The Green Chile Convert

The Green Chile Convert: How a New Mexico Native became a Prodigal Daughter

“Some are born to love chile … others have chile thrust upon them.”

For most of my life, I have been the odd-man out in my family. If you are unfamiliar with New Mexican cuisine, you are about to become very familiar. The good ole Land of Enchantment is the square-ish state smushed between Texas and Arizona, and is decisively forgotten by the rest of the country. It’s like the other 49 states skipped 5^th grade and refused to learn states and capitals. They dropped New Mexico and adopted Puerto Rico. You may think I am kidding, but I have LITERALLY been asked if I needed a passport to leave the STATE.

Now that’s off my chest…

The food in my favorite state revolves around our favorite vegetable fruit (Sorry science – we just don’t see it that way!) Green Chile. Usually the star of any dish, it is often accompanied by the dream team:

Cheese. Beans. Rice.

If you ask any New Mexican, if your green chile isn’t hot, then you are eating a bell pepper. Canned chile is sacrilege, and buying it freshly roasted is the optimal (and only) choice.

That doesn’t leave a lot of room for a girl whose tongue and tummy are linked directly to the Anglo-Saxon side of her. Meanwhile, everyone else in my family, and the state, eat like this…

I have always loved the smell of roasting chile outside of our local grocery store when fall rolls around the corner, but I have never been able to withstand the spicy pepper it comes from. It never logically occurred to me that it is a good thing to put something in your body if you have to double glove your hands to peel it. Even then, a faulty brush of forehead sweat, and you could be sending your eye into a frenzied state of panic.

My first experience really enjoying chile was when I was working a baseball game a few summers back, and all Dion’s was selling was a large pizza slice with Green & Pepperoni. Now I don’t know about you, but running around in the hot sun, makes you hungry. Hungry changes a person. One bite, then two, and suddenly I was on the bandwagon, shouting, “full speed ahead!” I didn’t forget the burn, I embraced it.

That night, I went home and broke the news to my family.

“Mom. Dad. Today, of my own free will, I ordered and ate green chile and enjoyed it.”

You would think I was waiving around a Yale acceptance letter – my mom even put it on the calendar! Being part of a chile loving family will always mean that someone will like chile hotter than you, or they may chuckle when you pour yourself a glass of milk to chase down that green chile stew. But one thing I have learned, is that they’re not laughing at you anymore, they’re laughing with you.

I’ll leave you with this.

An Apple a Day

Hello lovelies!

Today we have passed the two-week mark on my self-appointed February Food Challenge and are commencing the two week countdown. (Which has been highly anticipated since Day 1.) This experience has been harrowing, and inspiring mostly harrowing. The office where I work, looks a lot like this….

Except, I’m a larger mouse with a bigger appetite. And instead of cheese, it’s cheesecake. Mmmm… cheesecake. Not to mention, my blessed coworker is the candy-man. He leaves a distractingly large bag of chocolates on his desk for everyone to share. I’m not sure if you are familiar, but those gleaming colorful wrappers taunt you. Those savvy slogans are especially vicious.

Admittedly, this has been a better experience than I let on. The deliberate absence of sweets, has made me realize how easily chocolates come in and out of my line of vision. And more often than not, they are just in arm’s reach. And holy canole! Mmmm… canoles. I would have eaten every single thing that was in sight.

It was actually eye-opening, because I realized I am a lot like this girl!

Actually, I lied. I’m this kid.

On the bright side, if there is one, is that during this torture challenge, I have been spending more time with people that I adore. Just this weekend, my love and I took my baby cousins to the zoo and to Tingley Beach. By the end of the experience, we were a little disenchanted with gorillas and a bit hungry, but their smiling faces and wet kisses were well worth it. Sure, the four of them (lover included) dined on animal crackers, while I munched on apple slices. But I think that maybe being together, kinda made my apple a little sweeter.

