Old-Age Spinster

 I need a cook!  

Maybe it would be different if I lived near a modern supermarket in the States.  Maybe there I could find more ready-to-eat meals.  Prepared salads, frozen vegetarian meals, trays of cut fruits.

I find myself hungry a lot.  I just don't seem to have the enrgy to drive downtown, and hunt through the supermarket for food that I could eat.  

A meat eater might grab hamburber meat and buns.  Or chiliquiles, which are tiny rolled up tortillas stuffed with some kind of meat, ready to eat..or maybe to warm up.  

The popular street food here are gorditas.  A thick tortilla that can be sliced in two and stuffed with a greasy concoction.  There is a variety stuffed with rajas and cheese, which is an acceptable vegertarian meal.  One need only get over the grease.  But those are the ones thaat are made early in the day and stuffed into baskets; they sit at the island at the central bus station.  The road is divided at that stretch.  This is where the train used to run on tracks through town.  Once the tracks were removed, the elevated center strip  was paved over as a tree-liined sidewalk.  The town carved out a small space where the ladies sit at road level in their plastic chairs and feed the tourists driving through, and the bus passengers traveling through.  The potato gordita is also yummy.  A perfectly good meal, if one is not counting carbs.

I have to question myself carefully to get at the truth; to separate out my prejudices.  I should compare the amount of carbs in, say, a grilled cheese sandwich, with the carbs in a typical burrito.  Unlike the ones I've seen prepackaged and chubby in supermarkets, these burritos and tacos are mostly tortilla.  Again, heavy on the carbs.  But is there really a difference?  Well, in truth, I seldom eat sandwiches,

If I hired a cook here, what would she servie?  

When I lived in Acapulco, I remember very satisfying meals.  They were heavy on the fresh fruits, vegetables and seafood; light on the carbs.  The village where I now live in inland.  Yes, it is based on agronomy.  But the main crops are corn, frijoles (a low-protein version), and oats for the cows.  I don't see these neighbors sharing their garden's bounty with one another.

I am not being fair.  The supermarket is filled with fresh tomatoes, potates, limes, onions.  There is the occasional brocolli and cauliflower, which are kept in a separate upright fridge and are often droopy or spoiled.  In the shop where I go the most, the green peppers are very few, and way at the top of the bins where I can never raech them  I must always ask for help.  Then I am embarrassed to keep rejecting the old wrinkled ones, in search of something fresh.

I am kvetching.  The truth is, I am just too old.  I feel my age.  I just don't have the energy to go reguarly into town and fight the crowds, and engage my imagination to think of meal-planning using these meager resources.  

Uncle.