It was an age-old dilemma, you can't make salsa without
cilantro, and you can't make tacos without salsa, and you can't have Cinco de
Mayo without tacos! I was bummed,
sad, depressed. To lift my
spirits, my hubby decided to take me to a "Mexican"
restaurant. I put that in italics
to emphasize that Mexican cooking in Germany is different than Mexican in
California and certainly different than in my home. We arrived at the restaurant that had a packed parking
lot. A full lot indicates good
food, right? The décor was as
welcoming as any popular Mexican restaurant in the States. Mariachi music played from overhead
speakers, staff wore traditional clothing of Mexico, and we were warmly greeted
and seated. We ordered two kinds
of tacos and they quickly brought out a basket of chips along with salsa. To say the salsa was underwhelming is
an understatement. It was like the
jar salsa from grocery stores—only worse.
We looked around and noticed that the Germans seemed to enjoy it. That's
because they haven't tasted real salsa, I thought. And for some reason I felt incredibly
homesick. How long would I last in
Germany without the ingredients I needed to cook with? I was already mourning not having a Trader
Joe's store around. Could I handle
this blow, too?
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| photo by Heather Ford |
As it turns out, it took three months and three "Mexican" restaurants for me to give up on German salsa. The Germans do many things well, some things extremely well. Making salsa is not one of them. Luckily, we gained the ability to shop at the American commissary at Ramstein Air Force Base—it carried cilantro and jalapenos! My Cinco de Mayo may have been a bust but at last I could make salsa and other dishes my way. And our new German friends reveled at my delicious version of that essential condiment. Oh, here's a salsa recipe for you to try: https://www.cookingclassy.com/fresh-homemade-salsa/ Enjoy!
Victoria M. Johnson
knew by the time she was ten that she wanted to be a writer. She loves
telling stories and she's happiest when creating new characters and new
plots. Avalon Books and Montlake Romance published Victoria's fiction
debut, The Doctor’s Dilemma. Her other fiction book is a
collection of romance short stories titled, The
Substitute Bride and a novella, Hot
Hawaiian Christmas. She is also the writer and director of four short films
and two micro documentaries. Visit Victoria's website at http://VictoriaMJohnson.com for inspiration and tips and find her Amazon
author page or connect
with her on Pinterest and Twitter.
