who could forget that?

A few weeks ago I spent a day with my abuelita learning to cook things. Precise measurements aren't part of my abuelita's cooking vocabulary, so one of the reasons I went was to pay attention and learn by watching.

So I watched.

And we talked.

And every once in a while she would say, "I think you should write that down." So I took out a piece of paper and every once in a while wrote something down. Mostly I wrote down things that I knew I would otherwise forget.

This week I pulled out my paper to get the recipe and make a shopping list, and realized that I had neglected to write down all of the things I did not expect to forget, which also happen to be all the main parts of the recipe. I also omitted anything I didn't know the name for in Spanish.

So, instead of my "recipe" yielding meat empanadas (the goal), it would actually yield a kind of soupy concoction of spices and onions floating in green olive juice . . . not the right thing at all.

I hope I can remember all those things I knew I wouldn't forget . . .