More Busy, Less Bored

My favorite movie of all time is Ever After. If you haven’t seen it, it has Drew Barrymore & Anjelica Huston and is basically the best representation of the Cinderella story that has graced this Earth. You can get it from Amazon or sometimes Wal-Mart sneaks it into the $5 bins (Wahoo!). I would readily quote this movie from start to finish and back again if you asked me to.

One of the scenes in particular made me pause. Pun totally intended! #lameVHSjoke #90sBaby

In short, the evil step-mother said something quite poignant to the not-so-evil step-sister.

“If one cannot breathe, one cannot eat.”

That line had me rolling my eyes too, but it did get me thinking. I am a self-diagnosed boredom eater. With that being said, it is safe to assume that I am a snack connoisseur. I tend to eat the majority of my snacks around 3 in the afternoon always. Anyone could come to the conclusion that I am often bored, and solve that problem with a little nibble of this or that.

A great way to solve that problem is …. Self-control!

I know self-control can be difficult to exercise. Particularly when it includes exercise, but that’s another story. But I have found that the easiest way to quit my bad snacking habit is to be a little less bored, by being a lot more busy.

If one is so busy, she cannot breathe, then she cannot be bored. Aha! We have come full circle!

Now, I am not suggesting that everyone out there go and sign themselves up for a plethora of activities plus one. But maybe by incorporating actual activity into part of their everyday life. For example, this past weekend I took on the truly horrendous and time-consuming activity of deep-cleaning my bathroom. Not only did I have the opportunity to get to know my toilet on an unpleasantly intimate level, but my snacking was kept to a minimum. Sure, maybe I couldn’t breathe because I went mad-scientist and created a potent mumbo-jumbo cocktail to erase the hard-water stains that reside beneath the rim. But it was certainly satisfying to see what I could accomplish with my hands, besides stuff my face!

Go forth & conquer!

Affection Correction

Today is the fourth of February. Maybe not for me, but for you it is. So, for the sake of argument, it’s the beginning of a new month. As the majority of you are fully aware, the 2^nd month of the year is typically characterized by over-the-top, ooey-gooey, lovey dovey stuff. Well, it has come to my attention that I pretty much celebrate every month of the year with this exact mentality.

At this moment you may be thinking that you’ll just sign off now if I go into details about the exact shape and masculine features of my lover’s nose, which I do adore. But you are just in luck! It’s true, I must confess. I have a love affair with chocolate.

URGENT PSA: Chocolate is the gateway drug to all things sweet, and delicious, and tasty, and oh boy – I am getting out of hand!

Addiction runs in the family. My mom can’t seem to quit the chips & dip, and I’ve got a hankering for something sweet. So basically any potluck is our nirvana. As easy as it would be to toss all the blame on my mother, I do believe in the fair and just. So it must be revealed that my dad has definitely contributed to my… er… problem. Long story short, he took a page out of Lupin’s handbook – “Eat this, you’ll feel better.” Thus chocolate has always been a treat, but it has also been my go to comfort food. Voila! Nature and nurture have come together to thoroughly rock my world and set me on a course for obesity.

Ideally, that is not the path I would like to be on. Which is exactly why I have opted for this change of lifestyle, and why I am documenting it. To jump-start this revolution, I have decided to do something drastic. For the month of love, I have decided to give up, no, trade something that I love to focus on other things that I equally adore.

Good-bye chocolate (sniff)! Hello new world! Somehow that does not feel as good as I thought it would writing it.

Good-bye warm, crumbly cookies. Good-bye bite size brownies, red velvet cake, and cold creamy ice desserts.

But also, Hello family time! Hello to big family dinners, and game nights galore. Hello lover, I’ll visit more. (Rhyme game too strong?) I am looking forward to playing Settlers of Catan (link here if you want a non-food obsession), and laughs all around as we gather in the den to play Reverse Charades. This month – I am going to try to focus on family, and not food. Wish me luck!

 

Good-bye sweets, Ta-ta for now!