Door #Three

Buenas dias!
I am so lucky to have this new Starbucks cup. My sister gave it to me when we were in Texas in September. It replaces the one that just jumped right off the table here one afternoon last year. I am very fond of this one and glad to have it. Even though I have given up regular coffee and am only drinking decaf, at least I do have my Starbuck's cup.

On Saturday afternoon, we had seven people over for a shrimp fest. Now, that is nine total, including Senor and myself and I was wondering how it would go. We started at three in the afternoon and I was sure, because we were dining al fresco, that everyone would want to leave by dark. At seven thirty, we were still sitting around the yellow sheet covered plastic melamine tables, swapping stories. The estrellas shone overhead and the little fire pit added some warmth and a great deal of ambiance to a wonderful group of people.

On Friday, I began some small preparations for this dinner of bacon wrapped smoked oysters, melted cream cheese and sour cream rajas, caper and cilantro pasta salad, grilled poblano peppers, grilled onions and shrimp.

I found myself looking through cupboards where I have probably not looked in a year, in search of a small food chopper. Given the size of the casa and the fact that we are under construction, and do not have a kitchen, one would think that we would not have much in the way of electrical cooking 'toys' .

This perception is incorrect.

I have more cooking 'toys' than I ever had in Washington, and I am not sure how it happened to be this way. I am very fond of thrift store shopping whenever we are in Tucson and you know I cannot cross the border without the 'list'. And during each crossing I am always nervous if we are bringing in anything electrical. So, while Senor considers me somewhat fanatical about the list, I have so far, considered myself to be very sharp, accurate and on top of what we are transporting back to Mexico.

But in searching through the cupboards for one little tiny food chopper, which I knew I had, I found alot of things that are not on the list. Therefore they should not be in the cupboards.

In particular, for some reason, I have four small blade coffee grinders.

I can only assume that on various trips to Tucson, I forgot I had purchased a blade grinder on a previous trip and somehow, they were not even put on the list.

Believe me, I keep all the lists. I am not sure why, but if Aduana ever needs to visit my casa, I think I should be able to tell them every single thing that is in it. But, obviously I would not be able to do that, because I looked through all the lists and did not see a single blade grinder, let alone four of them..............

Below, you can see two of them, right alongside a vacuum sealer, which I had forgotten I bought at the Nogales Safeway. I found it, still in its box, up in the top cupboard.

You can also see the little food chopper there which is what I was originally looking for. I could not find the lid for this one. But, no problem, for some reason, I had another little food chopper, up in the top cupboard, in its box, right next to the small sandwich toaster that I swear I have never seen before in my life.

You can also see a hand mixer, which surprised me because I only recently packed away the one I used during the holidays for mixing cookies, and put it in the top cupboard. So, I guess I have two of those now. I looked at the list and I do not see a second hand mixer ever crossing the border.

The Starbucks grinder, which was relatively new when we came to Alamos, is there as well.

Now, this is not a Sunset photo shoot. I have not lined everything up neatly on a counter, have not wiped away the dust, nor have I shined things up in any way.
I just want to show you some of the things I have accumulated in a year and a half.

Here are the cupboards. There are two big double doors on either side of a single door. This first one is for packaged food, canned goods and other assorted items, many of which I obviously did not know about. The single door is where Senor keeps alot of necessary tools.

The third set of doors we try not to open, as all kinds of things might fall out. On a few return trips from the north, I have opened the left door to shove in numerous boxes or bags, but I don't think we have really looked in there since we moved here, so who knows what mysteries lay inside that set of double doors?

I now have two food processors. The one below I bought in Mexico. The other is somewhat smaller and it came across the border. I don't know where it is, but it is on the list, so I know it is somewhere. The list says it is in box #39, along with the manual old wooden ice cream freezer and the pizza board. But I don't know where that box is, so I suppose it is good I now have two.
I guess I thought it would be easier to buy a new one than find the other one.



We have a white juicer, bought in Mexico.

We have a black juicer, bought in Mexico. I do not know why we have two juicers. I never even had one juicer in Washington.

This crock pot came across the border. I found another smaller one in the top cupboard, the kind you might heat sauce in, or maybe it is for potpourri. I don't know. It isn't on any of the lists.

By now it is occuring to me that maybe I do not have as good a grip on the lists as I thought I had. Maybe I have been a little lax, afterall we have made quite a few trips north. Maybe I am not as smart as I think I am, when it comes to the list.

This blender I bought in Obregon at Wal Mart. Somewhere I have a metal Starbucks blender. Box #47. I don't know where that box is. In case you have forgotten, these same cupboards are duplicated in the bedroom and are stuffed with numbered boxes. 47 could be anywhere...........

A bread machine. I do remember buying that at the Goodwill in Tucson. I never had a bread machine in Washington. When I got it to Alamos, I realized it did not have a bread paddle which explains why it was a dollar at Goodwill. On the next trip Goodwill did have the same machine, and it had a paddle, so I bought that one for five dollars. They were both on different lists.

Here is, of course, the Starbucks Venezia. If you recall, I guess I accidentally threw away the steam wand cover. I think I have two other espresso machines, boxes #4 and $56, but who knows where the boxes are.

A four cup coffee maker. For some reason I have two of those and a Sorrento cappucino maker. I don't know why I have them. I must have bought them at Target on one of the trips. The Sorrento is on the list.

Now these next items are not really kitchen toys, but I consider them to be critical to the kitchen experience as I cannot cook without music.

I have two small cd, mp3 players. I don't even know what a mp3 player is. I listen to Radio Sonora on one and to my American cd's on the other.

Now, I just find this terribly interesting, all this accumulation of things that I did not even know I had. It is a very good learning experience.

And what it tells me is, that I need to take time to add all this new old stuff I did not know I had to the lists. I need to take all the old lists with me whenever we go north across the border. I need to refer to them when making my shopping plans and I need to only buy what I write on my 'to buy' list. No more indiscriminate shopping, no impulsive buys. If it is not on the 'to buy' list, it will not get bought.

And, one of these days, definitely before we go north again, I need to be fearless. I need to find the courage and strength to just go ahead and open Door #Three. Who knows, maybe the venetian steam wand I just think I threw out is laying there, on the floor, waiting to be discovered? And the rice cooker, quesadilla maker, and sandwich maker, (oops, never mind, I have one of those), and the toaster I have thought I might buy on our next trip north?

Could they already be here, hidden behind Door #Three?

Adios for now! I need to go and study mi espanol.

Try this for the flikr link.

http://flikr.glasspondstudio.com/ and click on the glasspondstudio photostream................ maybe that will work.