Work was crazy this week — I almost couldn’t remember how to speak English when I got home on Friday because I had been speaking Spanish so much. Despite having to manage all sorts of emotional drama in my non-native language, however, I was able to take many snack breaks because, as you know, my agency does quite well with food.
I got the ball rolling this week when I couldn’t find coconut on Monday and ended up getting a pack of lemon “not sweet” plantain chips (couldn’t find the sweet ones — it wasn’t my day) instead to share with Jessica and Deborah:
Deborah played her part in curing the afternoon munchies by offering me some bites of her chicken burrito with salsa and guac:
My little afternoon snack sampler plate:
You know already how Tuesday went down. Wednesday, we took a bunch of our families on a trip to Lake Welch at Bear Mountain.
The families loved the chance to get out of the city and had tons of fun frolicking in the lake and on land:
They brought their own lunches, but we also brought along some afternoon snack supplies.
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches:
And 10 million watermelons:
I ate the lunch I had packed (the leftovers I had been collecting all week!) and had half a sandwich and, ummm, probably half of a watermelon. I had to get to it before the flies did!
And Katty gave me a bunch of her chocolate-covered pretzels:
On the bus ride back to the agency, I broke into these maduros (finally, the sweet plantains!) that Jessica found and shared them with Beryl and some of the families:
When the plantains were gone, I immediately conked out for the duration of the trip back to work. Upon arrival at the agency, we realized that one of the leftover watermelons had broken in transit. I snapped right to attention and set out on a rescue mission, running the dripping watermelon into the advocacy kitchen while Deborah opened doors ahead of me, helpfully calling out, “Right this way, Baby!” Because, you know, I carried a watermelon.
Between the two kitchens at my agency, I managed to find enough takers so that the watermelon did not die in vain. I also ended up with a massive amount of watermelon in my emptied lunch tupperwares, hmmmmm …
When I got home Wednesday night, I immersion-blended the watermelon until it was liquid and poured it into ice cube trays to freeze. The watermelon ice cubes made an excellent addition to my jasmine iced tea:
And to my banana soft serve (with 1/2 a coconut, peanut butter, and a hazelnut chocolate ball):
Do you speak any languages that are not your own natively? And do you ever forget how to speak your own language? And what do you do with watermelons?
Tales of Expansion: Baby Butternut Edition 
Definitely happened to me for the French I picked up in Belgium, though my English didn’t slack off to the extent that I expected it would have. I suppose it’s due to all the facebook and chatting to my American exchange student friends.
Try watermelon agua fresca, the Mexican drink. It’s delicious and the same concept can be applied to other fruits as well.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/appetite-for-adventure/agua-fresca-recipe/index.html
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I wish I was good at learning new languages. I took Spanish for five years but really can’t remember much. Therefore, I never have a problem remembering my own language!
As for watermelons, I love to make watermelon salsa! It really tastes amazing. Allrecipes.com has the best recipes for it, but I usually make it when I end up getting a watermelon that isn’t as sweet as I’d like.
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Your blog has educated me! I eat tons of ethnic foods but usually mediterranean (greek, turkish) and east and west asian (thai, korean, cambodian, indian) but not often hispanic. Yesterday I went to a cuban place and had a side of tostones just because I had seen them on your blog! Question is, are you supposed to put sauce on them or use them as dippers? I liked them plain but seemed they would be kind of bland and dry to most folks. We also had a chicken stew with beans/rice and sweet plantains.
Watermelon: salad with a salty cheese (ricotta salata, which is not ricotta but more like feta, or feta) plus toasted pine nuts and basil is the BEST.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/WATERMELON-RICOTTA-SALATA-BASIL-AND-PINE-NUT-SALAD-232548
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i love the idea of your watermelon ice cubes! unfortunately i never make anything creative with them because i finish all the watermelon in 1.2 seconds š
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Whoa—last picture–“hazelnut chocolate ball.” What is that???? It sounds and looks phenomenal!!!!
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I can muddle my way through spanish. I wish I could speak it better but it’s still decent. I really want to learn Chinese and Russian. I think I’m interested in Russian b/c of the alphabet.
Lemon plantain chips sound very odd. Not sure what I’d think of them.
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shiiii that burrito! amazing! i think burritos, dogs and ice cream make the world go round! i love watermelons, i eat them until i am about to explode. i speak a little norwegian and spanish!
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both my h20melon suggestions involve booze, b/c I’m classy like that.
1. Whole water melon + screwdriver + bottle of vodka + willing friends with a bunch of straws.
2. My mom has a recipe for watermelon chunks with tequilla, salt, and feta cheese I would love to get for you.
http://eatventures.wordpress.com
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such an interesting question and perfect for me. I’d say I speak english and spanish, both of them are not native language for me, and it happens often that I forget my native language, especially when it’s about economics jargons, I have no idea how to explain any economic theory in chinese! š
Watermelon? love it! I just bought a gigantic for myself…. how to eat? just EAT! š
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I speak Korean and I used to have excellente Spanish skills but now they are mediocre at best.
I LOVE THE DIRTY DANCING SHOUT OUT. Anytime I see a watermelon that’s ALL I ever say, “I carried the watermelon.”
This is why we are friends. . . hurry up and finish so you can come out to play!
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