A few weeks ago, I woke up, walked into the kitchen, and said to Jesy, "Could you and your mom do me a solid and make me some Mexican food this summer?" I have no idea why this came to me so early on a Sunday morning, before church, but I had a real hankering for Mexican food. And Jesy and his mom do make a delicious fajita dish. I mean really, really good. Anyways, that reminded me of this this little nugget of a story.
I love Mexican food- always have, always will. The first Mexican restaurant Jesy and I tried here in Moscow was quite horrible, but since then we have found two really good Mexican restaurants. One in downtown Moscow, and one quite close to us. The guacamole at Casa Agave is to die for, and the margaritas at Amigo Miguel are delicious. Best I have had in a long time. (I made some margaritas this summer in South Carolina and they were bad. Real bad. My sister Suzanne is quite the good little margarita maker, though, and I look forward to her concoctions this summer.) What you need to keep in mind: when Jesy and I go to one of these Mexican restaurants, we are the only Americans. The only English speaking people there.Everyone else is Russian. I am getting much better at reading Russian menus, but we are able to get English menus at these establishments. But remember- everyone in the restaurant, the patrons, the staff- they are all Russians.
Anyway, on to my story.
Jesy is a nice boss. I have seen him in action, and I also know from his employees that they like him and respect him. A couple of months ago Jesy and one of his colleagues (a Russia who has lived in the US for many years and is now a citizen of the US) decided that it would be fun to have a taco day. The supervisors would bring in all of the ingredients, cook it up, and serve the employees. Fun idea right? At little break from the ordinary? Well, Jesy and his colleague decided maybe they would ask a few Russian employees how they felt about this idea, figuring they would get enthusiastic replies. This is how it went:
Jesy- "How about a taco day at work? The supervisors will arrange all of it."
Employees- "Tacos? No, Russians do not like Mexican food."
Jesy (a bit perplexed and mystified. Remember our restaurant experiences.) "Really? Are you sure? Russians do not like Mexican food?"
Employees- (Rather emphatically)- "No, we do not like Mexican food."
Jesy- "Ok, is there some other food that we could prepare for a lunch at the office?"
ARE YOU READY FOR IT?
Employees- "Yes, meat pies. We like meat pies."
Do you mean bread like food with meat in the middle? I have been laughing about this for weeks. Just when I think Russians do not have much of a sense of humor, they pull something like this.
And Carla, if you are reading this, start getting those fajitas ready.
Merry Russian Christmas!
