Good morning everyone. Or shall I say,
mourning.
We are over here in Carmel, NY, just 8 hours and 8 minutes on foot, 2 hours and 41 minutes by bicycle and 33 minutes by car from my front door to the shattered windows, bodies and hearts of the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. I was never the religious type (except for a stint with Taoism a while back which I do not regret). But I find myself whispering a lot the last few days. Not to anyone in particular. Just mumbling or humming or bouncing out the syllables of each word of prayer with my fingertips on the table. Just taking my own moments of silence because sometimes the ache is both genuine and foreign when something this catastrophic and tragic happens. Let alone, to young, precious, innocent little kids. Somehow it always seems more unbelievable, more incredulous, more heartbreaking when children are involved. Somehow it makes your heart bleed faster, your chest heave harder, your tears flow easier when it’s so close to a holiday that means toys, games, milk & cookies, family photos full of bright eyed little ones in red velveteen dresses or bowties. Yes, it’s Christmastime, and given the chance, under at least 22 green pine trees or shiny menorah’s there would have been colorful gift boxes waiting for small fingers to peek and pry. But now those spaces are empty. Those minds are barren. But, those hearts are gut-wrenchingly
full to the brim and about to burst with sadness and woe so urgent that it hurts to blink or breathe.
To quote our emotional president, “As a country, we have been through this too many times. Whether it is an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago, these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods and these children are our children. And we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.” I think the media should take a step back now and let the families of all of the angels that fell that day deal with their losses at this most difficult time. And when they have mourned, I hope that they get angry enough to figure out how to make a real change to gun control and the way media makes the murderers instantly famous. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that the media is there to bring us the most up to date information and in many, many ways, it’s obviously helpful. But what is most important (to me, anyway) is that they bring us the TRUTH and that they do it once and for all – the first time around.
We hope that you will all say a little prayer for everyone involved in the Newtown, CT shootings. And please, treasure your children always.
To lighten things up a bit, I wanted to blog about a fun (and delicious) experience I had recently with my Supergirl sidekick Rachael, our coworkers and boss at
Café Maya and Cantina in Fishkill, NY.
My coworkers decided to have a little get together outside the office so we could actually enjoy one another’s company for a change and not have to discuss work related stuff. Two of the girls in our department are actually located in our satellite office up on Route 9 in Wappingers so this restaurant was an quick ride for them. Rachael and I of course drove up together, while Lynne, Florence and Elfriede rode up with our boss Lisa. We met at 530pm and were promptly seated at a large table in the very festive & colorful dining area. If you know me at all, you know my affinity for all things colorful! My eyes danced on every hue, I loved it.
The walls were covered with Mexican flags, sombreros, funky cultural artwork, colorful banners and strings of Christmas lights. This was my kind of place. We ordered drinks (the white sangria is very good). They keep the home made tortillas chips and salsa coming til your food comes out which is both good and bad.. you can easily fill up on those! Lisa really wanted to try their guacamole which is made tableside. Rachael and I thought that was so cool!
As a self-proclaimed Plain Jane, I don’t like avocado. I’ve tried it on a few occasions but I’m just not fond of the taste or texture. My boss said that the guacamole was amazing and all the girls urged me to try it. I finally gave in, and because I love you all, and for the good of the blog, I tried it. Hah! It was good! I have too much pride to say it was delicious. But it was certainly tasty. I can’t explain what was good about it. My first impression was that it tasted grassy (not that I have ever eaten grass). But then I realized the cilantro and lime juice brightened the hell out of that stuff and took it to new heights. I only had that little bit on that one chip, but I don’t think I’d throw that bowl of guacamole off my table if it just showed up….. if you know what I mean.
Anyway, my coworker Mabel said that there is usually a Mariachi band that comes in around 6, but here it was almost 7pm and we hadn’t seen them yet. We were getting antsy for the sweet trill of genuine Mexican music, the strum of a guitar or the tangy heartbeat of a horn. Soon, a few servers came with our dinners. Elfriede had something called the Juanita, Florence had a shrimp dish with rice and beans, Lisa had a cheese enchilada, Valerie had enchiladas, Mabel had some kind of tacos, Lynne had enchiladas with mole sauce, I had chicken tacos with rice and beans,
Rachael had a chicken, spinach and mushroom quesadilla.
