Mexican Mondays ( one of my entries for my Food & Wine Class journal )

Mexican Mondays

Every Monday a big group of my friends and I make Mexican food together. After being in Italy for a couple of weeks, we all started to get sick of eating only Italian food. We missed our vast selection of ethnic food that is offered to us back in California. We all began to talk about which type of food each of us specifically missed. The list ranged from burritos, to bagels, to chocolate chip cookies, and even sushi. After much  discussion, all of us decided to do something about our cravings. We came to the conclusion that we should make our own ethnic food. Mexican food sounded the best and the easiest to make so we decided to dedicated one night a week to it. We paired Mondays with Mexican food because it helped liven up the first day of the week and because it sounded cool.

Our Mexican dinner consists of homemade burritos, salsa, and marinated chicken. A few of us go to the fresh market in San Lorenzo and to the local super market called Conad. We usually buy peppers, onions, lettuce, chicken, tomatoes, avocados, and garlic.

The preparation process is usually divided equally among the group. Some of us chop the vegetables, some set the table, while others clean the dishes. Everyone contributes in some way and each meal we have made together has been very tasty. We have been having Mexican Mondays for about three weeks already and every Monday it has been fun.

Every dinner that we have together we go around the table and ask everyone’s highs and lows of the day. In the beginning this little “game” was a useful conversation starter and helped everyone to get to know each other. It helped break the ice and loosened up the mood. For instance, some of highs could range from eating amazing food to anything fun that we did over the weekend. Some lows could be homework or chores around the apartment we haven’t done.

In the beginning, Mexican Monday was a way to eat food that we all missed. Now it is a way to become closer with each other. The friends that I have made here and eat dinner with every Monday are now my Italian family. We all bond over our weekly dinners together and I love it.