Missions, cupcakes, and mmmm mmm buenos

A couple weeks ago, I had the most AWKWARD restaurant experience with my cousins. During the last few days of Ramadan (the Muslim month of fasting) it's common to have cravings for all the foods you've missed out on for thirty days. Long days of fasting make you hungry, but you really can't ever eat as much as you want to ;)

So, my cousins and I decided to go on a fried chicken run at a lovely restaurant called Eatonville. The evening started out normal. Our waitress was a little weird, but nothing that really made one uncomfortable.

Waitress: Hello and welcome to Eatonville. Have you dined here before?
My cousins and I: Mixed response, some yeses some nos
W: Welcome. My name is Beatrice (not her real name) and I will be your server for the evening. If you don't mind me asking, where are you guys from?
MCI: Kansas, Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Africa are blurted out in succession and we proceed to order our drinks for the evening.

There was a mix up between a crab and chicken sandwich early in the meal, but other than that things were going smoothly. My posse and I were having a great dinner and charming conversation when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Beatrice the Waitress approaches us with this:

Waitress: I'm sorry to ask you this, but would you mind if I asked a slightly personal question. Are you guys on a mission (mission as in missionaries)?
My posse and I: O_o . . . . . AWKWARD . . . .
W: waiting patiently for our reply
Cousin 1: No. We're just here for dinner.
Cousin 2: puts her head down in shame
Cousin 3: thinks to herself, I just remembered something really important that's happening right now outside the window. Lemme take a look.
Sister: drops her fork
Me: jaw drops on the floor

After she walked away, we all just stared at each other in complete silence. What just happened?!?!? We had not provided her with any information to come to that conclusion. So, what just happened?!?!?! My sister is a hijabi, so maybe she was mistaken for a nun - I don't know. It's times like this when I just wanna slap some sense into people. My alter ego, Miss F (the second cousin twice removed first aunt's neighbor's daughter who lived across the street from the awesome Mr T) would do just that.
"I pity the fool and I'm gonna slap some sense into you." - KASLAP!!!

On a less awkward note, I made cupcakes!! They are a modification of a great recipe from smittenkitchen. I used blueberries, raspberries, and chocolate chips in my cupcakes.

Recipe here


Kinder Buenos are the official chocolate of Senegalia. If you haven't tried one yet, you should! But they are hard to find in the US :(  

Olympics, yogurt making, ice tea fail

My goal for this blog was to have a new post every week. But at the rate I'm at right now, it looks like I may have a post up every other week. Oops.

I've never been a hard core Olympics fan. The only big sporting event I really go for is the World Cup. I do have a great respect for all the athletes and countries that are represented in this tremendous event, Lord knows I could never come close to doing what they do. Apart from catching the latest amazing photos of the Olympic games, I think you really notice the true effect of globalization. One can really respect how much the world has changed when Mohammed Ali represents England and Eun Bi Yang represents America (disclaimer: to my knowledge, these aren't the names of real athletes, just random names). The fluidity of modern day borders allow literally anyone to be a representative of any nation regardless of culture, race, or religion. We've truly become a melting pot in every sense.

But this melting pot still has a way to go before it can become a flavorful stew (food analogies are the bestest!). The hate, intolerance, and ignorance within our societies is absolutely unbearable. Mohammed Ali can be showered with cheers and flowers from his fellow countrymen when he wins a gold metal, but after all the celebrations he goes back to be treated as a second class citizen by those same countrymen. This attitude isn't just seen in the Olympics, it is even more notorious in the soccer world. How is this hypocrisy justified by any means? The world is changing, period. It's time to get past all this.

My new favorite past time has become yogurt making. I made my first successful batch of yogurt about a couple of weeks ago and it was super fab!! I can't wait to start experimenting with different flavor combinations. Yumm

Here's an update on my most recent adventure in ice tea making: Mandarin mint orange pear ice tea is gross with a capital G! The only way I could fix it was to water it down and add tons of sugar. Turning it from an ice tea into modern day fruit juice. ^.^

Purple peppers, pedicures, and pear-lime-ice tea lemonade

This past weekend I took a super super trip to Kansas to visit family. I got my first pedicure!! And I absolutely loved it!!!

The look of shock and horror on my pedicurists face when she saw my Hulk like feet was priceless . . . and embarrassing. I tried to calm her by mentioning, as casually as possible, that my feet needed some work  ^.^' She was a very friendly lady who had relocated to the United States from Turkey. Listening to her gripe about her daughter's career change from dentistry to teaching made me think about the tensions we see between new immigrants and their American-raised children. As a child of immigrant parents myself, I know what this can be like. They have sacrificed everything in coming to the US to build a life; if you don't become a doctor, lawyer, or engineer then what are you doin' ??? Sometimes these tensions are good (they push you to do better and work harder) other times these tensions are bad (families end up having very strained relations). Our parents just want what is best for us and for us to have an easier life than they did. Are they really asking for too much?

Do they believe in us more than we believe in ourselves?


Do we each simply want different things out of our lives?


Are there careers other than medicine, law, and engineering that can buy you a Benz, summer home, and still make you a respectable member of your community? 


I don't know, maybe.


In the case of my pedicurist, I think our discussion helped her to better understand what the possible options were for her daughter. She thanked me for explaining things to her and I hope that she and her daughter will be able to reach a peaceful middle ground. Things tend to get lost in trans-generational, cross-cultural exchanges, but I think a lot of times these can be resolved with a patient, informative, conversation (I know what you're thinking, when was the last time I had one of those?!).


On another note, I love making my own blend of ice teas and this weeks flavor is pear-lime iced black tea lemonade. Verdict: I've made better blends, but if you prefer your ice teas on the sightly less sweet side this blend is good. 


And as promised - PURPLE PEPPERS!! Aren't they just the cutest????