Everything was very good, we were all full and happy with our meal choices, a few of us had to get our leftovers wrapped up to take home. I have to say, I do not like rice & beans. Yet, I ate both! Not all of it of course, I was wicked full from the chicken tacos but I tried the rice and beans and actually really enjoyed the flavors. I surprise myself sometimes! Very soon after, the mariachi band showed up and made its way through the dining room serenading patrons and getting them involved with tambourines, maracas and singing. When it was our turn Mabel
requested Guantanamera which we all sort of know, but can’t pronounce the words to. It was so much fun it didn’t matter, most of us just kind of sung the wrong words while Elfriede banged the tambourine and Val, Mabel, Florence and Lisa shimmied with the maracas. We were sad to see them leave the table when they were through. I caught myself saying more than once that I wanted a mariachi band of my very own! Mabel graciously tipped the gentlemen.
In the middle of all the fun, we gave our boss Lisa her Christmas gift from all of us, which was a beautiful Vera Bradley cosmetic bag with matching luggage tags for her trip to Italy next year! She was very excited.
So, what was the best part of the night, you ask? Well, a dedicated food blogger would say, “The food, of course.” But I’m going to go ahead and be honest here. My 70-something year old co-worker with a sombrero on her head shaking the maracas was the BEST PART of
entire week! I think you would agree…
… Just look at how cute she is …
Hahah.
Even though we were all so full you could roll us out to our cars, we ordered a few desserts to share. Rachael & I and Valerie & Mabel paired up to each share a chimi-banana which is banana cooked inside a chimichanga and deep fried with a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar and topped with whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce.
One word: DECADENT. Florence opted out of dessert, but Lynne, Elfriede and Lisa all shared a goblet of fried ice cream which they said was baaad (in a good way).
This was a restaurant with really great service, an entertaining atmosphere, and last but certainly not least – Café Maya is full of flavor! I would say that if you’re having alcohol, this could be a pricey place to dine. But the average meal ranges from $12 – $16 and with endless tortilla chips and salsa coming to the table, you could skip an appetizer to save yourself the dough (but you’ll miss out on some good stuff). My advice would be..whatever you choose, do not miss the dessert!
Rachael & I already swore we would be back to double date with our significant others.
A truly wonderful time had by all.
Oh, I wanted to mention this , before I forget. For those of you that don’t know, our Eats and Treats Facebook fanpage held it’s first contest this past week! We had a ‘Guess how many Hershey kisses were in the jar’ contest, whomever had the correct (or closest) guess won a prize.
Our wonderful Facebook fan Melissa Hernandez of Clermont, Florida won a $10 Dunkin Donuts gift card for coming the closest to the actual number of 127 with a guess of 113. Congratulations Melissa – we hope you enjoy a nice hot cup of coffee and a donut on us! For those of you who haven’t become a fan yet, you can do so by
clicking here. We are hoping to do contests and giveaways at least once a month, so be sure to check out our Facebook fan page and feel free to post recipes, photos and share your comments with us – we would love your feedback!
Alright…just one last note to end this rollercoaster-of-emotion blog entry.
Rachael, Kevin and I really adore this marketplace. There is fresh (and really reasonably priced) produce and meats, a wonderful bakery, a large spot where they sell garden/home-type items, like plants, soil, seasonal stuff, and Kevin’s favorite – the candy bar area. Today we saw a very genuine-looking Santa Claus by the candy bar having some sweets and talking on his cell phone. I bet Mrs. Claus was making sure he brings home the milk and eggs! At one point I had wandered off to find the bathroom while Rachael and Kevin bought
‘bad things’. This usually means someone,
more often than not it’s Rachael, is buying or eating something they shouldn’t. So as I found my way back to the candy bar area, both of them had little white bags in their hands and guilty looks on their faces! Rachael said “We got bad things!” and I laughed, shook my head and said “I can’t leave you guys alone with the candy for a second, jeez.” I of course resigned myself to eating some of whatever they bought to join in the badness.
I had a salted caramel chocolate and that was ALL, I swear.
If you have never been to Adam’s – you have to go – no questions asked!
We hope you all have enjoyed our latest update & that you have a wonderful holiday season. God bless and see you in the New Year!
XOXO,
Aimee & Kevin, Eats and Treats
