My First Suegra’s Beans

I find myself in the kitchen, working clumsily with the tools that create the delicious filling.  I am thrilled and nervous.  I have been awaiting the chance to enter the cooking dynasty and today I was asked to prepare the sacred dish for our dinner.  What looked simple in the hands of my suegra feels clumsy and halting in my own.  It is just this year that my Pennsylvanian heart has learned to love these beans.  But I see the dish taking shape, and I plunge ahead with hope.

It is one of many cherished moments.  I am thrilled by my decision to join my family in Madrid and build a love with Jeni. We see each other and her Mom, Tesla, every day now.  For the past three months I have been living firsts. First Thanksgiving in Spain, first time of Jeni hosting my family, first experience living via the metro instead of a car.

Now the first time cooking the beans. We boiled them with garlic and onion a couple of weeks ago and froze them for safe keeping. Now I am alone in the kitchen to add more flavor and fry them up. I call Tesla to clarify one of the proportions and ask Jeni a question about our onions.  My inexperience in the kitchen leaves me nervous.  But after the questions I am stubbornly, excitedly working. My journal full of thoughts and one special bean recipe rests on the counter. My memory works to imagine the steps as I have seen Tesla do them. 

Finally Tesla arrives home and greets me from the entrance. She steps into the kitchen and sees that my work is almost complete. She take a small taste as I wonder how it turned out.

"Mmmm." She says "Mmm." She gives me a partial hug in the tiny kitchen. And I know she sees Honduras in my heart.