the Hispanic staff there noted that the parents weren't
very involved with the school. She talked to my wife, and explained
that they didn't do things that way in Mexico. They take the kids
there, and pick them up, and the nuns take care of everything else.
That's not how we do things here.

The staff person decided to try to get the Hispanic parents more
involved. You really need a focus for this, so she set up an event.
Everybody likes food, so she had the parents make food, and they sold
it. I don't know if it was a fund raiser or not, but it was pretty
cheap. The first year, the kids dressed in traditional clothing and did
traditional dances.

The school is a block away, and I walk by there often. I saw that they
were having a "Mexican Food Fair", so I suggested to my wife that we go.
It would be a cheap dinner.

It was advertised as starting at 5:30, but I figured that a once a year
event put on by volunteers might not start on time, so we went a little
later. A mistake, it turned out.

We walked on down, and there was a table at the door where they were
selling tickets. They were a buck each, but a look at the menu showed
that you needed multiple tickets to make a meal. We bought ten.

We got in the food line, and waited patiently. They were already out of
two of the things that I wanted. Oh well. My wife got three chicken
tamales. I got two tostadas and a pork tamale. After I ate my food, I
went to the desert station and got a big bowl of fresh cut fruit. There
was green melon, watermelon, pineapple and grapes. There was a food
station in back of us with snacks. My wife asked the woman next to her
what the heck they were. They were doritos. I had seen kids eating
these for the last couple of years at the soccer field. They looked
like wagon wheel pasta, but about 3 inches in diameter and a pale orange
color. She said they tasted like styrofoam. You could add lemon juice
or hot sauce and then they would have some taste. I had been wondering
for all this time what they were like, but now they were one ticket and
a smaller bag. I got some. Sure enough, they tasted like styrofoam,
but salty. They were good for soaking up the hot sauce, but they soon
got very soggy. OK, I've tried that and I'm over and done with it. I
don't have to wonder about them any more, I know, I don't need to try
them ever again.

--
Dan Abel

Petaluma, California, USA

In article >,
Dan Abel > wrote:

> It was advertised as starting at 5:30, but I figured that a once a year
> event put on by volunteers might not start on time, so we went a little
> later. A mistake, it turned out.
>
> We walked on down, and there was a table at the door where they were
> selling tickets. They were a buck each, but a look at the menu showed
> that you needed multiple tickets to make a meal. We bought ten.
>
> We got in the food line, and waited patiently. They were already out of
> two of the things that I wanted.

That'll learn ya!
Sounds like a fun time - sorry I wasn't there.
--
http://www.jamlady.eboard.com, updated 11-19-05 - Shiksa Varnishkes.

In article >,
Melba's Jammin' > wrote:


> That'll learn ya!
> Sounds like a fun time - sorry I wasn't there.

I'm sorry too. Of course, it doesn't seem to happen every year, so
don't make any plans.

The sign in front of the school has a month's worth of activities. The
Mexican food festival was still there for a few days. It had the word
"quermes" on it. What the heck is that, folks? Google wasn't much
help. I guess I don't know how to spell "babelfish" so it didn't help
either.

--
Dan Abel

Petaluma, California, USA