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First days after making the decision to only go to indoor places to shop for groceries: long walks with my friend Linda and her almost three year old grandson, Everett. Before this we were picking him up from school at day’s end. Now we spend most mornings exploring the Rio Grande area and the acequias – the irrigation ditches that fan out from the houses and fields in our valley. Everett is always discovering something – from a single leaf to the trees, imparting infectious wonder, then crumpling in a heap at the communal mailboxes when I inform him there’s no delivery – it’s Sunday. He cries, was expecting his Captain America pajamas to be delivered. Identity and clothing starts so early. So almost daily walks with Linda and pup walks with Alan have now turned longer. I find the walks and nearly any exercise helps with the anxiety considerably. If I miss my morning walk, I can get fretful; a walk at the end of the day generally helps me with elusive sleep.
I wonder with worry what may be happening with refugees incarcerated at the U.S. Mexican border, in the jails where I used to teach and prisons, the institutionalized, the homeless here and everywhere…
March 14 and 15 were our first days in isolation (the statewide order came a few days later). They were only unlike other weekends in that we didn’t go to see friends, out for dinner or Sunday brunch – a weekly pleasure. We cooked all meals at home, Alan made pinto beans that I then turned into enfrijoladas, he made a Mexican chicken soup. He’s the ambitious cook, I’m the short order sous chef.
Recipe: Enfrijoladas
I can’t even recall where I first saw this made in Mexico, decades ago. One of my all time favorite comfort foods.
Make some pinto or black beans stovetop or instant pot
-you can also use canned –
If using whole beans, add some water, if refried, more water. Keep adding water, in any case. I like these best using whole beans mashed a little, with lots of bean sauce.
Slip a tortilla into the bubbling bean sauce until it is covered. Let it cook until it’s soft but not to the breaking point – maybe 30 seconds or 1 minute depending how hard your tortilla is. I don’t know, I haven’t
timed it.
Fold and serve on a plate, ladle more bean sauce on top. Garnish with Monterrey jack or fontina cheese (or whatever you have except Cheese Whiz, but ok, if you only have that from 1999, it IS a pandemic…, so maybe take your chances laced with your preservatives) and pickled jalapeños. Use a Cholula style hot sauce for added heat.
For full comfort food enjoyment: don’t watch the news while you eat these, unless you want to counter their effect a little, but then add a margarita.
I am pondering this blog: do people want to read about what they’re going through? Should I post other writings – or a combo? Will anyone comment?
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