My Dining Experience

Growing up, my family of nine always had lunch and dinner together. However, our dining table never consisted of enough chairs to sit my family of nine. In fact, growing up, our dining table consisted of six chairs. When necessary, we would pull out extra chairs lying around in bedrooms (this is no longer necessary because we have stools and an island in our kitchen, apart from a dining table). Ironically, extra chairs were never really needed anyways, unless my mom cooked up some Ceviche (a type of fish eaten with tostadas) or Pozole (a lightly spiced hominy soup), or any other meals that do not require a side of warm tortillas.

Tortillas were and still are a big part of every meal my family consumes. This means that someone always has to heat up the tortillas while the others eat because no one wants cold tortillas or cold food. But, it is a fact that someone is always up and about either heating up tortillas, serving up food, pouring up drinks, and serving extra food to the fast eaters that extra chairs were never needed and still really aren’t needed. Guess who was and still is usually the last one to sit and eat her lunch or dinner? Bingo if you guessed my mom. The last ones to eat is either my mom, my sister, or me…or all three of us.

To give you a better idea of a typical dining experience at my house imagine:  

My entire family is stretched out in our living room. The TV is on and there is either a soccer game or soap opera playing on the screen. The air is filled with the smell of roasted peppers, arroz, and chile con carne. The smell is familiar. Our stomachs are growling. We can almost taste the meal my mom prepared. We are waiting for a special call…

Mom: “A comer” or “Dinner is ready. Come and eat.”

Everyone jumps off the coach. My dad and brothers head straight to the dining room and take a seat. I head straight to the kitchen. I began to flip torillas while my mom serves up the food. She goes and sets the stuffed platters on the table. I feel like I have cooked over thirty tortillas, but they are being eaten fast. By the time tortillas are no longer needed, someone has finished eating. A chair is empty. I can serve myself now. But, before I do I will offer my mom the seat. She refuses. I serve myself. Two or three people are left at the table and the rest have headed back to the living room. My mom finally serves herself and takes a seat. If either of us needs anything extra like a spoon or napkin, we get up and get it. But, like I said, my mom sits and enjoys her meal in peace, with no disturbances, knowing the “can I have more” or “serve me juice” has been taken care of.