Enchiladas Verdes

For my birthday gift this year, Bob arranged for a two-hour cooking class in our home once a week. Today was my first class. I made enchiladas verdes, along with a cucumber, carrot, and jicama salad. It was all delicious, if I may say so myself.

My teacher is an old friend of Bob's named Tonya. Tonya cleans and cooks for our friend Linda three days a week. Tonya grew up in San Miguel and has ten brothers and sisters, a husband, two sons, and three grand-daughters. What I love about my teacher, other than the delicious meals she's going to help me prepare, is her cheerful personality and the fact that she speaks no English. This means I get to learn Mexican cooking and practice my Spanish at the same time. In addition to building my vocabulary, today I learned that THEY SAY that if you cry while peeling an onion, it means you are a jealous person. I learned that you can place a bowl of water beside the cutting board in order to cry less. I learned that you don't need to use hot water to wash the dishes. I also learned how to get the bitterness out of a cucumber by cutting off the end and rubbing it against the remaining portion of the cucumber. This morning I went downtown with Tonya to see where she buys fruits and vegetables, chicken, tortillas, and other ingredients essential for daily sustenance. We bought the tiny green tomatillos needed for the salsa in today's dish. Next week I'll do my own shopping, and Tonya is going to teach me to make black beans, rice, pica de gallo, and a milk and rice drink that Natalie loves, spiced with cinnamon. For now, I'm thrilled to have a large pan of leftover enchiladas verdes in the fridge. It's good we have no scale in our apartment!